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Gaz Coombes: Turn the Car Around review – genial English rocker’s best album in 20 years

(Hot Fruit/Virgin) The former Supergrass frontman’s gorgeous, heartfelt new songs are intoxicating

I t’s 30 years since Gaz Coombes formed Supergrass , the teen rock band who sold millions of their debut album, 1995’s I Should Coco , and still draw big audiences for their reunion tours. So the genial Englishman has spent some two-thirds of his life being a rock star, and this fourth solo album proves he’s still pretty good at it. While Coombes isn’t keen on trying to recapture Supergrass’s sylvan magic in the streaming era – their final album, Release the Drones , remains unfinished and unreleased – he sounds as youthful and engaged as he did in those cassette tape days.

Much of the baroque experimentalism that powered Matador (2015) and World’s Strongest Man (2018) has been dialled down, but the band’s intoxicating, questing spirit throbs through the strongest suite of music Coombes has assembled in 20 years. Gorgeous, heartfelt pieces dedicated to his wife and kids (Don’t Say It’s Over, Not the Only Things) nestle up next to heartfelt, gorgeous songs about lizard metamorphosis and murdered middleweight boxing champions. The latter, Sonny the Strong, brings the sharp edge of sadness and regret that has often studded his songs fully to the fore, and is one of the best things he’s ever done.

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Gaz Coombes, gig review: Former Supergrass frontman gets serious with grand showcase of intricate solo material

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Tonight, the former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes presents new songs from his second solo album, Matador as he performs a grand show at Southbank's Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The Ivor Novello and Brit award-winning musician responsible for ten top 20 hits and six top 20 albums quietly takes to the stage, swamped by wires, pedals and instruments and backed by a 4-piece band and 32-piece choir.

Flitting between a Waldorf keyboard and guitars, Gaz Coombes eases us into Matador 's songs gently, opening with a BBC Radio 6 favourite, "Buffalo", a turbulent minor-key ballad on piano and guitar that rises into the electronic traces of fellow Oxford resident, Thom Yorke's analogue framework.

Coombes stretches his songwriting muscles on Matador as tonight bursts with its bold choruses, intricate compositions and layered choral arrangements. Doing away with the verse-chorus-verse pop standard, Coombes weaves in elements Brian Eno's ambient electronica on “To The Wire”, the krautrock of Neu! on “The English Ruse” and even the choral micro-polyphonies of György Ligeti on “Needle's Eye”.

“20/20” opens with a downtempo beat as the soprano-led choir builds the harmony to its show-stopping choral hook on the lyric “I’d take the hurricane for you”, before tumbling down with the strained orchestral quality of Radiohead’s In Rainbows .

Performing singles “White Noise” and “Hot Fruit” from 2012's Here Come The Bombs prove clear indicators of a time when Coombes was still trying to find his voice. Written only a few months after the breakup of Supergrass, these songs sound awkwardly flat alongside the emotionally articulate and inventive fluidity of Matador .

The Southbank venue seems to suit Coombes' current style too, opening up its epic intent and allowing him to act as both skilled curator and conductor.

As the crowded stage ties together Matador ’s textures, it also bumps along Coombes's lyrical roots of self-doubt, loss and drug-induced tour psychosis with his singular voice at the fore. It has always been his most powerful pop instrument and his wild, bordering on hysterical, vocals are experimented with as much as the instrumentation of Matador . Vocal echoes of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band are audible on “Seven Walls” while the world-weary cracks of Win Butler are heard on “The English Ruse” as Coombes produces varying howls of pain.

Picking up a shabby acoustic guitar on “The Girl Who Fell To Earth” Coombes morphs a delicate guitar-line into an ambient loop backed by juddering bass-line and a nightmarish lullaby, while “Detroit”'s precise, krautrock drum patterns are provided perfectly by Ride's ex-drummer Laurence “Loz” Colbert as Coombes recounts the unsettling (and true) story of a drug-fuelled breakdown on tour.

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It's hard to imagine that the creator of “Alright” is the same man performing tonight. Coombes has certainly wised up lyrically and musically, graduating as a gifted composer that can hold this evening's many elements together with a masterful sense of control and balance.

