Supergrass

At the age of 16 and 18 respectively and whilst attending Wheatley Park School just outside Oxford, Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey were playing in the Jennifers along with Nick Goffey and Andy Davies. Danny and Nick Goffey are the sons of former BBC Top Gear presenter and motoring journalist Chris Goffey.

The Jennifers began building a reputation in the Oxford indie music scene, influenced by Ride, the Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets, the Kinks, the Who, and including traits of the shoegaze era. The band played gigs at various venues around Oxfordshire, often public houses and clubs. One pub the band played at was the Jericho Tavern in Oxford.

They sold a demo tape recorded and produced by Nick Langston at Stargoat Studios near Banbury. The demo featured three songs – "Flying" which featured a 20-second countdown at the beginning, the recording of a rocket launch and then a fast guitar-based song which appeared influenced by the Stone Roses, the second song, "Inside Of Me" was similar in style but changed to a slower, almost funk jam at the end, the third song simply titled on the tape "(Slow Song)" was a guitar-based ballad. The band enjoyed enough success to release one single in 1992, "Just Got Back Today" on Nude Records, which is now a highly sought after rarity. Second single, "Tightrope" was never released due to disagreements with Nude Records (but does appear on compilation CD 'Days Spent Dreaming'[8]), the band split up soon after this in the fall of 1992. Andy Davies went off to university and Nic Goffey went on to form a directing partnership with friend Dom Hawley, later directing many videos for Supergrass.

When Coombes began working at the local Harvester he befriended co-worker Mick Quinn. The two realised they had common music interests and Coombes invited Quinn to come and jam with himself and Goffey. In February 1993 they formed Theodore Supergrass "for about two months". As Quinn further explains, "then we realized that Theodore was a bit rubbish so we took that off."[9]

Goffey claims that the name was his idea and says, "Although the others will dispute it, it was me. We were Theodore Supergrass and the idea was the band would be a little black character, and we wouldn't ever have to do interviews. We'd get the questions in advance, script the answers and then animate Theodore Supergrass answering them. But it cost too much money." [10]

Gaz's brother, Rob Coombes, played flute for the band's début gig at the Co-Op Hall, Oxford in 1993. In January 1995 he first performed as keyboardist with the band for a live Radio 1 John Peel session.[11] His role in the band progressed over the years, post-I Should Coco material is credited to "Supergrass and Rob Coombes", however, he wasn't introduced as a band member until almost a decade later.

In mid-1994, Supergrass issued their debut single "Caught by the Fuzz" on the small independent local label Backbeat Records.[12] The song recounts lead singer and guitarist Gaz Coombes's experience of being arrested by the police for possession of cannabis.[13][14] The limited release of vinyl copies sold out quickly, thanks in part to support from John Peel on his Radio One show.[15][16] The Parlophone label signed the band and re-released the single in the autumn of the same year.[12] It achieved the rare feat of being both NME and Melody Maker's "Single Of The Week" status in the same week.[13]

"Mansize Rooster", released in February 1995, peaked at number 20 in the UK Singles Chart and "Lenny" was the band's first top 10 single.[12] "Lenny" was followed soon afterwards by the band's debut album, I Should Coco (May 1995), which entered the UK Albums Chart at number one.[12] It achieved half a million sales in the UK and over a million worldwide.[17] NME reviewer Steve Sutherland gave the album a nine out of ten rating, writing, "These freaks shall inherit the earth."[18] The album's fourth single, the double A-side release "Alright"/"Time", stayed in the UK Top Three for a month, peaking at number two.[12]

Supergrass followed I Should Coco with 18 months of heavy touring, appearing at festivals such as Scotland's T in the Park and the Glastonbury Festival.[19][20] After Performing at Rio's Hollywood Rock Festival in April 1996, Supergrass met the train robber Ronnie Biggs, and he apparently said to them, "I was frightened for my life when I heard there was a supergrass in the area."[21] A photograph of Ronnie Biggs and Gaz together was subsequently included in the music video for their 1996 single "Going Out". Recorded at Great Linford Manor the single peaked at number five in the UK chart, but was the last song produced by Sam Williams. Supergrass returned to Sawmills Studio to co-produce follow up album, In It for the Money (released April 1997), with John Cornfield.[12] The album was a huge success and went platinum in the UK, but confused some fans expecting something similar to I Should Coco.[22] The single, "Richard III", reached number two. Subsequent releases, "Sun Hits the Sky" and "Late in the Day", reached numbers 10 and 18 respectively.

