Graham Coxon

Short Biography
Just as Blur-mania gets its second wind, we have Graham Coxon their massively influential and highly respected guitarist, visiting the Civic Bar with a gig that will showcase his hugely popular solo material - talented man!
 
Graham Coxon (Blur guitarist) - Wolverhampton Civic Hall: Friday 15 May 2009

Graham Coxon had already released three solo albums while as a member of Blur before his 2002 departure. His first, released on his own Transcopic label was The Sky is Too High in 1998, a ramshackle mixture of English folk music and 1960s-style garage rock, influenced by Billy Childish. This was followed by the more extreme The Golden D in 2000 and the thoughtful Dyla...

Short Biography
Just as Blur-mania gets its second wind, we have Graham Coxon their massively influential and highly respected guitarist, visiting the Civic Bar with a gig that will showcase his hugely popular solo material - talented man!
 
Graham Coxon (Blur guitarist) - Wolverhampton Civic Hall: Friday 15 May 2009

Graham Coxon had already released three solo albums while as a member of Blur before his 2002 departure. His first, released on his own Transcopic label was The Sky is Too High in 1998, a ramshackle mixture of English folk music and 1960s-style garage rock, influenced by Billy Childish. This was followed by the more extreme The Golden D in 2000 and the thoughtful Dylan-Drakesque Crow Sit on Blood Tree (2001). After going solo full time, he released The Kiss of Morning in 2002. The album proved to be his most accessible to date and was promoted with the single "Escape Song" which proved to be an interesting hybrid of Syd Barrett's "Octopus" and progressive rock trail-blazers The Nice. In 2004, Coxon released his fifth solo album Happiness in Magazines, produced by ex-Blur and The Smiths producer Stephen Street.

This proved to be his most successful album to date, and he received the NME Award for 'Best Solo Artist' in 2005.

Coxon's seventh 15-track studio album titled The Spinning Top, produced again by Stephen Street[2], will be released on May 11, 2009. Coxon says the LP, which is primarily acoustic, follows a narrative - the story of a man from birth to death.

Please note: this is an early show with doors opening at 18:00.

In-depth Biography
He's the guitarist of one of London's most delightful Britpop bands, and Graham Coxon is the quiet one. As the chief guitarist of Blur, his sheer and jointed guitar riffs made him a distinctive piece in leading the four-piece into alternative creative outlets, not to be overshadowed by the popular hysteria painted by the press. Noticeably, Blur went from cockney rebels to experimental intellects throughout their growing roster of material during the mid- to late '90s. Still Coxon wanted to steer into another musical invention. Expectations and personal wishes led him to throw his energy into a solo career. It was a side project of sorts, a loophole for Coxon to streamline his own ideas his own way.

Blur enjoyed mainstream success in America with "Song 2" from their 1997 self-titled release. Coxon's musical influences start to appear during this time, elements of American indie rock (Pavement, Pixies, Sonic Youth) shower through the band's work. It was shortly thereafter that Coxon founded his own label, Transcopic and released The Sky Is Too High in 1998 (the album was released on Caroline stateside). His straight-ahead lo-fi sound and post-punk yearnings were finally captured on a glowing debut, a favorite among the college charts, but still a stifling move for die-hard Blur fans. No one was sure what to make of Coxon's solo motivation. Unfortunately, a year later, it was brushed aside by the release of Blur's sixth album, 13. Coxon remained the quiet one, despite his deepest efforts to make his most artistic side more apparent. But keeping up with the speed of things, Coxon put all things Blur aside to release his second LP, The Golden D, in mid-2000.

Two years later, Coxon shocked Blur fans around the world by announcing his departure from the band. Recording for Think Tank had just gotten underway in Marrakesh, Morocco; however Coxon had already grown distant, personally and creatively, from the rest of the band. In turn, Coxon fell back on his solo career and focused on fatherhood. His fourth album, Kiss of Morning, appeared in October. Two years following, Coxon hooked up with producer Stephen Street for his biggest solo achievement yet. Happiness in Magazines was released in May 2004. Love Travels at Illegal Speeds appeared two years later. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide