Graham Coxon I Can't Look At Your Skin/What He's Got
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Graham Coxon You & I
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Graham Coxon You And I
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Graham Coxon Standing On My Own Again
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Graham Coxon Freakin Out
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Graham Coxon Freakin' Out live @ Selectadisc
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First things first, let’s put the Blur reunion tittle tattle to bed, shall we?
‘I don’t want to be back in the group,’ says Graham Coxon, almost two years on from his split with Damon, Alex and Dave. ‘I think that would be the worst thing for me. That’s nothing against them - it’s not personal - but I feel a huge weight lifted and I just don’t think there’s any need to go back. There would be no point. I’m in a new phase now.’
That new phase has involved Coxon spending bundles of quality time with his 3 year-old daughter Pepper (‘If I’d still been in Blur my relationship with her wouldn’t be anything like as good’). It’s involved the two-time Priory resident going without a drink since 2002 (these days a Camden coffee shop is his local). And it’s involved him channelling his enormous musical ability into making his fifth – and most accomplished - solo album.
Really, it’s an absolute belter. Where Coxon’s other albums, though often brilliant, could be deliberately rough around the edges, shyly hiding their charms beneath scratchy self-production, rushed recording sessions and take-it-as-it-comes playing, ‘Happiness In Magazines’ sees Coxon puffing out his creative chest and stepping firmly into the limelight.
‘I made a conscious decision that as I’m not in a group anymore, I really have to shit or get off the pan,’ he explains. ‘I have to stand by my stuff, be unapologetic about myself and do it properly. Do singles, even try doing videos. Because I thought one day I might look back and regret not giving it a good go.’
So give it a good go he has. Coxon’s knowing working title of ‘No More Mr Lo-fi’ says it all. Fans of his four previous solo albums will recognise the range of influences from trad folk to Fugazi, the ever-inventive guitar playing and the skewed lyrical introspection. But this time it’s fuller and better realised, brighter and bolder.
‘I’d just say it was recorded more carefully,’ smiles Coxon. ‘The songs were saying, “Record us properly Graham for God’s sake. Not like you did with those other songs where the vocal was fucking iffy and it will torture you for the rest of your life. Do us properly please.”’
And when the songs speak, Coxon listens. After a chance meeting at a gig, he handed production duties to Stephen Street – who’d taken the helm for the first five Blur albums. ‘That was a major change for me,’ admits Coxon, ‘it meant relinquishing the white knuckle control of what I do.’
As well as the overall sound of the record, Street’s influence had a big impact on Coxon’s vocals. ‘I’ve always really liked singing, I’ve just never really had the confidence to let go. But I wasn’t as shy in front of Stephen and, anyway, I knew he wouldn’t let me get away with sloppyness. And that’s why I think the vocal performances on this record are among the best I’ve ever done.’
They are. And the same can be said for the songs. Whether it be the rollickingly goofy adoration of opener ‘Spectacular’, the tragi-comedy tumble of ‘Bitter Sweet Bundle Of Misery’, the release of pressure cooker frustration that is first single ‘Freakin Out’ or the lush, sweeping loneliness of ‘Are You Ready’, the scope and sheer hummability of the tunes coupled with the incisive wit and soul-baring honesty of the words prove that, when he puts his mind to it, Graham Coxon is one helluva songwriter.
‘I suppose my reference CDs for this album were Ennio Morricone, Scott Walker, The Ruts, The Cars, Split Enz and people like that,’ says Coxon of the record’s sonic inspirations. ‘I’ve always had great affection for the music of the late-’70s. Even Wings actually. Surprisingly enough me and Stephen had an evening listening to ‘Band On The Run’, which I hadn’t heard since I was a kid. And it’s fantastic! I found myself saying to Matt from The Beatings, ‘Jesus man, you really have to listen to “Band On The Run”! So I suppose that must’ve rubbed off a bit too.’
The rifftastic vibe also owes something to the fact this is the first time Coxon has written his songs on an electric guitar rather than his acoustic. ‘So the dynamic was instantly more towards going chug-chug-chug rather than pick-pick-pick,’ he explains. (Having said that, describing Coxon’s guitar playing as chug-chug-chug is a bit like saying De Vinci was just a brush-brush-brush kind of painter.)
