IT’S A big welcome back for Hampshire’s own Frank Turner and his briliant backing band The Sleeping Souls who play the main stage at the Larmer Tree Festival tonight (9pm).

Frank played a stunning set at Larmer Tree in 2010 and it’s been a case of onwards and upwards since!

He found himself performing in South Africa, the USA and Europe, and completed a UK tour, including his biggest gig to date, a sold-out 14,500- capacity O2 show!

Bitten by the music bug at an early age, Frank rushed into punk rock with enthusiastic abandon and became the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead. When the band split in 2005 he changed direction completely and embarked on an acousticbased solo career.

After relentless touring and hard-graft the current Frank is a huge commercial success with five solo albums, two rarities compilation albums, one split album and five EPs under his belt.

His latest album, Tape Deck Heart, released last year entered the UK charts at No 2 with critics hailing him one of the UK’s finest song-writers.

The first single, Recovery, made 7th place in Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record of 2013 on Radio 1, beating off tracks by Kings of Leon, Killers and Queens of the Stone Age.

The Sleeping Souls, who accompany Mark both in the studio and live, consist of Ben Lloyd on mandolin and guitar, Tarrant Anderson on bass, Matt Nasir on piano and Nigel Powell on Drums.