Verse, Chorus, Monster! by Graham Coxon

Author:Graham Coxon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571374328
Publisher: Faber & Faber

TOO

HIGH

THE

SKY

Stuff they never tell you before you’re famous, part three: it doesn’t matter how big you get as an artist. It makes no difference if you are getting everything the industry wants you to – blanket press coverage, sold-out tours, healthy record sales. No matter how big it all becomes and how much profit people are extracting from your hard work, don’t make the cardinal mistake of expecting positive encouragement from those around you.

This is supposed to be the time of your life. But, miraculously, there never seems to be any shortage of people saying things designed to beat down your confidence, as if they don’t want you getting too big for your boots. If you’re not mentally steeled for it, you’ll find yourself trapped in an atmosphere where everyone feels defensive and threatened, backed into a corner with nothing but your own negative thoughts and plummeting self-esteem for company. And in that corner, alone, there’s no one to help you challenge any of it, no one to tell you there’s a different way to be. All of this is hard enough when you are in a band, which is like a little gang. But it’s even tougher if you decide to do things off your own bat – in other words, make a go of going solo.

———

At the beginning of 1998 I was trying my hand at being a one-man band, squirrelled away at home, reaching for the sky. Finally, I was recording a collection of my own material, from the drums to the vocals and the production. I also had a new girlfriend, Anna Norlander, a photographer from Sweden, who was a huge fan of Smog, Bill Callahan’s early band. His dark, introspective music was often swirling around our house, and I liked the way it sounded as if it was recorded in a bathroom, on the loo. He also had this excellent cruel wit. I liked his vibe, as they say, and it made me realise it was possible for music to sound this way – it needn’t be a big deal nor sound expensive.

I wasn’t even going to release The Sky Is Too High; or, if I did, I wasn’t planning to put my name on it. I didn’t really know what to do with it: it was just a bunch of songs that I’d started to write because a neighbour of mine, Tony, had asked me a favour. He was a bit of a tasty geezer, with some vague connections to Madness and the London underworld. He also happened to be fascinated with boxing history and had written a screenplay about the life of Tom Sayers, a Victorian bare-knuckle fighter who lived in Camden and once owned the Laurel Tree pub. ‘Come on, mate,’ pleaded my friend, ‘you’re a musician: write us a couple of songs for the soundtrack.’ So I wrote ‘Me You, We Two’ and ‘A Day Is Far Too Long’, which was the first time I’d written any songs of my own.

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