Jamie Hewlett - We will release a new Gorillaz album

News on Damon Albarn's virtual band Gorillaz had been sparse and few this year, but the latest snippet of information may just make a fan's day. Jamie Hewlett has confirmed that there will be a new Gorillaz album out in the future, but only after Damon's main band Blur has put out their new record.

Jamie revealed the new Gorillaz plans that he and Damon discussed for the future whilst speaking at a launch event for the pair's opera 'Monkey Journey To The West' in New York city recently. A fan that attended the event claims that Hewlett talked about the future of Gorillaz, but admitted he would have to wait for Blur to make their album first.

The fan on Gorillaz fan-site Gorillaz-Unofficial claims that Jamie Hewlett said: "There’s a five- year gap between the albums because they take a long time to do and and they’re very exhausting and when you’re finished you feel like you need to go do other stuff." 

Jamie also added: "So Damon’s touring with Blur – he's doing a world tour with Blur at the moment and then they’re working on a new album so there isn’t really time for him, and I’m doing other stuff as well. So I think it’s, um, we’ll come back to it when the time’s right." 

The Gorillaz animator and comic artist also talked about how difficult it will be for a new Gorillaz record to be commercially successful. He is reported to have said that "the music industry’s changed so much since we started doing Gorillaz. There’s no money in the industry so you know you get these amazing new bands, like The Strypes from Ireland, kind of 14 years old [sic], you know, the best rhythm blues guitarist you’ve ever seen. Age 14, make songs and film it in their bedroom. It doesn’t cost anything, and so Gorillaz is kind of expensive. It’s expensive to do because it’s animated."

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett had previously released four Gorillaz albums, including the commercially successful 'Demon Days' in 2005 and their latest, semi-experimental 'Plastic Beach' record in 2010. The musical pair had a fall-out late last year, but is currently reported to be on good terms.

During Blur's world tour show in the Asia World Expo at Hong Kong, Damon Albarn announced to the audience that the band were heading back into the studio. "So we have a week in Hong Kong, and we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record," he said at the time.

Blur are reported to have made a demo tape during their week in the city, using up time that would have been spent rehearsing for the cancelled Taiwan gig.

Additionally, Alex James recently reported that Blur's new recording sessions are going "very well".

Will there be a new Gorillaz album out?
	Yes, definitely
	No - I don't believe it
	Maybe - Jamie and Damon are great
	Don't know / Don't care
	Blur's better than Gorillaz

What's next for Blur and Gorillaz? Will there be two new studio albums released, one after the other? Or will plans suddenly change yet again? And what about Damon Albarn's solo album that is still the making? The original report is not official, and the confirmation claims are based on a fan comment - to what extend are the rumours true?

All that is official for now is that Blur will be heading to Dublin's Irish Museum of Modern Art on August 1st 2013 to play their only show in the British Isles this year. The date marks Blur's first show in Ireland in four years.

Blur Tour 2013 - Full dates and rundown  HERE

Blur @ Coachella- video and image gallery HERE 

Damon Albarn- "We are going to try to record a new album" HERE

Blur Europe Tour News  HERE

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

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The Much-Anticipated Performance- Review: Blur live in Indonesia

The Much-Anticipated Performance: A Big Sound Festival 2013 Review

Written by Anisa Menur Maulani 

Exactly a year ago, my friend Cinita and I were sitting on the floor of my living room, watching the No Distance Left To Run DVD on a lazy Sunday. Look at all those happy faces, we said. They got to see the Blur gentlemen live, standing only a few meters away from them. When are we going to have the chance to do that?

Funnily enough, the answer came in February 2013, when entertainment and MICE giant Dyandra Entertinment and music promoter Sound Rhythm announced that Blur will headline the Big Sound Festival 2013 on May 15^th 2013 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Days seem to be fleeting, as we got closer to the night when our dream comes true. We have applied for a leave at work, and find ourselves unable to concentrate at anything. Then it finally happened. Twitter exploded with the news that the gentlemen had arrived, and there were photos swarming around of Damon smoking at the airport, Graham and Dave talking to their fans, and Alex doing a door-stop interview with the press.