Displaying some powerful songwriting, Coombes has produced a collection of songs as ambitious as they are beautiful. An impressive and surprisingly mature turn from the Supergrass frontman.

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Gaz Coombes: Turn the Car Around – his creative well runs deep

As it approaches three decades since the Britpop wars, the era’s stars are riding high again. Liam Gallagher returned to the site of his Knebworth pinnacle last summer, and both Blur and Pulp will do the hits at huge outdoor shows later this year.

But not everyone is playing by the rules. Among Britain’s other Nineties heroes, Radiohead are showing no signs of getting back together, Noel Gallagher still resists a bumper Oasis payday and Suede have put the focus firmly on their excellent ninth album instead of their early work.

Meanwhile, Supergrass are having things both ways. The Oxford band reformed in 2020 after 10 years away and played nostalgic festival dates last summer, but at the same time, their frontman Gaz Coombes was writing music for this fourth solo album.

One listen and it’s obvious why he isn’t that bothered by singing about keeping his teeth nice and clean for the billionth time. He’s been getting better and better as a solo artist – his second album, Matador, earned a Mercury nomination, while chart placings have been getting higher – and here he’s hit a real peak.

He holds a guitar on the album cover but the first sounds are stately piano chords. There’s a rich, crooned, Scott Walker feel to Overnight Trains. Keys dominate again on the stunning standout Don’t Say It’s Over: organic piano moving slowly beneath an urgent synthesizer line. Having recorded his previous albums largely on his own, this time he worked in a new, bigger studio next to his home and brought in his live band. Accordingly the overall sound is gloriously expansive, dense with clever touches.

He gets weirder on Feel Loop (Lizard Dream), which lumbers along on a one note bassline and finds him duetting with sudden screeches of electric guitar. The sensitive flipside is Not the Only Things, written for his daughter, a midnight folk song which opens out into a heavenly chorus.

Scan the YouTube comments beneath any Supergrass video and the word that keeps popping up is “underrated”. Maybe they never quite made the A-list, but their songs are largely more interesting than their biggest hits and for the most part, they’ve barely dated. Generating a fuzzy feeling for your youth is only one thing Coombes is capable of at this point. As the music here proves, his creative well runs very deep indeed.

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Gaz Coombes – Turn the Car Around

Release date

13 th January 2023

Feel Loop, Don’t Say It’s Over, Not the Only Things

Supergrass were one of the largest British groups of the 1990s, responsible for hits like Alright and Caught by the Fuzz . Lead singer Gaz Coombes has released three acclaimed records since 2012, with his last, the superb World’s Strongest Man , coming in 2018. His solo work is a far cry from the Britpop-oriented sounds of Supergrass. Coombes returns with his latest solo endeavour, Turn the Car Around , further establishing him as a stellar musician in his own right, following Supergrass’s reunion tour of the past couple of years.

Overnight Trains begins the record in epic fashion, with a slow build-up and layered sound crescendoing to a thundering climax. Don’t Say It’s Over opens driven by a propulsive drumbeat, but gradually guitars come into play, allowing Coombes to show his prowess in this department with an extended solo. This is a fine track that manages to wonderfully combine its disparate elements, displaying Coombes’s dexterity as a musician and vocalist.

Feel Loop feels reminiscent of Radiohead in the early 2000s, the likes of Kid A or Hail to the Thief , blending Coombes shimmering guitars with a more electronic beat to fine effect, a demonstration of his willingness to experiment on his solo material that helps it stand apart from Supergrass. Long Live the Strange has more of a pop feel that skews closer to the band’s sound, and will surely be a prominent feature in live sets.

Not the Only Ones is an ambient, acoustic-led track that draws on elements of trip-hop and presents a departure from others on the album. Whilst more melancholic, this is another luscious song that hooks itself around Coombes’s ethereal vocals, and whilst the longest at five minutes 37, it doesn’t drag as it reaches its epic finale.

One of this album’s strengths is the way it can manage the experimentation found on World’s Strongest Man , but still be accessible and sound drastically different to its predecessor, as exemplified on the title track. This Love again shows Coombes’s vocals in fine fettle, displaying his range, and at times is reminiscent of some of Beck’s work without feeling derivative.

