Alex James blurs cheese, farming and being a rockstar in new book

Alex James is set to release a new memoir following his book Bit of a Blur, titled All Cheeses Great and Small. 

The second volume of his autibiographical work describes the Blur bassist's journey into becoming a farmer, starting from his purchase of a farm in the Cotswolds, to marrying his wife and raising kids, making cheese and being generally cheesy. 

After Blur's last album in 2003, Alex has been making a name for himself in the cheese world. He has made his cheese and established a reputation for appearing on various media shows.

He currently lives in a house, a very big house in the country.

He also spoke about Blur at the Brits very recently in an article from The Sun (click to read source article). He talked about how "amazing" it was to win a Brit Award after so many years away from the music scene.

The article goes on to reiterate what Alex has already said in numerous older articles- how "Pulling the band back together is like reassembling the A-Team for one last job. I'm a cheesemaker now." He stressed that Damon, Graham and Dave have gone and done their own thing in the well-needed hiatus.

Alex then becomes a bit pessimistic - "There is always a feeling that this may be Blur's last bow, which I suppose makes it all the more exciting." Last bow ? We hope not- fans want more songs, more stage appearances! Alex then concludes that it's "the effect that picking up one of those gongs has around the rest of the world that matters." 

There was no new information about any future plans or Blur albums. The article did have some very nice images that are rather nice, including Blur at the Brits in 1995 looking young and lovely. There also was an image of Blur in their early Leisure era, complete with the bowl-cuts and dazed expressions. 

Graham Coxon has Instagram on his iphone - follow him @tinhat 

Check out his feature article on the Daily Mail which promotes his new book. The article is titled "'My wife married a rockstar but ended up with a floundering farmer': Alex James on why he prefers mucking out to being in Blur". As usual, it's kind of funny, kind of entertaining and kind of cool.

On a more sweeter note, here's something to cheer fans up - Graham Coxon tweeted in his twitter page (click to follow him) that there were Blur chocolates at the Brits. A pleasant surprise - we want some too Graham! Bet he ate them all up the next day. 

Order Alex's new book from Amazon (also available for Kindle) HERE. 

Blur working with Parklife producer on new release of albums for 2012

ALBUM NEWS: Blur are set to release their complete back catalogue with the Blur albums being remastered by Stephen Street. Street is the producer which has worked with Blur on 5 albums including their biggest hit Parklife in 1995. 

This means only one thing: Blur's full works are going to be available for fans soon, in a complete box set of works with possibly new rare songs, b-sides and extra goodies for completists.  

Could it be like the Special Collector's Edition with extra tracks / unreleased goods , or just another remaster with a new track like Best Of's "Music is my Radar" ?  

"I love Blur, I think they're some of the most talented people I've ever worked with" said Stephen Street in a recent interview with Louder than War. "I'm currently remastering their entire back catalogue ... It's just great to listen to the tapes and think that now they sound so much better. They sound fuller, and wider, and I'm really pleased to be focusing on it. I'm really chuffed as a producer how it's sounding."

There is no word on when exactly these albums would be out - perhaps some time in the end of 2012 would be appropriate, after Blur has done their huge Olympics gig in Hyde Park in August. 

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Modern Life is Rubbish. 

Perhaps Street will put something new into the remasters for the 20th anniversary 

However, according to Street (excerpt from The Guardian), a full-length album doesn't seem very likely.

"I got the impression that they don't want the pressure of having to make a new [LP]," he said. But the group do seem to be prepping a single: Under theWestway, which premiered live at last week's War Child benefit. 

"I would love to be asked to produce [Blur] again," Street exclaimed, "but ... they haven't asked me to do the Under the Westway track. William Orbit is involved apparently, but I don't know."

Overall - this release of remastered albums could mean two things - either Blur aren't going to be producing anything more and are using this release as a final goodbye present for fans, or that they are using the recent new developments to generate hype for a possible new album. We can only hope it's the latter! 

Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE, 

Olympics Gig HERE, 

New potential album HERE 

and check out their newest song HERE and read our REVIEW HERE.

