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#CocoLive – Tim Burgess celebrates his 1000th Twitter Listening Party with Blondie.

A simple idea that evolved into a cultural phenomenon. What started as an interim way to occupy The Charlatan’s front man Tim Burgess for a period of three weeks at the onset of the pandemic has become a shining light in what was one of the most tumultuous and unpredictable periods of our lives.

Tim has united music fans through lockdown thanks to his tireless and herculean crusade to promote his musical peers and use the power of social media for good. His Twitter Listening Parties have not only received critical acclaim, but have also provided a much-needed boost to both his fellow musicians and fans alike.

The charismatic singer had the fantastic idea for fans to play a certain album, all starting at the same time, with the artist or significant people behind the album offering commentary and answering questions on Twitter. At a time when people were living in isolation, it was a force for good in social media which sometimes can be a hostile and negative place “I felt like it was something that was really important and that kept me going” he revealed.

Positively received, the listening parties grew and grew and soon listening parties were being organised from the likes of Blur, Oasis, New Order to Paul McCartney and Kylie Minogue.

Last night was the 1000th Twitter Listening Party and it was the turn of Chris Stein and Debbie Harry from the iconic band Blondie to take to the (Twitter) floor and tweet along to their 1978 album ‘Parallel Lines’.

Prior to that, Tim was joined by an illustrious panel which included Helen O’Hara, Nitin Sawhney, Tim Pope, and chair Pete Paphides. Tim recalled the moment that Paul McCartney accepted his response to take part in a listening party “Six weeks later!” in the form of a simple ‘thumbs up’ emoji as one of his highlights. He also commented on how the listening parties has made appreciate and listen to music in a different way naming Spandau Ballet as an example of this.

Blondie’s Chris Stein also joined the panel via Zoom answering questions like ‘What was the best ever gig you played?’ Hyde Park, Glastonbury and Glasgow were named highlights alongside Susannah Hoffs (The Bangles) and Matt Johnson (The The) who also regaled the audience with endearing and funny ancedotes.

When asked what music has had the most impact on him, Tim revealed to the audience that it was The Buzzcocks album ‘Love Bites’ and how he likened them to the Beatles to his dad who swiftly disagreed with Tim’s appraisal which was a lovely insight into a teenage Tim.

1000 listening parties is a phenomenal achievement, but who is on Tim’s wish list now? “Kate Bush or Peter Gabriel would be amazing”

Tim Pope, Helen, Nitin and Charlatans guitarist Mark joined Tim on stage for an exclusive singalong which included some of his most-loved hits and a rousing edition of ‘Come On Eileen’.

What Tim Burgess has done is nothing short of amazing – bringing eternal sunshine to music lovers and enabling both musicians and music fans alike to reexamine and fall in love with both seminal albums and lesser-known gems in real-time.

The Charlatans’ boxset A Head Full Of Ideas and the Twitter Listening Party book are both out now. Head over to https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/ where you can replay every single listening party in real time.

Words: Emma Harrison, Music Editor

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CocoLive: BSÍ and The Vaccines at the Old Fire Station in Bournemouth

Combining a delicious combination of lo-fi, pop-punk, surf and indie, Icelandic band BSÍ are certainly one to watch and have recently supported rock-indie band The Vaccines on their UK tour.

Their latest single ‘My knee against kyriarchy’ from their debut album ‘Sometimes depressed…but always antifascist’ which has received much critical acclaim was just one of several tracks performed from a sparkling set at Bournemouth’s Old Fire Station.

The dynamic duo – Sila Thorarensen (drums and vocals) and Julius Pollux (bass guitar and keys) completely garnered the attention of the crowd with a combination of their own tracks such as ‘Vesturbæjar Beach’, ‘Ekki á leið’, and a cheeky cover of a Spice Girls classic ‘ Wannabe’

Ultimately, the band are looking to create ‘sweet songs against bad things’ and achieve this effortlessly. An impressive tour debut, Sila has a lovely tone and Julius is a skilled guitar player which he does whilst playing a keyboard with his feet.

If you are looking for chilled music with meaning, definitely check out the super cool BSÍ.

Combining energy, charisma and talent, singer Justin Young from The Vaccines has to be one of the best front men in the UK and beyond. From the second he made his way on stage; he had the crowd in the palm of his hand with his captivating performance alongside the rest of his band.

It’s been ten years since they burst onto the indie rock scene with their 2011 debut ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines’ and they are back meaning business with their fifth album ‘Back In Love City’

Always tight, the London-based band’s set was electrifying and showcased their impressive back catalogue and commanding stage presence. Kicking off proceedings with a barnstorming ‘Wanderlust’ followed by ‘I Can’t Quit’, the band demonstrated how much they had missed playing live with a stellar collection of tracks like ‘Jump Off The Top’, ‘All My Friends Are Falling In Love’ ‘Alone Star’ and more, the crowd were dancing throughout and fed off the vibe of the band.

Credit: Alex Dixon

‘Back In Love City’ is out now to purchase and stream.
Thanks to Alex Dixon (Photography) We Broke Free (Promoters) and The Old Fire Station for the images.

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CocoLive: Tom Grennan at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth

Tom Grennan’s second album ‘Evering Road’ has been the recipient of both critical acclaim and commercial success, achieving number one on the UK Albums Chart.

With support from rising star Dan D’Lion, Tom and his fantastic band hit the stage and kicked off proceedings with a rousing edition of ‘If Only’ closely by ‘Royal Highness’ from 2018’s Lighting Matches and the highly emotional ‘Something Better’.

Tom effortlessly engaged with the crowd with a delightful combination of charm, energy and humour – he had the audience in the palms of his hands as he continued with his amazing set which included ‘Oh Please’, the powerful ‘Amen’ and ‘I Might’ – all of which showcased his stellar performance skills and stage presence.

One of the highlights of the night was of ‘You Matter To Me’ where Tom encouraged the audience to ‘light up’ with their mobile phone torches which created a beautiful and touching moment. Other standout moments included ‘Found What I’ve Been Looking For’, ‘All Goes Wrong’ and ‘Little Bit Of Love’.

A humble and sincere performer, Tom clearly loves his fans and made a point of showing his appreciation for the support both at the gig and for ‘Evering Road’.

Vibrant, endearing, and unforgettable, Tom Grennan is a spectacular performer, and his impressive body of work and captivating performances continues to cement him as one of the UK’s top musicians.

His latest single ‘Don’t Break The Heart’ is out now.

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In Conversation with: The Lathums

The Lathums are THE band of the moment and are set to have a number one album with ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ this week. Music Editor Emma Harrison caught up with guitarist Scott Concepcion to talk about their first full length album, touring with Blossoms, their musical influences and why he is looking to win a chocolate bar when they play Glastonbury!

House of Coco

You are on tour – how’s it going!

Scott, The Lathums

Yeah, really good. Thank you – I’m having a nice day so far. I’ve just travelled up to Cambridge and am a bit warm to be honest.

House of Coco

I listened to your new album ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ and I absolutely loved. Every single track is just amazing. It’s one of those albums where you actually listen to every single track.

What can people expect from this album?

Scott, The Lathums

Just positivity and nice individual tunes.

House of Coco

It’s quite a hopeful album, isn’t it?

Scott, The Lathums

Definitely, because of this and Ghosts (The Lathums previous EP)

House of Coco

How did you approach the album? What was the process like?

Scott, The Lathums

It was a bit mad- we had more tunes than an album worth by quite a lot, really. So, it was just a case of whittling them down and picking which ones if I was right.

House of Coco

So, you didn’t have a particular process for it? You had a lot more songs, which is a real lovely thing to have.

Scott, The Lathums

Yeah, definitely. We needed outside minds to give us a bit of important insight otherwise as the band we would have put out a double album if it was up to us and to future albums too.

House of Coco

Are you thinking that far ahead?

Scott, The Lathums

Well, we are thinking of the third and fourth one!

House of Coco

Really? I love that. That’s great.

Do you have a favourite track from the album that you just love?

Scott, The Lathums

I think my favourite one is the last one of the album – The Redemption of Sonic beauty.

I just think it’s miles away from anything we’ve really done before. I wrote the music on a piano and I liked it, a lot! It was the first thing I’d ever written on a piano. It was originally for a college project and we revived it for the band.

House of Coco

Do you have own guitar heroes?

Scott, The Lathums

I’ve got a few. A few definite ones. There’s Johnny Marr obviously. Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits.

House of Coco
Mark Knopfler? Good shout – an unbelievable guitar player!

Scott, The Lathums

Then there’s the likes of Clapton, Gilmour and all those sorts of guys.

House of Coco

You have previously told me that you think your music is ‘un pigeonhole-able’ -why do you think this is a case? Who do you consider to be your biggest influences?

Scott, The Lathums

Our influence is a weird one to be honest. There are many artists that we like. Jonny and Ryan like the 90s – the British back catalogue of music. We also like a few other bands from the States like Nirvana, the Foo Fighters and Ramones and those sorts of guys.

House of Coco

You were declared as one to watch by the BBC Sound poll. How important are these accolades to you?

Scott, The Lathums

A little bit. It’s nice hearing people say nice things about people. It’s the response to what we do – that’s what’s most important to us. It’s the reaction for the tunes we are doing and the gigs. It’s great to see people enjoy themselves rather than the accolades that you get.