Turn the Car Around is another stellar effort in the frontman’s solo career, a better showcase for his proficiency as a guitarist but still revealing an ear for different styles. If less experimental than Matador or World’s Strongest Man , this is the sign of an artist confident in his ability and keen to depart from the sound one might expect of someone from Supergrass, not dissimilar to the solo works from Damon Albarn and other Blur members.

Coombes here further cements himself as a force to be reckoned with who shows no signs of slowing down, and, over 25 years into his career, is in as fine voice as he’s ever been, which fans will have seen at Supergrass’s most recent gigs. This is an immaculately produced, eclectic set of tracks that will have fans lapping up every moment of, capturing all that makes Coombes such a versatile and important artist.

Christopher Connor Image: Tom Cockram

Turn the Car Around is released on 13 th January 2023. For further information or to order the album visit Gaz Coombes’s website here .

Watch the video for the single Don’t Say It’s Over here:

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Album Review: Gaz Coombes – Turn The Car Around

Gaz Coombes returns with a career highlight on his new solo LP, Turn The Car Around . While the 46 year old from Oxford was on tour only last year with Supergrass, whom he made his name with, Coombes continues to demonstrate his chops as a solo artist. On that tour Coombes would’ve been performing Supergrass albums, like their debut I Should Coco , that brim with punk edge and a charming Britpop in-your-face-ness. Turn The Car Around is comparatively opulent – the songs are carefully and robustly crafted. The instrumentation is immaculate and the song structures are measured. It’s Coombes’ most cohesive, rounded solo record to date and recalls the best of Richard Hawley or Hamilton Leithauser. The album has great touring potential, with many tracks that will lend themselves well to live performances. 

Due to the variety on show, the album rarely feels stilted or one dimensional – until the later stages of the album where the strength in songwriting does begin to wilt. The level of detail is impressive, often extensive but not overdone. The tracks are layered so that they possess multiple flavours at once, distinctive in their blend of sounds and genres, as exemplified by the title track. As a result the album   flows easily, winding through different moods and styles. With Feel Loop (Lizard Dream) Coombes is more direct in his songwriting, pulling from an Idles brand of punk, particularly with its screeching guitar licks. Not The Only Things , meanwhile, is built out of a moody folk instrumental which goes on to incorporate electric guitars in the manner of a Ben Howard. Long Live The Strange is very The Suburbs era Arcade Fire in its verses while its chorus is demonstrative of Coombes’ capacity to pull together a big band sound on solo material. 

Adding to a now extensive solo catalogue, the Supergrass frontman Coombes is more confident than ever on Turn The Car Around , an album that revels in thick, gorgeous instrumentation and high quality songwriting. Coombes isn’t daring in the sense of producing a completely unique, new sound but Turn The Car Around is consistently ambitious in reimagining Coombes’ own approach to songwriting and is an engrossing listen as a result. Coombes is sure to please long running fans of his work with Turn The Car Around all while keeping his sound fresh and innovative.

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Gaz Coombes interview: “The 90s were a free-for-all”

By Classic Pop | February 28, 2023

Gaz Coombes has matured from the scamp with the sideburns in Supergrass to thoughtful solo artist. For his new solo album, he tells us why he’s looking forwards, not backwards. By W ill Simpson

W e’re nearing the end of the year and Gaz Coombes is sat in his home studio clad in a sheepskin coat and beany hat.

“There’s no central heating and the electric radiator I use broke the other day,” he shrugs. So he’s had to turn on his valve desk. “That gets really warm and eventually it does get quite toasty in here!”

You might think this is a down-on-his-luck ex-pop star struggling with the cost of living crisis, but Coombes is doing very nicely thank you.

Over the last decade he’s managed to develop a solo identity quite separate from the fondly-regarded Britpop band he fronted for nearly two decades.

He’s pulled off one of the most difficult tricks in pop – maturing whilst not losing his fanbase and still being recognisably himself.

He’s still the scamp with the sideburns. Just a bit more thoughtful and considered. Like we all are (or should be) once we hit our 40s.

