IN CONVERSATION: TOTAL MK SPEAKS WITH GAZ COOMBES
As the front man with Oxford's Supergrass, Gaz Coombes was responsible for soundtracking an era, and while many of their considered contemporaries stuck to a rigid formula, these guys walked alone.
They were a potent powerbox of singles - Feel Alright, Richard III, Moving, Pumping on Your Stereo, Caught By The Fuzz...they sizzled.
In all, there were 10 Top 20 hits, lifted from six Top 20 albums.
Famously, I Should Coco was Parlophone's fastest selling debut since the Beatles delivered Please Please Me.
Supergrass' demise was a fresh start for Gaz, eventually resulting in the 2012 long-player, Here Come the Bombs.
"It was very much like starting again, but I think that was what I was quite excited about really - and losing a bit of the baggage of what had gone before," he admits.
"...when I say baggage, I was proud of everything we did and they were some of the best years of my life. But when something ends, you can't just sit there and reside over your past glories and stuff - you have to move on and try something different.
"Much in the same sort of ethos as Supergrass in a way, with always trying something different, that's an extension of what I did really...I wanted to try and make a record that was unlike anything I'd done before."
Now he is preparing to unleash the follow-up: Matador is slated for an early 2015 release. Tell us about the title...
"It uses the metaphor of dodging bullets through life, like dodging the bull through life, how you recover from it and how you get through those moments," he explains.
"There is a lot of light on the album as well - a lot of love and a lot of joy on the record. It's how I see life, its ups and downs, and beautiful and weird moments.
"I wasn't afraid of being too stark and honest with the lyrics either," he admits, "I was thinking 'Is this too exposed?', but I love the power of it."
Gaz was at the helm of the release too - and handled production.
"I didn't mix and produce it through necessity, and I didn't do it for because it was a control issue. I just knew what I wanted, and I've been doing it long enough to get those sounds and the direction right."
And the proof is in the end result: "I am really pleased with how it came out...there's a real focus on this record and it was a real buzz to make it."
Gaz collaborated with his wife on the track Seven Walls: "I had the music for this track and started off a few of the lyrics, referring back to a time when we first met, and those little magical but mundane moments you can both have when you've just met someone.
"I've got really fond memories of those - like sitting on a bit of concrete in a dodgy car park, sharing a joint and having a beer...
"There is no complications, it is very simple. I just had a few lines and I chatted with her one day and said 'Can you help me with a couple of these lines and try and form it into a good shape?'
"She is a writer anyway, and it was great to turn to her for a different approach and different angle, and we got some killer lines, it's really cool."
The side-burned bristler, BRIT-Award winner and terrific songwriter has also added 'parent' to his list of achievements.
They might not quite share Dad's musical leanings yet, mind.
"They are at the stage where I try and impose some of my musical inspirations and influences on them, bit they are stuck at the One Direction stage...it's too powerful for me to get the better of," he admits.
"Vamps, 1D," he abbreviates, down with the lingo, "...Taylor Swift, Katy Perry..."
"As a musician I try and get them into other stuff," he insists.
"To be honest, I've got CDs in the car - like Neil Young, Bowie, Queen and Michael Jackson, and they love all that as well, but in their own time when they are on YouTube they just search for pop.
"When I bought my first single at the age of nine, it was Madonna's Get into the Groove..."
Which is a great tune...
"It is a great pop song, and it's a rite of passage for a kid to get into whatever is in the charts.
"I'm sure they will come through it and we're going to be left at the end of it with an attic full of One Direction merchandise that is utterly useless."
So, has this Dad ever had to do the pop concert thing?
"We did Wembley Stadium...I don't know if you've ever been to a teenage stadium gig, but it is scary. It's quite outrageous - the volume of screaming and also the amount of Mum's there without their kids.
"It's quite odd really - I'm in my thirties and if I was to go to a Little Mix gig or something and was ogling it would be a bit pervy, but all these housewives seem to get away with it at One Direction gigs, clawing over Harry and the boys.
"For some reason, that's not seen as particularly weird in any way."
But back to his own music making, and more pressingly, a trio of live shows that will play out in the coming week, in Reading and London, and sitting pretty between the two, a date at The Craufurd Arms, here in Milton Keynes on Tuesday (Nov 18) night.
"I'm really excited to do these shows," he tells me.
"They are really interesting because they are warm-ups, but they are going to be the first opportunity to hear new stuff from the new record.
