Supergrass Take On Both New Identity and Michael Jackson

In September of last year, Supergrass [myspace] bassist Mick Quinn sleepwalked out of a first-story window and broke two vertebrae and a heel. This is as Supergrass are just finishing their sixth studio album, Diamond Hoo Haa, which will be released in March. The first single is "Diamond Hoo Ha Man", and until Mick recovers, the rest of the band (plus sometimes youngest Coombes brother Charlie on keyboard bass, which would make that a 3/4 Coombes-family band) are performing as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men, although the set below is presumably just Gaz and Danny. First, let me just gush like a fanboy about how long I've loved Supergrass, yada yada. But really, it's something that great bands like them and the Charlatans UK can barely make a dent commercially outside of the UK, suffer hardships and even deaths, but keep on churning out inventive music for well over a decade. That said, the new Supergrass that I've heard is a departure. Almost all of the quirkiness, at least musically in the three songs I've heard, is almost totally gone, replaced by a straight-ahead, fuzzed-up wall of soaring rock power. It seems the charming Brits with the mischievous grins who always seemed to have a bit of a chip on their shoulder finally want to really kick your ass. March's release will tell how much this is true for the whole album, but check out the tracks on the myspaces and these, recorded yesterday in London on XFM radio, part of their "Live in Leicester Square" series. While I lived in London, I loved XFM - always the best alternative station, bar a couple shows on the normally teen-pop oriented BBC Radio. And there's something else in this radio set that makes me smile, something that truly marks this as a broadcast on British radio (apart from the accents). It's the volume changes on the background music. Somebody audibly has their hand on the volume knob, but the changes often seem random, and exaggerated.This is even more true of pirate and low-frequency stations I'd come across, especially reggae and urban stations. Anyways, here's the Diamond Hoo Ha Men:

Supergrass
(just Gaz and Danny, AKA Duke Diamond and Randy
of the Diamond Hoo Ha Men)
Jan 11, 2008
XFM London

Intro
Diamond Hoo Ha Man
Chat
Lenny
Chat
Beat It (Michael Jackson)
Outro

Head over to the official site, complete with very nice shop, and keep an eye out for the Diamond Hoo Ha Man single (7") this Monday, Jan. 14, and the new album in March.