Compared to others, his lockdown was relatively stress-free. He even managed to use the time to build this studio.

“We did alright,” he smiles. “I was very lucky to have a neighbour who’s a builder. Took 10 weeks and then off I went. So that was a cool use of time. I was very lucky to be able to do that.”

It was in there that the songs that comprise his fourth solo album, Turn The Car Around , began to take shape.

“I mean, you can record anywhere but it is great to get all of my gear into one place. I come in and feel like, ‘Yes… let’s get on with it.”

Coombes worked on the songs from mid-2020 through to 2021 and the album would probably have been out earlier but for a bit of unfinished business from before the pandemic. Supergrass were just starting out on their reunion tour when it (like everything) came grinding to a halt in March 2020.

• Read more: Louise Wener interview: “It’s something we want to do for the pure joy of it”

The reunion had come out of the blue.

“Me and Danny [Goffey, drummer] remained in touch all the way through, and the management team that he’s working with suggested that they could help put it together. There were some anniversaries coming up. It was 10 years since the split.

“All these little dates fitted together and I personally felt maybe if we don’t do it now, either it ain’t going to happen or it won’t happen for another 10 years. So yeah, it was a case of, ‘Sod it, let’s get in a room’ to see how the songs sound. And luckily they sounded great.

“I’m really glad we did it, but I’m gutted that it took three years. It was a pity because it brought back some of those strains and stresses of being in the band. But that’s just the nature of the pandemic being what it was and the reunion dragging on. It was worth it, though.”

The only reservation Coombes had was that getting the old gang back together seemed a retrograde move for an artist whose albums have all been critically acclaimed (2015’s Matador bagged a Mercury nomination ).

“Yes, I was anxious about that,” he admits. “Having got into a flow and the last two albums having done so well, it seemed a bit odd, like a backward step.

“But then I was confident that I could operate both things together and it seems that I did, because I was obviously writing this record mainly during the reunion so… I feel like I made best use of both things.”

On previous albums Coombes had played most of the instruments himself but on Turn The Car Around there was more input from two band members – bassist Nick Fowler and keyboard player Garo Nahoulakian.

“They’d come over to do sessions and work on the stuff that I’d got together already and I’d get them to put some overdubs on. They’re both such musical people and it’s really brilliant to have them in to vibe off really. But I remain the core – I’m still on the drums during most of this record.”

The trio used an interesting, almost Eno-like method, of projecting films onto themselves while they played in the studio.

“We were having a session here, just getting in the flow and I have a projector in here anyway so we can watch movies as a family.

“So I just switched it on while we were working and it just does something within the room – the fact that there’s this different medium going on, it stops people looking at their fretboards and releases the brain to look around.

“The visuals on the wall unconsciously take you to other places and it stops the focus being on what you’re playing. It loosens things up.”

• Read more: Making The La’s

The resulting album is a wistful, graceful-sounding piece of work with several of the songs alluding to the depth, beauty and pain of love.

“I think these lyrics are just a way of me processing stuff,” he suggests. Songs like Dance On and the title track took a while because they were about emotional things, I suppose.

“There’s a couple of lines about my mother dying which was 15 years ago now. It still kinda creeps out into songs because it’s such a big hole and it’s still there.”

It’s not all personal. Sonny The Strong is a story song of a boxer who gets sent to war. Coombes was inspired by Randolph Turpin, the 1950s middleweight from Leamington Spa who died in suspicious circumstances after he retired from the ring.

“ Me and my wife were watching loads of documentaries and got into this idea of being whipped out of your career at the height of your fame and sent to war and how incredible that must have been.

“It was an amalgamation of him and a couple of other boxers. Randolph didn’t go to war but I needed a verse two! It was fun to write that one.”

Then there’s Long Live The Strange , a rallying cry along similar lines to Pulp’s Misfits .

“They’re the people who don’t think they fit in, who are only them and they’re unique. I’ve used ‘strange’ in lyrics for years and its always in the most endearing sense.

“We were the strange ones once, living in Oxford. We always thought we were a bit odd and quirky and liked to hang out with other people who were also a bit odd and quirky.”

