Graham Coxon Out Of Blur: "Oh That's So Muso-ey!"
Something it's probably worth pointing out, for ChartBlog newbies, is that we don't really do interviews about the technical aspects of making music - y'know, where inspiration for songs comes from, what instrument gets used for which song, stuff like that.
There's a number of reasons for this, the most pressing of which is that it's a fairly common line of enquiry, and so all you're ever really doing is tapping into a well-worn stream of anecdotes which most fans have already read, and most artists are tired of trotting out.
The other main reason is, it's not as much fun as just having a nice chat with someone.
Of course, if you're having a nice chat with someone and the conversation turns naturally to, say, unusual instruments of the world, and the person you're talking to is someone as interesting as Graham Coxon, the Blur guitarist who is just as much at home making a skronky pop noise as a pretty folk doodle, well that's alright too.
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ChartBlog: Hello Graham, how're you doing?
Graham: Hello, wotcha, sorry...
ChartBlog: Whereabouts in the world are you right now?
Graham: I'm in Kent. I'm just building a big fire. In the garden. In the garden of England in the garden.
ChartBlog: You're quite a busy man at the moment, aren't you?
Graham: I think so. Everything is kind of busy. Domestically it's busy, in my brain it's busy and professionally and physically it's all busy.
ChartBlog: In one year you've managed to do the Blur reunion tour, the Pete Doherty album, a whole solo album on your own, learned a new technique for playing the guitar...
Graham: Yeah! It's not bad, yeah. I kicked off the year touring with Peter, after the recording and things like that. Then my own record came out, which was the fruition - one might call it - of a few years learning to play the acoustic guitar in a decent way instead of just strumming like a moron. So it was quite a test.
ChartBlog: It's always nice to set yourself challenges, isn't it?
Graham: I think so. I either go to other instruments and play them pretty badly or I try and further my self-education at playing the guitar. I know a lot of people love me to just get on the old electric but I really, just for myself, just wanted to expore the acoustic-y, jazzy, folky, bluesy, cosmic, psychedelic kinda folky worlds.
ChartBlog: It's definitely one half of your solo career isn't it? New wave pop on one hand, odd folky stuff on the other..
Graham: A lot of my solo albums come from sitting on the sofa. I don't know many people who sit on their sofa playing electric guitar through loads of distortion units while they're watching the news.
ChartBlog: And now you've brought dilruba players into your live band...
Graham: Yeah! Well the album has and the big, big brother of them both, , which is like a really big one, shaped like a peacock, and it's a really cool instrument. That's on the album, so I wanted to bring a dilruba player for the gigs later in the year. I wanted to expand the group and bring lots of different elements in.
ChartBlog: It's a beautiful sound...
Graham: Yeah, it comes with its own sort of reverb effect, it's a pretty lively instrument. It has a great, sort of mournful, singing sound. I like the way the notes slide into each other, rather than really differentiating between notes. Oh, that's so muso-ey!
ChartBlog: Where are you going next with unusual instrumentation? Are you a secret dulcimer player?
Graham: Well I've always mucked around with banjos and things, but that's a very distinct American sound. What I like about dilrubas, and the Morrocan and Iranian oud - the oud is pretty good - I like these sounds that culturally belong in Britain as well as their native countries. I think these are folk instruments of different countries, but they're also instruments of this country if well all live under the same umbrella.
ChartBlog: So, while you're encouraging British culture to experience itself from different angles in a reaching out, huggy sort of way, you're also touring with your old friends in Blur and building bridges there. Has it been emotional?
Graham: Yeah it was. It was really, really great. I don't think we expected it to be so ace. So many people seemed to have enjoyed it. And the set took us through really childish songs, really emotionally heavy songs, and right up to songs that I didn't even play on. Which actually have quite a Morrocan influence as well, so it joined up in the end, in a way.
ChartBlog: What's the best bit? I'd imagine the guitar solo in 'This Is A Low' has to be a highpoint...[thinks]... You're very good at the guitar, aren't you?
Graham: I'm quite good at playing that solo, but I have played it quite a lot! [laughs] I've been playing it for years, and it is one of my favourite moments. I suppose it's one of my most heroic moments in any Blur set. It's just lovely to play cos I know it means a lot to fans, that little bit.
THE END
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Graham's new single 'The Storm' / 'Dead Bees' is out now. ...
And 91Èȱ¬ Music form...
Comment number 1.
At 6th Oct 2009, mike_duke wrote:Nice interview, but a confusing title, I took it a little literal and thought you had broken the news that Graham had left Blur.
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Comment number 2.
At 6th Oct 2009, BloggingLiam wrote:More interviews please! Me like.
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Comment number 3.
At 6th Oct 2009, clarkesharp wrote:I'd always thought that Graham Coxon, being the guitar hero that he is, definitely one of my personal guitar idols, would have just had a kind of innate power of being able to do all the guitar techniques off the cuff. But it comes as a surprise that he had to go and take time out learn the new one he does on this new album. I think if I remember rightly that it's the fingerpickin' that Dylan does on stuff llike "The Freewheelin'...".
I had to learn to do that one too. Took about 3 months to get it right.
It's encouraging to know that maybe if I worked hard enough I could become one day as good as him like on his electric. BUT THAT BLOODY "There's No Other Way" IS SO HARD TO GET RIGHT!!
May I suggest Mark Kozelek and his band Sun Kil Moon to other guitarist's lookin for new tricks.
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