The Alphabeta Band
What’s in a name? Rodger Evans digs deeper and gives a literary guide to Oxford’s favourite sons.
is for Simian Gaz's fuzzy features have been compared to those of Monkey, eponymous star of the early 80$ kung fu drama. Just don't remind him of that line from Planet Of The Apes when Charlton Heston says: ‘Get your stinking paws off me. you damned dirty ape!’
I is for Untitled
. Their last record. subsequently dubbed The X-Flay Album. was the LP with no name. They couldn't decide between Electn'c Ladyboy or Birdy Numb Numb apparently.
it ~33 is for Panto Calvin Klein offered Gaz an advertising contract. la for Eileen Gaz's Mum whose 50th birthday bash was not livened up by adding LSD to the punch. No. that was Danny's parents' wedding anniversary. is for Honors and Riulas «Till ‘Caught By The Fuzz' (while he was still on a buzz) - finest debut single since ‘Teenage Kicks'.
, is for Gotcha!
The Sun once reported a strange case of mistaken identity with a certain other mono-browed pop star. “The tramp, wrapped in a sleeping bag, spotted pregnant Patsy and Supertramp's (sic) Danny Goffey leaving London’s trendy Nobu restaurant. He followed them and shouted at a bemused Danny: “Just a few pence. Noel. you've got millions!“ is for Radiohoad and Ride
El Da Grass have gigged with both fellow Oxfordians. :r is for ‘Alright’ Their biggest hit to date — in the spirit of what Jonathan Richman calls ‘That Summer Feeling'. Is for Stainaa, Massive
. '1 Ali G got jiggy with Gaz. remixing “Sun Hits The Sky' junglist stylee.
is for Smith, Robert Hero of the band (and nemesis of South Park's Mecha-Streisand). The Cure’s Fat Bob didn't even ‘roshambo' the boys when they met at the Roskilde Festival in 1995.
Now. put it all together and what have you got? And just be grateful they chose to ditch ‘Theodore' from the original name . . .
10 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 16-22 Aug 2001
Thevaaenhspiedtx/ 'Theahhnspeka but lheytelxaitaggka inockehs'iheyene
SUPERGRASS enleheyrerrmxe
Words: Rodger Evans
hey are justified. certainly. ancient —
I far from it. and as for moo moo . . .
Theodore Supergrass played their
first gig to a herd of cows. Gaz Coombes wore a parka. Well. they were Friesian.
Nobody knows what became of Theodore (conspiracy theorists claim he joined the Moo-nies) but within eighteen months Supergrass were playing the Albert Hall. schmoozing with Stephen Spielberg. and celebrating a number one with their debut LP I Should Coco.
‘I was fifteen or sixteen.” recalls Coombes about the early days. ‘Mick [bass player and elder statesman of the three piece] had just played me The Buzzcocks . . . but I also remember hearing The Muppets record for the first time.’
thahjuslalkyn.
uzzy
they unapologetically are. Supergrass are the coolest clique. The gang you want to be in. The gag you want to be in on.
So, if you weren’t in Da Grass. Gaz. what band would you want to be in? (OK. it's a pretty dumb question. but through foolishness comes enlightenment. Who said that?)
‘I dunno. Hard one. Chaz and Dave maybe. Or the Hendrix Experience. But you’d have to be really shit hot.’
Squeeze me while I kiss the pie? ‘The last album pisses me off a bit.’ he says. clearly unwilling to engage in any Jimi H. punnery. ‘It was a bit of an underachiever sorta record. I think we want to let a bit more energy out with the next one.’
More Buzzcocks than
Please note that it‘s The iweire capab|e Pink Floyd? ‘Yeah.
Muppets. to which Gaz
refers. not Sesame Street or Of wr'tlng
basically. We’re capable of writing really complicated.
Fraggle Rock. That’s complicated intense songs. but
important. Somehow. Since the band blew SOHQS, bllt
into the
public consciousness in sometimes 1995 with their effervescent you want to make real
brand of teenage power- pop-space-punk-spliff-rock.
sometimes you want to make real rocking music. the sort of thing that just makes you want to jump up and down.’
I point out that he once
they've been labelled as rocking music’ picked a Bob Marley LP.
cartoon cheeky chappies.
‘I don’t really give a shit.’ says Coombes. He sounds a bit hurt. mind. ‘The thing is that I know we’ve always been exactly how we are in our style and our humour and our attitude. So if people want to take the piss then that’s fine. You’re kinda saying we’re personally idiots. not knocking the band.’
Guilty of neither. Mr Coombes. But it's easily understood why journalists love hanging out with this band. if only for a few hours of drinking/smoking/gassing. Because like Oasis before everyone left or Travis as
Exodus. as a favourite
record. because it made him smile. A fine philosophy. ‘That's the way our new stuff is going.‘ he says. ‘It's a real up vibe without being all poppy and spazzy. We want to keep it raw and natural. After a lot of touring. you tend to get sort of numb. but we’ve got back into a really good frame of mind. We're enjoying ourselves.‘
Cowabunga.
Supergrass play the Corn Exchange as part of T on the Fringe on Thu 23 Aug. A new album ls due in the autumn.