Supergrass

Gas Coombs and Danny Goffy (son of renowned journalist Chris Goffy, one of the Top Gear TV shows) studied together at Wheatley, near Oxford. Danny, two years older, initially paid no attention to Gas. Parents of the latter (mother is an English teacher, father is the head of a company engaged in chemical analysis of products) always considered the boy a child prodigy. Father and brother Bobby played the piano well; Gas has been surrounded by records, cassettes, and musical instruments since childhood. He received his first guitar at age 11. By twelve, he already had demo tapes recorded with a friend who played along on his keyboards.

The Jennifers

At the age of thirteen, Gez Coombs refused the services of a keyboard player, and in return he invited a bass player and a drummer - the last was Danny Goffy. Six months later, the trio, calling itself The Jennifers, appeared on the concert venues of Oxford with a repertoire composed of cover versions of The Smiths , The Cure , Dinosaur Jr and one of its own composition. (This song, “You Keep Punching Me,” is still among Ghaz's favorites). The band signed their first contract with Nude Records when Ges was 14 years old. The composition immediately changed: Nick Goffy (Danny's brother) and a very reserved guy named Andy (bass), who later quit music and entered Bristol University, entered here. At this, The Jennifers career ended.

Mickey Quinn, a middle-class native (father is a biologist, mother is a social worker), after leaving school he changed many jobs, traveled a lot, and finally settled in the local Harvester. He spent all his free time in the bedroom, experimenting with a 4-channel tape recorder I borrowed from friends. One day, Gez (brother of Bobby Coombs, whom Mickey was familiar with at school) came to visit him, who after the breakup of The Jennifers rehearsed with another local celebrity, Tara Milton (ex - 5:30 , Nubiles ). Mickey came to the rehearsal and the quartet played several times in jam: Danny Goffy on the drums, Mickey and Gas on the guitars, Tara Milton on bass. Feeling dissonance, Mick, Danny and Gas met a little secretly, without a team leader. During the first jam, a trio of Supergrass arose. ^[four]

Supergrass: 1994-1999

The band released their first single, the autobiographical Caught by the Fuzz (about how Gez was caught with "grass") in the summer of 1994 on Backbeat Records (it was taken from a demo tape recorded for the group by producer Sam Williams).

The first limited edition was sold out immediately, thanks in large part to the support of John Peel on Radio One. Parlophone Records , having signed a contract with the group, re-released the single in the fall of that year, it only climbed to 43rd place, but it received rave reviews from the press (it was announced as “Single of the Week” by NME and Melody Maker at the same time, which was extremely rare in history) , as well as many musicians ( Blur , Elastica ). The second single "Mansize Rooster", released in the spring of 1995, rose to 20th place in Britain, the third, "Lenny" - to 10th ^[2] . The debut album I Should Coco made a splash and talked about Supergrass as the opening of the year.

Something unimaginable is happening at Supergrass concerts. Even veterans of the record business do not recall this. As soon as Gez appears on the stage, the girls begin to scream wildly: probably, even their mothers at the Beatles concerts behaved more restrained. The guys dance the frantic “pogo”, not stopping to rest, even when something starts relatively slow, like the blues-like “Time”. Tickets for all the concerts of the group are sold out in a few hours. But is it any wonder? Indeed, over the past decade and a half in Britain there has not yet been a group that would create music so powerful and talented, manic, sincere, and, most importantly, addressed exclusively to a generation of sixteen. ^[4] . - Ted Kessler, New Musical Express , 1995.

The album immediately rose to the top ten, and after the success of the single “Alright / Time” (# 2 UK Singles Chart) topped the British charts. The group played at several British festivals, and after performing at the Hollywood Rock Festival in Rio in April 1996, met with the legendary robber Ronnie Biggs, who (according to the band members) told them: “I got scared to death when I found out that somewhere nearby Supergrass. " ^{[5] A} photograph of Ronnie and Gas was included in the video for the single “Going Out” of the same year. The single rose in Britain to 5th place ^[2] and sold 100,000 copies.

After taking a short vacation in 1996, Supergrass returned to Sawmills Studios to work (with producer John Kornfield) on the album In It For The Money , which was released in April 1997, was warmly received by critics and later became platinum in Britain. The singles from it were “Richard III” (# 2), “Sun Hits the Sky” (# 10) and “Late In The Day” (# 18) ^[2] .

1999—2010

The group again took a break, after which it returned in 1999 with the single “Pumping on Your Stereo” (1999), followed by the third album Supergrass (1999, in the USA in the spring of 2000). The album, recorded at Sawmills Studios with producer Kornfield, went platinum in the UK and received good reviews, but overall aroused less interest than its predecessors. The singles "Moving" and "Mary" also had moderate success.

After three years of relative lull, the group returned with the fourth album Life on Other Planets (September 2002): it reached 9th place on the lists and subsequently became "gold" in Britain. Here, for the first time, Rob Coombs was listed as an official member of Supergrass. The group spent the next three years on tour. In 2004, Supergrass Is 10 was released , dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the formation of the group: it rose to 4th place in Britain.

To work on the fifth album, the group created its own studio in France, but was forced to interrupt work several times (in connection with the death of the mother of the Coombes brothers). Road to Rouen came out in August 2005 and rose to 9th place in Britain (subsequently receiving silver status). The singles from the album came “St. Petersburg ”(# 22 UK)“ Low C ”and“ Fin ”, not included in the Top 40. The group conducted world tours, having visited Japan, South America, USA and Europe.

The sixth album Diamond Hoo Ha was recorded from January to November 2007 in Berlin and New York. In the midst of working on it, bassist Mick Quinn (suffering from sleepwalking) ended up in the hospital after falling out of a window at night, breaking his vertebra and crushing his heel. The album was released in March 2008, with singles - “Diamond Hoo Ha Man” and “Bad Blood”.

On April 13, 2010, the band officially announced their breakup. “Thanks to all those who supported us over these long years,” say lead singer Gas Coombs, bassist Mick Quinn, drummer Danny Goffrey and keyboardist Rob Coombs. - We continue to be great friends, but - no matter how trite it may sound - musical differences force us to disperse. And we sincerely wish each other success in all endeavors. " It is reported that at the end of the tour, Goffrey and Gas Coombs will focus on the new The Hotrats project. Before the disbandment, the group held a farewell mini-tour of Europe, consisting of four dates. The musicians played in Glasgow, Manchester and London and ended the tour with a concert on June 11 in Paris. ^[6]

Albums

• I Should Coco - (1995, # 1 UK)
• In It for the Money (1997, # 2 UK)
• Supergrass - (1999, # 3 UK)
• Life on Other Planets (2002, # 9 UK, # 195 US)
• Road to Rouen - (2005, # 9 UK)
• Diamond Hoo Ha - (2008, # 19 UK)

Collections

• Supergrass Is 10 (2004) # 4 UK

Singles

• “ Caught By The Fuzz ” (1994, # 43)
• "Mansize Rooster" (1995, # 20)
• "Lose It" (1995, # 75)
• "Lenny" (1995, # 10)
• "Alright / Time" (1995, # 2)
• “Going Out” (1996, # 5)
• "Richard III" (1997, # 2)
• "Sun Hits the Sky" (1997, # 10)
• "Late in the Day" (1997, # 18)

• The candyskins

• Official site
• Trouser Press: Supergrass