House of Coco

Totally! You’re on tour supporting Blossoms at the moment. I know you guys were really excited about doing that. How’s the experience been so far?

Scott, The Lathums

Great! We’ve done a few dates! I don’t know when anything was or when anything is!

House of Coco

Tell me about it! I still think it’s still 2019 in my head – I’ve lost track of it all. It’s ridiculous. Do you have any standout tour memories so far?

Scott, The Lathums

I think they all evade me every time someone asks me something like this. Just as we were setting up things on the first day. Jonny threw up literally 10 minutes into the journey!

House of Coco

Oh my goodness! I am sure it got better from there. So, you’ve got your own tour next month and you’re off to Europe next year. What are you most looking forward to your own tour?

Scott, The Lathums

Very excited to be honest. Yeah! We’ve played lots of massive festivals and got good reactions, especially doing these shows with Blossoms. So, I think it’ll be a bit more used to bigger gigs than before.

House of Coco

Definitely! The festivals that you’ve been doing like Victorious and Big Weekend must have helped set you up to be ready for these bigger gigs. Do you ever stop and take in how far you guys have come in terms of what you have achieved and the venues that you’re now playing at?

Scott, The Lathums

Yeah, definitely! This is what we’ve been talking about lately. It’s amazing yeah!

House of Coco

That’s exciting! You have previously done a live album. Can we expect another live album?

Scott, The Lathums

Probably. Yeah. I wouldn’t say no – at some point! When we did the live album, we didn’t realise that was really going to be a live album as such.

House of Coco

Perhaps it’s on the cards? So, let’s rewind a little bit for our readers who maybe aren’t as familiar with your music. How did you get the name? And how did you guys come together as a band.

Scott, The Lathums

We all went to music college in Wigan and me, Ryan and Alex got put together for a project. Jonny and Ryan were friends – we were whippersnappers! Towards the end of our last year of college, they put us into this band for this final project.

We just sort of stuck with it. And Jonny ended up joining the band. We had our first gig which was a hen party and were driving through a place called Lathom which was the basis of the band’s name when they drove through the village and needed a name.

We didn’t have a name for (the band) and just jumped at it and just changed the pronounciation.

House of Coco

Most of you went to music college. Did you always want to be a musician?

Scott, The Lathums

Yeah – definitely! But I wondered is this realistic, but I think anything’s possible.

House of Coco

You have definitely proved that!

Scott, The Lathums

So I’ve got a bet with a maths teacher from my high school that I’ll be playing Glastonbury one day!

House of Coco

Without a doubt, you’re gonna win that bet Scott!

Scott, The Lathums

It’s only for a chocolate bar, like, but I’m gonna claim it – yeah, definitely!

House of Coco

Talk to me about song writing, is it mainly Alex or is it more collaborative?

Scott, The Lathums

I think it helps not being too ‘samey’ about the music – I come from a very different place than Alex does. He’s much more about his words and I am more about the music.

House of Coco

Having listened to the album, it’s such a mature, evolved sound. Your EP was great, but I just feel like you have reached a completely different level with this new album. It’s good that you’ve got a strong appetite for progressing. You’re already looking at the fourth or fifth album – that’s definitely the way to be.

Scott, The Lathums

Yeah, definitely! You’ve got so much in being productive and creative in the sense of the variety of songs we put out. We go into the practice room and a song can just appears randomly. It’s the best way to be.

The Lathums debut album ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ is out now and you can catch them on tour throughout autumn.

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In Conversation with: the Goo Goo Dolls

Grammy-nominated band Goo Goo Dolls have just released a career-spanning compilation made up of unreleased gems, remixes, and live performances of their most-loved songs and more. ‘Rarities’ is a retrospective collection of the band’s multi-platinum selling career and serves both as a stellar introduction and a reminder of the bands prowess at writing and performing rock songs as well as cementing their status as one of the most influential rock bands of their generation.

House of Coco’s Music Editor Emma Harrison spoke to John Rzeznik and Robby Takac from the band about what motivated them to create this album, what they are most missing about playing live and why they didn’t anticipate the global success of ‘Iris’ and more.

House of Coco

Congratulations on your new album ‘Rarities’ – this is a collection of B sides, lesser known tracks and live performances. What motivated this particular release?

Goo Goo Dolls

During the pandemic, our manager Pat was cleaning out his office in the closet. He found boxes of these things called DAT tapes which back in the 90s were these little tiny digital audio tapes and that was the medium that everybody was using at that time to put their masters down and hold their recordings and things like that. So, I was with him in his office and it was like ‘Well, what am I going to play these on?! – I’ve got nothing to play these on!’ So I went on eBay, and I found him a data recorder for $400 bucks or whatever it was, and he just started listening to tracks and started marking stuff that he liked and he kind of put it together and then we said well you know, we like this – this is cool!’

But yeah, as he’s our manager, it was ‘curated!’

House of Coco

That sounds good to me. I like the word curated! So, in terms of the selection process how involved were you guys in terms of picking the songs that would feature on this album?

Goo Goo Dolls

I think it’s pretty exciting! He presented us with a bunch of songs, and we listened through them. It was a documentation of what was going on at that point in our lives. There was stuff from seven o’clock in the morning radio performances- you know stuff that we never thought we’d hear again, but I think it’s a great document of time in our life. Yeah, it’s like a warts and all – it’s fantastic feverish music!

House of Coco

Originally, the musical leanings of the Goo Goo Dolls or as you were previously known as the ‘Sex Maggots’ was very much steeped in punk rock. In terms of your influences, way back then – what were they and how do you feel that your musical leanings have changed in the last 35 years?

Goo Goo Dolls

At the beginning, I really loved The Clash and the Ramones and all those bands, and I still think the Clash was the most important band ever – in my life, the amount of ground that they covered in such a short time was pretty interesting!

We also had a lot of other influences. I mean we played punk rock because we liked it. I love melodic punk, you know, but not like power pop punk. It was also The Damned and Elvis Costello, it was such an eclectic blend of music that was that was being thrown around this little community of musicians in Buffalo.

You know, at the time we were just having fun. But, we had the safety back then, you know we had and loved all these different kind of music, but we had the safety of these really loud amplifiers and when it filtered through us, everything became really loud and really aggressive.

Yeah, I don’t think that’s necessarily what we’re thinking, but that’s the way it came out, and it took us a while to refine that. Yeah, it was a very interesting time because I had to play with tons of distortion, because I was just trying to fill in space. You know one of the most influential concerts I think I ever went to was The Who – they played at this tiny hall at the university that I was going to, and they were so loud!

It was so aggressive and the mosh pit was insane, but it was very melodic and beautiful, it’s like you’re hearing these beautiful melodies in this cacophony. You know in this madness. And I felt like wow, there’s gold in there, you know, and sometimes you got to go mining through your influences, you know, pick things out!

House of Coco

How did you get into music in the first place?

Goo Goo Dolls

You know I got sick of playing in rooms full of shirtless men that were beating each other up. So, I was like, I gotta write a song that a woman would listen to!

House of Coco

That makes sense! So, you guys have been together for 35 years.

What’s the secret to your longevity and what are your standout moments of being together in a band?

Goo Goo Dolls

I mean, this is just what John and I do – we figure out how to get to the next chapter of it and you know we’re both still smiling and making music and decided that we want to make more records and we’ve succeeded. We’ve been doing this together since we were kids, so I don’t really know any other way of life other than, you know, let’s figure out how we’re going to do this next, and make it great!

It was really kind of terrifying when the pandemic hit when they just cancelled everything. I’m a notorious workaholic, you know?! I have to keep moving all the time. I was like ‘what am I going to do?!’ So, we just went in and started making the Christmas record.

And then we were doing a lot of Zoom performances for charity and trying to help out as much as we could. So, it was a good time to be useful, you know, over here, it’s kind of interesting here right now.

It was best to try to stay as active as possible, musically, even though it was in a virtual manner. And then we got together and last spring we were up at Woodstock and just started working on a record which comes out next year. So, we’ve kept ourselves busy here and hopefully we were able to contribute in some way.

House of Coco

You mentioned your next studio album, what can we expect from that?

Goo Goo Dolls

All kinds of craziness!

House of Coco

I like that!

Goo Goo Dolls

All kinds of craziness! It’s really kind of a different thing for us and you know it’s fun, and some parts of it are tongue in cheek – which I’m looking forward to!

House of Coco

In terms of your approach to creating the new material for the next album – what comes first is it the lyrics, the melodies or is it just a mixture of both?

Goo Goo Dolls

I mean, for me, it materialises simultaneously, you know, I try to work the ideas. At the same time, John tends to write music first and then the melodies and then we sort of lean towards writing lyrics afterwards, but you know it can happen in all sorts of different ways, really. Yeah, I mean there’s days, I’ll pick up a guitar, and I’ll just go ‘Yeah! ‘and then you put it into your phone and everybody listens to it, then you go ‘That’s the biggest piece of shit I ever heard!’ Then we go back, and we start over again!

With this album, we invited the drummer, who plays with us to come into the studio and I had basic ideas. Then what we did was we played together, because this is the way we used to do it at the beginning of our career, we would be in the garage and would play for hours and hours, the same three chords, and then maybe when I got a better idea I’d say ‘ Let’s go to record this one instead of that one’ – so it’s a very organic process. The important thing to me was always that Robby, and the drummer or whoever was drumming for us at the time, locked up and put this solid rhythm section together. Then you play guitar and you kind of make a live recording of a very rudimentary thing and then you can sort of doll it up.

