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Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha
| Uncut | Can it really be nearly fifteen years since Supergrass hitched a ride to the Britpop party? With all their peers, save a depleted Blur and Oasis, now safely in the rear mirror, five top ten albums in the trunk and a new generation of admirers – most notably The Arctic Monkeys – urging them on, they could be forgiven for cruising nostalgically towards middle-age.
But beneath that easy-going exterior lurks a fearsome inner drive. When bassist Mick Quinn sleepwalked through a first floor window and sustained serious injuries last September, most bands would have taken it as an excuse for a year off. Instead, Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey embarked on a club tour as White Stripes spoof The Diamond Hoo Haa Men, while Quinn made the kind of miraculous recovery normally reserved for David Banner....full text |
| | Nme | You never would have expected Supergrass to grow like they have. Compared to, say, fellow Oxford boys Radiohead, whose ‘The Bends’ was released the same year as Supergrass’ debut ‘I Should Coco’, pop-punk scraps like ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ seemed doomed to flare up and then fizzle out.
Yet, 13 years on, they’re flourishing. 2005’s ‘Road To Rouen’ – a bleak, bare record – found new depth, but at a cost. With band relations under strain, a further blow came when bassist Mick Quinn broke his back sleepwalking out a window. Was it the end of a longer-than-expected run?
Was it hell. Instead, Danny Goffey and Gaz Coombes banged on some silver jumpsuits, renamed themselves the Diamond Hoo Ha Men and rediscovered mischief under the freedom of a silly pseudonym. Playing Michael Jackson covers and some distinctly un-bleak new tracks in the small, sweaty venues they first cut their teeth in certainly helped....full text |
| | Allmusic | | After spending a dark, contemplative night on the Road to Rouen, Supergrass come crashing back to life with Diamond Hoo Ha, an album every bit as cheerfully gaudy and vulgar as its title. It all begins, as it should, with “Diamond Hoo Ha Man,” a wicked send-up of the White Stripes' gonzo thump that rivals “Blue Orchid” and “Icky Thump” in its outsized swagger, while providing the touchstone for the rest of the record, not so much in its sound but in its attitude. Not that Supergrass doesn't crank the guitars here, as they offer up the stomping Stooges shuffle of "Bad Blood" and spangly "Rebel In You" in quick succession, but after this furious opening triptych, the band widens their net and lightens their touch, reconnecting with their signature impish humor that was quite deliberately missing on much of Road to Rouen despite its punning title. At times they actually overplay their mischief, overloading "Whiskey and Green Tea" with too much stylized British whimsy so it threatens to topple over on the weight of its braying brass....full text |
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