Damon Albarn was recently interviewed by music magazine Rolling Stone about Blur, his new solo album and on Oasis. The interview was conducted before Blur's performance in the music festival Coachella 2013, California USA.
Damon Albarn is hours away from the first U.S. Blur show in years, but as he kicks back on a hotel patio overlooking a golf course near Coachella, his mind drifts to other things. Like the record he made with Bobby Womack, before the soul legend almost died last year. "He's OK," Albarn says, taking a sip of green tea. "We've actually just confirmed to play Glastonbury – he's got incredible spirit, you know?" Or his spectacular Peking-opera-inspired Monkey: Journey to the West, which is coming to New York's Lincoln Center in July after an acclaimed run in London.
"The exciting thing about productions is they change every time," he says. "I'll have the perspective this time to actually see if it's any good." And he's definitely psyched about his first solo record, which he recently wrapped with XL Records boss Richard Russell. "Richard does the rhythmic side, and I do everything else," Albarn says. "It's sort of folk soul."
Albarn plans to hit the road behind the LP, playing songs drawn from his entire career, including Blur and Gorillaz, for the first time. And a new Blur LP, which the band would record between festival gigs in Europe this summer, is a definite possibility. "We've got a couple of occasions when we're stuck in the middle of nowhere," he says. "So we might make the record in a week. If we can, it would be nice."
What drives you to take on all these different projects? There's Blur; Gorillaz; the Good, the Bad and the Queen; two operas; and way more. I get bored extremely easily. Blur was definitely my Nineties, Gorillaz was my 2000s, and then I've done a lot of different stuff this decade.
How connected do you feel to songs you wrote, at this point, decades ago? I enjoy playing them. A lot of the songs were quite dystopian in their worldview. And a lot of that stuff is much more pressing now than it was then. It seemed like the future then, and now it just seems like every day. So I can kind of get into it.
Is there a song that you think was especially prescient? A song like [1995's] "The Universal," which sings about, "This is the next century, where the universal's free . . . satellites in every home . . . "
Blur is one of the biggest bands of all time in England, but the tune the band is best known for in America is "Song 2," which is pretty uncharacteristic. What's it like to have that in your pocket? The reaction to that song must be so intense. The "woo-hoo" one, yes. Well, thank god! It really is guaranteed to make the whole place explode. Unfortunately, it's only two minutes.
In some ways Gorillaz are a bigger band in America than Blur. Oh much bigger, yeah. It would be nice to play "Clint Eastwood" and "Feel Good Inc." with Blur, but I can't. They won't play them with me! [Laughs] But I've just finished a solo record – when I go tour that, I'll play play stuff from all my different bands.
What's the record like? I've been making it with [XL Records chief] Richard Russell. We worked together on the Bobby Womack record, and really enjoy working together. He's done spectacularly well as a music mogul, but I think he wants to focus his energy on producing records. Making a solo record is can be such a disaster, so I thought if we're going to make a record with my name on it, I should get someone to really produce it – take that responsibility away from myself. Richard does the kind of rhythmic side of it and I do everything else.
How is Bobby doing? He's not the healthiest of guys, but he's able to do gigs and he's got incredible spirit. He doesn't let anything keep him down too long, you know? As soon as he opens his mouth and that voice comes out, he's just transported. It's such a magnificent voice.
What did you learn from that last huge, spectacular tour you did with Gorillaz in 2010? That was the most expensive tour of all time. I had 70 musicians. I toured around the world, played massive venues all around the world. I made about 20 pounds by the end of it [laughs], so I won't be going on another of those. It was incredible fun, I loved doing it, but economically it was an absolute fucking disaster.
Tell me about the opera – the footage I saw online looked incredible. It's very eccentric. It's colorful and youthful and fantastic for kids. I mean it's just a brilliant thing for kids. My daughter was inspired enough by it to start learning Mandarin after she watched it. And it's got this wonderful sort of anti-hero monkey who's just so irreverent and almost . . . amoral [laughs]. Kids love a character like that.
What kind of research went into it? I had four very interesting journeys across China. Like two weeks at a time. We were taken to some very rural, untouched places far away from the crazy commercial growth aspect of China. Back to places that felt positively medieval. I listened to a lot of traditional music, too. One day I had lunch with a music professor in Beijing and I quite earnestly sat down with him and said, "So what advice can you give me as to how to approach this?" And he took me into this library and there were like 1000 books of Chinese folk music notated and said, "Well, you either do it that way or just . . . do it instinctively." So I went for the latter.
