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Just a few years ago, things couldn’t have been any better for The Coral - the band, who led the psychedelic Cosmic Scouse invasion with their Mercury Music Prize nominated self-titled debut album back in 2002, were enjoying consistent commercial success. 2005’s full length album ‘The Invisible Invasion’, achieved the feat of becoming their fourth straight record to reach top five in just three years and spawned their radio friendly hit, ‘In The Morning’, which ultimately became their biggest, and perhaps best, single to date. But touring took it toll on the lads from The Wirral and tensions came to a boiling point when guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones temporarily left the group.
“Bill went weren’t with us for, like, a year, so we had to get another guitarist in to do the tours, but we had to do it. It weren’t bad, no-one hated each other or nothing, it’s just we got on with it and did it. We could have split up, but what would have been the point in that? We just thought, ‘get through it, keep playing our music and writing tunes’ and then Bill came back. We always knew he would,” recalls amiable co-guitarist Lee Southall to Gigwise. “It felt a bit stressed and we had a bit of time off when he left and all that, then we got back a played all the gigs we needed to play”.
Now they’re back with fifth long player, ‘Roots & Echoes’, things seem to be back on track. It’s an accomplished return for the multi-membered group, playing on their archetypal sound and strengths, yet somehow sounding relevant within the context of the deluge of guitar bands flooding the scene. Southall recalls that the band were eager to hit the studio to record new material: “We always love getting into the studio and recording. We love playing live, but when you’re in the studio you get to have a laugh. We have a good time doing it, it wasn’t hard at all. We just went in there and we bashed out the song.” He continues: “It took quite a long time getting the album together, but that’s the recording, we only took two months, maybe three. It’s just because we had to like use different studios and we wrote songs in the studio”.
As has been widely reported, their old chum and staunch aficionado Noel Gallagher personally invited The Coral to record the effort at his Wheeler End studio. Southall perks up when speaking about the experience and enthusiastically beams: “It was brilliant! We got it for free as well. It was a studio, really good gear in there, good guitars. It was just good in there, really, really good. He had old guitars and vintage desks and everything really. You’re just like a kid in a toy shop. We just got in there and started messing around with all this gear.”
‘Roots & Echoes’ is rightfully being proclaimed as their most mature effort yet. Importantly it’s also an intrinsically human record, with less talk about people turning into plant pots and more about relationships and loneliness. “It’s just more consistent. I think the arrangements and the songs are a bit more structured”, says Lee. Rather than becoming embroiled in any difficulties, Southall admits that the recording process was a natural one: “Mostly James [Skelly] writes the songs on the acoustic, or he’ll have an idea he’ll get it to the band then we’ll work on it as a band. More so on this album, it just happened. I think it’s just ‘cause we’ve known each other for so long and we’re good musicians and we know each other. It just happens”.
The band’s return and our chat with Southall comes at a time when the music industry is going through a rocky patch, mainly due to illegal downloads. More so in the light of the closure of Fopp (only partly rescued from complete death by HMV this week) - unable to compete with the internet, recently announced the closure of its 105 stores. While, Ash recently announced that they won’t be making any more albums.
Seemingly in keeping with their traditional sound, Southall says that he’s not really computer savvy: “I don’t use it seriously but the other lads in the bands do and they can get some good things off it and get your downloaded. It’s good if you want to use it in that way. It’s a magical thing when you go and buy and album, you get the album and you get the artwork and that. If people are just downloading it, then the magic’s lost.” He adds: “I hope it doesn’t turn into like, you go into a record shop and there’s no CDs, you’ve got to download it onto your iPod. That would piss me off”.
Thankfully though, the live scene is better than ever with festival season upon us despite the rain-drenched summer. The Coral will be playing V Festival later this month and have already played to major UK festivals - from Glastonbury to T In The Park. “It was good, it went down well. It was the first one they put on a Friday, ‘cause normally they only play on a Saturday and Sunday don’t they T In The Park? But they put Friday on and we played on Friday. There were only like five bands playing,” recalls Lee. “We don’t mind festivals. We like T in the Park loads, Glastonbury’s pretty good. We’ve done nearly all of them I think. You get to play to people have heard the music and people who haven’t, so you win both ways”.
So how have the six-piece changed since the inception of the band as teens? “Not much apart from facial hair,” says Lee. “No one’s really grown any taller either! We’re all the same though. We’re just a bit weird. Not really, we’re still about ten in the head I think!” Long may they continue.
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