Around this time Supergrass also appeared on the front cover of The Big Issue, interviewed for the magazine at Heathrow Airport by ex-drug smuggler Howard Marks.[23]

The band again took a short break before returning in 1999 with the single "Pumping on Your Stereo". The promo video, produced in conjunction with the Jim Henson's Creature Shop, featured the band with comical "muppet" bodies. The single generated welcome publicity following their time out of the limelight, as did a small sold-out tour scheduled around the single release, the final night of which was at Shepherd's Bush Empire as part of MTV's "Five Night Stand" festival. The single and the tour were followed by their third LP Supergrass (1999). The following spring the record was released in the US Once more, the album was recorded at Sawmills Studio with longtime associate Cornfield producing. Supergrass was well received critically and commercially and it has since gone platinum in the UK, but did not reap the same level of success as its predecessors. Critics claimed the album was "hit and miss", which showed up particularly as the "also-rans are surrounded by songs that are as great as anything Supergrass has ever recorded".[24] Their next single, "Moving", proved popular and reached the Top Ten in the UK. And their third single, "Mary" entered the Top 40. There followed a long hiatus.

After three years out of the limelight, the band returned with Life on Other Planets (September 2002), recorded at Heliocentric, Rockfield and Mayfair Studios and produced by Beck collaborator Tony Hoffer. The album was released in the UK on Parlophone, but in the US on the Island Def Jam imprint. The record was not as commercially successful as Supergrass's first three albums, failing to make the Top Three in the UK albums chart. However, the critical response to the album was generally very positive, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic claiming "The world is a better place for having Supergrass in it.".[25] It has since gone gold in the UK. Life on Other Planets was also notable as it was the first Supergrass album to recognise Rob Coombes as an official member. For the band's first three albums, Supergrass officially consisted of Gaz Coombes, Goffey and Quinn although Rob Coombes contributed to many of the band's songs and videos, and toured with them. Tracks recorded before this were often credited to "Supergrass and Rob Coombes". The band followed Life on Other Planets with another extended three-year hiatus, devoted to touring and personal engagements.

In June 2004 the band's record company suggested the band release a singles compilation Supergrass Is 10, spawning two new self-produced tracks: "Kiss of Life" and "Bullet". The companion DVD contained 'Home Movie', a humorous documentary charting the band's first 10 years' achievements, made in collaboration with "Seen the Light" video director Simon Hilton. The record entered the UK albums chart at number four and has since gone gold in the UK.

Recording of their fifth studio album, Road to Rouen, began in France in a studio built by the band in Normandy.[26] Working with French engineer Pierre-Olivier Marger and it represented a significant change in direction and was perceived as a more mature body of work.

"St. Petersburg", the string-laden first single, was released on 8 August 2005. The album followed a week later (released 27 September in North America) and reached No. 9 on the UK chart, going on to achieve silver status in the UK. Opinion at the time was divided, but the album garnered the band many new fans and a measure of creative respect, some even embracing it as "the sound of a band at last hitting their stride".[27]

Second single, "Low C", featured a video by acclaimed "Pumping On Your Stereo" video director Garth Jennings, shot in Weeki Wachee Springs Florida. Third single "Fin", interpreted as a missive to the Coombes brothers' recently deceased mother, received much critical praise, The Guardian[28] referring to it as "so gorgeously light and airy that listening to it is like sleepwalking in space".

The band toured the songs in both acoustic and electric formats with percussionist Satin Singh joining the live band throughout. From August 2005 to September 2006 they performed in Japan, South America, the United States, and Europe, finishing with a memorable gig at the Beijing Pop Festival.

The follow-up album, Diamond Hoo Ha was recorded at Hansa Tonstudio, Berlin, with producer Nick Launay, and mixed at Seedy Underbelly Studios in Los Angeles. The band toured in the summer of 2007, headlining Guilfest, among others, and debuting new material, with the youngest sibling of the Coombes brothers, ex-22-20s keyboardist Charly, on second guitar, percussion and backing vocals.

On 27 September 2007, bassist Mick Quinn sustained a broken heel bone and two spinal fractures in a sleepwalking accident whilst on holiday in France (Quinn sleepwalked out of a first floor window of the villa he was staying at in the South of France.[29]). During his recuperation, Gaz and Danny promoted first single "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men, with a run of small club shows in December and January. To celebrate the single release, Mick Quinn appeared as Diamond Hoo Ha Man "Biff Hymenn" at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London, marking his return to touring duties on 15 January. Charly directed Glange Fever (under pseudonym "Chas Harrison") a rockumentary which followed their exploits.