The Stone Roses are also playing tonight. Are they friends? We're not friends, but I know them. We Brits always stick together. And all of the animosity of the Nineties is gone. I mean, I was playing "Tender" with Noel [Gallagher] at the Albert Hall two weeks ago, with Paul Weller on the drums. It's all in the past now.
Blur have added a new tour location and this time they will be playing in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay this year as part of the Spring Festival as part of their worldwide 2013 tour. Blur have announced several new South American tour dates recently, including landmark gigs in Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
Blur are scheduled to perform at the Summer Theater on November 4th 2013 in the third festival Primavera Zero, one of the biggest music festivals in Uruguay. The band is one of the most anticipated and wanted musical acts in the festival this year, largely due to the high demand for Blur to appear in pop and rock festivals from all over the globe.
The news was first tweeted by Uruguay's PopArt Director Danilo Astori Sueiro through his Twitter account one day ago, and soon made headlines on the local twitter trends page. Local media have already caught up on the buzz, and many fans in South America expressed their delight at the news of Blur's first debut in Uruguay.
This year, Blur have headlined prestigious music festivals such as Coachella in the U.S. and Primavera Sound in Spain. The latter festival is one of the South American venues selected for the tour.
It looks as if Blur will not stop touring until late this year, and will continue their tour in different cities around the world on a mission to reconnect with old and new fans alike. Followers of the band - stay tuned as new dates have been continuously added to the Blur world tour 2013 (see full list of dates).
La banda londinense Blur tocará en Montevideo el 4 de noviembre, en el marco del festival Primavera 0. El anuncio fue realizado por Danilo Astori Sueiro a través de su cuenta de Twitter sobre la medianoche de ayer.
Blur, ícono y semilla germinal del britpop, lleva casi 25 años de existencia, a través de los cuales editó siete discos de estudio entre los que destacan Parklife (1994) y Modern life is rubbish (1993).
Fue siempre relacionada (y enfrentada en los medios) con el grupo Oasis por el momento en que ambas bandas surgieron y lo que significaron para la música británica de los 90. Si bien la agrupación de los hermanos Gallagher logró antes una popularidad masiva fuera de Europa gracias a su disco (What’s the story) Morning glory? (1994), nunca logró opacar a nivel musical a la agrupación de Damon Albarn y Graham Coxon, más afin a la exploración de distintos estilos y géneros.
De ahí la importancia de la visita de Blur a Montevideo, en el marco de una de las giras más solicitadas del año musical en lo que a pop y rock refiere. Han sido cabeza de festivales multitudinarios y prestigiosos como Coachella en Estados Unidos, o Primavera Sound en España y están entre las bandas más reclamadas por los fanáticos del circuito sudamericano.
Si los festivales son el marco habitual para el rock de estos tiempos, Blur es este año la pieza a tener, a sabiendas de que no hay garantías reales de que estos cuatro amigos londinenses, reconciliados tras una desgastante separación en 2001, sigan tocando juntos en el futuro cercano.
La visita de Blur para el 4 de noviembre fue confirmada a El Observador por el productor Danilo Astori Sueiro.
La banda local telonera será Sonia y las entradas estarán a la venta el 15 de junio en locales de Red UTS, con precios que rondarán los $ 1.300 y los $ 2.000. Habrá una segunda fecha del festival con otro artista internacional a confirmar en los próximos días.
Tras la biografía de Blur hay muchas canciones que pasan por géneros dispares y a veces opuestos, como el noise y el pop más bailable y radial.
Todo de parte de una inquieta banda que siempre, con mayor o menor éxito, intentó encontrarle la vuelta a su música más allá de las zonas de confort y de esa guerra comercial en la que cayeron sin darse demasiada cuenta y que le agregó picante a esa época musical.
La banda creadora de hits como “Song 2” y “Girls and boys”, que se reunió en 2009, luego de haberse separado tras editar su disco Think tank (2003), llegará a Uruguay en medio de su gira mundial.
The 20 Year Wait: Blur live in Hong Kong – a Review
It was a magical night. It was a revolutionary night. It was a night of many firsts, a night of which Blur fans in Hong Kong have been waiting and dreaming for – for over 20 years.
When Blur announced that they were playing in Hong Kong on May 6th 2013, my unexpected reaction was something along the lines of: “Whaaat? Blur in Hong Kong? [long pause]. Haven’t they played in Hong Kong before? [Nope]. Oh my gosh! [insert high-pitched yell here about seeing-my-favourite-band-for-the-first-time-ever-in-history]”. I’m sure many fans in Hong Kong reacted equally as strongly, for when I logged onto Facebook an hour later, the news had already erupted everywhere on local social media and discussion forums.