With the new album, we went back and we recorded it on analogue, so that we actually had to make decisions, you know, like when you’re working in the digital realm and this is really geeky and dorky, but I love it! I can have 500 tracks to decide, but when you’re doing it digitally, you get 24 tracks, so you can’t use the 19 guitar parts that you have – you got to pick your two good ones! You know, so it’s like just so. The record has been very sort of live ish, a lean mean kind of sound and I think it’s good – it’s big and open, you know, that’s just my record!

We went out for the first time in a really long time, for two and a half months, and we literally were like in the middle of the woods man with tick bites and dead animals laying in front of our dog, we woke up from being attacked by hawks!

We were in the middle of the woods, and we would wake up first thing in the morning and would roll out of bed and call each other up, go have breakfast, and literally play music, until we’re like, ‘we got to get out of here!’

I think that this record is gonna have a real special feel to it. I mean it literally had our undivided attention. Aside from the tick bites, and the hobo that was wandering about – it was a lot of fun, but you had to get into the spirit of being there!

Like, it’s an understatement to call the place we were at rusty! But it was beautiful- an incredibly gorgeous dump, you know, yeah, like the vibe and the memories and the ghosts that lived up in this place, it was just really fun to hang out with!

House of Coco

Sounds bloody marvellous to me!

Goo Goo Dolls

There was an old church set up on a hill at night, the moon would be above the church and the first couple of weeks I was pretty convinced that we weren’t going to make it to the top of the hill without being murdered! It’s a great place to make a horror movie!

It’s funny because our guy that works with us. He’s from Los Angeles and he’s never been out in the woods, ever! And he, for the first week he was kind of freaking out a little bit, because he felt like, I don’t know man, there’s just something so like murdery about that place! You know, Robby made friends with the hobo on the train tracks!

House of Coco

That sounds great! Do you have a date in mind for the release date for the next album, I know it’s next year?

Goo Goo Dolls

Yeah, it’s tough to call. We definitely have a tour that starts in June 2022 So, I would say probably early 2022, but now we have the luxury problem of having too much material!

House of Coco

That is a lovely problem to have! As seasoned professionals, what advice would you give to your younger selves knowing what you know now?

Goo Goo Dolls

The world has changed so much in the way people can think you consume music. And, you know, there’s not as much money in music as there used to be. My only suggestion, I never tell anybody what to do, but if someone asks, I’ll give them my opinion, that’s all it is. But I would work on really developing a live following and becoming a great live band. Because, at least in the States, because the playlists now are so tight, this dominant form of pop music. I think that here in the US (I don’t know about other places) it is very much about R&B, kind of hip hop, very urban – I mean you got to develop your live game, more than anything else.

I think really work on the areas of social media and things like that where you can develop a big following because there’s not a lot of money being made, streaming your songs.

House of Coco

I agree! I interviewed Groove Armada last year and they said, the amount of streams they get on Spotify, it’s not even enough to buy them a ‘half decent sandwich’ so that kind of says it all really.

When it comes to music, it’s only really touring and merch where there’s money to be made and neither have been possible in the last 18 months of course.

Goo Goo Dolls

No, that’s true. We’ve seen a lot of people that work in our industry, have to get out and find other jobs where they are going to be at home now. People don’t want to go back to touring now because they’re at home and they’re making decent money and they get to be home with their family.

House of Coco

What are your earliest memories of music and what motivated you to form the band and get into music?

Goo Goo Dolls

I was a scrawny little kid and I wasn’t good at team sports! I needed to figure out something to get girls interested. So that was the motivation! But our love for music and women was always the motivation for everything! You know it’s like the old thing about your ship that launched 1000 ships, the whole thing throughout history, wars have been fought and men have done ridiculous things to win a woman!

So, I learned how to play guitar. So, my first musical recollection that I have, was my sister having all these old 45 of The Beatles and I remember my favourite Beatle song ‘I’m Down’ when I was a little kid. I’m talking like kindergarten! (Sings!) ‘I’m down (I’m really down)’‘ because it had this guitar break that was just insane. Like, I thought that was the coolest thing!

And, yeah, that’s one of my first things, and, and I think growing up in a house full of women and their taste in music and me being exposed to their taste in music definitely has influenced the way I write. I remember when I was a kid I got a turntable for Christmas, and I remember my father letting me go through his record collection and pick out like the records I liked from his record collection to bring into my bedroom. And that was like the first time that I felt like, wow, I got like this sort of like musical identity!

I think those early memories and the agenda that grew up in Buffalo and there was this radio station here and I think it formed our generations musical vocabulary and you could hear it halfway down the East Coast. It was an incredibly influential radio station, and radio back in those days, which would break artists. I remember listening to a cut down version of ‘Stairway to Heaven’.

House of Coco

So, we can’t not talk about Iris – one of the most recognisable and most loved love songs of all time – when you released it on the ‘City of Angels’ soundtrack. Did you ever anticipate it would be the success that it was?

Goo Goo Dolls

No, absolutely not! When the music supervisor asked me to come in and watch the film, and he showed me the part, he said ‘I want you to put something in here and I asked him ‘Who else is on this soundtrack? and he said ‘U2, Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morrissette ‘and I’m like ‘I’m in!’

Because I just wanted our name to be in the same company as all these iconic people. You know that’s all I wanted, because it looked really good to be on the same album as U2. Yeah, it gives the average person the impression that like you and Bono are hanging out having drinks you know making the record!

I saw the clip of a film, and it just went like that in my head. It was like, ‘Oh, my!’ – the subject matter is right in front of me, you know. So, I thought to myself, what would I say if I was that guy to her. I was so in love with her, and it’s a pretty heavy kind of story when you think about it.

I thought ‘Wow, this guy’s willing to give up his immortality and everything that he has, as an angel – he’s willing to take that risk of living through all the pain of being a human, just to feel that feel things you know’. I kind of understand that – I think we all understand, there are times where we all sort of feel like we’re standing outside looking in on the lives of other people.

House of Coco

Completely! Going back to ‘Rarities’ – do you think the whole concept of B Sides is somewhat of a lost art due to how people are kind of currently digesting music?

Goo Goo Dolls

I mean, attention spans are very short, but at the same your ability to go unbelievably deep on a subject is there as well. You know, I guess it’s just the type of person you are, you know, if you’re the type of person for whom music is a surface experience, then maybe you’ll know ‘Iris’ and will come see us and that’ll be awesome. Otherwise, we’ve got an awful lot of material for people to explore, so yeah!

I’m always into playing all the hits, when we go out on tour because it’s expensive to go see a show and people want to be entertained and Robby and I always are about entertaining people, as well as trying to be a ‘quote unquote’ artist, or whatever!

I love when you can connect with an audience, especially in the UK! I love playing the UK because I can literally grab my microphone stand and turn it around to the audience, and they’ll sing all night – that makes my job easier. I mean, they would sing all night, and that’s a different thing I think. It’s strange because our audience over there, and correct me if I’m wrong, is a little more male, and it’s younger than here.

I would say it’s different – people listen to music and get into music and avoid a deeper level than they do here, because we’re all on our phones – it’s like we were all winding up, I mean I think culturally everybody is winding up with super, super short attention spans, but it’s interesting we will play a deeper cut or an older song, and how these younger people are – yeah it’s interesting!

House of Coco

Have you got any plans to come to the UK to tour?

Goo Goo Dolls

If somebody wants us, we’ll come! It would be great if we could. You know I love playing the UK as we always do the academies. Yeah, it’s like the history and the grunge emos of those rooms, you know. They’re so charming but at the same time – these rooms rock! They are loud and sweaty and smelly and awesome. It’s what rock and roll is supposed to be! Before the world went down, we actually were lining up a tour in the UK, so I know that there’s some things going on already, so hopefully we’ll rekindle those situations and get there very soon.

House of Coco

I really hope so! I think the O2 Academy is a great venue. I think the next band I’m seeing is Inhaler, – this amazing Irish band. I am looking forward to seeing them live – they’re doing some fantastic stuff at the moment.

What do you most love about playing live? And out of all the tracks from ‘Rarities’ – what are you most looking forward to revisiting in a live performance?

Goo Goo Dolls

Well, as far as playing live, I just can’t wait for it! I mean that’s been such a huge part of our life. And I know John and I were talking about it a while ago. I can’t believe how much I missed that situation. You know that give and take that happens between the audience and such. I can’t believe how much I missed it and I can’t believe how much it had become such an important part of how we live our lives.

It was quite a disruption, I’m looking forward to it because, because at least you’ll be in a room where no matter what anybody disagrees on, here everybody agrees on the one thing that they’re there for and that’s the band. To see a moment or have a couple hours like that, you know, is rare.

House of Coco

What’s been the best gig you have ever been too? Who has blown your socks off?

Goo Goo Dolls

Yeah, I’ve seen The Who – they were amazing. Yeah, I mean even now! Jesus Christ, these guys are amazing! Springsteen and Oasis – when they were just getting big here in the States and we played on the same shows, it was amazing how they could just have the swag; how good they were- they just blew me away! They were the greatest band in the world at that time.

House of Coco

I definitely would agree with that! They were amazing! In terms of critical acclaim and nominations like the four Grammy nominations that you have received. How important are awards to you?

