STEERING A NEW COURSE
GAZ COOMBES HAS MATURED FROM THE SCAMP WITH THE SIDEBURNS IN SUPERGRASS TO THOUGHTFUL SOLO ARTIST. FOR HIS NEW SOLO ALBUM, HE TELLS US WHY HE’S LOOKING FORWARDS, NOT BACKWARDS.
WILL SIMPSON
We’re nearing the end of the year and Gaz Coombes is sat in his home studio clad in a sheepskin coat and beany hat. “There’s no central heating and the electric radiator I use broke the other day,” he shrugs. So he’s had to turn on his valve desk. “That gets really warm and eventually it does get quite toasty in here!”
You might think this is a down-on-hisluck ex-pop star struggling with the cost of living crisis, but Coombes is doing very nicely thank you. Over the last decade he’s managed to develop a solo identity quite separate from the fondlyregarded Britpop band he fronted for nearly two decades. He’s pulled off one of the most difficult tricks in pop – maturing whilst not losing his fanbase and still being recognisably himself. He’s still the scamp with the sideburns. Just a bit more thoughtful and considered. Like we all are (or should be) once we hit our 40s.
Compared to others, his lockdown was relatively stress-free. He even managed to use the time to build this studio. “We did alright,” he smiles. “I was very lucky to have a neighbour who’s a builder. Took 10 weeks and then off I went. So that was a cool use of time. I was very lucky to be able to do that.”
It was in there that the songs that comprise his fourth solo album, Turn The Car Around, began to take shape. “It gave the writing a lot more immediate purpose, being a bespoke place purely to do my work, rather than commandeering a corner of the house to chuck all my gear in and pushing the family out of that bit. I mean, you can record anywhere but it is great to get all of my gear into one place. I come in and feel like, ‘Yes… let’s get on with it.”