Blur were a pretty big deal in Hong Kong, especially since many people in the city lived through British colonial times and were influenced by British music. Britpop was popular here back in the 90s; British music is still hip and trendy, Damon Albarn is a household name because of his best-selling Gorillaz and for writing a song called ‘Hong Kong’. I hurried online and bought tickets – freestanding, frontal, mosh-pit tickets – I couldn’t wait to re-live a 90s Blur gig and experience the hype.
The day came, and after queuing up for hours at the Asia World Expo the crowd was finally let in. I was amongst people of all ages, most wearing Blur t-shirts and talking excitedly about Damon Albarn. I’ve never seen this many Blur fans in Hong Kong together. There were more than I thought! We all rushed in and waited – hopefully Blur won’t be late right?
Wrong. The concert began 40 minutes late, but when finally Blur rushed on stage, they were forgiven. Blur started off with a bang and jumped into ‘Girls and Boys’, which made everyone dance and jump to the beat. ‘Popscene’, another high energy hit, was next. The crowd went wild, and just as the early-punk song ended, Blur started playing the intro to one of their first singles ever- ‘There’s No Other Way’. The song made the crowd go even wilder, and everyone head banged, shoved and sweated to the beat. Damon Albarn greeted the audience after the song ended and said a few words about playing in Hong Kong, which were met with cheers.
Next came a few slower, low-fi songs from the later Blur albums. ‘Badhead’ was the highlight of the show, since it was one of my top Blur songs of all time. Damon Albarn sang the lead vocals with perfection, spilling emotion and angst, and Graham Coxon’s guitar blasted out mellow sounds. Next came the psychedelic ‘Beetlebum’, which sounded better live than in the album since on stage, the guitar and bass were turned up to the max and the music blasted all across the room.
‘Out of Time’ and ‘Trimm Trabb’ were next – the latter was surprises as it isn’t always played live. However, Trimm Trabb was fantastic and haunting, although by this time the crowd calmed down and everyone was listening to the music rather than moving about. ‘Caramel’ was next – it wasn’t the best since it seemed to drag on live, with its million musical instruments, percussions and mix of sounds. I think it sounds better in the album or with headphones, rather than live. The sound quality was consistent throughout the gig, brining out Blur’s clear sounds.
Hit after hit followed, and slowly the audience got lost in a Blur-coma. The sounds of Blur filled the World Expo, and the night became a haze of ‘Coffee and TV’, ‘Tender’
, ‘Country House’, ‘Parklife’ (no Phil Daniels, thank goodness), ‘End of a Century’, ‘Death of a Party’ and ‘This is A Low’. Halfway through the show, Damon Albarn interrupted with a special announcement exclusively made in Hong Kong – they were “going to try to record another record” since the boys had some free time in Hong Kong next week. The crowd cheered with excitement – we were all glad to be let into Damon Albarn’s little secret – a new Blur record might possibly be recorded.
The show ended with lots of woo hoos and wa hoos , with Blur playing their signature ‘Song 2’. By this stage, most of the audience including myself was exhausted from the Blur concert, and we all mustered enough energy for one last bop. After all, it wouldn’t be a complete Blur show without this era-defining tune. Dave was banging on the drums with fervor. ‘Song 2’ sounded better live, and I paused to marvel at how much fun I was having dancing to Graham Coxon’s electrifying lead guitars.
A memorable moment at the end was witnessing a group of fans singing the Oasis song ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ as Blur left the stage. As if on cue, everyone gave them deathly stares. It was not funny.
I didn’t get much sleep after the Blur concert. I couldn’t, probably because deep down I knew I witnessed a historic moment in Blur’s musical history. Possibly also because I just spent the last 2.5 hours jumping up and down, getting squashed and shoving Blur fans around. Or maybe it was the adrenaline still rushing around in my body after the legendary gig.
So I got up, turned on the computer and looped Blur tunes on iTunes until the early hours of morning. It’s the only way of winding down after a Blur gig, and a great way to start off a brand new day.
Blur Setlist - Hong Kong May 6th
2013
‘Girls and Boys’
‘Popscene’
‘There’s No Other Way’
‘Badhead’
‘Beetlebum’
‘Out of Time’
‘Trimm Trabb’
‘Caramel’
‘Coffee and TV’
‘Tender’
‘Country House’
‘Parklife’
‘End of a Century’
‘Death of a
Party’
‘This is A Low’
ENCORE:
‘Under the Westway’
‘For Tomorrow’
‘The Universal’
‘Song
2’
Went to a Blur concert in 2013? Have a picture for us to feature? Write a review for us and get published. Contact us! Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown HERE