Goo Goo Dolls

Well I gotta say – the nominations – so we got nominated for four Grammys!

I had a t shirt made underneath my suit that said, ‘I was nominated for three Grammys, and all I got was this lousy t shirt!’

I pulled it off, but we were doing press afterwards. And I had this T shirt on and I had to make light of it – I mean, did it suck to lose? Yeah, kind of, but I didn’t expect to win! We were up against Cher, Celine Dion and Aerosmith and all these monsters, you know, so I didn’t expect us to win anything like that, but being nominated definitely gives you so much public exposure and it’s good. It’s good. It helped our band!

We used it to sort of generate more business. Yeah, for sure, I mean it was fun. It was fun to go to the whole party, and it would have been way more fun if we would have won!

But that being said, I mean you know that experience was amazing for us and you know it just went to show that I don’t care personally so much about that kind of stuff, but it just goes to show that we got recognised by the mainstream enough to be there, and that’s pretty cool. Yeah, you know, what was interesting about is you take a band like us, who three years before that record came, we were making and as we grew as musicians, because we were learning to play when we started. We were listening to music and were learning things from those artists and then we add our own sort of natural innate melody in our heads. So to go from being considered like a goofy punk band to being nominated for a bunch of Grammys for something against Celine Dion!

House of Coco

What are you influenced by right now musically? What are you listening to back at home you’re kicking back and enjoying a cup of cocoa?

Goo Goo Dolls

I found myself listening to super old music that I did listen to then because I was so far up my own indie rock that I couldn’t even listen to David Bowie. There’s a guy named Sam Fender who I love and every time someone asked me like who’s new that you love and Sam comes into my mind. I think that guy is or could be the voice of his generation. If you dig down into his lyrics and read them. It’s like he’s capturing what his generations is dealing with. And it’s amazing because he does it in such a succinct articulate way, and the songs are super hooky. I just heard some of this music by Olivia Rodrigo – she’s great. I just hope she doesn’t get put through the music business meat grinder and turned into the same old thing again because she’s got something special, and I hope people around her understand and just leave her alone. Let her grow because she’s incredible.

House of Coco

I agree! In terms of future plans, you have the new album out next year, what else can we expect from the Goo Goo Dolls?

Goo Goo Dolls

Well, you know – lots of stuff blowing up on stage and, we’re just gonna keep going and I think having a couple years off was actually probably good for us.

Yeah, it’s like when you’re married you, go away for a long weekend and you’re very happy to see the people you live with and have a crazy break to have a little bit of time to see your kid grow up for a little while before you get to go out and be away again.

It gets harder and harder to be away and to spend time on the road. But, you know, by the end of making this – by the end of the sessions that we did up in Woodstock, which was like 10 weeks. all I could think to say to these guys was, I’m really looking forward to getting a chance to miss you!

So, you know, we do what we do and, and try to do it better. That’s what I’m always striving for, is to learn something new from somebody.

House of Coco

In terms of ‘Rarities’ which is out now is there anything else you want to share with us at all that I can pass on to the readers, I think we’ve covered quite a bit already, but if there’s anything I’ve even had missed?

Goo Goo Dolls

I think you have covered it well and once our manager finishes going through that box, we might have five more albums like that. So, there we go!

I personally want to thank you Emma for not bringing up to ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ in this interview! (laughs)

House of Coco

We can talk about that if you want but that wasn’t really on my list, so don’t worry! I’m a Brit after all so I can’t understand the game of baseball at all. It’s not really a game I’m familiar with, but it looks like fun?!

Goo Goo Dolls

I think it’s like cricket, only, you know, it doesn’t take 40 days to play and you don’t have to sweat in a wool sweater! There’s something soothing about it!

The Goo Goo Dolls latest album ‘Rarities’ is out now to stream and to buy.

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Why music photographer Sharon Latham’s world is blazing thanks to her new exhibition featuring Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds.

What’s it like to go on tour with one of the world’s most famous musicians? Celebrated photographer Sharon Latham knows exactly what it’s like. Her new exhibition ‘A New World Blazing’ which presents an exclusive glimpse at life on the road with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds launched online last night at the prestigious Red House Originals gallery.

Music Editor Emma Harrison spoke to Sharon to learn how she started out in photography, what does it take to create an amazing shot, having a chin wag with Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper and what it’s really like to work with Noel Gallagher.

House of Coco

How was last night’s launch of your new exhibition ‘A New World Blazing’ in London?

Sharon Latham

It was far better than I ever anticipated, but it’s always difficult hearing other people praising you. I find that quite tough going when they say ‘Oh, this is great!’ and you’re like, is it? Really? Oh!

House of Coco

Please don’t be so critical. You work is amazing and I am a huge fan of Noel Gallagher. I’ve seen the prints showcased in the exhibition and they are absolutely amazing. You’ve worked with Noel for several years now, how did this exhibition come about? And why was now the best time to do it?

Sharon Latham

Well, we organised to do it in 2020, but then the pandemic hit. So, we thought, ‘Oh, we’ll hold off and we’ll wait and see what happens’. We waited a year, then we waited a bit longer. And we thought well, rather than waiting even longer. We’ll put it all online. So, it’s all available online and it was wonderful to have Gibson involved who did the press launch with us, which was so much fun.

The original idea for the exhibition came from the fact that I’d done a book ‘Any Road Will Get Us There (If We Don’t Know Where We Are Going)’ with Noel in 2018. Noel said to me back in 2019, ‘Oh, we should do another book’ and I said to him ‘No, it’s too soon’. He asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘let’s do an exhibition’. So that was that!

Then, very fortuitously, when I did put the book out in 2018, the wonderful Richard at Red House Gallery got in touch with me and said ‘If ever you decide to do an exhibition, I’d love to be involved’ and I’d saved his number and he stayed in touch. So, I thought, ‘You know what, let’s see what he’s all about’. Then I went up to Harrogate to meet him and he’s just a spectacularly clever, talented guy and that’s where it went from there. It’s taking three years to get to where it is now. It’s good. I’m happy with that!

House of Coco

Fantastic! You used to chat with Noel when you were the club photographer at Manchester City, and you and Noel had a chat about what you were intending to do next after leaving the club and you ended up going on tour with him. I love how you’re just making things happen. Can you tell me a bit more about that story?

Sharon Latham

Yeah! I’ve been blessed by the fact that I was employed as the first ever female Premier League club photographer and that was just the most epic 10 years of my life. I had so much fun! I’d already photographed Oasis back at Maine Road and the Etihad a long time before that. So, I’d met Noel and Liam before, but then when I started working at City, they were there every game.

As Noel was starting up the High Flying Birds, I’d see him at every game, so we were always bumping into each other. So, we became friends softly and quietly and then over the years, when we started winning trophies, I was sending him pictures of the trophies or pictures of him with players and things like that. Then when I said, ‘I’m leaving’, he replied, ‘But where will I get my pictures?!’ and I reassured him, ‘There will be a new photographer, it won’t be an issue’. Noel said, ‘Why are you leaving, you can’t leave!’ And I was like, ‘I’ve got other things to do. I don’t have to take pictures all the time!’ So, then he said, ‘What are you going to do though? To which I replied, ‘Well, it’s okay – I’ll come on tour with you! And he just went ‘Okay!’

So, that was it and in 2016, I covered a few of his festivals that he was doing when I first left City and that was that. I got called back to do most of the other tours, which has been great, immense, and hard work, but great fun!

House of Coco

How has it been working with Richard McTague at Red House Gallery and how did you enjoy working on your first major solo exhibition?

Sharon Latham

He’s the nicest man on the planet. I can’t sing his praises enough, he’s exceptional at what he does. None of this would have been made possible without him and his skills. He’s got a great team around him as well.

I did a couple of exhibitions at City, but they were all sort of in house and were mainly for community projects to raise money for community projects. This is my first major solo exhibition independently like this and it’s been scary, but amazingly great!

House of Coco

So, there’s 40 pieces in the exhibition including 12 of which are exclusive limited-edition prints that have been signed by yourself and Noel. Do you have a favourite piece from the exhibition? Or is it quite hard to kind of make that choice?

Sharon Latham

I do get asked that a lot, but I think I’ve got a couple of favourites. One of them being the ‘Home’ picture, which is the Manchester Arena picture, with Noel in the bottom left hand corner and then there’s the whole of the arena – it’s just an epic picture of the audience. That view isn’t seen all the time because people are always looking at the stage and looking at the artist.

It was the first time back there after the bombing at the Ariana Grande concert. So, it was quite emotional for me. I was sat on the stage and I remember panning around, taking the shot and actually getting quite upset. The atmosphere in there was incredible that night as well.

When I went look through the pictures, I spotted this one and it just emoted the situation. So, that’s one of my favourites and it’s also got my daughter in it as well!

There’s also a couple of really big acrylic ones that we’ve done that are like a metre high. They are silhouettes of Noel in orange and blue with his guitar up. You can’t see Noel, but you still know it’s him – it’s purely his silhouette and profile. They’re huge, but they’re so beautiful. I like those two as well. But, it’s difficult because there’s so many, but there are certain ones that do spark a little bit of emotion for me!

House of Coco

Was it quite hard to pick the 40 images for the exhibition as you must have hundreds and hundreds to choose from? What was that selection process like?

