As a fan of UK rock band legends Ocean Colour Scene since I was 14 when they released Moseley Shoals, I have shamefully never seen them live. Having also missed the Simon and Oscar tour in my town earlier in the year ( yes I am a terrible excuse of a fan) it was a great moment for me when they as a full band, were announced to headline Wychwood Festival.

Wychwood Festival is a family friendly festival held at Cheltenham Racecourse in, wait for it, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire! An event for all ages, the festival has live music, kids event, comedians and more! Closing the whole weekend by headlining the Sunday night, Ocean Colour Scene are bound to leave the crowd in great spirits and with feelings of nostalgia after they play their big hits such as The Riverboat Song, The Day We Caught The Train, The Circle, Robin Hood, You’ve Got It Bad and much more!

I may have mentioned songs from Moseley Shoals only but Ocean Colour Scene of course have many more albums than that including various B Side albums. Their last studio album Paintings was released over ten years ago in 2013. However, despite not having any new music of late, Ocean Colour Scene’s popularity hasn’t gone anywhere. Their large fanbase has allowed them to continue to tour for all these many years and to still secure headlining slots at festivals as well as Simon and Oscar touring an acoustic tour as a duo. The Simon and Oscar tour is said to be a very special one and it isn’t hard to see why. The tour sees Simon Fowler and Oscar Harrison playing Ocean Colour Scene songs acoustically – what a unique experience and a must-see event.

We caught up with Simon Fowler, the lead singer of Ocean Colour Scene to discover playing Wychwood Festival and so much more! I was actually nervous for this one. I needn’t have been though as Simon was so laid back and an absolute joy to talk with. In places it was very funny as we were both moaning about our age and how we like the comfort of sitting at concerts and going home early!

We hope you enjoy our talk and please do catch Ocean Colour Scene on tour or Simon and Oscar on their remaining acoustic dates. Info and tickets for both tours here.

Hi Simon, how are you? Having a good week?

Yeah! We just did three concerts over the weekend, Me and Oscar! We are playing 12 concerts just him and me and his son plays drums for us. So we have 12 shows.

I am glad the shows are going well. Unfortunately I missed you playing here but I am really looking forward to Wychwood Festival. You’re headlining which will be fun!

Yeah! It’s good to play race courses actually because they have fantastic facilities! We have played before but during the races and we go on after the races so you’re on at 6pm. It’s a bit like Japan! You come off of the stage and say “so what are we going to do this evening?”

We need that here haha, I want to be in bed by 10pm!

Yep, I know! It would be brilliant! In Japan it’s like that, it’s 6pm or 6.30pm

What can you tell us about your set at Wychwood because as we have said, you are headlining. You have a large back catalogue now but does a festival headlining set list vary from a Ocean Colour Scene headlining tour set list?

Yeah, we’re changing the set list a bit. We did a big tour at the end of last year. It’s normally Steve who organises the set lists. Steve (Cradock) is the most disciplined of us all. He has sent it to me but it will be all the crowd favourites. I firmly believe that the studio is for bands and concerts are for the crowd. We would look pretty daft if we were on stage with nobody there, so it’s for the crowd as far as I’m concerned.

Yeah and I think festivals differ set list wise anyway from a bands actual headlining show on their tour! I find artists change it up a little for festivals, is that the case for you too?

Yeah! I think you’re right there, we probably would play more obscure and newer songs at a concert of ours. At a festival, we may be the headliner, but their not an Ocean Colour Scene crowd really!

I am looking forward to it because I have never seen you live before!

No? Nor me haha

Haha. I think it will be really fun and am bringing the whole family! I know we just talked about playing the hits but will there be any new songs on the set list?

No! We are sort of trying to slowly write a new album. We have three songs so far I think. I need to pull my finger out really.

Well sometimes the slower it takes to make an album, the better the result will be in my opinion.

Yep! The last album we did was ten years ago!

Wow! But that being said, I feel like that has gone by pretty quickly especially with covid, we pretty much lost three years there!

Tell me about it because we couldn’t do anything! We didn’t do anything at all in three years.

Out of all the albums you have ever released, what album sticks out the most to you creatively?

Well obviously Moseley Shoals sticks out because that is the album that made us. My favourite album though is actually the B Sides album. ‘B Sides, Seasides & Free rides’ because it is more “me”! Moseley Shoals is very much the producers sound. The B Sides one is a double album so you get more for your bang!

We released the album the same time as Moseley Shoals. Moseley Shoals was at number 2 and B Sides was at number 4 in the charts at the same week! Those were the days eh? Haha!

I miss those days of physically buying an album by going into the store and having a browse and seeing what catches my eye! What do you make of the industry now because I constantly hear of artists having songs streamed millions of times but making about 10p.

Yeah, to be honest it means nothing to me now the music industry. I don’t know how it works, I can’t use a computer – I have never used a computer in my life. I like vinyl. Vinyl now sells more than CD’s which is sort of incredible. Yeah it means nothing to me and quite frankly how a young band starts off and makes a living I really don’t know? We make a living now by playing live!

Yeah, playing live and merchandise seems to be the only way to make money as a musician now!

I think it’s ludicrous.

Still on the subject of B Sides, you have a few B Sides albums out now don’t you?

We have got loads of them. In fact last year, a company called Demon released a box set that had every recording we had ever done! It’s a really beautiful box set. When Oscar and I actually saw it, we were amazed. We were were like “blimey, that’s our life’s work”. I looked through the tracks and was thinking “I don’t really remember some of these”. Haha!

I was going to ask that haha, that there must be some songs that you have forgotten that you have written?