May 15th finally arrived and we were finally queuing in line in front of Lapangan D Senayan, where the concert will be held. Noted that Blur was not the only one performing at the event; their show was preceded by Van-She, Tegan and Sara, and The Temper Trap.

I could not speak much of Van-She’s performance, as I am not into their kind of music and thus was not interested in seeing them. But was Tegan and Sara and The Temper Trap were great; their songs were enjoyable, and the audiences seemed to be having a good time listening to them. These are the bands that are worthy of opening up an act as legendary as Blur, and the emotions that they built reached its peak just when the main show is about to begin.

My, how my hands shook and my stomach turned when they darkened the lights on stage and played Theme For Retro.

Then people began to scream “They were on the right side of the stage!”, and shadows moved onto the stage. Last thing we know, people were pushing themselves into front of the stage, and Girls and Boys was heard, closely followed by Popscene.

The atmosphere was crazy. Everyone was screaming; even guys in their twenties screamed like junior high school girls. We were dancing and jumping madly, and smartphones are all up in the air, because no one would want to miss anything.

PHOTOS: Blur at Big Sound Festival, Jakarta 2013

The situation calmed down a bit with Out of Time, only to then explode again as Damon jumped down from the stage during Country House. He ran up along the fence, greeting the maddening fans. He ended up perched on one corner as audiences grabbed his hands, trying to get a touch of the charismatic frontman (Someone was lucky enough to have his/her hat being taken by him). He also managed to shower us with water whenever he got close to the audience.

The encore started with their new single Under The Westway, which was my personal favourite that night. The encore was filled with mid-tempo songs like For Tomorrow and The Universal, and some people felt that show was much too short. Adding one or two more songs perhaps will be appropriate.

There were also complaints on the sound system, as there is a moment when Graham seemed to be struggling with his guitar. At some point during Parklife I was not able to hear any sound of the guitar; but thankfully it was only a minor glitch that did not hamper the whole show.

STORY: A First Look at Blur in Indonesia plus Videos And Setlist

The Blur gentlemen did not talk much. Damon greeted us a couple of times, but there were not many things that he said. However, I find that “Tonight, you inspired me” was the most touching thing he said during the night. It feels great if he was able to feel our excitement for having waited to see them for up to 20 years. 

The show ended with the much-anticipated Song 2, which I believe was the soundtrack of everyone who lived through the 1990s. We jumped, we head-banged, we scream, we cried. The guys left the stage but we knew that we would keep this moment in our heart for as long as we lived.

It is wonderful to finally being given the chance to see Blur performing in your home country, and I congratulate Chile for being the latest addition in their tour!

Anisa Menur Maulani 

(@animenur on Twitter)

Images by Fariz Adnan 

(@andstage on Flickr)

May 15^th 2013  

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

Damon Albarn premiers new Blur Song 'The Puritan' !

BLUR NEWS: Exciting news - Damon Albarn premiered another new Blur song called "The Puritan" just a few days ago in one of his recent live shows. The title was only known from an article from The Standard.

“This is the new Blur single called The Puritan and it has never been performed live before,” said Albarn, which he then did, beatnik-style, with just a guitar and a glass of champagne.

The rare footage (scroll down to watch) is recorded by a fan- the song was performed right after a few other Dr Dee songs. Damon began by teasing the audience, then proceeded to strum an acoustic version of what we think has huge potential to be a full blown Blur song.

We at BlurBalls isolated the audio from the footage (credits to MinlMinlmovie) and you can listen to it below. For those of you who regularly visit Youtube, make sure to subscribe to BlurBall's Channel for the coolest, latest videos!



The new song sounds very much like a tune right out of Modern Life is Rubbish! Perhaps this track will be featured in Blur's massive July box set. Us fans have good reason to sing along with Damon - La La La indeed.

Damon Albarn says it's the End of Blur! Read HERE

Is Damon and Graham Coxon recording together? Find out HERE

Check out Blur's rumoured new album HERE. 

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