Britpop kings back on Scene

Simon Fowler on his love of playing at the Barras, new tour & passion of Scottish fans

OCEAN Colour Scene are Kings of the Barras.

The Birmingham Britpop band played five consecutive sold out nights at Glasgow Barrowland in 2001 and still hold the record. Next Tuesday they are back for a four-night residency.

Scotland loves Ocean Colour Scene. In their 90s heyday the group led by singer Simon Fowler and guitarist Steve Cradock chalked up a No1 album Marchin’ Already and one of the Britpop eradefining albums, Moseley Shoals, which gave us The Day We Caught The Train and The Riverboat Song, which was used to introduce guests on Chris Evans’ TFI Friday. Here Simon tells all...

Congrats on another sold out run at the Barras. Wouldn’t it be easier to do the Hydro for one night?

The Barras has always been incredibly good to us. We’ve done the Hydro twice in the last five years. My favourite kind of venue is around 3500.

The Hydro is just too big. The Barrowland is a totally unique experience. It’s just the crowd. They are like no other crowd in the world, as far as I’m concerned. There’s no other place in Scotland like it.

Why are you so popular in Scotland?

The crowd just like our type of music. There’s a big sing along element to our songs. Our gigs are like the best pub in the world. We’ve always tried not to be a pretentious band which sits well with Scotland. Quite a few of our songs are about drinking. I’ll let you make of that what you want.

Would it be fair to say after the chart success of the 90s you made a living from constantly touring Scotland?

Yes. We’d built up a live following. I reckon Ocean Colour Scene define themselves on stage rather than record. As well as you, Steve and drummer Oscar Harrison, Raymond Meade has been the band’s bassist since 2015 and is a Scot.

Now the band is a quarter Scots ever thought of moving up here?

No. I like in a village just outside Stratford-upon-Avon. My roots are here. My parents are still alive and in their 80s. I’ve lived here for 20 years. Everyone knows each other and is just a mate. I enjoy playing the village fete every year.

How was lockdown for you?

I really got into Peroni. I think I bought shares in the company. And I watched the Landscape Artist and Portrait Artist of the Year programmes. There are quite a lot of elderly people in our village so I did their shopping which was great as it gave me something to do.

The tour you are on now was meant to happen last year. Were you worried about what would happen as a musician?

We weren’t 100 per cent sure we’d ever play again. I’d think “what do I do now?” I can’t do anything else.

This year was the 25th anniversary of Oasis playing Knebworth. You were one of the supports. What was it like?

I can’t remember a great deal about the gig. At that point we were probably the second biggest band in Britain after Oasis because of Moseley Shoals’ success. But I’ve never felt so nervous in my life standing at the side of the stage waiting to go on.

I looked over at Chris Cradock, Steve’s father who was our manager and had a cine camera. He told me to go on stage and film the crowd. The crowd cheered and I thought “thank Christ for that” and by the end of our set the whole crowd, ight to the back of the field had their hands in the air singing The Day We Caught The Train.