Supergrass new album

The Oxford lads bounce back

23 Jan 08 - Despite recent life threatening accidents, Supergrass' new album, Diamond Hoo Ha, will be released on 24 March.

The band have also confirmed details of a four date mini tour. This comes after bassist Mick Quinn broke his back after trying to find a toilet, in a freak sleep-walking accident last year. Their upcoming four date mini tour (which starts on March 11 in Edinburgh) will be their first shows with Quinn in 2008.

The album was recorded in Berlin at the legendary Hansa studios - where David Bowie did much of his classic work in the '70s. Gaz told 6 Music that the change of scene made a real difference to the sound of the album: "We had a really exciting time in a really vibrant city. That’s what the record's like, the record is really inspired by our time there, and the fact that we are feeling really together and are really excited to be in a band, it feels really fresh."

"We were pumping everything up loud and playing fast" - Gaz

Although Supergrass' last album Road to Rouen was an understated acoustic piece of work, Gaz reckons their new record is a much rowdier affair: "Just playing things differently and approaching the songs differently on this one. When we started writing we were kind of pumping everything up loud and playing fast. It's always in us anyway, it's what our live shows are like!"

Despite the album's Germanic backdrop, it was a 2007 trip to Beijing that inspired one of the new songs on the record, Whisky And Green Tea. "We went to weird places and this kind of crazy karaoke bar and we were plied with various drinks." Gaz explained, "Whiskey and green tea was one of them. It's kind of good for you but really bad for you at the same time. We just had a few mental nights which were very strange. The culture was so bizarre that it just kind of stuck with us."


Kelly Stooke