Unlike their Britpop peers, Supergrass – or at least Coombes and bassist Mick Quinn – declined to move down to London: “It always felt good being in a band here and not being in the eye of the storm,” he explains.

It meant they were never over-exposed, but also never reached Blur or Oasis levels of fame. Perhaps they never quite fulfilled their potential. Coombes ponders this.

“It’s kind of a game that’s quite tough to play. You’ve got to be different kind of people or at least have different kind of managers.”

“But we were a gang. We really loved making music together – it was a very family vibe and we lived quite rurally. Maybe the ingredients weren’t set up for us to be like Oasis, even though our music was clearly so much better!” he says with a chuckle.

“No I do love Oasis, especially that first record. But we liked to underplay. Maybe we underplayed ourselves out of fame and fortune. But we were happy.”

Whatever, they left behind some cracking singles. Not least Alright , which will be forever etched in our collective memory as one of the anthems of the 90s, that sunlit era between the end of the Cold War and 9/11. “It was a free-for-all. It was chaotic. It was fun,” is Coombes’ recollection.

“It was a bit like the new 60s – the way that fashion and music worked together, it was like a reinvention of that era. Early on with our band there were a lot of photos where we’ve all got flares, purple velvet suits, long hair and sideburns. It could have been 1967.”

Supergrass kept at it longer than their contemporaries. They only split up in 2010 when sessions for album seven ran aground. Did they go on too long?

“That’s a hard one. What I do know is that we made three really incredible records – the first three. I’m glad we went on to have a long career. That’s something cool we wanted to emulate from our favourite bands from the 60s and 70s. I liked that lifespan of those bands.”

“I know it’s a beautiful thing and people love the band but no… I don’t know why you’d force the issue when it’s not happening just to keep it going. That wouldn’t fulfil me at all. But the door is never closed to doing some more shows.”

In the meantime, the valve desk is finally making things toasty and you sense that Gaz Coombes is only just warming up as a solo artist.

“Supergrass was something that dominated my life from the age of 15, all the way to 2010,” he reflects. “I learned so much. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now without any of that for sure. But it’s the next stage now and I’m not afraid of any of these new stages to come.”

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Gaz Coombes tour dates 2024

Gaz Coombes is currently touring across 1 country and has 2 upcoming concerts.

Their next tour date is at Cannock Chase Forest in Rugeley, after that they'll be at Scarborough Open Air Theatre in Scarborough.

Currently touring across

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Cannock Chase Forest

Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Past concerts

Brighton Dome

Eventim Apollo

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Recent tour reviews

Amazing gig, beautiful venue. Everything looked and sounded awesome. It was nice to having seating and not to be squashed into a dirty sweaty venue so had a great view. Gaz was on top form. Very enjoyable.

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Gaz Coombes is amazing.

The music, performance and artist.

The London Palladium is not.

The last time I was there was 1992 for Dinosaur Jr. My ears bled and i quote it as the loudest concert I have ever gone to.

The last time I saw Gaz was 3 weeks ago at the Rough Trade record release. It was one of the most beautiful concerts I've been to. Gaz, his guitar, keyboard and magic boxes.

After last night, I realize that the issue is the Palladium.

It was built as an acoustic hall for performances without amplification.

With modern concerts the air pressure is abnormal and blows out your ears.

in 1992 this led to my ears ringing for a week.

Last night, it led to Gaz being robbed of his soul and the songs of their intimicy.

A real shame.

I highly recommend seeing Gaz Coombes. To me he is a true artist and lovely performer.

I will never go see a show at the London Palladium again. (Unless it is acoustic !)

Great venue. Great atmosphere. Great performance. Loved it.

I've been a far-off fan of Gaz Coombes for a while now. Dipped into his music, but not listened to him recently but boy did he bring me up to date on what I've been missing!

From full-on barnstorming rock numbers back to solo piano ballads, then back onto racaous anthems I thought his performance was nuanced and strong throughout and his voice was phenomenal particularly when on the piano.

It was just great to see an actual musician who can write his own material and then perform it live brilliantly.

A real joy. Many thanks Gaz.

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His new solo album, ‘turn the car around’, is out next year..

