Wednesday 26th September 2012 by David Renshaw | Photos by Dan Medhurst

Tags: Graham Coxon, Blur

Graham Coxon recently got involved with the annual Oxjam music festival, turning up in an East London branch of the charity shop to play a live show. Gigwise caught up with the guitarist who played the charity show on a week long bill which will also see appearances by Hot Chip, Lucy Rose and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

Having released his latest solo album 'A+E' this year, Coxon went on to reunite with his Blur bandmates for a Summer of gigs. With all of this and much more to talk about we settled down between the shelves of old records and clothes to have a chat with Graham.

How did you get involved with Oxfam?
Well, when you get asked you say yes because you want to help out. This festival is getting more and more important, raising more money and it’s spreading outside of the UK too. Being asked was a privilege and it expands out to smaller shops with people putting on almost bring and buy style things. Hopefully this is an event that’s going to grow in the future.
 
Do you donate clothes or old records to charity shops?
Yeah I do. I have actually got a pile of jeans waiting to go to a shop in my house. I got back from tour and was trying to put things back in the cupboard and they wouldn’t fit. I can’t believe I forgot them!
 
The last time a lot of people will have see you was onstage with Blur at Hyde Park. What are your memories of that gig?
Hyde Park was massive. It was a huge deal and I was pretty nervous too. I just thought ‘Let’s get on and do this’ and then chaos afterwards trying to find family. I enjoyed the build up more, actually. All the little gigs and warm up gigs in Margate and 100 Club were great. 
 
A lot of people complained about the sound levels at Hyde Park. What is your take on that? Were you aware of the problem from the stage?
Unfortunately, that is just what is happening at Hyde Park because of the residents and there is a massive decibel limit that we were told wasn’t going to be in place. We put towers of speakers up for all the people but you can’t always get it right. No gig has perfect sound, especially not if you want to stand where the sound is bad and complain about it. Then it’s your own fault. 
 
So you think people should move if they’re stood in a position with bad sound?
Yes.
 
You also toured with Noel Gallagher recently. Was the any hostility from his fans?
Yeah, I suppose so. They didn’t seem to realise that Noel invited me on the tour and that it’s not the 90’s any more. I enjoyed trying to get people on my side though. 
 
You have been working with Example on his next album. How did that come about and what type of stuff did you do with him?
I bumped into him at a few backstage things and he was with Ed Sheeran. I found him funny and amiable. I worked on three or four songs for his album, he just wanted some guitar stuff doing so I agreed.
 
Were you aware of his music before going into the studio? Do you keep up with new music generally?
I knew his songs from the radio but no more than that. I mean, I’m a bit of a fogey who just likes music from the 60’s really so no, I don’t keep up. 
 
How are fans taking to your latest album ‘A+E’ when you play it live?
It’s really good for playing live actually. I really like the album, it’s probably better than my next one. 
 
Do you already have plans I place to make your next album?
Well my next project won’t be my next release because I’m probably going to put out the other thing I recorded alongside A+E. I made 25 songs at that time.
 
How do they sound?
They’re a bit more traditional 80’s indie stuff. Haven’t the foggiest when they’ll be out yet though.

Check out photos of Graham Coxon performing live at Dalston Oxfam on Monday (24.09.12)