Damon Albarn's new band name Rocketjuice and The Moon revealed -

(Sourced from NME)

Damon Albarn has named his new band with Flea and Tony Allen Rocketjuice And The Moon.

The Blur and Gorillaz man is due to make his live debut with the Red Hot Chili Peppers man and The Good, The Bad & The Queen cohort on Saturday (October 29) at the Barbican in London.

The performance is taking place as part of the Another Honest Jon's Chop Up! event, which will also see the likes of Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Detroit techno man Theo Parrish appear.

Rocketjuice And The Moon have also confirmed their debut album, which is due to be released in the new year, will be self-titled.

Speaking to the Irish Times, Albarn explained that the band didn't come up with the name themselves, commenting:

Someone in Lagos did the sleeve design and that’s the name he gave it, which suits me because trying to find a name for another band is always tricky.

Along with the Rocketjuice And The Moon date, Albarn is also playing two gigs withThe Good, The Bad & The Queen at the capital's Coronet venue on November 10, their first live show since 2008. 

Exclusive: The End of Blur and Oasis feud - Just in time for Christmas - 2011

So, the year 2011 marks the END OF THE BLUR/OASIS feud for decades. Noel Gallagher from Oasis and Damon Albarn from Blur, two frontmans who battled out their way to the Top of the Charts in the 90s BritPop period has ended their media feuds and public dramas, by celebrating with, in typical English fashion... a beer. 

Quoting NME:

Noel Gallagher has revealed that he has finally made up with Damon Albarn after their spat during the height of Britpop in the mid-'90s.

The pair haven't spoken in over 15 years following the war of words between Blur andOasis which kicked off in 1995 when they went head-to-head in the UK's singles chart and the former beat the Manchester band to Number One with their hit 'Country House'.

But Gallagher, who is currently set to top the UK album chart with his debut solo album 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds', said they recently bumped into each other and went for a beer.

He told Shortlist magazine:

Funnily enough, when I was out last night, I bumped into him. I literally haven't seen the guy for 15 fucking years and I bump into him in some club. We both went, 'Hey! Fucking hell!' and then he said, 'Come on, let’s go for a beer.'

The ex-Oasis chief added: "So, we're sitting there, having a beer, just going, 'What the fuck was all that about 15 years ago? That was mental.' Then he said, 'It was a great time, though,' and I was like, 'Yeah, it was a fucking good laugh.'" 

Here's just a little something down memory lane - 

EXCLUSIVE FEATURE 

A tribute to the Battle of the Britpop- Blur VS Oasis Mega Chart Battle - 1995

Exciting feud between the two Britpop Superpowers - Blur and Oasis

Cover of the 12 August 1995 issue ofNME advertising the "British Heavyweight Championship" battle between Oasis and Blur

Spurred on by the media, the groups became engaged in what the NME dubbed on the cover of its 12 August issue the "British Heavyweight Championship" with the pending release of Oasis' single "Roll With It", and Blur's "Country House" on the same day.

 The battle pitted the two bands against each other, with the conflict as much about British class and regional divisions as it was about music

The event caught the public's imagination and gained mass media attention in national newspapers, tabloids, and even the BBC News. 

The NME wrote about the phenomeon, "Yes, in a week where news leaked that Saddam Hussein was preparing nuclear weapons, everyday folks were still getting slaughtered in Bosnia and Mike Tyson was making his comeback, tabloids and broadsheets alike went Britpop crazy.

Blur won the battle of the bands, selling 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 - the songs charting at number one and number two respectively.

Both bands have parted ways now, looks like the war is FINALLY OVER. Peace to Britpop! 

Perhaps this has come at a good time - Oasis split recently and Damon's embarked on more new and exciting projects like Dr. Dee's Opera and possible new African music, and Noel's just chilling out with his life away from the band. What a lovely story. 

What do you think ? Does this signal a new era ? A new beginning ? A beginning to an end? Let us know on our FACEBOOK page or tweet us at @danomind to join in the conversation! 

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Gorillaz to release Best Of collection - Oct 2011

GORILLAZ CELEBRATE A DECADE WITH NEW SINGLES COLLECTION

The Singles Collection: 2001-2011 the career-spanning best of from Gorillaz, will be released on November 28th 2011 by Parlophone Records. 

