That Supergrass announced a 30th anniversary tour for their debut I Should Coco with a cheeky little Oasis dig – “no dynamic pricing included” - will have been no surprise to anyone who is a fan of the Oxford trio. The brilliance of Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey was built on cheekiness, a band who were the little rascals of Britpop, a group whose debut hurtles along with the mischievous restlessness of a band who sound like they needed to get it recorded before being busted for doing something they shouldn’t have been doing. Which is exactly, as it turns out, what one of I Should Coco’s finest and most riotous songs is about. Caught By The Fuzz, which turns 30 in a few weeks, was Supergrass’s debut single, a perfect introduction for a band whose early days were characterised by a blend of classic British pop, punk’s chaotic energy and a Monty Python-style offbeat mania.
A few years ago, they told this writer how their classic caper of a debut single, which is a true story about frontman Coombes being arrested as a teenager, came about. “With Caught By The Fuzz, we were just sort of messing around,” recalled Coombes. “I remember being sat in the car the day after it all happened when I got arrested, and Danny was coming up with lines in the car, just going ‘Caught by the fuzz’, laughing. We had no idea it was gonna take off like it did.” “I was playing it on guitar,” added Goffey, “and this guy Darryl was in a towel and stuck his head round the corner and went, “I was still on the buzz!”
Coombes said that the’s song’s done-on-the-hop creation was how many of I Should Coco’s classics came together. “I remember a few just on our way out to the pub in the village then picking up an acoustic as we were going out the door and going, “look! We’re Not Supposed To…” they all came about like that, without trying to force the issue. We weren’t trying to think, “We’re gonna be this incredible band…”, we were in our own little mad world writing mad songs.”
Caught By The Fuzz will be present and correct at their reunion shows next year, which promise a full run-through I Should Coco as well as hits from the band’s other records.
