I read articles and see posts about time and groove....a lot of times I see people talking about the band following the drummer or the bass player....that, IMHO, is the farthest thing from the truth....the band follows itself....
Each member is just not in time, they KNOW TIME. Each member is so comfortable with time and their place in time, they work off each other....this way the band has a "time conversation"...at each moment they are pushing and pulling....humanizing...the time and rhythm..thereby making it a GROOVE.....
Studying time is so important to the musician....yes, with a metronome....not to be a slave to it, but to conquer it....