A 15-track collection of the band’s singles, videos and remixes, The Singles Collection: 2001-2011 celebrates 10 years of audio visual innovation and three studio albums from the most successful virtual band in the world ever. The Singles Collection will be released as a standard CD, CD and DVD and 140 gram vinyl. A special edition 7” box set will also be made available.

Formed in 1998, the band released their revolutionary debut album Gorillaz in 2001. The launch had many industry detractors who saw the idea of an animated pop group as merely folly and gimmick – but the album went on to sell 6 million copies around the world. The hugely successful campaign took its toll on Gorillaz. As guitar-playing wunderkind Noodle noted sadly “Every great band is destroyed by their success. Cartoon bands are no exception". Despite this, she wrestled the band back together for the release of second album Demon Days in 2005 and a run of groundbreaking animated live shows at Manchester International Festival and Harlem’s Apollo Theater. In early 2010 Gorillaz resurfaced again – this time from an island in the South Pacific with the album Plastic Beach. The lead single Stylo featured a bad ass Bruce Willis chasing down our intrepid Gorillaz who made a clean escape and headed out on their first World Tour with a crack team of musicians including Clash greats Paul Simonon and Mick Jones.

In ten years, Gorillaz didn’t just top charts around the world, hit number 1 in more than a dozen countries and garner sales in excess of 13 million, they received influential awards and recognition that represented the band’s significance beyond their music. Alongside a Grammy and an Ivor Novello, Gorillaz were nominated for four CAD awards and took home the coveted Webby Award for Artist of The Year 2006, plus the Jim Henson Award for Creativity. In 2006 Jamie Hewlett was awarded Designer of the Year for his work on Gorillaz; four years later the band graced the cover of tech bible Wired Magazine.

Always open to an interesting collaboration, Gorillaz have worked with numerous artists including Dangermouse, Ibrahim Ferrer, Del the Funkee Homosapien, De La Soul, Kano, Bobby Womack, Ike Turner, Lou Reed, Mark E Smith, Bootie Brown, Tina Weymouth, Bashy, Little Dragon, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Snoop Dogg, Dan The Automator, Mos Def, D12, Phi Life Cypher, MF Doom, Rosie Wilson, Shaun Ryder and Neneh Cherry.

Gorillaz are Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, 2D and Russel Hobbs.

1. Tomorrow Comes Today
2. Clint Eastwood
3. 19-2000
4. Rock The House
5. Feel Good Inc
6. DARE
7. Dirty Harry
8. Kids With Guns
9. El Manana
10. Stylo
11. Superfast Jellyfish
12. On Melancholy Hill
13. Doncamatic
14. Clint Eastwood (Ed Case & Sweetie Irie Refix)
15. 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)


From Gorillaz Unofficial:


It will be available on CD, CD+DVD and double vinyl formats, and a 7" box set will also be released with the same 15 tracks spread over 8 7" vinyls all in a clamshell box. The standard 15-track tracklisting - used for the CD (both versions) and both the vinyl formats - is entirely previously released material. The DVD contents are unknown at this time.

For the cover, see here on Amazon. For the full tracklisting and the full official press release, click 'Read More' below.

More features including a slightly interactive version of the album cover, over on www.gorillaz.com.

Stay Tuned and remember to subscribe and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook, or email subscribe to receive the latest news on everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon! 

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Damon Albarn to revive The Good, The Bad and The Queen for Greenpeace charity gig

Lifted from the Greenpeace blog:

We’ve got some really exciting news for you, Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong will come together for a special one-off The Good, The Bad and The Queen gig celebrating 40 years of Greenpeace and the arrival of the new Rainbow Warrior III in London.

The Good, The Bad and The Queen are big supporters of Greenpeace. Bassist Paul Simonon said, “We've always supported Greenpeace and their amazing work. It should be a great night, we're really looking forward to it."

Our Executive Director John Sauven added "I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 40th Anniversary than with The Good, the Bad and the Queen. What makes it really special is that this show will coincide with the arrival of Greenpeace's brand new Rainbow Warrior to its new mooring on the Thames.”

The gig will be on Thursday 10 November at London’s Coronet, New Kent Road. Tickets are on sale this Friday at 9am. So we’ll see you there right?

Tickets are available from this Friday 7th October at 9am from the usual outlets and on 0844 249 1000 / 0844 811 0051 / 020 7734 8932 / 0844 844 0444 / coronettheatre.co.uk /gigsandtours.com / ticketline.co.uk