7th November 2022

Gaz Coombes , News

JANUARY 12 Rough Trade East, London - 7pm 13 Banquet - Pryzm, Kingston - 7pm 14 Rough Trade, Bristol - 6:30pm 15 Rough Trade, Nottingham - 6pm 16 HMV, Manchester - 5:30pm 17 Jacaranda - Phase One, Liverpool - 6pm 18 Resident, Brighton - 6:30pm 19 Truck, Oxford - 1pm 19 Vinilo, Southampton - 6pm

MARCH 01 De Roma, Antwerp, Belgium 02 Paradiso Noord (Tolhuistuin), Amsterdam, Netherlands 03 La Maroquinerie, Paris, France 05 Les Docks, Lausanne, Switzerland 06 Freiheitshalle, München, Germany 07 Santeria Toscana 31, Milan, Italy 09 Zakk (Zentrum für Aktion, Kultur und Kommunikation), Dusseldorf, Germany 10 Mojo Club, Hamburg, Germany 11 Hole44, Berlin, Germany 13 Lille Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark 14 John Dee, Oslo, Norway 15 Pustervik, Gothenburg, Sweden

APRIL 14 The Academy Dublin, Ireland 15 Limelight 2, Befast, Ireland 17 The Garage, Glasgow 18 Boiler Shop, Newcastle Upon Tyne 19 The Leadmill, Sheffield 21 The Mill, Birmingham 22 Club Academy Manchester, Manchester 24 Cambridge Junction, Cambridge 25 The Waterfront, Norwich 27 Concorde 2, Brighton 28 SWX, Bristol 29 Electric Ballroom, London

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Gaz Coombes - Turn The Car Around

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Gaz Coombes – ‘World’s Strongest Man’ Review

On his third solo album, the former Supergrass man is trying to be more like the man he wants himself and other men to be

The annual broadcast of the World’s Strongest Man competition is, for some, as much a part of the British festive TV calendar as the Queen’s speech and Home Alone . An international fleet of physically imposing, Lycra-clad muscle men compete in disciplines such as lifting boulders and pulling articulated lorries by a rope – usually set against the backdrop of a beautiful Caribbean location – in a bid to be crowned World’s Strongest Man. Gaz Coombes’ third solo LP is a shake-up of that very notion – his reflection on what it means to be a strong man in 2018. Hint: it’s not how many heavy logs you can chuck over your head.

This is not the first time the former Supergrass frontman’s work has focused on masculinity – his own and other men’s – from different angles, including on 2015’s Mercury Prize-nominated ‘Matador’. But this time his scrutiny of the subject has intensified. A key inspiration was reading Grayson Perry’s assessment of contemporary manhood The Descent Of Man . The book resonated on a personal level, making him contemplate his conduct as a man in the context of being a partner, a father to two daughters, a son, and a songwriter, but also as a male who feels compelled more generally to be an active participant in deconstructing and rebuilding masculinity in order to create a better, fairer, more equal society.

His way of doing this is to embrace the facets he thinks constitute a strong man. Which is to say, this is an album that presents vulnerability, the admission of flaws and emotional openness as routes to strength. There might be pokes at the negative repercussions of prevalent toxic masculinity (‘Wounded Egos’), but it’s mostly about his mind.

“ I’m a little mashed up ,” he sings on the opening line on the album’s title track, sounding torn: “ I want to be by myself / Don’t leave me by myself .” That theme – that there’s benefit in sharing mental fragility – boomerangs around the LP, most directly on ‘The Oaks’, where he strolls to the woods near his countryside home to talk to the trees (“ Came upon the oaks / told them about the episode ”) and the ‘Vanishing Act’ where his voice cracks as he yells: “ I’ve got to get my fucking head straight / I’ve got to put on my happy face ”.

Coombes’ vocal, of course, gives the whole thing a nostalgic familiarity, but musically it’s an album that, for him, explores some fresh ground. Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ and ‘Channel Orange’ were both influences, not just in their production but in their approach – their pride, in not just prioritising a big pop chorus, but in the smaller sonic details. Therefore, a lot of ‘World’s Strongest Man’ is about feel, a repetitive groove or a slow build (‘Slow Motion Life’). There’s the deft influence of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on ‘Deep Pockets’, Daft Punk on ‘Shit (I’ve Done It Again)’, Beck on ‘Walk The Walk’ and, a likeness to fellow Oxfordites Radiohead on ‘World’s Strongest Man’ and ‘In Waves’.

