Royal Blood's Ben Thatcher on drumming and supporting the Albion

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You can listen to Ben's full interview on the Official Brighton & Hove Albion Podcast.

Charlie Hanson

2025-06-08T06:00+01:00

Ben Thatcher has been an Albion supporter for 30 years. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

In between gigs with the Foo Fighters and performances at Glastonbury, Royal Blood drummer Ben Thatcher takes in as much of the Albion in action as he can.

The Amex season ticket holder, who was born and raised in Rustington, has been on worldwide tours and won awards including NME’s Best Live Band, but before gigging and glamour was the Goldstone Ground.

“The first match I went to was against Swindon Town in 1995 – I was seven-years-old – I think we got beat that day!” the 37-year-old recalled in his guest appearance on the Official Brighton & Hove Albion Podcast. “But I remember I was sitting behind one of the goals and I got there early with my dad.

Ben Thatcher shows off his first Albion shirt. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

“Mike [Kerr], the other guy in the band, is from Worthing and he has no interest in football whatsoever. I'm from Rustington, but I moved to Brighton when I was 18 years old to drum. Mike gets well into the World Cup, but he's got other interests.”

And while Albion’s on pitch moments have provided some great memories, it’s fair to say he has some great stories from being in Brighton’s biggest rock band.

“There have been a few pinch-me moments. I remember our first show in New York and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin came to that show and meeting him backstage was wild.

“I remember another one – we were playing with Pixies in America when they were on tour and we'd just got off stage and we were warming down and having a drink.

“Then we had a knock on the dressing room door and it was Lars Ulrich from Metallica. We were like, ‘why aren’t you watching Pixies?’ And he said, ‘nah, I came to see you’. We didn't know anyone knew us there. That was cool.”

You can listen to Ben’s full episode with Glenn Murray and Paul Hayward here.