With radio freakin’ out over ‘Freakin Out’ the early signs are that ‘Happiness In Magazines’ will take Coxon far beyond the audience of his previous solo albums. ‘I do want it to have success,’ he admits. ‘And I want to play live to people – not lots of people – but I feel more ready to do that than I have for years and years.’
If you’re getting the impression that after a decade or ups and downs, things are really coming together for Graham Coxon, the man and the musician, then you’re on the right track. A content life. A settled mind. And a cracking album. It’s all looking good.
‘I really am out of the estuary and out into the middle of nowhere,’ says Coxon. ‘Like anyone, I still have frustrations late at night. But life feels very worthwhile at the moment.’
GRAHAM’S ‘HAPPINESS IN MAGAZINES’ TRACK BY TRACK
1. Spectacular ‘That’s about seeing a picture of Shannyn Sossamon on the computer and just thinking, “Good God what a beautiful woman!” And that’s it. I suppose sonically it’s a swampy, clangy maraca-driven frustrated sort of song of admiration. But I’m not a stalker.’
2. No Good Time ‘It’s about being at a party feeling extremely out of place, seeing people sinking into the ground via nostrils and powder basically. I was socialising inadequately at the time. I’m very fond of the guitar solo in that song. And I was very pleased with the sneering comments about Hoxton culture. But it’s not meant to be taken too seriously.’
3. Girl Done Gone ‘It was pure fantasy. I was pretending that I had a girlfriend who was chucking me. I wasn’t really going out, so I did have to fantasise at that point - but no one can forget how it feels to be dumped. The outro instrumental on that made me very happy to have made it.’
4. Bitter Sweet Bundle Of Misery ‘ I think it’s just got an old 70s electric folk sort of rhythm to it. I do like that rhythm. The song’s a tragic-comedy, I’m very fond of it. I’m lying there either feeling hungry or randy. I’m not sure which. Probably a bit of both.’
5. All Over Me ' It's about a few sensory obsessions I have. I was always rather prone to fainting when I experienced more than a little excitement or pain, rather like a narcoleptic, when I was younger. This scared me, but also fascinated me....that feeling of the void. So I mixed my liking of showers, bed sheets, the colour of blood and the comfort of being held by a girl with that'.
6. Freakin’ Out ‘It’s about feeling the helplessness of wanting to do stuff, like play rock ‘n’ roll to people but not being able to do it quite yet and being slightly scornful of those people that are doing it at the moment and thinking, well I wanna play to people but there’s nothing going on now and I’ve gotta sit at home and write songs and it’s driving me fucking mad, so I’m watching TV.’
7. People Of The Earth ‘This is someone sitting up there and seeing all the problems on earth and they’re going, I’m gonna fuckin destroy you cos you’re a load of stupid twats, you earthlings. And I guess it’s Londo-centric. London can turn you into a paranoid lunatic who thinks the world is evil!’
8. Hopeless Friend ‘It’s kind of 60s with a slightly baggy groove in the middle. It’s about young people – drawing on me own experiences of being young when you’ve got that energy that can get you through anything. There’s something magic about that kind of hunger.’
9. Are You Ready ‘That’s kind of Scott and Ennio mixed together. It’s about the idea of coping with loneliness. It’s not a happy song, but it is true. I guess quite a lot of sad things are true. I’m not as damning now as when I wrote that. I do always believe in love. You’ve gotta really. Otherwise what’s the fucking point?’
10. Bottom Bunk ‘That’s a fantasy about having a holiday. I know the lyrics are a bit crude, but it’s the truth. I wanted to give that feeling of being on the beach with your Tia Maria trying to have a nice time in the sun but you’re getting hassled from this girl you’re with. So I just put it into that beachy Camden calypso setting.’
11. Don’t Be A Stranger ‘I imagine this one to be some sort of strange situation with flat mates where one of them is just appalled by the other’s behaviour. He’s obviously some insane drug-addled lunatic and it’s the idea that living with people like that you don’t know what the hell you’re gonna come across the next morning.’
12. Ribbons and Leaves ‘I suppose this is memories of going through my Grandad’s house after he died. I remember I got his tin hat from the war and I got to think about soldiers. I think soldiers get a bad rap. So it’s just about the aftermath of some sort of life that seems puny when it’s gone but meant a lot while it was there. It ends the album because I couldn’t really imagine going from that to another song. But it’s kind of positive in a very sad way. And it really did help support my love of life.’
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Rock On Coxon!
