Blur | NME – 27 February 1999

Boo-hoo!

Yup, the ‘whoo-hoo’ band have become the ‘boo-hoo’ band, what with Damon splitting from Justine and all. Still, it’s made for a cracking new album and yet another reinvention for Blur.

by Steven Wells

Out of context but fun – it’s Blur in crisis! “Are you really doing this interview about how this album is Damon’s catharsis?” snarls Graham, suspiciously.

“It’s like I can talk for hours and it’s really interesting stuff and then I read the article and it’s – Damondamondamon damondamondamondamon – and then this tiny little quote from Dave,” says Dave.

“Before the last album I felt like I was running ahead through a forest of crap,” says Graham.

“I know that the last album was our biggest seller ever and that ‘Song 2’ was like this huge international selling record, but I never felt I was ever right in there,” says Damon.

“Damon’s not an easy person to like,” says Graham.

“Alex is easy to like but he’s very easy to despise as well,” says Graham.

“It’s very easy to think of Alex as a complete spoilt snob,” says Graham.

“Damon kisses too many arses,” says Graham.

‘Fat Les?’ smiles Dave, rolling his eyes.

Blur | Mojo – January 2024

“These Songs Clearly Were Highly Personal”

BLUR The Ballad Of Darren (PARLOPHONE) – Album Of The Year

An album to genuinely rank with their best was not the only surprise sprung by Blur, and their emotional frontman, in 2023. 

by Danny Eccleston

JULY 9, 2023. WEMBLEY STADIUM. Sunday Sunday. Here again in tidy attire, Blur’s Damon Albarn is perched on the very front of the vast stage having a very public, private chat with a man from South America who’s clearly in bits. Albarn is warm, appreciative, calming, but not unaffected. He will choke up at least twice during this intense greatest hits show, the second of two consecutive nights that seem to embrace all that Blur and their fiftysomething core fans have been through since the band’s debut single, She’s So High, cracked the UK Top 50 in October 1990.

Not least, recent developments have included ructions in Albarn’s private life widely reported across Britain’s tabloid press and the recording of a new Blur album, whose July 21 release will be trailed with two songs, The Narcissist and St Charles Square, full of the peculiar English melancholy that identifies Blur, and Albarn, at their best. While an album, despite emerging from under a well-maintained blanket of hush-hush, was not a surprise in itself – Blur’s last major reactivation for shows in 2015 was accompanied by The Magic Whip – one this good took many aback. The Magic Whip’s reflections on modern Hong Kong, where recording had begun in 2013, were thoughtful but tangential, and the music hardly bulged with the viscera of the band. By contrast, The Ballad Of Darren had classic-Blur heft, tunes that demanded airspace in their own right and lyrics that hit directly home. The first words Albarn sang, on beautiful opener The Ballad, were, “I just looked into my life/And all I saw is you’re not coming back,” and a sadly rueful mood sustained. As bassist Alex James once noted of Blur’s 13, the album that reckoned with the fall-out of the ’90s, and Albarn’s relationship with Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, there was blood on these tracks.

Some songs – notably The Narcissist with its reference to “the service station on the road” to & Glastonbury – seemed consciously to take stock 2 of Blur’s journey, just as the reunited band’s tour itinerary visited key locations in their history: the Arts Centre in Colchester – the town that raised Albarn, his guitarist schoolmate Graham Coxon and drummer Dave Rowntree; the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton – home of the early Blur’s most fervent fans. Everywhere there were musical coups big and small: the organ-laced jangle-pop of Barbaric; the cinematic balladry of Russian Strings; the Bacharachy chords of Avalon. Albarn did not do many press interviews around the album. Possibly, he was keen not to get into specifics around his lyrics. But, joining us on Zoom, dressed down in singlet and off-duty beard, he agreed to spare some time for MOJO’s Best Of 2023 presentation… 

Blur | NME – 18 January 1997

Courtesy of Britpop Memories

part 1/2: interview with Damon, NME – 11 January 1997

We Were Smiling When We Wanted To Be Screaming

So we’ve already seen a changed Damon Albarn in the first of our two-part BLUR exclusive. But what of the others? Have they undergone transformation? Has Graham finally sobered up? Has Dave gone back on the booze? And has Alex finally moved out of the Groucho? JOHN MULVEY finds the answers. Shoots you sirs: MIKE DIVER

Sometimes, confronting Blur these days it’s a bit like dealing with a flock of bright-eyed born-again Christians. They have repented the Faustian pacts they struck for success. They have renounces superficiality, and flippancy, and glibness, and admitted they weren’t wild about the giant POP! millstone of ‘Country House’.

