FROM talk of Oasis reforming to endless articles looking over the time period, nostalgia for Britpop is as high as it's ever been.

Former Supergrass man Gaz Coombes hasn't got time for that, though - he's too busy concentrating on the present.

This year will see the 20th anniversary of, I Should Coco, the Oxford trio's seminal debut, but Gaz is focused on new solo album, Matador, which he beings to a sold out King Tut's tonight.

"A little more time has passed since the Supergrass split, and I feel more comfortable about where I'm going and the direction I'm going in," he says.

"It's been a really exciting period - my eyes were wide open at the beginning of Matador, and I guess I let the ideas just flow.

"It was a very instinctive record, probably the most instinctive one I've ever done."

The album is Gaz's second solo effort, following on from Here Come The Bombs, which was released in 2012.

It's certainly a more confident effort musically, going off in different directions, including Krautrock on Detroit, the electro-centred Buffalo and the minimal love song, Seven Walls.

It was also an album that the singer made nearly on his own, recording by himself and playing nearly every instrument.

He avoided cabin fever, but working on his own meant there was often self-doubt while he was working, too.

"There were definitely moments where I was banging my head off the desk and thinking 'I need to speak to another human being,' he explains.

"There was another studio I worked out of as well, where my friend Ian Davenport worked, so I'd take stuff over and got him to lighten the load a bit ... you have these moments of uncertainty and self-doubt as to whether it sounds any good.

"It's really tricky, a real balance between staying confident and thinking this is the right way to go, and then there's part of you thinking that's not the case.

"You've got to see it through, and going back to being instinctive, trusting that the instincts were good, but never quite knowing."

One thing Gaz does know is that today's show at Tut's will be full of energy tonight.

He's visited Glasgow many times over the years, and it was a show here that gave his solo career a boost a few years ago.

"I wouldn't expect anything other than a lively crowd in Glasgow," he adds.

"I've done so many shows up there and it holds a special place in my heart. I'm up for that heat and sweat.

"One of the first shows I ever did around the first album, Here Comes The Bombs, was in Glasgow, and it was just such a brilliant way to kick it all off.

"It's great to get back that support and response when you've just gone solo, you need that."

While he'll be touring Matador all year long, there will be a diversion to the past when I Should Coco gets a deluxe re-issue later this year.

Recorded while the band were in their teens, it's still a record that Gaz is extremely proud of.

"We've been going through old recordings and demos, and sometimes it feel like yesterday, and then at other times I can't remember recording it," he reflects.

"It's exciting though, it still sounds fresh to me.

"If it came out now it would still feel right, I don't think it's dated and I feel lucky about that.

"A lot of Britpop stuff hasn't aged well, so I'm glad how it sounds."

For Gaz, it wasn't Britpop as a cultural movement that interested him, but more the fact that it was letting guitar bands go into the mainstream again.

"I remember the bigger picture of guitar music as a whole, and rock n' roll music, being back on the map again," he recalls.

"It was irrelevant to me in the style of it being Britpop and the whole lad culture thing that went with it.

"It was more about going on Top of the Pops in 1995 and the Top 10 had four or five guitar bands, which you hadn't had in the early 90s.

"I guess it was an important time and I was lucky to be part of that, but Britpop itself I have a different relationship with.

"It's a cool thing, though, to get Tweets from people saying they still love listening to Moving."

Gaz Coombes, King Tut's, tonight, sold out, 8.30pm