The Coral of the story

Whatever goes down with The Coral onstage, you can be confident that they will remain a model of behind-the-scenes disharmony. Within two minutes of kicking off an interview with the group, backstage at an outdoor gig, I'm caught in the middle of a domestic dispute.

Brotherly love is off the agenda, as lead vocalist James Skelly takes great exception to his drummer sibling Ian’s continued presence in the room at interview time. Poor Ian is just trying to add finishing touches to some microwaveable beans on toast.
“Fuck off!” roars James. “I’m gonna fuckin’ lob these fucking beans over your head, get the fuck out now!”
“I’m just tryin' to make me beans!” Ian retorts. A fair point, or so you might think...
“Fuck off, you dickhead, or I’ll lob the fucking beans over yer ‘ead! You’ve got five seconds to get the fuck out.”
“I’m makin’ me tea, I’ve gotta play a gig. Calm down!”
“I’m gonna fuckin’ punch yer head in. Yer pissing me off now. Yer seriously fucking pissing me off.”
The incident resolves itself amicably enough, with James wrestling his brother out the door of the portakabin, and administering a swift kick to his backside on the way. Bemused (and just a little terrified), I have a stab at softening the atmosphere. So, erm, guys, how do you feel about Roots And Echoes? Your most mature album to date?
“It’s the only album we’ve made when we’re this age,” explains organist Nick Power, the one band member brave or stupid enough to remain in the room with James Skelly during the interview. “It’s not like we try to make a more mature album, you just make what’s relative to your age. I think we’re better in the studio than we ever were, arrangement-wise and technically.”
“We’re a bit more patient as well,” adds Skelly, who is now cutting a remarkably sedate figure in the absence of his bean-making sibling.
The Coral have always struck this listener as a group who struggle to win new admirers, yet deliver the goods consistently enough to retain a decent chunk of their established fanbase. Do they get frustrated that their popularity seems to have hit a brick wall, or are they content at their current level? Skelly and Power only agree with my hypothesis up to a point.
“Every record we’ve released, we’ve disappointed people and won new people over,” explains Power. “Some people want you to stay in the same place, some people you wanna win over. That’s always been the case with us: we’ve got hardcore fans, but you always wanna get new people in.”
Skelly is even more realistic when I ask if he sees the group reaching a new, Oasis-circa-‘95-sized level of popularity with Roots And Echoes.
“Maybe, but I don’t think we’ll ever get to that level,” he muses. “It’s possible, but I think you have to wanna be at that level – you wanna be a celebrity, or whatever. We just wanna get through to people with our music.”
The group certainly seem to have achieved this goal, and there's a fairly noticeable gap between Skelly’s gruff, monosyllabic off-duty demeanour and the lush, expressive nature of his songwriting. But the sibling-on-sibling spat has left me curious: what do you guys get up to backstage? Is it all one non-stop party?
“I don’t think it’s yer standard party,” Skelly muses. “It usually involves putting catfood in each other’s bunks.”