Charlie Don't Surf! Steve's Page

14.06.05 - We had some very bad news this month, Steve's son Sam died on the 30th May 2005, he had multiplesclerosis and was 17 years old, I had met him only recently, even though he was in a wheel chair and needed most things doing for him, his mind was very bright and you could here a lot of Steve's humour in him.

Sam had been devastated by the death of his dad and it is thought that this is what may have led to his decline in health.

Obviously this is another massive blow for the Mitchell family, but I am sure Liz and Lucy and there families will be as strong as they have been together for many years.

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I first met Steve when I joined up with Panza Division in the early eighties, I had heard of him from his days with Bitter Suite and Prisoner, but I had never seen or heard him play. The first time I played with him, I can remember thinking that he was an incredible drummer and the band must be the going places if he was in it. He had his own very distinctive style of playing, not unlike the great John Bonham, with a massive drum sound, playing powerful fills in just the right places (less is more - right Steve?) and should have played a much higher level.

There was a lot more to Steve than just being a great drummer, he was the funniest man to be around, what ever he was doing there was always a laugh to be had and we certainly got into a few situations in our time in that band. I feel I owed him so much, not just for what he taught me about playing but what he taught me about life also.

We had lost contact over the years, but when I made contact with him last year and he joined the band, it was a dream come true for me, every gig we did it just got better.

We all miss you mate!

Love to Lucy and Sam his children and to Liz their mum.

Andy

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It was a great pleasure to work with Steve for many years both in the studio and on the road. As well as being a top-pro muso he was also a fun guy with bags of energy who kept moral up at all times and there were many times we needed that support. A rock band without a solid rhythm section is nothing. Steve also found time to impart information about his instrument to beginner's. To the best of my knowledge Steves favourite kit was the HI-PERCUSSION ( same set up for live as the photo above ). This kit had 2 kick drums, 2 floor toms and 8 rack toms, in the studio he would often play the whole kit, if he rolled round the 8 brothers he finished with a power flam spot on the beat, CLASS. He used to take 4-5 hours to set up the kit in the studio ( or 10 mins if we arrived late at a gig or a support slot with no soundcheck allowed ). He polished all his cymbals even on an audio recording ,including the 2 very large zyljian ride cymbals, and then he would change all the skins and tune them, a lot of time was then spent on close and ambient miking always searching for the elusive " bonham sound". one time bubs said to me " no f***ing computer will ever replace me love" I totally agreed.

R.I.P. GLENN

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I knew and occassionally worked with Bubbles during the early 80s. He was a star, in all that he did and all that he was he was a star. We lost touch over the years as I realised very quickly I was a crap singer and went on to a successful career behind the scenes. I kept up with Bubbles' doings through mutual friends as so often happens with musos. Also remembering drummer/ guitarist Paul (Curly) Vickers another one taken far too soon,Shine on you're greatly missed guys Sylvia X

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