Back on the scene

10:16am Thursday 14th December 2006

IT'S now ten years since Ocean Colour Scene sailed on the crest of a wave with The Riverboat Song.

Truly epitomising the band's indie rock sound, the tune was not only adopted by fans as an anthem for the group, it was used by DJ Chris Evans as a theme tune for his TV show, TFI Friday.

Thus followed a string of recording successes and highly-acclaimed gigs until the steam eventually ran out of the OCS train and they took a break.

A decade on and in the wake of band member changes and record company politics, the band are back.

With an album on the way in the new year, and a tour lined up this month, the lads from Birmingham are definitely back on song.

Lead singer Simon Fowler believes the band, with a slightly changed line-up, is now revitalised and ranks the new album as the best and the rockiest they've produced yet.

"We have just recorded a new album so we're looking forward to getting out on the road and playing some of it," he said.

"It's a lot more like us live. A lot of our other stuff has been overproduced, so we were looking at putting something more simple together, which we've achieved."

The "simple" feel to the album may well have been influenced by a couple of acoustic gigs performed by Simon and OCS drummer Oscar Harrison in recent months, something that Simon says he really enjoyed.

But in true OCS style, they also wanted to make sure they rocked up the tempo.

Simon said: "We wanted to do some new rock and roll stuff so that we don't just rely on The Riverboat Song to get everyone going."

Scheduled for release in March, the album's title is yet to be established, but follows a tough task in beating the off-the-wall title of the band's last studio album A Hyperative Workout For The Flying Squad.

While it's not yet certain which of the tracks recorded will definitely make the final cut, one is a cover of a Paul Weller track.

"We have recorded a Paul Weller song, For Dancers Only, a cracking song from Dan and Steve Cradock has written a lot of the album."

For Simon, the change in tempo will be a bit of a shock to the system, having spent the last couple of years taking it easy.

"I have done one or two acoustic gigs with Oscar, I've been writing and I've been taking it easy living in the country. I live with my partner of 18 years near Stratford Upon Avon which is very idyllic."

It's been a different matter altogether for guitarist Steve who has been touring with Paul Weller. Simon said: "Steve really is non-stop. In fact he is playing with Paul just before we tour."

With OCS back on track, and the release of a greatest hits album by old rivals Oasis, there will undoubtedly be talk of an inevitable Brit Pop renaissance - something Simon laughs off.

"We were never really a pop band. I think Brit Pop is something dreamed up by the media and by Damon Albarn, probably."

It seems Damon Albarn may not be top of Simon's Christmas list, as he continued: "I saw a great programme recently based on Johnny Harris' book about Brit Pop and Blair. Liam and Noel (Gallagher) were on it. Liam was brilliant, hilarious. Then they had Damon Albarn who made a right pr** of himself."

Back in the 90s, there was certainly a rampant rivalry between the bands vying for the top. When Marchin' Already, OCS' follow-up album to the very successful Moseley Shoals, went straight in at No 1, In doing so, it knocked Oasis off the top spot, prompting Noel to send OCS a little plaque, with the slogan To The Second Greatest Band In the World.

It was an accolade Simon was all too willing to accept. He laughed: "As The Beatles are the first best band in Britain, that was very nice of him."

Now in the next decade, OCS find themselves among a new brand of bands, and in a whole new music scene.

"It certainly seems, on the whole, to be less chaotic now," he mocked.

"The guys from the Artic Monkeys have to lie down before a gig, and Tom Chaplin (from Keane) is a good choir boy."

For Simon, the bands today are epitomised by their hit songs rather than by their style or album.

"I tend to think of bands nowadays by particular songs," he said. "Anyone who doesn't like the Kaiser Chief's I Predict A Riot must be mad.

"Mind you, after meeting the lead singer (Ricky Wilson), Steve (Cradock) said it should be renamed I Predict A Diet."

It's crowd-rousing songs like these that make bands great, Simon believes, and he is now looking forward to performing his own, back on the road.

He said: "When you start out in a band, you begin rehearsing so that you can play to your mates, you don't think about going into the studio. That's the basis of a good band. "I don't really like the recording process that's why I'm really looking forward to getting on the road."

l Ocean Colour Scene play at thge Astoria in London on December 16. For more gig dates visit www.oceancolourscene.com

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