Sharon Latham

Yeah! Noel helped; he was involved in the process. I sent him a selection of images and he came back and said, ‘I liked these ones, but why don’t we put a few more of behind the scenes in there?’

He’s been involved with the selection process which is great. It makes it easier because sometimes you can sit there, and you just don’t know which one to pick. You get a bit blind to it.

House of Coco

That’s great. You have got a really lovely relationship with Noel and actually seem like similar characters. What’s he like to work with both on this particular project, the book, and as his photographer?

Sharon Latham

He’s a consummate professional. And I say this all the time, he really is a consummate professional. And you know, you can’t deceive him in any way, shape, or form. I’ve never had any issues with him. We just got on very, very well. I think the banter element works as well as I’m quite good at bantering, as is he. I find him one of the kindest and most interesting people I’ve ever met.

House of Coco

Yeah, he’s also incredibly smart. He’s sharp and totally on it!

Sharon Latham

He’s really very professional, very on the ball and doesn’t suffer fools gladly as well, which I’m one of those people. So yeah, you are right, there is a quite a few similarities! Plus, the Man City and the football element.

House of Coco

Going back to the football, when it comes to football and gig photography, it’s all live and it’s all about the action as well capturing those special moments. Does your approach to music and football photography differ?

Sharon Latham

Yeah, ultimately, if you think about capturing sports action itself, that’s fast moving, the light changes, even though you’re outside. With gigs, it’s better lighting, but a lot of the time, the light changes due to the movements.

The similarities are there, but then, by the same vein, it’s a different set of lenses completely when it comes to the technical side of it. When you look at the behind-the-scenes shots as well, I used to capture a lot of behind-the-scenes action at Man City, and that was purely for the fans.

I would think as a fan, what I would want to see and what would I want to know – what boots do they use and how do they put those boots on? I would do behind the scenes stuff with some of my favourite players. So, I really made sure that that was in my head before I went there and I also do the same with music.

I think as a fan I would want to know what Noel drank before he went on stage. And I’d want a picture of him warming up and all the rest of it. So, I always have that element of thought in the mind. And that’s where I’ll try and get unusual angles of the stage. I’ll be hidden behind the drum kit and Noel will turn around and forget sometimes that I am there and he will stick his tongue out!

House of Coco

Fantastic! I like all the candid shots when he’s a little bit unaware. You have been on several tours now. Has your approach to photography changed much and how do the earlier tours compare to the most recent NGHFB tours?

Sharon Latham

When you first start, you have to make sure that people learn to trust you and realise that you’re not there to take any bad pictures or anything. So, there’s a trust element early on, but once that trust is done, you’re settled in with the band and you’re settled in with people – you can just literally sit back and get on with what you’re doing. They don’t even question you being in certain situations and you are given Access All Areas which is great. I love how Noel’s music has changed.

I love the different development of the music as it’s gone on and I love the fact that Noel is expressing his music that way now as well. I enjoy all of it. I really do. I think you can see the progression of his music and it’s what he wants to do and the sheer fact that it’s what he wants to do and he’s enjoying it. I think that comes across clearly as well.

House of Coco

I agree. I have loved seeing Noel’s progression musically in the last 10 years or so. I have seen him live several times and it’s always such a great show! Do you have any standout memories from like either touring or other shoots?

Sharon Latham

There’s so many, so many! From rocking up to the Joshua Tree to shoot a video in the middle of LA, with trees growing underground upside down and not even knowing where we’re going to shoot to shooting stuff in a bizarre location in New Orleans that had like a spaceship-esque thing in the back garden, to shooting some gigs that were in the most beautiful venues and at the atmospheric gigs like the London Palladium was just an unreal gig!

And then you are walking into unexpected situations where you’ve got Bradley Cooper in the dressing room…

House of Coco

To be fair, it’s pretty unexpected to have Bradley Cooper in a dressing room!

Sharon Latham

You know, there was an after-show thing we did in LA and we were all in this big backstage dressing room area. Noel had invited a lot of people over and they have all come down, just chilled. I looked across the room and on this couch. And I just went ‘Oh, that guy’s the double of Bradley Cooper!’ and Noel went ‘That’s Bradders!’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God. I can’t stand and talk to Bradley Cooper!’

Bradley Cooper stood up and he was so lovely. And I turned around to Noel and I was like ‘What do I say?!’ And he (Bradley) was just a sweetie. And I spent 20 minutes talking to him!

I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities and you meet a lot of celebrities and go, ‘Oh, you’re not as tall as I thought!’ He is really tall, because I’m six foot one, but he was really tall!

House of Coco

It sounds like you’ve met some amazing people. Do you have anyone in particular that you would like to meet and work with?

Sharon Latham

Yeah! I’ve got a list. I’ve got a wish list that gets added to on a regular basis. I’ve got a lot of actors that I’d like to work with and shoot, I’ve got a project in mind that I’d like to take somewhere and get someone to help me get it funded which features a lot of actors in different situations, shall we say?

That’s something on the back burner I’m thinking about. But I’d love to shoot Mads Mikkelsen. I would absolutely, he’s just one of the most incredible characters, face wise. I think he’s got a beautiful face. I’d love to shoot him. Also, Elton John! Yeah! I was supposed to shoot him last year. I really missed out on that. I’d love to do some stuff with Paul McCartney as well. I could have done that at Glastonbury. There is there is a long list! Tom Hardy’s on there as well. I just think there’s a shoot I’ve got in mind for Tom Hardy that would blow people away if I can do it.

House of Coco
It’s so interesting how you can kind of look at a person and envisage a picture or set up in mind. How did you get into photography in the first place? What inspired you to pick up the camera?

Sharon Latham

My dad died when I was eight and he was an amateur photographer, and I inherited his camera. And that was that! I’ve never not taken pictures since. I’ve been taking photographs since I was eight years old. I had this old Russian camera, and it went everywhere with me. Then as I got older, and I’ve gone through life and had children, I have carried on with photography throughout my life.

My cameras have always been my source of comfort, my source of relaxation, my source of entertainment, my hobby! Never, ever in a million years would I believe I could ever make a living out of it or be sat here in a London Gibson’s studio with an exhibition of 40 photographs.

Being a professional photographer happened later in life, but I have been a photographer for all of my life.

House of Coco

That’s incredible. What do you think makes a great shot?

Sharon Latham

The thing is with a candid shot, I think it’s about capturing that moment, but with a set up shot it’s all about making sure that you have exactly in mind what you want from that image. A set up shot, and a candid shot are two completely different things. With a candid shot or a live shot, you’ve got to really be on your toes and make sure that you’re there at every point you can be.

I even have a set of images in my head before a gig and after a gig of what I want. Whether they happen and they don’t always, but I know how and what I want to get from them. That’s what I want them to be and so you have to sit down and wait and hope that it happens in front of you.

House of Coco

A lot of our readers are budding photographers, have you got any tips for them how they improve their skills please?

Sharon Latham

I get emails and messages about this on a daily basis. I absolutely love it when youngsters and the older generation get into photography and they ask, ‘What would you recommend?’ My biggest recommendation is to take photos! Learn how to take a photo with a camera that you’ve got, or even on your phones and then take lots of pictures of lots and lots of different things.

Over time, you’ll work out what you like to photograph because some people like photographing buildings, some people like photographing people. Some people like photographing landscapes, and landscapes are not for me. There’s such a massive realm of photography, you’ve got to hone in on what you like to do and the only way to do that is to literally go out and take shed loads of pictures.

For me, I think it’s 80% of your personality (and your own style) and then the other 20% is the technical knowledge. Don’t get me wrong, you need to know your camera, you need to know how to work a digital or a SLR camera, but there’s got to be you and your personality, and that will then come across any photographs.

House of Coco

What inspires you creatively?

Sharon Latham

For me, inspiration comes in different avenues. If you’ve been booked for a job to do something, you end up getting inspired by reading about that individual or finding out more about them. So, it depends on what I’m working on. I always love covering music stuff because it’s an eclectic mix of whatever you do. You could be doing the Arctic Monkeys on a Monday then doing Taylor Swift or Elton John. I like the eclectic-ness of it all, so inspiration comes from what I’m working on.

House of Coco

With the ongoing pandemic putting live shows on hold once again, this is clearly impacting on your work.

Sharon Latham

It’s been a horrendous 18 months because I lost all my work. I tend to go to a lot of the film festivals as well, and the red-carpet events, so they’ve all gone! I have also got a travel app – so that’s screwed as you would expect!

Yeah, it’s been really hard work. I’ve got a couple of things on the back burner and I if can get somebody to fund it, it would be absolutely spectacular. I’ve just got to keep plugging and doing what I do. My skills still there and they’re not going anywhere.

I have a couple of projects that I want to do. There’s one project for an exhibition that I’ve got in mind, which is the one featuring celebrities and then there’s another one I’ve got in mind that is all about raising awareness of male suicide.

House of Coco

In terms of the current exhibition, how long is it online for and do you have any other plans for it?

Sharon Latham

It’s online indefinitely at the moment and then we’ve got plans to physically take it out on the road again, when we can do so!

Noel’s latest album ‘Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021)’ is out now.

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Why The Hoosiers have teamed up with Woody & Kleiny for new Euro 2020 anthem ‘Route 66’

The Euros are underway and social media sensations Woody & Kleiny have teamed up with The Hoosiers to deliver a holler-along song that is sure to get the party started!

Irwin Sparkes from The Hoosiers spoke to our Music Editor Emma Harrison about how the collaboration with social media sensations Woody & Kleiny came about, collaborating with Naughty Boy and how ‘Route 66’ is the song to celebrate all things English.

“It used to be a song called PC Wilson and we (The Hoosiers) were going through a bit of a Small Faces period. We parked the song for over twenty years and Al thought that there could be something in there for a football song, but that it wasn’t quite right for The Hoosiers. Al then met Woody from Woody & Kleiny at a New Year’s Eve party who was blasting his way through some karaoke numbers and thought (this is Al’s own words) There’s the front man I’ve been looking for. He has magnetism. I’ve seen him. It’s true. They are very charismatic as well.”

‘Route 66’ is the epitome of all things English and is a celebration of traditions such as a cup of tea, a Sunday roast. The song aims to be an anthem of the Euros and it flew into the top of the iTunes chart at number 1.

Irwin explains:

“We thought the best way was to make it inherently English and all the fun levels of bonhomie and that that involves. You can hear elements of the Small Faces, Chaz, and Dave – it’s literally a knees up!

I think if it came out sounding like something like Dark Side Of The Moon, it would have been a failure in terms of what it was trying to accomplish – which was to be a really upbeat positive song. It’s full of celebration and after the year we’ve had, I think the timing couldn’t be better. It had to be catchy, and simplistic that you can sing along with it before it’s even finished, after you’ve heard it for the first time.”

All proceeds of the single will go to charity, something that both The Hoosiers and Woody & Kleiny wanted to do.

“We don’t want to just do it for its own sake – it was something that was really important to Woody & Kleiny as well – to make the track about something bigger than ourselves, which is why we settled on aligning ourselves with the charity CALM which is stands for the Campaign Against Living Miserably. Proceeds from the single, especially the download will go to them – a cause which is close to our hearts”

CALM is leading a movement against suicide. Every day 125 people in the UK take their own lives and 75% of all UK suicides are male and CALM are looking to change this. They have a confidential helpline and webchat service that is available to anyone who needs help to talk about life’s problems.

The video for the track takes place on an old school red double decker bus and on the pitch at the London Stadium features the likes of Naughty Boy, The Wealdstone Raider and Two Weeks in Nashville who all make cameos.

Filming the video was a lot of fun but had to be completed in one day prior to The Hoosiers gig at the Clapham Grand where they were supported by Two Weeks in Nashville. It was directed by Henry Oliver who was instrumental in ensuring the video was completed in time.

Irwin explains:

“Honestly, it was a very intense day because we had to get it all done in one day. And if we’d have gone for either other day, would have been absolutely pissing it down with rain. And it would have changed things dramatically on an open top bus with a drum kit and a bond amp

The video included Naughty Boy who made his first ever cameo in a music video. Moving forwards, there may be a further collaboration with Naughty Boy.

Irwin teases:

“We may have some more involvement with Naughty Boy which we will be announcing very soon. He’s been really keen and very supportive of the project. He’s a lovely chap!”

There are two new Hoosiers album in the works, one of which is currently being mixed. The Hoosiers are in the process of moving to Patreon ‘because we want to give an awful lot of value back to everyone for supporting us’ which will allow Hoosiers fans to really connect with the band.

The band are excited for the forthcoming releases but are proud of ‘Route 66’ and the impact that it will have. Irwin says:

“It’s the only original football song that’s been released this year. I think it is a really successful song in terms of what it does”

Route 66 is out now and can be downloaded for just £0.99 with all proceeds going to CALM.

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In Conversation with: Moby

Moby’s new album ‘Reprise’, a collection of his hits, re-recorded with a full Philharmonic Orchestra features artists like Gregory Porter, Alice Skye, Kris Kristofferson and more.

House of Coco’s Music Editor Emma Harrison finds out more from the seminal electronic dance legend.

Q)

Tell us about your latest album Reprise which sees you revisit your musical highlights from your notable thirty-year career.

A)

So, the genesis of it was I did my first ever orchestral show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic about four years ago and after the show I was asked if I wanted to make an orchestral, for lack of a better term greatest hits album.

I immediately said yes for so many different reasons. One, I never made an album with an orchestra and I just thought it would be such a fascinating approach to making a record because normally when I work on music, I’m by myself in my little studio.

By working on an orchestral album, by definition involves a lot of people. More, I guess, more relevant, perhaps it was just simply the idea and my desire to almost avail myself of the unique ability that orchestral, orchestral, and acoustic music has to communicate emotion. Because to sort of state the obvious, the utility of music is communicating emotion. I love the way electronic instruments communicate emotion, but there’s something so special and by definition, again, organic in the way that, you know, you can create emotion with an orchestra with a string quartet and with a gospel choir. And so that really is the ultimate inspiration is just to revisit the songs. In many cases, like with Gregory Porter and Amythyst Kiah on the track ‘Natural Blues’, like with singers, sometimes as opposed to samples, and to just expand upon the original emotional quality of all of these original songs. It’s great!

Q)

You have worked not only with Gregory, but a lot of really fantastic collaborators. Can you tell us how you choose your collaborators for this album?

A)

Well, when I was really young, I wanted to be a great singer. I remember being 12 or 13 years old and thinking how phenomenal it would be to be David Bowie to have this amazing voice. And then I started singing in bands. And I learned pretty quickly like I was good at yelling, you know, I could yell punk rock songs pretty well. I could do a pretty good impersonation of Ian Curtis. But I didn’t have a huge, beautiful voice. So, in the late 80s, when I started making music under my own name, I realised that to have beautiful voices on my records, I had to work with people who had beautiful voices. And so for this album when it came and before we even started recording, I just made a list of the songs and who the ideal singers could be. I wasn’t looking for perfection. You know, I mean, it’s wonderful when people are talented. But, you know, like, in many cases, the best-case scenario is when you have great technical ability attached to that sort of ineffable sense of beauty and character. You know, I would say Gregory’s vocals are a perfect example like that. We get that he has phenomenal technical ability, but his vocals are anything but generic, you know, they’re emotional and they’re resonant. And they’re so reflective of him as a person, you know. So, when I was looking for singers for this album, I wasn’t looking for people who would be singing soap commercials. I wasn’t looking for generic voices. I was looking for voices that had that emotional resonance and personality.

And my job was just to sort of sit in the background as like the insecure white guy and play guitar while artists sing – I hope they don’t pay attention to me!

Q) You mentioned that this time you wanted to work with an orchestra, but you weren’t really there. So, can you elaborate a little further on that?

A)

Well, so the recording sort of started here in Los Angeles. There’s a studio in LA that I love. Studio three at East West. It’s like a time capsule from the 50s. Everybody has worked there – Lou Adler recorded The Mamas and the Papas there. Frank Sinatra used to work there. In fact, they still have Frank Sinatra, his grand piano in the studio. And you all feel like, it should be a Spinal Tap moment, like you look at Frank Sinatra’s piano. And you almost expect someone to say like, ‘No, don’t even look at it. Like you’re certainly not allowed to play it’.

But it turns out you’re allowed to play Frank Sinatra’s grand piano. And then there’s the mixing desk they have with the mixing desk that David Bowie used to mix Ziggy Stardust. And so that’s where we recorded piano, you know, my parts into, you know, guitar, bass, Electric Piano and percussion. And we recorded the drums and then we brought in a string quartet.

There’s something about sitting in this control room, which is unchanged from the 60s with a phenomenal String Quartet with a beautiful two microphones, as you’d say, UK valve microphones. It, it was just so rich and special like that. I think that the song that features that the most on the album is called The Great Escape, because it really is more about the string quartet than the distro. And then we went to work for you when I say we I’m excluding me because I didn’t go to Hungary because at the last minute I realised if I went to Hungary, I’d be sitting in the control room on like a crappy leather couch, listening to the orchestra, three speakers. And I was like, because I’m not a conductor, like I can do arrangement, but I don’t know how to communicate to a giant Hungarian orchestra. And so I stay at home and listen to remotely. And then one of the most challenging aspects of the recording was the gospel choir, because everything we had done up until this point was right before the pandemic. So what I did with the gospel choir is I invited each member of the gospel choir over to my studio. I set up a microphone outside and everybody recorded with like phenomenal safety and social distance every member of the gospel choir recorded their vocals outside like if you listened really close to you might even hear like a car horn or some birds chirping when the choir is singing.

Q)

You wrote all the songs on this album apart from one, do you want to tell us about that?

A)

Yeah, so this might have special relevance then. So, my favourite musician of all time is David Bowie. The first job I ever had; I carried golf clubs as a caddy just long enough to save money to buy some David Bowie records when I was 13. Then, in 1999, we became friends. And he and Iman actually moved to an apartment across the street from me in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. So, we were friends, we were neighbours. We went on tour together, we had holidays together. And we had this one phenomenal morning where he came to my apartment. And we sat on my sofa, I had this green mid-century sofa. We played an acoustic version of Heroes; it was just the two of us on a beautiful Saturday morning drinking coffee playing heroes. And I still can’t believe that that happened that I was able to play the greatest song ever written with the greatest musician of all time. And so the version of Heroes that song reprise is a testament to the song, a testament to David Bowie a testament to my friendship with him. But it’s supposed to be almost like an emotional homage to this moment of sitting on my couch playing heroes with David Bowie.

