Graham Coxon: 'I was a mardy brat in my 20s … I'm quite mellow now'

Blur’s guitarist displays on the state of pop music, swearing, and why he’s glad he doesn’t should put on makeup any more

Graham Coxon enters the studio by way of a thick cloud of vapour. “Banana and yoghurt,” he proclaims cheerfully. I had expected Coxon to be a bit extra taciturn, given his status as the second least chatty member of Blur. But earlier, as I waited outdoors, I heard him loudly, fortunately tootling a track to himself. As he vapes, he fizzes with enthusiasm, his body barely still for a second, even when he's making an attempt to take a seat down and speak. “I can get quite careworn,” he says, shuffling in his seat, “but I’m in a very good temper once I’m within the studio.”

We are in London’s Konk Studios, near the place Coxon lives, to talk about The Finish of the F***ing World, the Channel four/Netflix drama about two broken youngsters falling in love, for which he wrote the beautiful soundtrack. He abbreviates it to “The Finish of the World”, although, because he's round youngsters quite a bit, his own now being 18 and five. “The older one hears a number of expletives once in a while, but I don’t swear that a lot any more. I just discover it a bit grating. I’ve used each swear word underneath the solar however… ” He shrugs. “Who’s received the power to be that het up that they’re going to make use of swear phrases? It's essential to be enjoyable, not swearing. It's essential to be doing one thing else.”