Graham Coxon: On Blur, Gorillaz, and The End of the F**King World

Following in the footsteps of Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon has turned his hand to soundtrack work – and as with his equally illustrious contemporaries, the results are suitably stunning.

Based on a somewhat obscure graphic novel by Charles Furman, The End Of The F***ing World is a dark comedy-drama, focusing on English teenage tearaways James (Alex Lawther) and Alyssa (Jessica Barden), whose escape from personal turmoil and drab suburbia ends up – as the title suggests – as an apocalyptic road odyssey.

The performances from Lawther – familiar from his memorable turn in the Black Mirror episode ‘Shut Up And Dance’, a nihilistic masterwork that’s arguably show’s best outing – and Barden are magnificent, while Coxon’s restlessly eclectic score beautifully complements the gripping and wickedly funny action.

Having picked up a devoted following during its initial run on Channel 4, The End Of The F***ing World became a bona fide cult smash following its transfer to Netflix. All in all, Coxon could scarcely have asked for a better debut as a composer.

“Yeah, totally,” agrees the softly spoken guitarist, speaking down the line from London. “I didn’t expect it to go off like that, really. I thought it was going to be one of those odd little cult things – well, I guess it is – but the reaction has been wonderful. I didn’t really think much about it. We all thought it was good and worthwhile, but then you don’t really know.

“It went out on Channel 4 for a bit, and we got some good feedback from that, but when it went to Netflix, it went really mental. We were texting each other going, ‘Oh my god, people are loving this.’ It was a lovely feeling.”

Adapted for TV by writer Charlie Covell and directors Jonathan Entwistle and Lucy Tcherniak, Coxon was invited onboard by the show’s music supervisor, Matt Biffa, who’d previously asked the guitarist to contribute a song to The Riot Club, an indie drama about privileged Oxford types with similarities to David Cameron, Boris Johnson et al.

With a non-specific time period – the show could be set any time from the late ’80s to the mid-noughties – The End Of The F***ing World allowed Coxon free range to indulge his wide-ranging musical tastes.

“I wanted to make some things that were big, Ennio Morricone/Scott Walker-type soundscapes,” he explains. “So I knew I wanted to go to the ’60s. But then there was another episode that had the Buzzcocks in it, so that took me into the late ’70s as well. Also, I found myself thinking about the mood of despondency in some parts of the show, and that gave me the idea to take an early Beck approach to some of the material.

“Another feature of the show is the brittle dryness of the Kent coastline, with the dry grass and salty stones. Although that countryside is really nothing to do with deserts, it seemed to be a nice idea to take an approach I called ‘Paris, Essex’. It has that feel of Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassja Kinski, but in American-themed restaurants in Essex, with a little bit of Big Star in the mix too.”

One of the soundtrack’s finest moments comes courtesy of ‘The Snare’, which is strongly reminiscent of Angel Badalamenti’s iconic avant-jazz score for Twin Peaks.

“Well, that 6/8 time signature, that’s my Link Wray obsession,” notes Graham. “I mean, not all of Link Wray is in 6/8 – some of it is in 4/4, like ‘Rumble’. There is a little bit of Twin Peaks in it, although I didn’t watch all of the series. But I’ve always loved that referencing of the ’50s; those twangy guitars with tremolo effects. I’ve brought that into my music a lot over the years, and I also love mucking around with my lap-steel, which I’ve had since the ‘Sunday Sunday’ days in Blur.”

With The End Of The F***ing World being prime binge-watching fare, I wonder if Graham is much of a connoisseur of TV comedy and drama? “I am a bit,” he nods. “I really like to have something to watch. I don’t watch normal TV a lot, so it’s either films or series for me. I really like Better Call Saul and I love Breaking Bad. I’m also into Boardwalk Empire and The Leftovers. I love all that stuff and the use of music is always really interesting.”

Remarkably, Graham has yet to check out The Sopranos, although he is aware of the show’s fantastic use of ‘Coffee & TV’ in one episode. Soundtrack work aside, last year also found Coxon once again hooking up with Blur frontman Damon Albarn on the Gorillaz album Humanz, with the guitarist part of an all-star cast on concluding track ‘We Got The Power’, alongside Noel Gallagher and Savages’ Jehnny Beth.

“It’s not that much different to when I’m doing Blur stuff with Damon,” reflects Graham. “He’s got a song, there might be some lyrics and there’s definitely a vibe to it. I try and feed off that and interpret it. I play some guitar and if it fits, it slots in and he’s happy. And if doesn’t, he frowns! That’s the gauge. I played on quite a lot of the album, and Damon was going between including more of the instruments, or keeping it more electronic. I just said, ‘Look, I’ll play on tonnes of stuff and you can chuck out what you don’t want.’

“It’s good, because I get to listen to what he’s up to and play on it a little bit. It’s great to see him and hang out in the studio, and generally catch up. We’ve known each a long time, and when we get together, there’s usually at least one good thing that comes out of it.”

Graham has also appeared at a number of the Gorillaz live shows on their current tour – can we expect to see him joining them again at some point? “I don’t where they are!” he replies. “They zoom off here and there. I don’t normally go abroad. If there’s one knocking around near London, they’ll usually invite me to play. That’s always good fun, because you get to see everyone and have an enjoyable time. But it’s far too expensive for me to head off to another continent.

“Hopefully when they do Dublin, they’ll get a lot of the guys over, because it’s always brilliant when everyone’s there. The whole gang have been around when I’ve played with them, which is great – everyone’s so lovely. You can’t really get to know everybody in one night, so you get to know everyone a little more each time. They’re a great bunch of people. Damon always picks really excellent people to work with.”

Blur, of course, made a strong comeback with 2015’s The Magic Whip, which received considerable acclaim and topped the charts in Ireland and the UK (the band also turned in a brilliant headlining appearance at Electric Picnic the same year).

Notably, Coxon was the driving force in the early stages of the album, revisiting a series of recordings the band made during a week-long stint in Hong Kong a couple of years previously. It must have been gratifying that the album was so well-received.

“It was great because it might never have seen the light of day,” says Graham. “I took a bit of risk in asking Damon if I could muck around with it, and getting Stephen Street involved. I think we made a reasonably decent album out of it, and everyone got enthusiastic about it when they heard how it was turning out. It was just a nice punctuation point – a good statement that all of us in Blur were on the same page and having fun making an album.

“There’d been a lot complications before it, so it was a nice way for me to establish my commitment.”

Any plans for the boys to do more work together at some point?

“It’s up in the air,” answers Graham. “Nothing’s been mentioned, but we’re always saying hello to each other. We all have to be aligned and in that frame of mind at the same time, which doesn’t happen that often I guess. But I suppose we all have to do something else for a while.”

After a brief chat about what’s exciting him musically (he enjoyed the last Thundercat album), I wrap up by mentioning that Blur and Nirvana are my favourite ever bands, to which Graham replies, “Brilliant – good choices!” Hopefully we’ll see the guitarist back in Ireland soon in some capacity.

“I love it there,” he enthuses. “I’m sure you will see me again at some point.”
The End Of The F***ing World soundtrack is out now. The show is also available to stream on Netflix.