For a handful of 'full band' Supergrass dates on the Diamond Hoo Ha tour (as opposed to Gaz & Danny as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men duo), Charly Coombes filled in for Mick Quinn on bass while he recovered from his injuries.[30] When Mick recovered & returned to the band, Charly remained with them on second guitar & percussion (as per his work on the record) for the rest of the tour.

In February 2008, the video of their second single "Bad Blood" was released on the band's official web-site, winning Best Rock Video at the UK Music Video Awards, and the single followed on 17 March.

In 2008, Parlophone was taken over by venture capitalist group, Terra Firma, and Supergrass ended their contract with the label. "Rebel In You", final single from the Diamond Hoo Ha album, was released, under licence from Parlophone, on the band's own imprint, 'Supergrass Records'.[31]

The band headlined Wychwood Festival on 30 May and also Sellindge Music Festival (6 June), Provinssirock Festival (13 June) and a short European trek in July at BBK Live (10 July) at Bilbao, Bikini Festival (11 July) in Toulouse, Festival Les Ardentes (12 July[32]) in Liège (Belgium) and Paredes de Coura Festival (30 July) in Portugal. There was also a co-headlining date at 2009's Truck Festival along with Ash, on 25–26 July at Hill Farm in Steventon, Oxfordshire.

On 12 April 2010, the band announced they were to split up after a series of four farewell shows, with their final gig in Paris on 11 June 2010.[33]

At the time of the split, Supergrass were working on their seventh studio album, tentatively titled Release the Drones. In early 2010, the band revealed that the album had been influenced by krautrock bands such as Can, and drone music, and that the members had swapped instruments on several tracks during its recording.[34] Coombes said of the approach to the album: "This record's actually been very collaborative. It's been cool to try something different and chaotic."[35] Coombes stated that the album was "nearly finished", and it was scheduled for release in May.[36] The album remains unfinished and unreleased.[37]

In July 2019, it was reported in the press that the band were to reform and play at Pilton Party on 6 September 2019.[38] On 22 August 2019, the Twitter account Secretglasto posted "We're not going to Grass up the special guest at the Pilton Party, but we're pretty sure they'll be Super."[39] In an interview with The Times, the band confirmed they are not going to be working on new material, with Goffey stating that "the positive vibe of playing together would be compromised by going into a studio for ages" and that "the idea is to play gigs, not create more music".[40] Gaz Coombes told Q that he was prepared to give a year up to perform with Supergrass, but was wary of promising to make new music.[41]

After performing two warm up shows at The Empire in Coventry and the Cheese & Grain in Frome the band embarked on a short European tour visiting France, Belgium and The Netherlands before doing a full UK tour finishing with two sold-out shows at Alexandra Palace, London on 7 March.

The band were due to tour across America and Australia in April and May 2020 as well as festival appearances in Norway, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK (which would have also included their 5th appearance at Glastonbury) but all were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the tour's cancellation, Supergrass still managed to perform a live-streamed gig on 21 August at The Bullingdon in their hometown of Oxford. The show was a collaboration with Goose Island Brewery and served as a launch event for the new Supergrass-inspired beer Man Sized Brew Sir, which was named after the band's song "Mansize Rooster". Ticket proceeds for the event went to the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity and the band's charity of choice, the suicide prevention charity CALM.[42] The band also played a socially-distanced show at the Virgin Money Unity Arena in Newcastle the next day.[43]

On 27 November, Supergrass released Live on Other Planets, a live album consisting of songs recorded at various dates on their recent reunion tour. The album was released to mark the band's 25th anniversary; to capture the reunion gigs and thank the fans who attended; and to support grassroots music venues, with proceeds from the album's sales going to the #SaveOurVenues campaign in aid of venues struggling due to the pandemic.[44]

On September 3, 2022 the band performed a short 3-song set at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium. Gaz Coombes also took lead vocal duties on covers of David Bowie's "Modern Love" (performed with Nile Rodgers) and the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (performed with Foo Fighters alongside Stewart Copeland on drums).[45] Following the performance, Gaz Coombes confirmed on his social media that it was the band's "final Supergrass reunion show". "I want to thank all you [Supergrass] fans for the love and incredible support you've shown us over the last three years," he wrote. "It's been a blast."[46] Shortly thereafter, Coombes announced a return to his solo career.[47]