Coxon's guitar heroes

Graham reveals which musicians provided inspiration for his career

31 July 2009 - Graham Coxon's been a busy man of late with a string of Blur reunion gigs and solo shows in support of his latest effort, The Spinning Top.

On the latest album he chose to play an acoustic guitar, with a "picking" technique, which marked a transition from his earlier electric riffs.

Coxon initially played the drums, then the saxophone, but as he hit his teens began to hone his guitar skills, which have made an impression on many a Blur fan as well as his dedicated solo following.

6 Music’s Matt Everitt of the Music Week caught up with Coxon to find out which musicians played a role in shaping his musical style.

You’ve compiled a list of the key guitarists that’ve inspired you. The first is Paul Weller. Was he a very early influence?

Paul was definitely inspiring for me picking up a guitar in the first place. I think I picked up a guitar to play Aunties and Uncles, which is a Jam b-side, quite an early one. It’s ever so simple but I couldn’t stop then, so I was trying to learn all of The Jam stuff really. I was about 13.

Was seeing Weller perform part of the appeal?

Yeah, I think there’s a good attitude on stage with Paul. He still has a great attitude. He’s a really great performer, energetic and passionate. I still find myself doing Weller-isms when I’m playing the electric guitar, the left leg flicking backwards and forwards.

We did a Jonathan Ross together not long ago for that single we made together [This Old Town] and looking back on the footage we’re both doing this thing with our left leg. It’s quite funny.

There’s obviously a direct lineage between Paul Weller and Pete Townsend?

Well Pete’s another person whose attitude on stage was amazing. He took flight, with Les Pauls. Pete Townsend was really stylish. He’s just an amazing looking person. No one looks like him.

He’s got that really good, aggressive style, fantastic rhythm playing and his acoustic playing is fantastic as well.

He did this thing of letting a guitar really wail and do its own thing while he chucked it around a bit. Him and Keith Moon, I was pretty obsessed with those two while growing up.

Next on the list is J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr.

I mentioned J [Mascis] just because of his amazing solos. The way he launches into these solos - they are absolutely perverse - and because of his effects, his use of flange and wah-wah.

It’s surprising, insane, psychedelic stuff. He has a peculiar outlook on life, and lyrics, and his songs are about caterpillars and bugs and things, but it turns your brain purple his guitar stuff. It’s lovely playing.

You’re seen as a great player of the pedals and of the effects. Was Mascis responsible for that?

Yeah, I think he probably was. I think I ended up getting lots of pedals because I’d end up using effects in the studio and then have to replicate it live. I’ve got into guitar synthesisers recently. They make some pretty weird noises.

You’ve finished with someone who probably directly influenced your most recent album more than anybody else on that list, folk singer and guitarist Martin Carthy. This is a totally different style of guitarist to the ones we’ve been talking about.

He’s a great re-interpreter of traditional songs. He has this beautiful hard picking style on the bass which he dampens quite heftily. He’s perhaps not underrated, but just overlooked by a lot of people who are more into rock and pop. There’s an album called Right Of Passage which I listen to a lot.

What’s been your finest moment playing the guitar with Blur?

I’m always fond of This Is A Low. I like the record and I like playing it live. I never get bored of playing that. It’s that moment when the solo comes and I always get a great big cheer after the solo dies and it goes quiet, and that’s just a lovely feeling. It’s big, the semi-acoustic turned right up with tonnes of distortion on it, and it’s just a dream to do that really.

Tune into the Music Week with Julie Cullen and Matt Everitt on Sunday 2 August from 1pm GMT to hear the full interview.

Georgie Rogers