They have opted for honesty and self-discovery. They have turned their back on the Bacchanalian excesses that the ever-generous world of showbusiness can offer (all of them, that is, except Alex – but we’ll get to him later).
They’ve got their heads together, and sorted their lives out and reconciled themselves to their art, and… well, thank God ‘Beetlebum’ and the forthcoming album ‘Blur’ are sharp, eclectic and fundamentally very, very good records, or else we’d be faced with the healthiest and yet most ill-advised conversion to the path of righteousness this decade.
    Miraculously, though, it’s worked. Last week, we heard how Damon Albarn has embraced less commercial and, perhaps more personally satisfying music with a combination of self-effacement over past egotism and still-fiery confidence in his own talent. But Graham Coxon – hardcore aficionado, reluctant Modfather, fabulously f***ed up guitar anti-hero – has undergone an even more remarkable transformation.

Blur | The Sun – 29 December 2023

BEEN A BLUR Even my five kids, who thought I was a t**t, said ‘this is cool’, says Blur’s Alex James

The sessions for The Ballad Of Darren mostly took place at Damon’s Studio 13 in the shadow of London’s Westway

by Simon Cosyns

TO borrow from the title of a book he once wrote, 2023 has been “a bit of a Blur” for Alex James.

The bassist says the band’s whole reunion experience has been “f**ing magical”.

“Even my five teenagers, who all thought I was a twat, told me, ‘This is so cool!”

For the Britpop darlings, the year has involved a sublime album, The Ballad Of Darren, intimate warm-up gigs, two epic nights at Wembley Stadium and festival shindigs across Europe, Japan and South America.

When it came to SFTW’s new annual music awards, Blur deservedly scooped two — Band Of The Year and, for Wembley, Gig Of The Year.

Blur | Sounds – 14 April 1990

Courtesy of Vern (thank you!)

Daze of change

They might not have made a record yet, but Blur are already one of the most vibrant bands on the live front. David Cavanagh reports. Bleeuurrggh by Ed Sirrs

We have two choices here, for our discussion of London’s latest and most precociously vibrant live affront.
We could say, Blur. Short, abrupt and poppy, hinting — rightly — at a strong cinematic quality perhaps, definitely intimating something fresh and new and exciting.
Or we could say, Bleeuurrgghh!! And something in me thinks that would make better sense: a mess of limbs, throats, hair, leads, amplifiers and youthful moans, all spewed out into something mesmerising and off kilter.
That’s what Blur are like on a stage. They are the first band in ages that make promoters actually afraid to go for a quick leak, in case the stage is not there when they come back. “I hate all this cool shit, you know,” explains Blur’s boyish, articulate singer Damon, completely unnecessarily. “It’s like The Who — any shot of video you ever see of them, whatever they’re playing, it’s just so exciting. I mean, some of their music’s absolutely diabolical, but they always maintained that level of excitement.
“And so did the Stones as well. “The Beatles didn’t need it, cos they had so many people screaming at them the energy was created anyway.”
Damon’s and Blur’s desire —to bring about “‘that sense of abandon” — is what makes Blur so exciting. With no records yet and the Pentel only just applied to their contract with Food (Diesel Park West, Jesus Jones etc), they have been embroiled for the most part in an ongoing live vigilante scenario — they see an audience prepared to be cool and blase and asleep, and they shout and scream and excite them until they wake up.

Blur | NME – 13 December 2008

“It Just Felt Right Again”

Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon reveal exclusively to NME what they’ve known for a while – that Blur will definitely play together next year

by Paul Stokes

You know these electric toothbrushes? You can take the heads off and it just has a metal peg, they’re fucking terrible,” offers solo artist and one-time Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, who is recovering after accidentally crushing his finger moving a table in a nondescript hotel room. “Well, I was moving one around and it started to fall. My reaction was to catch it and this metal peg went right into my hand!”

With the guitarist enthusiastically miming blood spurting out his palm, it’s enough to make the man sitting on the bed to his right wince.

“That’s dangerous place, there’s tendons here. I did something similar cutting lino; I couldn’t play guitar, I couldn’t even wrap in up it was so painful,” observes Damon Albarn mid-wince, before he starts reminiscing about the pair’s school days in Colchester. “Do you remember when my mum had that with her hand too…”

Hang on a second.

Graham Coxon is in the same room as Damon Albarn? Scratch that, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon – whose falling-out in 2001 halted Blur in its tracks – are sat in the same room casually chatting about their childhood. Oh, and they’ve invited NME along to discuss their next, joint project.

Rewind for a second.

That the pair have been getting on lately is not exactly a secret – the guitarist popped along to see Damon’s opera Monkey: Journey To The West last month, while the singer has been making positive noises about his erstwhile bandmate.

