Remember the Coral? These youthful rockers brightened up the early 00s music scene with their melodic mix of 60s Merseybeat and off-kilter psychedelia, before seemingly melting back into obscurity. In truth, they’re not really prime rockumentary material – they were never particularly huge in terms of either popularity or personal drama – but this film playfully captures the spirit of a bunch of talented young mates who just wanted to play in a band, and got their wish.
Founding members James Skelly, his brother Ian, Paul Duffy, Bill Ryder-Jones and Lee Southall were all working-class kids growing up on the Wirral, between Liverpool and Wales, goofing around, living in their own world. “Probably the first incarnation of the band was a ghost-hunting business,” says Skelly. By their teens, they were playing guitars, smoking weed and studying pop music more than school; not just the classics – Beatles, Kinks, Small Faces, this hot new band called Oasis – but also leftfield stuff like Captain Beefheart, close-harmony vocal groups from the 1950s, even the Coronation Street theme tune.
