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House Beautiful!

From Select magazine, July 1994. Interview: Sian Pattenden. Photos: Chris Floyd.


No fence... a garden strewn with dandelions... crisp packets by the door... Welcome to the domestic idyll of Blur guitarist and notorious 'Champagne Charlie' Graham Coxon. Inside, cups of tea, seats and Great Tunes From Yester-eon are proffered with mild courtesy. Graham is polite but a tad shy. Take his explanation for the presence of a jar of Clinique foundation: "Um, er, ooh, um," he asserts, "it's, um, it's my, er, girlfriend's." Very Graham. He's also sober, which reveals a more helpful, perhaps subdued side than his social persona will admit. And there's a funny smell, of vaguely feline origin, when you enter the hall to his flat.


How do Do It All do it like they do it all? Don't ask Graham - he's lived here a year but has no shelving, no wardrobe, no cooker, one chair, a sofa and a coffee table that holds various plastic ornaments and toys. The interior of his fridge is basic, boasting milk, mature cheddar, pickle and mustard. His cupboard houses seven packets of Typhoo tea, peanut butter and cat food. His bedroom is fairly plain. There's a picture of a girl showing her belly button in it ("I painted it at Art School, er, but I'm not going to tell you who it is"). Freud fans note: there's an Edward Munch print of a woman's naked torso stretched disturbingly against a darkened skyline, over the bed. Oh dear. Trousers and belts hang over the radiator for that just-pressed Corby approach. That's what staying in hotels does to you, kids.


"I live a low level kind of life," admits Graham. There are rugs on the floor so that guests may share this aspect. CDs are in a corner, assembled in order of, er, randomness. Nick Drake, Beatles, Beastie Boys, the Blow-Up soundtrack, Magazine, Television... nothing remotely cringesque. His records are just as bad, all being rockin' tunes by hip old people. No Mary Poppins soundtrack in sight...


Why take two bottles into the shower when you can have, erm, a bathroom with none of your noncey toiletries. It's just standard tooth things and bubble bath stuff in here. Highlight: blow-up globe. "America always faces the wall," says Graham, "because I hate it. I prefer to look at Africa and Asia myself."


His cat ambles in and out of a garden which shows no sign of the science of horticulture invading any crucial plectrum time. The whole house is that of an easy-going, though fairly tidy ("I really don't like mess") person. The pictures of Audrey Hepburn, black and white prints of mod adolescents and various "beat" videos reveal a man interested in British Youth Culture, while maintaining a steady grasp on the present (Jamie Hewlett drawings, copies of the music press). No clue about vertical space and how to build shelving compartments to accommodate books about '60s poetry, however.


"I was watching a telly report about crime," remarks Mr Coxon. "And it showed all the areas in Britain marked from yellow to red to indicate differing levels of lawlessness. I'm living in a red area... It means there's always a kebab shop open, and you get a sense of the nitty gritty. I like that."


******

Françoise Hardy Record

"I love Françoise. She helped me through my non-noisy period in '92. I'm forever grateful. We went to America, and I couldn't take any more noisy groups. I became like an old man. She's still alive and we want to do a collaboration with her, we want her to sing a Blur song."


******

Jumbo Cord Jacket

"This was my dad's. He used to wear it in the '60s, I should think, when he was a hep cat. A lot of my clothes are my dad's. No, he's not going around freezing now, he's bought some modern ones. I don't really wear it, it looks a bit camp and I'd ruin it. It's not my style."


******

Beatles Figurines

"I got these in a funny shop in Dallas for about $15. I think they're original. They have wobbly heads."

******

Humpty Dumpty

"My sister Hayley made this. She didn't make it for me, I just borrowed it off her. It has pop art socks, look. They're on the US side, which I don't like because I hate America and the backs are much nicer."

******

Parka

"I got this in Denmark, which is good for parkas. I bought it last year to replace my old one. No, I've never worn it to a mod rally or anything, they're full of nasty boys who throw glasses around."

******

Noose

"The Smiths played their last gig at Brixton Academy, and I travelled with my friend from Colchester. When Morrissey was singing 'Hang The DJ' he threw this into the audience and I caught it. That's why I've got it. I wouldn't want you to think it's anything pervy."

******

Floyd On Hangovers Book

"Paul from Blow Up (the club in Camden, ie the 'new Syndrome' rather than the film, or indeed the late '80s dodgy psychedelic band) gave it to me. I'm going to follow it, one day, because it's got a five-day detox thing in it. You need lots of things to hand, though. Certain drinks, lemongrass, strange sorts of things which I don't as yet have."

******

Broken Guitar

"I broke this at the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town, and I think we were probably still called Seymour then. It cost £80 and I got it from a doctor. Yes, a proper one, my sister's friends. I always put a picture of a Jack Russell on my guitars - you get these transfers from pet shops. Only they will do, I'm afraid. I've always meant to mend this one but I can never be bothered. It's 'cos I actually wanted it to be in the Hard Rock Cafe in LA."

******

Acid Jazz Pig

"This pig was given to me by Dave, our drummer. No, he didn't get it anywhere exotic; it was from Camden Market. My friends dressed it up as an Acid Jazz pig as a joke but I kept it like that. I will do forever."

******

Wooden Sculptures

"I made this in art school in Colchester in 1988. It was part of a project, and there are three other heads. What does it represent? Oh, I don't know."

******

Cat

"This is Puss, or Bastard as he's mostly known. He's about eleven now. I always put a tie on him for when visitors come round. He's bloody smelly though, his breath's horrible. I keep the Go Cat next to the Fruit & Fibre in the vain hope that anyone staying over will mistake the two in a bleary search for breakfast. This has failed to happen, as yet."
by scummy | 2008-01-22 14:39 | interview

memo


by scummy

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