However, despite rumours and whispers about possible rehearsals, it’s not been clear what all this is really for – if anything at all. That is until now.

Damon and Graham have invited NME to Manchester – the guitarist was playing the city, hence why we’re in Noel Gallagher’s backyard – for their first joint interview since 1999 to talk in detail for the first time about the split, their friendship and Blur… and the show they’re playing in Hyde Park next year.

Damon Albarn | Les Inrockuptibles – December 2023 – January 2024

Translated by Émélina

What the hell is this?

After a busy year, with a Gorillaz album, another one with Blur and a festival tour, Damon Albarn is looking forward. He talks to us about the opera he’s working on, his new studio in the countryside, and what he thinks of the music industry, The Beatles and The Stones.

by François Moreau

2023 has been a particularly eventful year for you, but has it been good?

Damon Albarn: Has my year been good? [He takes a long pause] I did a lot, a whole lot even, but still it’s hard for me to define 2023 as “a year”. I don’t know why. I started this studio construction project in the countryside, which occupied both my mind and my body. It’s a very peaceful place where I’ve spent a lot of my time. I raise hens, which requires a lot of investment. I mishandled the laying period and I found myself with two chickens which turned out to be royal cockerels. Having three cockerels is a problem. One of them is bigger than the others, I think it would be a perfect candidate for Christmas dinner. I also made an album, performed at Coachella with Gorillaz. And I got even more invested in this opera which will be presented in Paris next year. This is why I spend a lot of time here: I did a first presentation yesterday. 

Blur | CMJ New Music Monthly – December 1995

scan by pear-pies.tumblr.com

The Price of Fame

Life is tough at the top. Just ask Damon Albarn, frontman for English heartthrobs Blur. Now that he’s won four Brit Awards (for last year’s U.K. hit Parklife) and just defeated Oasis in a head-to-head singles battle (released simultaneously, Blur’s “Country House” outsold the Gallagher brothers’ “Roll With It’ by 80,000 copies), the man can’t leave the house he shares with Elastica’s Justine Frischmann without some sort of disguise. He’s already moved once to escape maniacal fans, and even his trusty baseball cap can’t shield him these days; next step, he says, is wearing a wig. No wonder Blur’s new Virgin disc is dubbed The Great Escape.

by Tom Lanham

But that isn’t all of Albarn’s tribulations. “I get a lot of letters like ‘I’m a 16-year-old nymphomaniac and I really want to have sex with you—here’s my number, please call me,” he shrugs, batting his long lashes over the sea-green eyes that set girls’ hearts a-swooning. He’s almost relieved to be killing some time in New York, where—thanks to Blur’s newcomer status on the alternative scene—he’s rarely recognized. “And here’s a very bizarre situation,” he continues, speaking in a deep, cultured London accent. “Last Thursday, we were having our photo taken by this very attractive but slightly dotty French photographer. She had a very short skirt on, and she insisted on squatting down and showing us her knickers while she was taking our photograph. “And she said”—and Albarn adopts a hokey French accent for effect—”‘Ow can ah make yew laugh?’ And we said ‘show us your tits,’ and she actually did! Then on Saturday, there was a knock at the door of my house, and I loolked down from upstairs and she was out there, banging on the door. Then she came back an hour later, banging on the door again, but Justine had come back, so she went down there and said ‘Look, will you please go away?’ And this woman was saying ‘Ah am a close a-personal friend of a-Damon’s—ah must see heem!” So Justine finally told her to fuck off.”

Damon Albarn | Notion – July 2023

10Trax – Selected by Damon Albarn

As Blur make a remarkable return to music, releasing their new album ‘The Ballad of Darren’ today, frontman Damon Albarn selects us 10Trax enshrined in his memories.

“Letter to Hermione” by David Bowie
This one makes me cry every time I hear it.

“Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks
This was the first song I heard on the radio that me cry.

“The First Cut Is the Deepest” by Rod Stewart
The first cut is the deepest. I listened to this when I first fell in love.

“Shipbuilding” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions
When I was working at the Portobello hotel, I played this one every night after my night shift.

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” by Elton John
It’s like a musical version of Alice In Wonderland.

“The Bare Necessities” by Phil Harris, Bruce Reitherman
This is another inspirational song from when I was younger.

“Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat” by Scatman Crothers, Phil Harris, Thurl Ravenscroft, Liz English
It’s great anthropomorphic songwriting.

“Nepa” by Tony Allen
This reminds me of power cuts and being with Tony Allen in Lagos.

“You’ll See Glimpses” by Ian Dury, The Blockheads
This one feels like a life lesson.

“Ella Baila Sola” by Elsabon Armado, Peso Pluma
This is joyous and the guy has a mullet.

Blur | Spin – September 1994