Damon Albarn - There Could Be a new Gorillaz album

Damon Albarn has hinted at a future new Gorillaz album, and this time it's without Jamie Hewlett.  

In an interview with Shortlist Magazine, Damon Albarn said nothing will change if Gorillaz went ahead and made a new album without Hewlett's illustrations. The only aspect that would be missing is bass player Murdoc's cartoon drawing. 

He said: "It was very much Jamie [Hewlett] did the visuals and I did the music. The music won’t change, so there could be another Gorillaz record tomorrow. It wouldn’t necessarily have Murdoc - the cartoon aspect to it - but musically, no, nothing’s changed whatsoever."

One moment it's over, the other it's on again - Damon Albarn

The Blur frontman also denied rumours that Gorillaz were "over" for good. Damon said that Gorillaz would undoubtedly continue on if Jamie Hewlett and himself reconciled their differences that contributed to their fallout this year. But wait - Damon also mentions how Gorillaz are still going strong in another much earlier interview.

"Jamie wants to do other things and I understand," he said. "But you never know, in a few years he might have a burning desire to draw those pictures again, and as soon as he does that, as far as I’m concerned, there could be another Gorillaz album." 

It seems very likely fans of Albarn and Gorillaz will be getting a new album. It is merely a matter of when the musical pair will agree to work together again. Looks like Gorillaz was, and is not over.

What will be the New Gorillaz sound ?
	Pop - pure bouncy tunes
	Rock - guitars
	World music / African music mixed
	Misc - Albarn's special mixture
	Techno / Electronic
	Other / Don't know

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
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Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur for Spain and Porto HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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Top 15: Funniest Dave Rowntree Quotes

1. I'm always naked underneath my clothes.
2. I like to be in bed by midnight. Mind you, I like to balloon around the world bathing in a huge vat of lime jelly, and that doesn't happen too often either.
3. [When he painted 'Dave' on his cheek at the 1995 Brit Awards, mimicking Prince's 'Slave'] We have a lot in common. EMI won't release my solo album either.
4. If there's a technical problem with the band I usually get the first phone call. If it's about going to a party then Alex will get the first call, if it's a TV show in Milan then Damon will get the first call and... I can't really think what Graham would get the first call about. I suppose it would be, 'Will you get out of bed, you're late'. That's when Graham would get the first call.
5. There's always a Jimmy from Quadrophenia lookalike at our gigs. Last night's was brilliant. Looked like him, talked like him, wore exactly the same clothes. Never seen the film... (1994)
6. (When asked has he ever kissed any band members) I’ve kissed them all, and most of the crew. Doesn’t mean we’re engaged or anything.
7. I spend about an hour a week answering questions and Alex spends an hour writing his diary. Damon spends an hour picking his nose. I don’t find an hour nearly enough for that
8. We tried to give each other nicknames a couple of years ago, but we couldn’t remember to use them. I was carrot, Damon was ape. The others are lost in the mist of time.
9. I can only live with girls. I have a wife and three girl cats. If I ever have kids I will have the boys adopted. Anyway, there’s less red, and more pink on my head these days.
10. (When asked which musician he’d like to collaborate with, dead or alive) I’d like to collaborate with a dead person if I had the chance. I would get more say in the outcome.
11. "If you want to impress a woman, just say 'barometer'!" - on Women
12. "I don't think anyone who has ever counted drinking amongst their hobbies has never kissed a man." 
13. "I'm sensible and quiet. Alex likes cheese. They're all stereotypes. I suppose if you'd have to reduce your entire existence to one paragraph those words wouldn't be in it." 
14. (Do you smoke? Probably, you do, but have you ever tried to quit smoking?) "I used to smoke. I quit five-ish years ago. Now I run twenty miles a week, and I have nipples as hard as steel." 
15. "That's not how we goof around. In general we don't leapfrog all over each other and carry brightly coloured umbrellas. That's not our normal gooding modus operandi. We're more cerebral when we goof. That is sort of us artificially goofing." Dave - on Parklife's music video, July 2012 (Blur 21 interview). 

Blur at the Q Awards - Then and Now 2012

Here is the roundup of videos and pictures of Blur at the Q Awards 2012.

Blur won 'Best Live Act' at the 2012 Q Awards, beating The Stone Roses and many other bands. Muse took the 'Best Act in the World Today' award, beating competitors such as Lady Gaga and Coldplay. Pulp were also prizewinners. It was a triumph for British bands.

But what was Blur's history with this prestigious music award ? How many times have Blur won anything at the Q Awards before ? The answer is - many, many times. Blur's past awards include:

Q Awards 1994

• Best Album - WINNER (Parklife)
• Best Producer - WINNER (Stephen Street)

Q Awards 1995

• Best Album - WINNER (The Great Escape)

Q Awards 1999

• Best Act In The World Today - WINNER
• Best Producer - WINNER (William Orbit)

Q Awards 2000

• Best Act In The World Today - Nomination

Q Awards 2003

• Best Album - WINNER (Think Tank)
• Best Producer - Nomination (Blur / Ben Hillier)
• Best Act In The World Today - Nomination

Q Awards 2009

• Best Live Act - Nomination

Q Awards 2012

• Best Act In The World Today - Nomination
• Best Live Act - WINNER

For those curious to watch Blur in past Q Awards, scroll down for some archive footage of the band stealing the show. Scroll down even further to watch Blur at the Q Awards 2012, where Alex James speaks after the award ceremony about future Blur plans, playing shows and watch Blur being announced on stage.