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Stay Tuned and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet! 

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

Also email subscribe to receive the latest news on everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon! 

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Producers William Orbit working on latest Blur track

News update: William Orbit, who has been rumoured to be producing a new Blur album, has been revealed to be working on Blur's new song "Under The Westway".

The piano ballad debuted on 19th February, at the War Childs charity gig, where Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon appeared on stage as a two-piece, with a piano and acoustic guitar, and performed a gentle melody.

Blur perform Under the Westway (recorded by us BlurBalls!) 

Under the Westway is rumoured to be released for Record Store Day in April 2012. For those of you who want to know what Record Store Day is, this is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores in the UK and USA come together with artists to celebrate music. Special vinyls, tracks and CDs are made for this annual event. There is usually performances, in-store meet and greets and signings in store, with DJs and artists alike as well as other fun activities.

Blur has a history with releasing a new track for Record Store Day - they released "Fools Day", a new tune, for this event in 2010.

Blur's record store track "Fool's Day" - lyrics video also uploaded by Blurballs  

It's unclear whether Orbit is responsible for more Blur tracks or just for Under the Westway. Damon did say he has got a lot of Blur tracks in his pocket and the rest of the band is being very secretive. Or perhaps this track could even be for the new album.

In a recent NME interview, when asked "Will Blur be making a new album?" the response was mixed:

- Damon said "Don't count on it" , aka NO

- Graham said "We've got commitment issues. But it'll probably happen." aka YES

- Alex said "There are definitely no plans to make one"aka NO

- Dave: "There's a lot of appetite out there for new Blur music. It's no secret that we're working on something" aka YES

But one thing's for sure, William Orbit is twiddling with his producer knobs and currently in progress with making "Under The Westway" fit for release - soon. Where? No one knows. Ask Damon. 

Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE, 

Olympics Gig HERE, 

New potential album HERE 

and check out their newest song HERE and read our REVIEW HERE.

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Stay Tuned and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet! 

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

Also email subscribe to receive the latest news on everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon! 

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Damon Albarn gets up close and personal to Noel Gallagher in Brit Awards 2012

Damon Albarn snuggled up to Noel Gallagher in the Brit Awards 2012 - on Feb 21st, Tuesday evening.

The two members of Britpop supergroups Blur and Oasis hugged it out on the red carpet, made their amends, reconciled their differences and  even suggested getting "drinks" together in the after-party.

In an NME February interview, Damon said "Yeah, we met up and I look forward to having a beer with him again. He has great charisma. And he didn't slag Liam off once!". He said he "didn't mind" Noel's solo album because "a big chunk of our history is the same".

Noel Gallagher called Damon as "mad as a box of frogs" a few weeks ago (Click to read full article) and said he would like to record with him rather than Coldplay's Chris Martin.

There has been some eventful happenings of that night, and these two weeks have been hectic and exciting. Blur has been compared to "drunkards" on the stage, but they thrilled many long time Blur fans who were happy to see them play. 

Click HERE to read all about the accusatory article and what fans have to say. 

You win some, you lose some- but Blur's record sales went up significantly afterwards. On iTunes's top 10 rock hits, there were 4 Blur songs on, including Country House!  

Blur won 4 Brit Awards in 1995 for their album Parklife, which was hugely successful. Blur then battled it out with Oasis for UK No. 1 single the following year, with a release of their singles "Country House" and "Roll with It" on the same day. Blur won the battle, but Oasis sold more albums in the long run.

Damon Albarn also revealed that Blur were offered the Outstanding Contribution to Music award a few years ago, but "turned it down". The award went to Robbie Williams that year.

Funnily enough, 17 years later in 2012, Blur looked somewhat the same in the Brits stage!

Catch up on the Blur/ Oasis feud HERE. 



Read all about Blur being BASHED @ Brits HERE, 

Rehearsal for Brits HERE, 

Olympics Gig HERE, 

New potential album HERE 

and check out their newest song HERE and read our REVIEW HERE.

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Stay Tuned and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet! 

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

Also email subscribe to receive the latest news on everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon! 

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!