Yep! Yep! there were haha and we were like “how does that one go?” Then you hear it and you’re like “oh yeah of course”. There must be hundreds on there. There’s something like 12 records in the box set!

Wow! That’s a ‘must get” box set!

On your shows that you have been playing with Oscar – what do you enjoy more about those shows than as a full band as they must be very different?

They are very different! When you see me and Oscar play, he plays piano and bass guitar and I play guitar and sing obviously. Those shows with Oscar, they are more closer to how I actually wrote the songs. I write songs on an acoustic guitar with a tape player still. So the songs are closer to the original. Also it means we can get to sit down for an 1 hour and 20 minutes instead of dancing around pretending to be young haha!

Oh I feel you! I sometimes get put off a show if I can’t sit down haha!

Yep! One of my favourite concerts I ever saw was at The Palladium and that was Lou Reed!

Oh nice!

You said that you write all your songs on acoustic guitar, have any of your songs changed almost completely after production?

Yeah they do. Steve controls our side in the studio really with the producers. I tend to do the initial recording so they can add to that and then go back to the vocals again. In the old days we just used to play a lot of table tennis with Oscar upstairs.

I do miss TFI Friday! As well as having the Theme song The Riverboat Song introducing artists before interviews, you also used to hang out there a lot right?

I did yeah! I used to live down in Richmond and I got on like a house on fire with Chris (Evans) right from the very first time we met. Even when we weren’t playing there, I used to go and hang out on a Friday night with him and Danny Baker!

Must have been fun?

It was great, we were having the time of our lives! We couldn’t believe what had happened to us. After years of struggle, we were suddenly pop stars and that is almost entirely down to Chris Evans. I put a book out (One For The Road – The Life & Lyrics of Simon Fowler & Ocean Colour Scene- in 2022) which I put together with an old friend of mine (Daniel Rachel ) we grew up next door to each other. I went on Chris’ show to promote that and it was like we had never been apart from each other, we just had this chemistry where we get on. He is a really really nice guy! Without Chris, it would not have happened in the same way! He was the Radio 1 DJ of the morning show and he made it (The Riverboat Song) record of the week two weeks in a row! We were in the charts at 15 and then the album charts at number 2 and stayed there for 6 months thanks to ‘Jagged Little Pill’ (Alanis Morrisette)

Awww!

That album knocked us off haha!

Oh no and apologies as I did buy that album but hey I bought yours too so it balances it out haha!

That’s alright then haha!

Didn’t you knock Oasis off the charts at some point?

We did with ‘Marchin’ Already’, yeah we did! Noel sent is this plaque “Congratulations to the second best band in the world” hahahahaha

Hahaha I did wonder how they would have reacted to that! You have supported them on stage too right?

Yeah, they have come on stage with us. They supported us funnily enough at The Royal Albert Hall. Paul Weller went on first, then Noel and Liam and then us with P.P. Arnold and then everybody piled on stage and had a jam at the end. That was something that was!

I can imagine!

Are there any songs that you don’t like playing live anymore? Songs you love playing?

Sometime yeah! Especially towards the end of the tour you can get a bit sick of songs. My favourites song, I love playing ‘Robin Hood’. The crowd seem to love that one! When Oscar are I play, my favourite song is a song called ‘Last December’. When we do ‘The Circle’ we do it as a ballad. Oscar plays the piano and I sing. That is my favourite moment of the gig!

I really want to go now. You will continue these shows after this tour?

Yeah yeah! We have 12 in May and the band has 20 odd festivals in Summer!

Well I hope I can get to the Simon and Oscar tour as I also want the Oran Mor Vinyl!

Yeah, that’s only available at the gigs!

As a lover of Vinyl, what in your collection is the most rare or your most treasured?

Not long ago, I built a house, I moved house from next door actually so most of my vinyl are still in storage. My vinyl collection comprises of all the classics particularly my favourites are The Beatles, Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Fairport Convention, The Kinks, The Who, The Small Faces all the classics really. Quite frankly I don’t know what is in the charts at the moment but there won’t be anything as good as that!

I agree! I don’t think there ever can be!

Nor me!

I was just saying not long ago , who will the next legends be? and I couldn’t answer my own question!

Yep!

Is there anybody that you would still love to work with or see live as a fan?

I think I have seen all the people live that I have grown up loving! I would probably be too scared to be on a recording with anyone! I did sing on the chorus of a Paul McCartney charity record. Steve played guitar with Paul and Noel. I met Paul McCartney which was frightening. Neil Young as well at a hotel in Nottingham – that was terrifying as well. I shook his hand and thanked him for changing my life!

Wow, so he must have been an influence on you as an artist?

Yeah! My first records that we had were The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel and some really old 50’s and 60’s records that my parents had. Stuff like ‘seven little girls sitting in the back seat’ The Avons.

Out of all your music, what would your family say is their favourite song?

Oh I’ve got no idea haha. I don’t know how much my family knows my music haha! My dad is 91 and my mum is 87 so there era is not mine haha.

I am very much looking forward to Wychwood and thank you so much for talking to me today!

Marvellous, it’s been a pleasure!

Simon Fowler’s book One For The Road that he mentioned in this interview is still available to buy. As the Ocean Colour Website states:l, the book finds Fowler collaborating with his lifelong friend, award-winning author, Daniel Rachel. One For The Road is presented as an extended conversation featuring 69 personally hand-selected songs by Simon, including never seen before original handwritten lyrics, 13 unreleased songs, and over 350 hand chosen photographs and rarely seen items of memorabilia.

This new stunning book offers a unique and illuminating visual record of one of the great songwriters. One For The Road can be bought at www.ourfavourite.shop