Richard John Ploog was born on 29 October 1962 and is from
Adelaide,
South Australia. As a
drummer, he joined various bands including, The Name Droppers, The Brats and Exhibit A. In early 1981, at the age of 18, he replaced
The Church's founding drummer, Nick Ward. In April the band released their debut album,
Of Skins and Heart and the associated single, "The Unguarded Moment", which had been recorded late the previous year with Ward. Ploog's first recording with The Church was the five-track double single, "Too Fast for You" released in July. When
Of Skins and Heart was released internationally (
Carrere for Europe,
Capitol for North America) it was re-titled as
The Church with "Tear It All Away" replacing original track "Fighter Pilot...Korean War". On early record covers of
The Church, Ploog was incorrectly credited with all the drumming—Ward is not listed. Aside from drumming, Ploog also contributed song writing to The Church's releases. He also became involved in various side projects. Firstly, with
Beasts of Bourbon as a drummer in 1983 and then performing with its members,
Tex Perkins on vocals and
Kim Salmon on guitar and harmonica, as Salamander Jim in February 1984. He worked on
The Celibate Rifles' vocalist
Damien Lovelock's debut solo album,
Wig Wig Wig Wig World in 1988. Ploog left The Church after recording their seventh album,
Gold Afternoon Fix which was released in February 1990. According to
Steve Kilbey, he left the band "because of musical personal differences." He was replaced by
Jay Dee Daugherty (ex-
Patti Smith Group). Ploog joined The Church member
Peter Koppes' group The Well to tour and record
From the Well (1990) and
Iridescence (1991). Ploog has also drummed for The Wigmen, The Deadly Hume, Funkicide, and
The Sleep-ins. Ploog returned to live drumming in 2013 with a series of gigs accompanying
Steve Kilbey and
Mark Gable. He is also a member of
Groom Epoch. The band have released three albums,
Scalar Trails (2014),
Solar Warden (2018) and
Initiation (2019). ==References==