New images of the band from the Q Awards 2012:

And some more extra footage of the day - Blur arriving at the Q Awards in London, on the red carpet and at the hotel.

Who should have won 'Best Live Act' ?
	Blur - they deserve it
	Radiohead
	The Stone Roses
	Bruce Springsteen
	The Cribs

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Order the new Blur boxset HERE

Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur for Spain and Porto HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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Q Awards Best Live Act - And the winner is... Blur !

And the Best Live Act prize winner is... Blur!

Blur won Best Live Act in the 2012 Q Awards on October 22nd! The band beat other nominees including the legendary Stone Roses for the prize, and posed before the awards on the red carpet. Alex, being typical, carried a cigarette and the boys were dressed for the night in typical Brit-boys fashion.

This recognition may mean Damon Albarn's on-off wariness about Blur's future will shift balances - it seems that the people, and those in charge of the music business, want more Blur, more music and more tours.

Rumoured destinations for Blur's new 2013 tour are still to be revealed. So far, confirmed dates include Barcelona (Spain), Portugal and Belgium. Australia, Japan, Argentina and Britain are still unconfirmed.

We at BlurBalls interviewed an unnamed inside source who said that it is highly likely that Blur will release some more new songs, and even a complete album before their 2013 summer world tour. According to the source, EMI has already signed a deal with the band about a new album. No official confirmation from the band is present, however.

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Order the new Blur boxset HERE

Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur for Spain and Porto HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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Will Blur steal the show with two Q Awards in 2012 ?

Blur has been nominated by voters online for two awards at the Q Awards this year. They are the "Best Live Act" award and the "Best Act In The World Today" award. Blur will be up against bands who made a mark in musical history or has contributed much to the London Olympics 2012, such as The Stone Roses and Coldplay, for the prizes. 

The full broadcast will be live on October 22nd 2012, where we will learn whether or not Blur has made their mark once again in the Q Award winner's list. 

Feel free to share the poster above and spread the word - and lets see whether Blur can manage to steal the show by winning all two categories.

Watch the show online and catch up on the show.

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Order the new Blur boxset HERE

Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur for Spain and Porto HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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Blur 'Parklive' Hyde Park CD - New Release & Pre-order

Great news - Blur's live CD from their Hyde Park 2012 performance in the London Olympics is set for release very, very soon. The live CD, cleverly titled 'Parklive' is being made into a 5 CD / DVD disc set which will be available from December 3rd 2013.

“Blur felt as apt an emblem as any of British culture. Contradictory, creative, and capable… of truly transcendent moments.” THE TIMES

“…park life at its brilliant best.” EVENING STANDARD

As stated on Blur's official website: Blur's Hyde Park show, part of the closing ceremony celebrations for the London 2012 Olympics, will be available on DVD, double CD and digitally on December 3rd. Titled Parklive, the deluxe edition will comprise the whole show, with extras, presented in best-quality audio over 2 CDs with a DVD of the 12-camera shoot directed by Mathew Amos.

Also included is an exclusive CD, 'Blur – Live At The 100 Club' recorded at the legendary London venue in August as part of Converse Represent, with a further CD of special live tracks recorded this summer, including Under The Westway and The Puritan performed live on Twitter from a London rooftop, and recordings from the Wolverhampton warm-up show and BBC Radio Maida Vale sessions.

The discs are housed in a 60-page hardback book containing exclusive photographs from both Hyde Park and the 100 Club and is available from the Blur Store.

Watch the trailer for Blur's ultimate CD 'Parklive: Live at Hyde Park 2013' below. To pre-order a copy  of this deluxe CD/ DVD now, visit blur.co.uk's official page.

What's more - check out the newest merchandise on the Blur official store - it's blue, white, shaped like a rectangle and has eyes, a nose and a mouth. And this little character also features on arguably the most famous Blur video of all time!






Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Order the new Blur boxset HERE

Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur for Spain and Porto HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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Alex James flies Spitfire

What has Alex James been up to recently ? Well, for starts, he's been flying on a Spitfire plane, making videos, and writing for the Telegraph. 



According to Telegraph, Alex "was given the chance to join the Boultbee Academy, a Goodwood-based flying school that compresses as much as possible of what actual trainee spitfire pilots learned, into a two-day course."

"Probably all men dream of being a pilot at some time or another and all pilots want to fly a Spitfire," said Alex. "And it is one of those rare things that is even better than it sounds on paper. 

"Or you could possibly imagine it would be."

Read Alex's personal account of his flight in the Life section of The Sunday Telegraph Magazine in stores this week.

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE

Order the new Blur boxset HERE

Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur for Spain and Porto HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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A Blurry Present

On a slightly Blurry tangent - here's what we here at BlurBalls got for a recent birthday present. 

