Supergrass: St. Petersburg

Supergrass is an indie rock and Britpop band from Oxford, UK. Currently the band consists of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes, Danny Goffey, and Mick Quinn. Like many other British bands of the '90s, Supergrass' musical roots lie in the infectiously catchy punk-pop of the Buzzcocks and the Jam, as well as the post-punk pop of Madness, the traditional Mod Rock of the Kinks and Small Faces and the glam-rock of T. Rex.

Supergrass has never gotten much love stateside. For whatever reason their crazy mash up combination of hard guitar riffs mixed with melodies, three part harmonies, great lyrics, and a decided lack of "cool" mentality just didn't take. My theory is because Weezer was doing an American equivalent over here mixing Kiss and Beach Boys, versus Supergrass doing Rolling Stones, Buzzcocks, and Elton John on the other side of the Atlantic.

I saw them in concert during the Life on Other Planets tour in L.A. Great show, I was thoroughly drunk by the end, my ears were splitting and one of my friends was scheming on how to get backstage and steal the backdrop at the time. We never succeeded. But we did buy nifty little posters. In any case I'm a big fan. They never seem to disappoint.

A little while ago they released a "Best Of" collection featuring, well the best of their work from the debut album I Should Coco up to Life on Other Planets. A good place to start if you've never heard them. their styles can vary heavily from album to album, so This will give you a nice sampler platter.

More recently Supergrass released Road to Rouen and its definitely a change of pace for Supergrass. If you start at the beginning of their career and listen to them, the music sounds like exactly what they were at the time, Dorky Hyperactive teenagers. Now ten years and four albums later their music has matured accordingly. This is primarily a lot more down-tempo than anything I've heard from them as a who;e before, though hints of it have been showing up on the last two albums. Right now you can here the who;e album on Supergrass' Official Site So if you've never bothered or just are curious now is a good time to check them out as it wont cost you a dime.


Off the new album here's the video for St. Petersburg

And also Low C

P.S.

A little known fact: The term supergrass is used in Northern Ireland to refer to arrested paramilitaries who divulged the identities of their compatriots to the Royal Ulster Constabulary in exchange for immunity from prosecution, essentially, an informer. In many cases, the supergrasses were granted immunity from prosecution, as well as substantial sums of money. Many convictions based on supergrass testimony were later overturned, and the supergrass system was discontinued in 1985.