Gaz Coombes
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| Gaz Coombes | |
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 Gaz Coombes performing with Supergrass in London, 2008.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gareth Michael Coombes |
| Born | 8 March 1976 Oxford, England |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock, Britpop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar, keyboards |
| Years active | 1991-present |
| Label(s) | Parlophone, Capitol |
| Associated acts | The Jennifers Supergrass Diamond Hoo Ha Men |
| Website | www.supergrass.com |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Burns Custom Legend Fender Telecaster Custom Fender Telecaster Deluxe Gibson ES-335 Gibson SG |
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Gaz Coombes (born Gareth Michael Coombes, 8 March 1976 in Oxford) is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the English alternative rock band, Supergrass. He first entered the music scene aged sixteen as the lead singer of the band The Jennifers which featured current Supergrass band mate Danny Goffey. Gaz was soon noticeable for his large sideburns during the 1990's.
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[edit] 1991–1993: The Jennifers
He first entered the music world at age sixteen as the lead singer of the band The Jennifers. The band undertook a nationwide tour before Coombes was fifteen. When they signed for their first recording contract with Nude Records, Coombes, who was under 18 at the time, had to have his mother sign the contract for him.[1]
"There were a couple of ridiculous, punky, joke songs - "Harvey The Accountant" and "The Girl With The Removable Face". That one went: "The girl with the removable face/She didn't have much of a life/All the boys used to pull it off/And use it as a frisbee." Most of them were in that vein. Actually, we haven't changed much." says Gaz about some Jennifers penned songs.[2]
They released "Just Got Back Today" on Nude Records in 1992 before they disbanded.
After the mild success experienced by The Jennifers, Goffey and Coombes shared a house on Cowley Road together, and Gaz got a job at the local Harvester. Gaz would take old Jennifer's demos and play them over the restaurant's PA system before it opened, and this eventually led to him meeting Mick Quinn, a co-worker who played bass guitar and shared some of his musical tastes. The three of them then began to practise at Mick's house, and of course Supergrass was formed.[3]
[edit] 1993–present: Supergrass
In 1993 after The Jennifers disbanded, Gaz, Danny Goffey and Mick Quinn formed Supergrass. In 2002 Gaz' brother keyboardist Rob Coombers officially joined the band. Before that he was employed as a session and touring musician. The band have released six studio albums each of them entering the top 20: I Should Coco (1995), In It for the Money (1997), Supergrass (1999), Life on Other Planets (2002), Road to Rouen (2005) and Diamond Hoo Ha (2008). They have also released a token singles compilation Supergrass is 10 (2004), commemorating the first decade of the band's life.
Gaz Coombes appeared on The Annex on 2fm with Jenny Huston alongside Danny Goffey before Supergrass took the stage at Malahide Castle in Dublin, Ireland to support Arctic Monkeys on 16 June 2007.
During the height of Supergrass' fame around 1995, Gaz received offers from "Vogue" and most notably, "Calvin Klein",[4] to model for them in their ad campaigns and magazine publications. As well as this was the offer from Steven Spielberg to make a Monkees style TV show of the band. Coombes however, along with the rest of the band, declined these offers, saying; "Yes, we probably would have been face down in a pool if we'd said yes to all that. I mean, our heads would have returned to our shoulders at some point, but... it felt like cheating. Too easy. Short cut. Y'know? If you have to do all that to be the biggest band in the world then... then what does that say about your music? And all that... [the publicity offers] would have just got in the way of the music. It would have taken so long to get to grips with. We'd have lost years."[5]
In 1999, Gaz Coombes made an appearance on the "Da Ali G Show" and played the Supergrass song "Sun Hits the Sky", whilst having to deal with Ali G 'remixing' it as he performed. "I tried to take the mickey out of his goatee, and he came back with: "So, you are looking like a monkey..." But if you go on his show, you know what you're letting yourself in for." He said about the experience.[6]
[edit] Personal life
Gaz Coombes was the son of Eileen and John Coombes- his father was a food scientist, who enjoyed playing Jazz piano[7], and his mother an English teacher.[8] Both his parents were practicing Catholics and would regularly take the young Gaz to mass. Coombes himself however, no longer practices this religion, claiming; "I last prayed in 1986. It was the World Cup, England versus Germany, and I prayed we'd win. When we lost, I thought, 'If you can't even manage that...'" Although he was born in England, he lived with his family in San Francisco from around the age of five up until the age of nine, at which point in 1985 they returned to his birth place in Oxford, London.[9][10]
Coombes played Classical piano at this age, but gradually moved on to an interest in playing guitar. He began to attend Wheatley Comprehensive, but found himself being picked on for being 'girly'. Gaz's elder brother Rob was friends with Nic Goffey at the time, and one day on the school's playing fields a thirteen year old Gaz met and befriended Nic's younger brother, fifteen year old Danny Goffey. Danny was two years older than Gaz and helped to "protect him" from being teased. Goffey recounts what happened; "I mean, you couldn't fucking miss him. He was gorgeous. He grew sideburns and they [other pupils] gave him loads of shit, but I was really into him. I think I fancied him a bit, y'know? He's really beautiful. He wasn't very mature at that age. He was like a kid. I just went up to him and asked him to form a band. I could. I was a drummer. The tallest drummer in the school."[11]
Coombes originally lived in a Regency townhouse in Brighton with his wife Jools and their daughter, Raya May (b. 2003) which he first purchased in 1999.[12] [13] Due to the death of his mother, Eileen, in 2005, he felt compelled to move back into her house in Oxford during 2006, where he had grown up.[14][15] Coombes and his wife are now expecting a second child.[16] Gaz Coombes also owns a converted barn in Northern France, which is where the Supergrass album Road To Rouen was recorded.[17]
He has three other siblings are all involved somewhat in music: the eldest is the keyboardist and fellow Supergrass member Rob, former 22-20s keyboardist Charly and Paris based Ed (who also plays piano).[18]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ 'Peter Blake meets Danny Goffey' | OMM | The Observer | 23 May 2004
- ^ Galpin, Richard 'Gaz Coombes' | FHM | September 1999
- ^ 'People Who Live In Glass Houses' | Select Magazine | October 1999
- ^ Maconie, Stuart 'Hey! Hey! We're The Cheeky Monkeys!' | Q Magazine | October 1995
- ^ 'People Who Live In Glass Houses' | Select Magazine | October 1999
- ^ Galpin, Richard 'Gaz Coombes' | FHM | September 1999
- ^ Milligan, Nick 'Supergrass - Stepping Out' | I'm With the Band | Reverb Magazine | 4 April 2008
- ^ Parkes, Taylor 'Coco Pop' | Melody Maker | 20 May 1995
- ^ Redfern, Mark 'Supergrass Bonus Quotes' | Issue 4 | Under The Radar Magazine | 2003
- ^ 'People Who Live In Glass Houses' | Select Magazine | October 1999
- ^ 'People Who Live In Glass Houses' | Select Magazine | October 1999
- ^ Galpin, Richard 'Gaz Coombes' | FHM | September 1999
- ^ Sweeney, Eamon 'Keep on the ’grass' | Hot Press | 10 July 2003
- ^ Hodgkinson, Will 'Pumping on my stereo' | Arts | Music | The Guardian | 1 August 2003
- ^ Wiseman, Eva 'Lunch with Supergrass' | Observer Food Monthly | 30 March 2008
- ^ Wiseman, Eva 'Lunch with Supergrass' | Observer Food Monthly | 30 March 2008
- ^ http://www.sfstation.com/supergrass-a1744
- ^ Galpin, Richard 'Gaz Coombes' | FHM | September 1999
[edit] External links
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