Supergrass biography

Debut single 'Caught By The Fuzz', a suitably naughty-but-nice tale (possibl autobiographical, too) about a scared young man picked up by the rozzers with some blow in his possession, was released on the small indie imprint Backbeat in 1994, and gained valuable airplay (from John Peel no less) and word-of mouth notoriety. (Younger readers should note that this was back in the days before Myspace and Youtube, back when things like radio play mattered - also, you could still buy stuff on vinyl. And 'Wagon Wheels' were bigger, and it was all fields around here, and the policemen weren't all younger than me...)

The timing of the band's arrival on the music scene really couldn't have been better, as their jaunty, upbeat style sat perfectly with the pervading optimism of the Britpop scene. Supergrass signed to Parlophone, who sagely re-released 'Caught By The Fuzz', which got to number 43 in the UK charts. Second single 'Mansize Rooster' did even better, reaching the number 20 spot, and 'Lenny' was their first top ten release, in the late spring of 1995.

First album 'I Should Coco' was released around the same time, and subsequent single 'Alright/Time' became the crowning glory of their early sales, entering at number one and consolidating their earlier singles successes. It reached number two, enjoyed massive airplay, and was a key factor in the sales of the album too.

Furthermore, the bright, sunny 'Alright', and next single 'Going Out' seemed made for the summer festival scene - as were Supergrass themselves. That the band were (and are) a formidable live outfit helped them no end, as a year and a half of touring ensued, taking in festival spots at T in the Park and Glastonbury.

Such was the feel-good factor surrounding the trio, it was widely reported that none other than Steven Spielberg had approached them, excited by the post-Coco buzz, with a view to making a 'Monkees'-style TV show featuring the band. They turned him down (can you imagine: you're in your early twenties, you have had one album out, Spielberg comes knocking, and you turn him down?...), preferring to concentrate on the music. It's good that they did - rather than sully the career that was to come with a TV project that could easily have flopped miserably, they relied on their considerable musical talents, as much as their evident charm, to further their popularity. Perhaps they also felt that as a talented band in their own right, to be compared to the Monkees, renowned for not writing their own songs and only performing bits of them, was not an option they should even vaguely entertain.

Second album 'In It For the Money', released in 1997, was more than just a clever, ironic title. Supergrass achieved that rare feat of both offering something new and fresh and yet not letting go of the very elements that had made them such a rapid success in the first place. The album showcased their musical dexterity just as much as 'I Should Coco', but along with the energetic, upbeat, rawer stuff (such as 'Richard III') they added the counterbalancing pensive work, such as the dreamy, wistful 'Late in the Day'.

Hit single 'Pumping on Your Stereo' was released in 1999, following a short break for the band, and was as memorable for the Henson-muppet video (in which the band played up their fun image to the hilt), as for its summery, catchy-as-you-like riff. That same year also saw the arrival of their third album, entitled simply 'Supergrass', but known to many as 'The X-Ray Album', as it featured a cover shot of the band as X-ray images. The album was something of a hotch-potch, and for every sliver of pop gold (such as the beautifully-harmonied 'Moving', another top ten single) there was the odd track that left the listener wondering why they weren't a bit more consistent, as they had been on previous albums. Despite second single 'Mary' also charting well, the group took a break from recording until well after the turn of the millennium.

'Life On Other Planets' came out in 2002, and it defied their lengthy break from the scene to chart well and produce yet more hits. It was also something of a return to form for the group, with Gaz's vocals on tracks like 'Seen the Light' evoking the spirits of both Marc Bolan and Elvis Presley in equal measure (well...he does an Elvis-esque 'thangyooverymuch...' at one point, anyway). Though the record did not manage to break America, the general critical response both there and in the UK was favourable. Also notable was that for the first time, Rob Coombes's sterling work on the keyboards had finally led him to be named as an 'official' member - only fair, really, as he had provided the piano/Hammond parts so integral to some of the band's biggest hits, such as 'Alright' and 'Going Out'.

After a greatest hits compilation came out to commemorate a decade in the business for the band - entitled 'Supergrass is 10', and featuring some evocative cover art of various studenty badges and pins - they decided to leave Sawmill studios, where their previous albums had been laid down, to record their next LP in the French countryside. The resulting album, 'Road to Rouen' was a moodier affair, no surprise at all given that the Coombes brothers had lost their mother during its recording. The album reached number nine in the UK charts, but failed to yield any major single successes - the highest chart position being 22, for the melancholy 'St Petersburg'.

However, next album 'Diamond Hoo Ha' is slated for release in March 2008, and the early signs are that some of the band's joie-de-vivre has returned. First single 'Diamond Hoo Ha Man', first released as a free download from the band's MySpace page (alright, they may be retro and all that, but look, they can move with the times too), has hints of the guitar heavy riffology that has proved so successful recently for acts such as the White Stripes, and Supergrass are enjoying some radio play again. Even Mick Quinn suffering a broken heel and a damaged spine after a fall has not dampened the band's enthusiasm - filling in for Quinn, the third Coombes sibling Charly provided synth bass for several brief live appearances in the winter of 2007, to showcase the new material.

• Supergrass Discography