Damon Albarn starts New Supergroup 'Fresh Touch'

Yet another new Damon Albarn side-project has been revealed, and this time it's for a good cause. The Blur frontman recruited American rock band Yeah Yeah Yeah's Nick Zinner, alternative band Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Flea for his new collaboration "Fresh Touch". 

The four musicians will collaborate and release a one-off single named "Latest Style" together to raise money for Oxfam's Syria campaign. The renowned NGO is appealing to the public for donations to support 650,000 impoverished political refugees who have fled their country due to the violence and social unrest apparent in the last few months. 

Damon's new project - working with Alex Kapranos for a new single titled "Latest Style"

The track will be released on 13th July 2013 under the guise Fresh Touch. It will be put on sale exclusively at the Independent Label Market, a fair taking place in London's Old Spitalfields Market next weekend. The fair, held twice a year, will showcase independent record labels from all around the UK. 

Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist had previously worked with Damon on last year's Rocket Juice and the Moon album. 

Apart from Damon Albarn's new track, there will be nine more charity singles available for sale including a re-worked version of Tim Burgess's The Doors Of Then. 

For now, fans can only speculate on whether Damon will provide vocals, only music, backing vocals to the track, and whether he will choose to follow a more 'Gorillaz' approach for his new sound. "Latest Style" marks Damon's first official release since Gorillaz co-founder Jamie Hewlett confirmed last month that both Blur and Gorillaz will be recording new albums for the future.

Pick your best one-off track
	Doncamatic - Gorillaz
	Blur - Fool's Day
	Graham Coxon - Desire
	Gorillaz - 911
	Blur- Eine Kleine Lift Musik
	Other

For more details about the cause, head over to oxfam.org.uk/syria.

Blur confirms place in Argentina's Quilmes Rock Festival

Blur has officially confirmed Argentina as a tour destination as part of their large-scaled 2013 World Tour. The news, which was announced one week ago via the band's official Facebook page, came as no surprise to fans since rumours had been circulating for weeks on forums and fan-sites beforehand.

The festival's name was also revealed. The band will headline one of Argentina's most elaborate and biggest music festivals, the Quilmes Rock Festival on November 2nd 2013 (Saturday).  The festival is a held annually in several venues in Buenos Aires, including the Ferro Stadium and River Plate Stadium. Notable local and international artists, including several Britpop bands, have previously performed at the event.

Exclusive Presale tickets for the Quilmes Rock Festival are available for French Bank customers from Thursday July 4th at TuEntrada.com. The general public can buy tickets from July 11th on the same site or via telephone services.

The last time Blur visited Argentina was in 1999 as part of their '13' promotional tours. Fans in Argentina have voiced their delight that the foursome will return to visit the nation in 2013.

Blur Q Magazine feature - 2013 Photo Shoot

Blur were recently featured in the latest issue of Q Magazine. Included in the pages are a selection of drummer Dave Rowntree's behind-the-scenes Instagram images from the 2013 Blur world tour and a long article about the band's 'Early Days of Britpop'. 

Credits: 101reykjavik 

(Click to enlarge and read)

Blur's latest gig scheduled in Turkey for the 'One Love Festival' have been cancelled due to political unrest. The band's next destination will be Poland, where they are playing a music festival from the 3rd - 6th July.

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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Blur Istanbul Turkey show cancelled over Political Protests

Due to the recent political instability and unrest in Istanbul, the Turkish promoters of the Eifes Pilsen 'One Love Festival' have cancelled the show, which was to feature Blur as one of the main highlights as part of their world tour 2013.

A range of music concerts scheduled to take place in June in Istanbul have been canceled due to the ongoing Gezi Park protests that have spanned across all of Turkey. Gezi Park, a rare strip of green space in Istanbul, was the main site of a heavily opposed redevelopment project to build a shopping mall. Turkey has been plagued by violent demonstrations and heavy protests, reflecting the increasing lack of support for it's authoritarian prime minister Recep Ergodan, his leadership regime and the government's failure to provide for citizen's basic and legal needs.

An appropriate poster for Blur fans who were waiting for the show

Cancelled gig originally scheduled for June 2013

Snoop Dogg, Zaz, The National, Bloc Party, The Prodigy and Thirty Seconds to Mars were among the artists to take the stage as part of another festival, the Vodafone Istanbul Calling Event.

The highly anticipated Avea Escape Music Festival has also been postponed.

Blur were reported to be excited about seeing their devoted Turkish fans, but hopes to get another chance to visit the city in the future.

Fans who have bought the tickets in advance will be offered a full refund.

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

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

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

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