Return of the native

Kosheen drummer Mitchell Glover is back on home turf this weekend. SALLY CHURCHWARD welcomes him home

ItТs not everyday you see your teacher on Top Of The Pops, much less playing in a top ten band. But thatТs exactly what students of Kosheen drummer Mitchell Glover can do.

Kosheen have enjoyed top ten success with their recent single All In My Head and had two top ten albums Resist and Kokopelli.

But Mitchell who comes from Sarisbury Green Fareham and now lives in Southsea, still finds time to share the benefit of his knowledge with his students, many of who donТt even realise theyТre being taught by someone who played a 20,000-strong crowd at Glastonbury festival earlier this year.

"ItТs good to pass on what IТve learnt,Ф says the 25-year-old drummer. It tides me over when IТm not touring and I do it because I enjoy it- I donТt really need to do it as such. Some of my students donТt even know what I do outside of teaching, but most of them who do quite like it.

Mitchell was invited to join Kosheen by lead singer Sian, who he had met several years earlier when they were both playing in different bands.

УThings took off for us last year with the release of the first album. From there it just escalated, so each single that was released after that got higher and higher in the charts,Ф he says.

And he is more than happy with the situation he found himself in.

"A drummer is always what IТve wanted to be. IТve always been building up to it but it kind of came quicker than I expected, really. I didnТt really do the long apprenticeship of years and years of dodgy gigs.

УWeТve been on Top Of The Pops a few times. It was something that IТd always seen on telly as a youngster and the first few times we did it, it was pretty nerve-racking but weТve done it a few times now and it seems quite run of the mill.Ф

Drumming is in MitchellТs blood. A s a child he used to go to pubs and social clubs to watch his dad, drummer Malcolm УNobbyФ Glover perform and he and his brother Ryan, who is in up-and-coming group Kasabian, have followed in his footsteps.

"There has been times when I wished that they all played the piccolo instead,Ф laughs Jean Glover, MitchellТs mother.

With his friends and family living in the area, SundayТs gig at Southampton Guildhall inevitably feels like something of a homecoming for Mitchell. And itТs also special for another reason.

УIt will feel like a different sort of gig,Ф he says, УI can get in my car afterwards and go home!Ф