 (thanks D!)

Blur World Tour 2013 - What's On

The long-awaited hopes that Blur will do a world tour may just be on the horizons. According to a band touring company, Blur is going to play a massive world tour for 2013 - and this time it's going to be truly global. 

In a recent INTERVIEW , Ian Huffman off X-Ray Touring revealed that "Blur is planning a relatively extensive world tour next year, including Europe, Japan, South America and Australia."

Huffman also said that the European dates will “likely run through to mid summer”. This means that a visit to Australia in the second half of 2013 is  very likely, meaning a new festival to headline: Splendour In The Grass.

Splendour In The Grass music festival is held in Byron Bay, and has featured many famous British bands  in recent years including Britpop band Pulp in 2011 and Happy Mondays in 2009. Hence, Blur is highly likely to be playing there with their fellow UK bands in late July. 

Oh, and Oasis may also play in Australia this summer. Liam Gallagher’s BEADY EYE is likely to make a visit to the music festival- a place on the Fuji rock festival makes him a decent chance for Splendour. 

Blur recently tweeted (official Twitter here) plans to play in places where they didn't toured for a long time. The last time Blur was in Australia was 16 years ago - and so, again Blur are most probably going to head to Australia next year. 

Apart from rumours about Australia, Japan, Blur has just announced that they will headline Spain and Portugal's Primavera Sound Music Festival in May 2013, then the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium next July 2013. 

They're also rumoured for UK's Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds and Japan. Looks like it's not just Europe after all.

Blur Tour 2013 Summary 

2013 Dates	Country	Description
22nd May - 26th May30  MAY–02 JUNE July 4th - July 7th	Spain Portugal Belgium	Barcelona Primavera Sound Festival Primavera Sound Festival Porto Rock Werchter Festival

Stay tuned for the latest updates on Blur's massive World Tour 2013. 

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE

Order the new Blur boxset HERE
Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur for Spain and Porto HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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Blur to head to Portugal and Spain - 2013 Tour

Blur alert , Blur alert - Blur has announced 3 more dates for their 2013 tour, and it's beginning to sound like the band's planning another massive return for next year's summer. 

The new Blur shows for 2013 are:

• Primavera Sound Festival Porto 2013 in Portugal from THURSDAY 30 MAY 2013 – SUNDAY 02 JUNE 2013. 
• Primavera Sound Festival 2013 in Barcelona, Spain from WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 2013 – SUNDAY 26 MAY 2013
• Parc Del Forum, Barcelona, Spain, on WEDNESDAY 22 MAY 2013

No England dates have been announced just yet, but The Guardian reports that "a handful of British festivals", including Reading and Leeds, are competing for a Blur performance. 

The band announced a few days ago that they're going to tour Europe and also headlining Rock Werchter, a music festival in Belgium. "Thank you for waiting," said the band on their official Facebook page. "Rock Werchter is about to announce that Blur will headline next July. We're excited.. hope to travel in 2013 to play to more of our lovely fans who we haven't seen for a while. Don't know where yet, we'll tell as soon as we do." 

Rumours about Glastonbury 2013 are also in the midst. This can only mean one thing - Blur's going to still play in the future, and fans are going to be having a blast this summer!

Order tickets for Blur at Primavera, Barcelona, Spain HERE. Tickets for Blur in Belgium's Rock Werchter will go on sale on November 2nd (price not yet announced).

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE

Order the new Blur boxset HERE
Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur Exhibition review and photos HERE

Margate Gig (2012) review and pictures HERE

Rumours: Blur still play live after Hyde Park? HERE

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Blur to tour Europe in Summer 2013

Latest Blur News - Blur has announced that they WILL be playing more shows in 2013 - and this time it's for the hot summer months!

Blur has just confirmed that they will headline Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium next year. "Thank you for waiting," said the band on their official Facebook page. "Rock Werchter is about to announce that Blur will headline next July. We're excited.. hope to travel in 2013 to play to more of our lovely fans who we haven't seen for a while. Don't know where yet, we'll tell as soon as we do."

This mysterious picture popped out on Blur's facebook a few days ago - now we know what it is for

The Belgium music festival runs between July 4th - July 7th 2013. It is a massive festival with an audience size of roughly 140,000 and many musicians playing live. Fans - keep your calendars marked up and ready! 

No further dates have been announced, but Blur are definitely headlining Rock Werchter (click for official website) in 2013. This means that next summer will also be a year of Blur and the gang, playing music for the fans.

This isn't the end of Blur after all, contrary to so many rumours and stories. Some say Blur will play Glastonbury next year; some say Blur for Dublin. Blur definitely has many possibile locations for shows to choose from in this coming year.

More on Blur's future tours coming soon - stay tuned. Watch the promotional video for Rock Werchter below.

Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE

Order the new Blur boxset HERE
Blur first ever 2012 gig-  Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

Blur Exhibition review and photos HERE

Margate Gig (2012) review and pictures HERE

Rumours: Blur still play live after Hyde Park? HERE

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