"Rehearsals can only provide so much and then you need to play to people."
And new fans are still finding a route to the Coombes class of sound: "That's really refreshing. On the last record, people were messaging me and saying 'I didn't really know Supergrass, but I love this record,' and that sort of stuff is brilliant, really refreshing."
"When I am premiering new stuff, I like it to be intimate, then I can get the vibe close up, first hand. I'll be playing a lot of stuff from the first record and there may be a couple of little surprises in there...
Hopefully the fans will let me experiment on their brains...I'll be gentle!" he promises.
Tickets for the show are on sale now, at £15.
Words: Sammy Jones
Now he is preparing to unleash the follow-up: Matador is slated for an early 2015 release. Tell us about the title...
"It uses the metaphor of dodging bullets through life, like dodging the bull through life, how you recover from it and how you get through those moments," he explains.
"There is a lot of light on the album as well - a lot of love and a lot of joy on the record. It's how I see life, its ups and downs, and beautiful and weird moments.
"I wasn't afraid of being too stark and honest with the lyrics either," he admits, "I was thinking 'Is this too exposed?', but I love the power of it."
Gaz was at the helm of the release too - and handled production.
"I didn't mix and produce it through necessity, and I didn't do it for because it was a control issue. I just knew what I wanted, and I've been doing it long enough to get those sounds and the direction right."
And the proof is in the end result: "I am really pleased with how it came out...there's a real focus on this record and it was a real buzz to make it."
Gaz collaborated with his wife on the track Seven Walls: "I had the music for this track and started off a few of the lyrics, referring back to a time when we first met, and those little magical but mundane moments you can both have when you've just met someone.
"I've got really fond memories of those - like sitting on a bit of concrete in a dodgy car park, sharing a joint and having a beer...
"There is no complications, it is very simple. I just had a few lines and I chatted with her one day and said 'Can you help me with a couple of these lines and try and form it into a good shape?'
"She is a writer anyway, and it was great to turn to her for a different approach and different angle, and we got some killer lines, it's really cool."
The side-burned bristler, BRIT-Award winner and terrific songwriter has also added 'parent' to his list of achievements.
They might not quite share Dad's musical leanings yet, mind.
"They are at the stage where I try and impose some of my musical inspirations and influences on them, bit they are stuck at the One Direction stage...it's too powerful for me to get the better of," he admits.
"Vamps, 1D," he abbreviates, down with the lingo, "...Taylor Swift, Katy Perry..."
"As a musician I try and get them into other stuff," he insists.
"To be honest, I've got CDs in the car - like Neil Young, Bowie, Queen and Michael Jackson, and they love all that as well, but in their own time when they are on YouTube they just search for pop.
"When I bought my first single at the age of nine, it was Madonna's Get into the Groove..."
Which is a great tune...
"It is a great pop song, and it's a rite of passage for a kid to get into whatever is in the charts.
"I'm sure they will come through it and we're going to be left at the end of it with an attic full of One Direction merchandise that is utterly useless."
So, has this Dad ever had to do the pop concert thing?
"We did Wembley Stadium...I don't know if you've ever been to a teenage stadium gig, but it is scary. It's quite outrageous - the volume of screaming and also the amount of Mum's there without their kids.
"It's quite odd really - I'm in my thirties and if I was to go to a Little Mix gig or something and was ogling it would be a bit pervy, but all these housewives seem to get away with it at One Direction gigs, clawing over Harry and the boys.
"For some reason, that's not seen as particularly weird in any way."
But back to his own music making, and more pressingly, a trio of live shows that will play out in the coming week, in Reading and London, and sitting pretty between the two, a date at The Craufurd Arms, here in Milton Keynes on Tuesday (Nov 18) night.
"I'm really excited to do these shows," he tells me.
"They are really interesting because they are warm-ups, but they are going to be the first opportunity to hear new stuff from the new record.
"Rehearsals can only provide so much and then you need to play to people."
And new fans are still finding a route to the Coombes class of sound: "That's really refreshing. On the last record, people were messaging me and saying 'I didn't really know Supergrass, but I love this record,' and that sort of stuff is brilliant, really refreshing."
"When I am premiering new stuff, I like it to be intimate, then I can get the vibe close up, first hand. I'll be playing a lot of stuff from the first record and there may be a couple of little surprises in there...
Hopefully the fans will let me experiment on their brains...I'll be gentle!" he promises.
Tickets for the show are on sale now, at £15.
Words: Sammy Jones