If all this sounds like a long way from the goofy 18-year-old with the huge sideburns that wrote ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ – it is. So it should be: almost 25 years have gone by. Coombes, unlike some of his ‘90s peers, has shown an ability and, more importantly, a desire to challenge himself and move forward.

So here’s an album by a male songwriter who feels deeply affected by the conversations happening around men and masculinity right now in light of #MeToo, Time’s Up and gender inequality in all its forms. Gaz Coombes isn’t congratulating himself on having these thoughts, he’s just trying to be more like the man he wants himself and other men to be. There’s room for a lot more of those.

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Gaz Coombes announces 2023 tour

Ahead of the release of his forthcoming solo album ‘Turn The Car Around’, due January 13th 2023 via Hot Fruit Recordings / Virgin Music, Gaz Coombes has announced headline tour dates across the UK and Europe beginning in March 2023. The dates will see Gaz performing with his extended live band, Garo Nahoulakian, Nick Fowler, Piney Gir and vocal trio The Roxys (a nickname given to them by Nile Rodgers when they shared the bill at a Later with Jools show), all of whom feature as guest musicians on ‘Turn The Car Around’.

Tickets will be general sale from Friday 11th November at 9am GMT here . Fans who pre-order the album from the official Gaz Coombes online store here will receive eligibility to access a ticket presale beginning Wednesday 9th November at 9am GMT.

The news comes amidst a wave of live activity around the release of ‘Turn The Car Around’. This week Gaz performed a sold out show at London’s intimate Lafayette to debut music from the new album, a first taste of the masterfully written and recorded songs contained within, and a timely reminder of why Coombes remains one of the UK’s most enduring and gifted songwriters. Looking ahead to January, Gaz will perform a run of special album release shows at record shops across the UK.

Added straight onto the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist upon its release, the elegantly constructed new single ‘Don’t Say It’s Over’ follows a swirling, art-rock groove as Gaz recalls the heady first night he met his future wife. It’s a first glimpse of a record seven years in the making. A record of feeling, an album that captures the ups and downs of modern life and all the small print in between.

Written and recorded in his gloriously ramshackle Oxfordshire outhouse Studio, Gaz has emerged with the best work of his illustrious career. It’s an album that both taps into the sonic palettes and lyrical themes of its predecessors and marks the third and final part of a trilogy of records alongside 2015’s Mercury and Ivor Novello nominated sophomore album Matador and 2018’s World’s Strongest Man. At the same time, it carves a bold new way forwards. “There’s a lot of subject matter in there that I’ve played with and maybe not managed to see through in the past. I’ve evolved”, Gaz adds.

As he celebrates 10 years of his lauded solo career, riding the crest of the Supergrass reunion wave and looking ahead to a bold new album release in Turn The Car Around, Gaz Coombes will tour Europe and the UK on the headline dates below through March and April 2023.

January 2023 UK Instore Shows

12 Rough Trade East, London – 7pm

13 Banquet – Pryzm, Kingston – 7pm

14 Rough Trade, Bristol – 6:30pm

15 Rough Trade, Nottingham – 6pm

16 HMV, Manchester – 5:30pm

17 Jacaranda – Phase One, Liverpool – 6pm

18 Resident, Brighton – 6:30pm

19 Truck, Oxford – 1pm

19 Vinilo, Southampton – 6pm

April 2023 UK Tour Dates

14 The Academy Dublin, Ireland

15 Limelight 2, Befast, Ireland

17 The Garage, Glasgow

18 Boiler Shop, Newcastle Upon Tyne

19 The Leadmill, Sheffield

21 The Mill, Birmingham

22 Club Academy Manchester, Manchester

24 Cambridge Junction, Cambridge

25 The Waterfront, Norwich

27 Concorde 2, Brighton

28 SWX, Bristol

29 Electric Ballroom, London

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THE NEW ALBUM

‘turn the car around’.