Drummer Ged Lynch has had a number one hit with Black Grape, toured the world with Peter Gabriel and recorded with music legends including Tom Jones and Chrissie Hynde. We spoke to him as he re-launched himself as a mentor for budding young drummers.

NOT many regulars from the pubs around Oswaldtwistle can lay claim to having had a number one album.

But then again Ged Lynch isn’t your average kind of guy.

Obsessed with drumming since the age of 11, Ged has toured the world and worked with everybody from The Charlatans to Suggs, Tom Jones to Goldfrapp.

He’s also played percussion and drums on the movie soundtracks for Jackal, 28 Days Later, Snatch and The Bachelor.

“Drumming was the only thing that really set me on fire, so eventually my parents gave in to the idea that they were going to let me do it because I showed no interest in anything else,” said Ged, 41.

“It wasn’t that I was really determined to succeed. I was just a simple little creature who was just really happy when playing the drums.”

Brought up in Green Haworth, his father ran Lynch Brothers' garage.

“My dad was always waiting for me to look over the bonnet of a car and say ‘What’s that?’ but I never did,” he said.

“I was the family freak, the musical throwback. Thankfully, my parents were very supportive.

"It was like ‘I need to be in Nelson with a drum kit on a wet Wednesday afternoon’ and they would always run me around.”

Ged’s first big break came in the early '90s when he joined Shaun Ryder and Bez in post-Happy Mondays band Black Grape.

“I’d been working for years prior to Black Grape but suddenly, because we were on the telly, I had ‘arrived’,” he said.

“It was a band of extremes. I’d never really been exposed to things at that level.

"I think I’m lucky that I was 27 when it happened because I was old enough not to be sucked into doing things you really shouldn’t be doing.

"If you get success early it can really turn your head. I’ve seen it happen a lot to young guys.”

Ged described his job as “MD of that band”.

“It was down to me to make it not crazy on stage,” he said.

“The band was actually a group of really tight musicians.

"Then we added the singers and suddenly it was on fire.

"So on the face of it, as a fan, you’d go ‘They’re all crazy’ but actually some of us weren’t.

"We were very disciplined. It would never have worked otherwise.”

After Black Grape’s number one hit album It’s Great When You’re Straight . . . Yeah, in 1995, Ged found himself being offered work all over the world.

“I was actually eating cheese on toast in Oswaldtwistle when I found out we were number one — isn’t that rock 'n' roll?” he laughed.

“It was a nice moment, though. The key bit of luck was that there were two producers working with us and so I got double the follow-up work.

"People think you’ve got a magic thing once you’ve had a number one so my CV went everywhere. It was great.”

Ged’s next big gig was landing a tour with former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel in 2002.

“I actually wept when I got the call asking me to tour with Peter because I knew gigs like that change your circumstances,” said Ged.

“They’re world class and you can’t mess it up. It’s a lot of responsibility.”

He has been touring with Peter and his band ever since.

“It’s been a lovely time and I’ve been exposed to a whole new world,” said Ged.

“Playing with top class musicians is wonderful.

"Sometimes Peter gets to a place and starts singing and your job is to not disturb it, to just maintain it, to be there and support it.

"You know you’re in the presence of something really important.

"It’s not a job any more. It’s creating something and you can’t mess it up.”

Between tours Ged works as a session musician, playing with legends including Tom Jones.

“One time we were recording a duet with Tom and Chrissie Hynde and when Tom started singing he nearly blew the studio up because he was so loud — it’s from doing the South Wales clubs as a kid.

"Everyone had to take their headphones off because Tom was really singing.

"He’s a huge guy, as big as a door, and he could drink anyone under the table.”

But although Ged’s CV reads like a Who’s Who of the music business, he’s painfully modest and is at pains not to sound like he’s showing off. “If someone asks me what I do I’ll say ‘musician’.

"Sometimes they finally pull it out of me and they say ‘Oh, you’re working with so and so — why didn’t you tell me that at the start? That’s interesting!’ “It’s been a bit of a journey for me to realise that telling someone about what I do for work isn’t showing off because it’s my reality and I’ve just been really lucky.

“I work with Mark Jones, who has a studio in Oswaldtwistle, and we’ve done massive shows together.

"We did three years with Peter Gabriel and we were doing Madison Square Garden in New York, and touring in private jets . . . and we’re just two cheesecakes from Oswaldtwistle!

"We’d go down The Black Dog and people would ask us what we’d been up to and we’d just go, ‘Well, we’ve been busy’.”

Ged believes it’s his working class Lancashire background that put him in good stead for keeping his feet on the ground.

“It’s often really hard work in this business, so if you’re a bit of a soft lad you can have a tough time,” he said.

“But if you know what real hard work is, you just get on with it.

"So what if you finish at 3am and your flight’s at 6am?

"I think that working class upbringing serves you well. I’m really proud of where I come from.”

And he admitted people often think his job is more glamorous than it really is.

“People assume you go for a pint with Bono,” he laughed.

“After I did Top of the Pops this guy said to me: ‘Are you sorted out then?’ "He genuinely thought I would be made for life, that there would be a big cheque and a car.

"I was like ‘No, it’s not like that. You get £275, sign a bit of paper then you’re back home’.

“I don’t lead an extravagant life. I admit I like nice shoes and I’ve become a coffee snob, but that’s just what happens when you travel and see lots of things.

"When someone’s given you real coffee in Italy, Maxwell House just doesn’t cut it when you come home.

"Your tastes change but freelance musicians are just working lads really.

“In retrospect, all of my really great musical moments were in teaching at Bolton Youth Service.

"It was doing something that didn’t serve anybody’s ego or make a ton of money.

"It was about taking a group of young people who walked in, disaffected, going: ‘OK, what’s baldie going to say?’ and then six weeks later you’ve opened a door to their passion.

"That’s a real honour.”

l Those interested in contacting Ged for lessons can email him on gedlynch@googlemail.com.