Alex James was featured on a few media outlets this June, and it's not a surprise he had some new things to say about Blur and the band's future, new songs, recording sessions and his new Big Feastival event in partnership with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
In the RadioTimes interview, Alex mentioned how The Big Feastival "currently has all his attention, but since Blur played in Hyde Park during London 2012, the full band has started touring again."
“We did a bit of recording in Hong Kong and it was brilliant,” says James, “but I don’t know what it is yet. The festival has been the main focus for me. The rest of Blur could also make an appearance at The Big Feastival this year. Graham came [to The Big Feastival] last year. They‘re all invited,” says James. Rizzle Kicks will be one of the guest stars in the music and food festival this year.
Alex James was also quoted in a Contact Music article saying that the "Blur recording sessions went well". BANG Showbiz exclusively reports that Alex said: ''We had a few days off in Hong Kong and thought, 'What the hell, let's go to the studio.' It went very well. The opportunity came and we took it. Any chance to get together and make music is very welcome. It was absolutely brilliant. We were just jamming, but it was good. I hope it happens.''
He also remarked: ''The big bands are getting bigger and bigger and the small ones are disappearing altogether. I think it's very hard to be in an indie band anymore. I think Blur would struggle if we were just starting out now. It's a very different climate.''
Blur forum member '101reykjavik' says: "Alex unfortunately is the one I take least notice of when it comes to pronouncements about the future of Blur. A litany of past quotes 'hoping' something will happen in some respect or other, which in the past have tended to amount to very little."
"If Damon said 'I hope it happens' I would sit up and take notice, but I wouldn't expect Damon to ever make that sort of public statement. Plus Alex arguably has the most need for Blur activity so always seems to be putting the most hopeful spin on things."
Another forum member '2-J' added: "For better or worse, Damon would really undermine his forthcoming solo album (due 2014) if he were to be too committal about Blur."
There has been many arguments as to whether Blur will indeed go forwards with their new album this year. Some say that Damon Albarn will not delay the recording any further after their massive 2013 world tour; some speculate that the Blur frontman will change his mind and focus on side-projects instead of making new music for Blur.
No news about the new album had been announced this month. Blur will continue their world tour and perform in Finland this week. Jamie Oliver and Alex James present The Big Feastival, a feel good festival of food and music for all the family on August 31 – September 1. For more info and tickets, click here.
The latest announcement regarding Blur's 2013 world tour is that Blur's supporting act for the Planeta Terra Festival will be none other than American musician Beck Hansen, a.k.a Beck. The music festival will be held in Brazil at the end of this year.
Both Blur and Beck will also head to Santiago, Chile on November 7th 2013 for a show in the National Stadium Athletic Track. The singer will support Blur and open the show, performing there for the second time since his 2007 debut concert.
Local Blur fans will have the chance to see the band perform for the first time in Chile, as the band have not previously played in the city before.The special gig is scheduled just four days after Blur's gig in Argentina.
Many fans have voiced surprise at the choice of Beck for the supporting act, stating that it should have been "the other way round".
Last year's acts in Planeta Terra included Kings of Leon, Garbage and Gossip. More supporting acts including the rumoured Atoms of Peace and Jack White will be announced in the upcoming months. Read more about the Chile gig HERE.
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.
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