"Diamond Hoo Ha Man" is a song by British rock band

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, ...

. The single was first played live at Guilfest 2007 in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, England, and this live version was then released as a free download via the band's website (as was its B-side "345"). It is the first official single from the band's sixth album, ''

Diamond Hoo Ha ''Diamond Hoo Ha'' is the sixth and final studio album by British alternative rock band Supergrass, released in the UK on 24 March 2008, and offers a return to punchier Supergrass songs, in comparison to the more mellow '' Road to Rouen'', their ...

'', and was released on 14 January 2008 as a vinyl-only single, limited to 1,500 copies, thus limiting its chances of charting, which it failed to do. An instrumental version of the song was recorded by Biff Hyman (

Mick Quinn Mick Quinn (born 17 December 1969) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as founding member of English rock band Supergrass. He is a permanent member of fellow Oxford band Swervedriver. Career 1984–1993 Mick Quinn s ...

) for the ''Duke Diamond and Friends: Glange Fever Motion Picture Soundtrack''.

Danny Goffey Daniel Robert Goffey (born 7 February 1974) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for Supergrass. He briefly toured with Babyshambles in 2010, following their drummer's departure. C ...

described the character of the "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" mentioned in the song; "Maybe he's like a really dodgy

Fear and Loathing ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream'' is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a ''roman à clef'', rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story foll ...

n Las Vegas N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

type travelling salesmen – he does his work but always has another plan in his head, something a bit seedy. But with the album, ''

'' also means a really good time. A "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" is someone who's a bit excessive." The title of the song was in fact praised by

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

, with

Gaz Coombes Gareth Michael "Gaz" Coombes (born 8 March 1976) is an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Supergrass. He first entered the music scene aged 14 as the lead singer of the band The Jennifer ...

saying; "It's a great image, not as good as one of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's weird characters, but it reminds me of one of those. We were batting it around, then Nick aunaysaid he'd spoken to Nick Cave and mentioned it as a possible title and he went, 'Yeah, man, I love it.' He has good album titles and if he likes it..." This song has recently been used as background music in advertisements for

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best ...

Track listing

Limited edition chocolate 7" R6753 # "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" (3:26) # "345" (3:39)

Music video

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Charly Coombes Charly Coombes (born 27 December 1980) is an American-born English singer-songwriter, musician and producer based in Brazil. Career In 2004 Charly joined Sleaford band 22-20s, who had recently re-located to Oxford, as keyboard player; the ban ...

(A.K.A. Chas Harrison) The video opens with the following statement: "

were not available for the making of this video. But upon hearing the song on

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

, Berlin's

Diamond Hoo Ha Men The Hotrats (originally the Diamond Hoo Ha Men) were a cover band formed by Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey as a side-project from their main band Supergrass. The band were named after Frank Zappa's album '' Hot Rats''. The duo recorded a set of ...

decided to create their own cinematic salute to

. Thank you & enjoy" This is because the other members of the band (

and

Rob Coombes Robert Joseph Coombes (born 27 April 1972) is an English musician and composer, best known as the keyboardist for the rock band Supergrass, fronted by his younger brother Gaz. Since 2022, he has also toured with the punk rock supergroup Wingmen, ...

) are not present, instead

and

take on the role of the

under their

alter-ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a different personality. Add ...

s of Randy Hoo Ha and Duke Diamond. Mick's absence was probably due to his accident in August 2007. The first scene shows

opening the door of a house in response to the doorbell being rung. There, additional guitarist

stands at the doorway, dressed as a 1970sesque badminton player under the alter-ego of Chas Harrison (ex-

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

County Champion Badminton Pro, now 'manager' of the band.) Charly then shouts "Randy, come on! Where's Duke? The car's here!", to which Danny calls out "Duke!" to encourage

to hurry up. Gaz joins them as they progress to the

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

waiting outside, with pink furry dice hanging from its rear view mirror, where a chauffeur opens the car door for them all. As they drive off the song itself begins. Then footage of the

live onstage is shown, with captions of 'Duke Diamond' and 'Randy Hoo Ha' to coincide with their appearance in the video and Charly joining them onstage to hit

shuttlecock A shuttlecock (also called a birdie or shuttle, or ball) is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. It has an open conical shape formed by feathers or plastic (or a synthetic alternative) embedded into a rounded cork (or ru ...

s at the audience with his badminton racket (This is because

is apparently afraid of

feathers Feathers are epidermis (zoology), epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both Bird, avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in ...

Pickard of the pops: Diamond Hoo Ha Man by Supergrass , Music , guardian.co.uk Music
/ref>). The video then changes between film of scenes such as the band live (sometimes in black outfits, sometimes in the same outfits but white), in the

, Gaz and Danny as seen through a

fisheye lens A fisheye lens is an ultra wide angle lens, ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong Distortion (optics), visual distortion intended to create a wide panorama, panoramic or Sphere#Hemisphere, hemispherical image. Fisheye lenses achieve extremel ...

camera, people with obscure clown-like masks playing table tennis and dancing and images of the two during a sunset. As the

handclaps A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

in the song begin, the camera focuses on the

's clapping hands and duplicates the image of this several times across the screen. Finally the video ends with the

driving into the sunset.

plays a black

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

Deluxe guitar throughout the video.

References

{{authority control Supergrass songs 2008 singles Parlophone singles Song recordings produced by Nick Launay 2008 songs Songs written by Rob Coombes Songs written by Gaz Coombes Songs written by Danny Goffey Songs written by Mick Quinn