Q)
When you use the samples of blues artists on the original Play album, did you hear the sample first and then build your song around that? Or did you have the basis of the music already written but needed a suitable sample for bill to fit into?

A)

I am very, sort of like shy, almost apologetic humility around these voices, because I fully understand as you know, a middle-aged white guy, like, it’s not inherently my place to avail myself of a tradition that I’m not a part of like, and I am aware of that, and I owe a phenomenal unpayable debt, to the musical tradition that was represented by Zero Hall. unnatural moves the original sample or and why does my heart feel so bad? Like? So, to the question, the songs were written around the vocals, you know, the Volk, I heard these vocals, and I fell in love with them, and wanted to sort of pay tribute to them by writing the arrangements around the vocal. So, the only the only function of those songs is to sort of celebrate and pay tribute to those voices.

One thing that made me really happy is after the album play was released, a label in the UK, I believe, released a CD of all of the original tracks, the original vocals, and it ended up becoming sort of a best seller, because a lot of these vocals were as obscure as they could be. No, there was this languishing of obscurity. So, it did make me really happy that in my own miniscule way, I was able to help draw attention to these voices and the musical tradition they came from

Q)

How has your approach to song writing different from the early releases?

A)

Well, I mean, the early records I made were very electronic. And, you know, the first album I put out was in 1992. It was a technical record. You know, which is funny for me, because people think of me as being involved in electronic dance music. But in the 80s, especially in the early 80s, like I was into Joy Division, I was into the class, and electronic dance music scared me a little bit. And then by hanging out in New York, I fell in love with early hip hop with electro with freestyle, and then house music when it was invented. So my early records are, you know, songs that I wrote that were just completely inspired by early electronic music and the rave scene. And then as time passed, I think the music I’ve made has become a lot more idiosyncratic, a lot more eclectic. Sometimes a lot louder, sometimes a lot quieter, but definitely different than the early electronic club music I made. Right.

Q)

What was your initial market anticipation when releasing the album Play? Did you ever expect the global success to fall?

A)

No, before Play was released, the album before play was called ‘Animal Rights’ in 1996. It was this aggressive, dark, challenging, almost potentially unlistenable (according some people) album. After I released ‘Animal Rights’, my North American record label Elektra dropped me as quickly as they could.

The only reason ‘Play’ was released. I’m convinced of this is because Daniel Miller who owned the records felt sorry for me. You know, like I was, I was battling alcoholism. I was battling addiction. My mom had just died. I was battling anxiety, depression, and I really think Daniel let me make ‘Play’ because he felt bad for me like he was like, ‘Oh, I can’t drop this poor guy’ – he let me record and had never dropped an artist so when ‘Play’ was released, no one expected it to be even moderately successful, you know, like the original tour for ‘Play’ was a month long. My first show for ‘Play’ was in the basement of a Virgin Megastore for between 20 and 30 people.

To put it in perspective, one of the last shows on the play tour was Wembley and we sold that out and had to book in an additional date. Brixton Academy was the small show, and the small show was 5000 people. It was like a weird trajectory – no one expected it but I am obviously very grateful that I was able to go through that that strange experience.

Q)

What do you people will love about this album? It’s an opportunity to discover music from those original artists to see where your inspiration came from?

A)

One of the things that made me so happy when I released the album ‘Play’ was the increased attention that was paid to these original recordings and to those musical traditions. Hopefully, the new album will draw attention to people, you know, people listening to everyone from Amythyst to Gregory Porter. Hopefully, it is renewed attention to Kris Kristofferson, and all the other people are on the record as well. Right?

Q)

How do you feel about the current state of music compared to the music that you grew up listening to?

A)

Well, that’s a hard question for me to ask, because I’m old! There’s an inherent bias that we old people have towards the music that we grew up in, you know, like, I do find myself wanting to say things like these kids today are there, you know, but the one thing I will say, is, when I was growing up, and I assume maybe some of the people on the call when we were growing up, music was so central to our lives. You know, and when I was 16 years old, listening to an album, you as I said, you’d have to work for two weeks to save up enough money to buy an album. And then you took the album home, and you listened. You sat like on the floor of your bedroom, and you listened to both sides of the album. And then again, both sides of the album, digging into the deep tracks, etc. And I will say I think that most kids today, which is of course a dangerous thing for an old person to say, but most kids based on what I’ve observed. Music is the background while they are dming on Instagram and posting tik tok videos and watching Netflix and maybe doing their homework and vaping. And looking at Snapchat, if that still exists, and texting their friends, like they’ve got like, eight screens going on. And in the background. Some music is playing but the music is really just like for a lot of people. I think it’s become the ancillary background to 10 other things that are going on and I must say I, I love growing up at a time when you paid attention to music without distractions? Yeah, definitely!

Q)

You have spoken before about the motivation to write and release songs being the pressure to maintain status and remain in the public eye. So how have these motives shifted? And in what way? Do you think that has impacted your work today?

A)

Yeah, so I had this terrible period that I’m sort of ashamed of, but I hope I learned from it where, after the success of ‘Play’, I wanted to keep the success going. So as a result, I toured constantly. And, you know, I would try to I was trying to make music that I love. But I was also trying, if I’m being honest, even though it’s shameful, I was trying to make music that would keep the attention coming my way. You know, I loved the external validation that I got from being a public figure musician. But then, time passed, and like, the media sort of turned against me, I stopped selling as many records as possible and for a while, it drove me crazy. Like there was a period, before I got sober, especially where like, the diminished sales diminished attention was really challenging to me. So, I drank more, I did more drugs, I, you know, went out into the world trying to find anyone who would give me external validation. And then I think two things happened. One, I got sober. And part of sobriety for me was like looking at the underlying issues that were compelling me to seek validation externally. And that was really helpful. And also, David Lynch saved me. And what I mean by that is, I heard him speak at BAFTA. And he said this one simple thing that kind of altered the trajectory of my life, he said, creativity is beautiful. That’s his direct quote, because he speaks in very simple ways. And in that moment, I suddenly realised I was like, Oh, I became a musician because I love music. I love music’s ability to communicate the emotion and transform the space in which it’s being listened to. I didn’t become a musician. for commerce, I didn’t become a musician for external validation. And in that moment, he reminded me my only job My only focus needs to be on the creative aspects of music on the integrity of music. And so almost in an instant I decided to sort of kind of ignore press ignore reviews, ignore radio, ignore sales, ignore everything, because those things are all too dangerous for me. So as a result, today, I don’t read reviews. I don’t read press. I don’t read comments. I don’t ever know anything about record sales. I just live this naive the life where I make music, put it into the world and I have no idea what happens after that.

Like, I love my healthy ignorance. So much like every now and then someone will send me something saying like, I can’t believe they wrote this terrible thing about you. And I’m like, No, don’t tell me. I don’t want this. Like I love not knowing like my naive little world where I think everything’s fine.

Q)

Do you prefer creating music or listening to music?

A)

Yeah, that is a tough one. I enjoy the process of making music. And, but inevitably, during the process of making music, I beat myself up about not being trying. Not being as meaningful as the people that I admired so much. So, if you if you have your influences as Nat King Cole, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, the God’s music, you’ll never text him, you’ll never touch the hem of that gun. And so, making music can be frustrating in that way. But I enjoyed the process, I enjoyed the journey of making music, the process of making music starts way before you get into the studio, I think it’s a feeling even the first feeling that you get that inspires you to do something. I think that’s powerful.

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I remember being very depressed. I don’t know, at some point a few decades ago, when I realised, I was never going to write a song as beautiful as heroes by David Bowie, I was never going to make a record as phenomenal as what’s going on. I was never going to be able to sing like baby Huey. I was never like, it’s sort of depressing. But then, for me, once I accepted it, it was kind of liberating. I was like, Oh, I can be inspired by the gods of music. But I can also understand, I’ll never touch them, like, I’ll never come close to them. It’s almost sort of like maybe going to Mount Everest base camp, and being like, Okay, I got to Mount Everest base camp, and I’m looking up at Mount Everest, and there are a lot of people up there, and I know that I will never join it.

Q)

In 2008, you took part in ‘Songs for Tibet’ – will there be a follow up?

A)

I was if I’m being honest, I was very tangentially involved in that, like, I believe they asked for a song. And I gave them a song for free. One of the more interesting aspects of that was I got to hang out with the Dalai Lama. And what I learned is the Dalai Lama has a great sense of humour. But it’s what was in maybe this is, maybe I should keep this to myself, because I don’t want to cause problems. But what I also learned is that by definition, human beings are human. Like the Dalai Lama is a wonderful, inspired, inspiring man. But he’s human, you know, we hung out together. And he was lovely, but he’s human. And I, it made me realise like, there are these people in our world who are alive now or have been alive in the past where we venerate them, and we give them superhuman abilities. But I believe that something about humanity by definition, we’re all human that you can’t, you can gain wisdom around your humanity, you can accept your humanity, but I don’t think anyone can ever technically transcend humanity. If I ever get to meet the Dalai Lama again. I might ask him about that, you know, because he’s called his royal holiness, HRH Dalai Lama. And I don’t know what his perspective is, if, if he sees himself as divine, or just a human who has phenomenal insight and wisdom around the human condition. So, whether there’ll be a second one. I don’t know. I mean, obviously, you know, the situation between China and Tibet is long standing and complicated and not getting simpler.

