WIKIPEDIA:

“ David "Pick" Withers (born 4 April 1948 in Leicester, England) was the original drummer for the rock band Dire Straits and played on their first four albums, which included hit singles such as "Sultans of Swing,""Romeo and Juliet" and "Private Investigations."
He first played a drum in the Boys Brigade taught by a childhood friend Richard Storer of now knocked-down Argyle Street in Leicester. He became a professional musician at the age of 17, in a band called the Primitives, followed by a band called Spring who had a record contract but little success. They recorded one album on the RCA label. In the mid-1970s he was a house drummer at Rockfield Studios in South Wales. He played on records by Dave Edmunds and Hobo amongst others, including the John Dummer Band and the Gary Fletcher Band.
Pick has also studied at Drumtech drum school in London.

Equipment and technique
Withers's style with Dire Straits was distinct for being restrained, favouring spare snare drum and hi-hat combinations over heavy beats, speed and pyrotechnic flourishes. Like the guitar playing of the band's frontman, Mark Knopfler, Withers's style was blues-based. Pick Withers also played on Prelude's 1973 album, 'How Long Is Forever". Knopfler met [......] ”

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