Supergrass: In it for the music

When I started playing with the band, I couldn't really play the piano; I was just playing the songs," says Rob Coombes of Supergrass. Coombes is the self-deprecating keyboard-player and is more interested in tucking into his egg and chips than talking about how it feels to be in the public eye. We are in the Queen's Head pub, just down the road from EMI's headquarters, in Shepherd's Bush, west London, and we're talking about why Rob has decided to become more "visible". Even though he's been with the band since about 1997 (Supergrass have been releasing singles since 1994), he's always been the silent member and started to give interviews only in the past year.

The subject came up in the context of discussing boring questions that journalists always ask Supergrass. And I've just asked one. Rob thinks the answer is equally boring: that he wouldn't have felt comfortable being high-profile, not being able to play properly. It would "have been silly to be a band member in that sense". Which is quite interesting – probably why people keep asking him. But he has to think about it when asked if he can play the piano now. "I'd say I could, but I'm sure a lot of people would probably say I couldn't."

At this point, Mickey Quinn, the bass-player, chips in. "I don't know what you used to do when we were off doing press. Did you go shopping or have a lie-in or something?"

Mickey has a deadpan face, and he could have been joking, but Rob replies seriously. "Yeah, literally, I'd just read a few books or something," he says, and then returns to his lunch. So much for the rock'n'roll lifestyle.

The thin-faced Rob was a scientist before he (unofficially) joined the band. That's another question that too many people ask, so we don't go into that, although Mickey does say, "It's good to have an astrophysicist's perspective." That is a joke, but he does add that interviews are the time when he gets to hear what the rest of the band really think. They don't, he says, spend time sitting around analysing themselves. Because when they're together they're making music. Now that is rock'n'roll.

Which leads to the next question that people always ask. Will they ever escape the "Britpop" label? "Can people still describe The Beatles as a Merseybeat band?" is Mickey's retort. Which puts an end to that.

When Gaz Coombes (lead singer) and Danny Goffey (drummer) join the conversation, they are just as affable about the whole Britpop affair, but bemused. "It's not that you hate being asked about it; it's just, you get confused about why you keep being asked it. Questions like why you're one of the ones that survived Britpop, well come on..." Gaz trails off, looking a bit helpless. It is a difficult question. It's also difficult trying to defend or explain everything that came after that phase.

But they aren't into publicity offensives. "You can say as much in a song as you could in 10 minutes of an interview," is Gaz's thinking. And if the reaction to the songs isn't good? (It wasn't, in most quarters, for the third album, Supergrass.) "Whatever the reaction is, we don't really care," Gaz continues. "Maybe we've found our true voice, but maybe we won't until the eighth album."

At this, Danny buries his head in his hands. "Eighth album!"

But Gaz presses on. "When you look back at other bands, sometimes it did take them a while – two or three records – until they went into other avenues. Maybe what we have, we had to get out, so that other things could come."

The album they made this year, Life on Other Planets, has had a better reception, from the fans at least. The reviews were so-so, but their answer to critics is that Supergrass are playing Wembley Arena in January – their largest venue to date. Did they do some major rethinking for the latest album? They changed a lot of things: different producer (Tony Hoffer, who has worked with Beck and Air), different studios and different location (France). "Though I don't think", Mickey says, "that we sat down and studiedly tried to find a different way of doing it. Maybe that would be an interesting approach – I don't know. If we did try to do something self-consciously, we might end up with something interesting, but then it might be... pants."

And then Mickey says (almost) fervently, "You have to be bold and try something different at the expense of making an idiot of yourself." What would he care enough about to do that? "Music," he says. "That's what I'd be willing to go out on a limb for."

And that is that. It seems that this sums them up as a band. They aren't going to issue mission statements just because they feel that it's required of them. And they don't particularly care if they don't get it right all the time.

"What I'd like people to know," Gaz says, "is that not everything has happened that's going to happen. It's still quite early on, and not only the best stuff but the most obscure and different stuff is still to come. I think it's all about doing what you feel. The people we admire do the same. Neil Young did some absolutely diabolical records in the Eighties because he wanted to. He thought: 'I'm not going to do what you want me to; I'll just do this horrible rock'n'roll album that doesn't say anything.' But it shows amazing integrity – he just loved the music." Although the logic seems skewed, it says a lot about their influences; their latest album in particular seems heavily peppered with a Sixties groove. "We have different vibes and different styles," Gaz continues. "It's natural for us to do anything."

Then it's back to talking about how they are perceived. "Do you think we're always asked the same questions because we're boring?" Danny laughs. "We've had no big dramas." But, more seriously, he continues, "We've been really conscious not to open ourselves up too much. Maybe because we've got families." He lights another cigarette. "It's scary seeing someone who's confident talking about themselves. They probably go home and start crying."

It's half a joke, but there is something telling about Gaz and Danny's remarks. The four men who make up Supergrass are happy keeping private things private. "When we've worked every minute on a record, and when we are away from it for a while, we just think about babies and things and want to go home," says Gaz. "You want your own life as well: it's not all about the band; it's about having quality of life in other areas, having kids and girlfriends. So maybe we haven't gone all out."

But they're still in their twenties and they're not exactly quiet saints who get on with the music and ignore the outside world. Gaz stresses that he likes the rock'n'roll lifestyle when it suits him. "Maybe we indulge in it slightly," he says, only to be interrupted by Danny, who snorts with laughter and reminds him that he recently presented a Top of the Pops award with Holly Valance. Gaz glosses over this by talking about how "mad" the after-show parties can be, and how Supergrass have an underlying ethic, until Danny suggests that the parties are there for the purposes of bingeing. "We're celebrity bingers," laughs Gaz.

That's where we would have left it, but Gaz wants to end on a serious note. "It feels sometimes in your head that nothing's changed, but everything changes around you." He pauses. "We don't really feel negative; maybe privately we feel there's so much more music to come out, and so much more for us to do, that sometimes we feel it's only just beginning."

The single 'Seen the Light' is out on 27 January on Parlophone. Supergrass play the Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, 22 Jan; Barbican Centre, York, 23 Jan; Apollo, Manchester, 24 Jan; and Wembley Arena, London, 25 Jan