Q)

Wonderful! Do you believe musicians hold any sort of responsibility to draw people’s attention to matters like press freedom issues, human rights abuse, and armed conflicts?

A)

I hope so, I mean, the greatest musicians of all time have used their voice to draw attention to issues. Obviously, some of the greats have been able to write phenomenal songs around it. You know, I mean, like, you know, Public Enemy road FIGHT the power, you know, we, earlier I was talking about Marvin Gaye and ‘What’s going on’ and ‘Mercy, mercy me’ but what I’m saying now, what’s in what I think is interesting, is, musicians have so many new ways of communicating, you know, obviously, interviews, zoom calls, but social media. And I do think, even if a musician like me isn’t great at writing issue-oriented songs, I should still try to use the audience that I have to address important issues.

Q)

Your thoughts on animal rights are at the forefront of people who go look up anything about you on the internet? Do you think the companionship of animals will be appreciated more in the future due to the joy that they have brought during this pandemic?

A)

That’s a lovely question. I mean, I hope so. I mean, I feel like so many people. And maybe this is very obvious and self-evident. But so many people struggle with loneliness, and struggle with isolation. Even people who are in families, even people who have friend groups, they still feel that sense of isolation, where maybe they don’t feel seen, you know, they feel like they can’t be their authentic selves. But a lot of those people feel like they can be their authentic self with animals, you know. And that’s so I think that’s such a lifesaver for so many people, like the unconditional love that animals have for us, and that we in turn oftentimes have for animals. And what I find is, of course, it’s wonderful to spend time with a companion animal like a dog. But it’s also really wonderful. And I don’t know if you get this up in Bakersfield as well, but like, I go hiking in the mountains, and I see animals who have nothing to do with us, you know, coyotes, mountain, lions, rattlesnakes, bobcats, etc. And there’s something really profound about seeing animals in an environment that has nothing to do with humans like I, there’s this I presumptively feel like there’s a transference that can happen in that environment. And a lot of times when people live in big urban environments, they don’t get to have that experience.

Q)

You’ve done many interviews over the years. But if the roles were reversed, who would you personally like to interview? A personal hero or inspiration?

A)

Um, wow, what a wonderful question. And the person who comes to mind, and maybe this is a very obvious answer, but I just would love to sit down and ask him all these questions would be President Obama. You know, because in human history, no one has occupied a more unique place than this one person. You know, and also, I’d like to ask him about aliens. I’d like to say, well as President, what do you know about area 51? Like, have you been there? Have you seen the grey aliens? Aliens in your cabinet? But I, and also because he’s had, like, I’ve read his memoirs. And his background is, in a way similar to ours. Like it’s very, he had a very normal, very sort of thoughtful upbringing, you know, especially in dreams from my father. There are some wonderful moments about him growing up and how, you know, like, he did drugs, he listened to loud music, he went to parties, he acted like an idiot. I was like, it’s so relatable. And so, I guess that would be my answer is like, if I could sit down and interview anyone, I guess it’d be him as long as he’s willing to be honest, because I think there’s always that caution that a lot of people have in being honest. Like another thing. He’s dishonest. But he’s also like, a very accomplished public figure politician. So, he’s very good at expressing himself in a way that is protective as well. Yeah!

Moby’s latest album Reprise is out now. Moby Doc, a powerful new feature-length documentary film is now available on digital platforms is also available to buy and stream now.

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Why LA Is An Ideal City For A Day Trip For Music Fans?

Are you a music fan? Then visiting LA is nothing short of a must. Indeed, the city can offer you a handful of the coolest places you’ve seen in a long time. Can you imagine visiting a place where The Beatles played and put your hands in the hands of your idols? You can even end the day at a Los Angeles rehearsal studio and create music with all of the day’s inspiration.

Read on, make a schedule and enjoy the best day of the year in LA.

The Grammy Museum

The Grammy foundation created an interactive museum especially for people like you and me, music fans. In it, you can have fun while you remember iconic presentations and discover some of the forgotten names of popular music. Furthermore, you can even explore the stories behind your favorite tunes told by the artists themselves.

The Grammy Museum features four floors of true music history; you can’t leave LA without paying it a visit.

Hollywood Walk Of Fame

Taking a stroll through the 1.3 miles that make Hollywood’s Walk of Fame is visiting your idols. Certainly, with more than 2,600 stars, chances are you’ll be able to fit your hands in those of the people that shaped the soundtrack of your life.

Furthermore, you can even take a behind-the-scenes tour and let your guide for the day reveal the stories behind the most meaningful stars. Again, you definitely can’t leave LA without a visit to the Hollywood Walk of Fame (and a few selfies).

The Sunset Strip

From the roaring 20s to the beatniks in the fifties, the birth of rock and roll, psychedelia, punk, metal, and even folk; the Sunset Strip was a witness to it all. Moreover, the venues still standing in this legendary mile-and-a-half road are living proof of music history.

These are your definite must-see spots:

  • Whiskey a Go Go – Since 1964, the Whiskey a Go Go has been the go-to spot for rockers, metalheads, and hardcore fans. It is one of the most iconic corners in the strip and, although it is small, it is full of history.
  • The Troubadour – What do Elton John, Billy Joel, and James Taylor have in common? Well, besides being stars, they all played The Troubadour at some point. It is an intimate stage that makes the perfect spot to catch some contemporary music.
  • The Roxy – If you want to meet the future of rock and roll, this is the place to be. Indeed, The Roxy is probably one of the best-sounding stages in the city and the country. On it, you’ll find the soon-to-be stars (performing here is launching your LA music career) and the established ones that happen to be in town.

The Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl opened its doors in 1922 and it still retains the original amphitheater acoustics from back in the day. Just picture it for a second; a screaming crowd went crazy over The Beatles in that very spot!

For a full scope of the importance of this venue, just visit the Hall of Fame on your way out; you’ll get the chills.

Guitar Center Rock Walk

Guitar Center is a music store; that is absolutely right. Furthermore, standing at its entrancer might make it seem like a regular store, but it reveals to be more than that once you go through the doors.

For starters, you can drool and marvel over memorabilia instruments. Secondly, they have one of the largest guitar collections in the world on display. Finally, you can just pick up any instrument and play without any sales people hanging around.

For any music lover, this is a fantastic spot, but if you happen to also be a guitar player, you’ll never forget your visit.

Los Angeles rehearsal studios

Has being surrounded by all of this legendary music culture fired up your inspiration in LA?? Well, that’s a great thing because the city is full of some of the best rehearsal studios in the States.

Besides, it won’t be hard to find some people to jam with; Los Angeles is a music city with plenty of opportunities. If you think of it, some of your favorite bands formed with an ad in a Los Angeles newspaper and jamming with strangers in a rehearsal studio.

Conclusion

Just roaming around the streets of Los Angeles will feel like a movie. This is, by all means, the city where most of the people who shaped the entertainment industry made history. Its unique vibe will find its way into your heart and work magic for your inspiration.

End the day in a Los Angeles rehearsal studio and let the magic happen. You never know what beats and tracks you might produce. It’s such an inspiring area.

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Celebrity

Noel Gallagher drops new single ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ and announces a decade-spanning compilation

Noel Gallagher’s HIgh Flying Birds has shared details of his latest single ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ which is one of two new tracks featured on a new Greatest Hits album which will celebrate a decade as a band.

Curated entirely by Noel, ‘Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021)’ will come out on June 11 via Sour Mash Records. ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ is available to buy and stream right now. Upon first listen, it’s set to be one of Noel’s finest and most poignant solo songs to date.

Noel fans will love the deluxe box set which will feature a deluxe vinyl, an etched seven inch and a stunning coffee table book.

Speaking ahead of the release, Noel says:

“10 years of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds?? Blimey! … Just think of all the things I COULD have done in that time!!. The title just came to me one afternoon, at the kitchen table,” he added. “It’s a saying isn’t it: ‘back the way we came’. I actually thought it was a great title. Which is why it’s got vol 1. Because if there’s another one, I’m not coming up with another title!”

Listen to ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ and see the tracklist for ‘Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021)’ below.

Disc 1

  1. Everybody’s On The Run
  2. The Death Of You And Me
  3. AKA … What A Life!
  4. If I Had A Gun …
  5. In The Heat Of The Moment
  6. Riverman
  7. Lock All The Doors
  8. The Dying Of The Light
  9. Ballad Of The Mighty I
  10. We’re On Our Way Now

Disc 2

  1. Black Star Dancing
  2. Holy Mountain (Remastered)
  3. A Dream Is All I Need To Get By
  4. This Is The Place
  5. It’s A Beautiful World
  6. Blue Moon Rising
  7. Dead In The Water (Live At RTÉ 2FM Studios, Dublin)
  8. Flying On The Ground

Bonus Disc

  1. It’s A Beautiful World (Instrumental)
  2. If I Had A Gun … (Acoustic Version)
  3. Black Star Dancing (Skeleton Key Remix)
  4. Black Star Dancing (12” Mix Instrumental)
  5. The Man Who Built The Moon (Acoustic Version)
  6. International Magic (Demo)
  7. Blue Moon Rising (Sons Of The Desert Remix)
  8. The Dying Of The Light (Acoustic Version)
  9. This Is The Place (Skeleton Key Remix)
  10. This Is The Place (Instrumental)
  11. Black Star Dancing (The Reflex Revision)
  12. Be Careful What You Wish For (Instrumental)
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