BlurBalls - Throwing YOU the latest Blur, Gorillaz and Damon Albarn news

March 3, 2012

Blur vow to polish up for massive London Olympics concert 2012

Here's some more Blur related news for all fans out there. For those of you who want all the details about the band's future gig(s) in preparation for the London Olympics at Hyde Park 2012- Graham Coxon did an interview with NME on 29th February 2012.

Watch the most recent interview backstage at the 2012 NME Awards below:

Regarding Blur's summer plans, Graham says: "We're going to start rehearsing soon and we've been back playing together for a bit. We're going to concentrate on making it a really nice experience in the summer.

"We're going to try and get it up a notch from 2009, which seems almost impossible to me in a way because the Glastonbury appearance was so phenomenally amazing."

"We're going to try and go one better." he added. Graham hopes that this year will be more trump the 2009 Hyde Park reunion show, where Blur played a one-off massive gig under the sweltering summer heat.

Graham Coxon and Alexa Chung presented an award to The Vaccines for Best New Band during the ceremony. Coxon is working on his new 80s sounding album A+E and crafting a varied solo career. He also expressed desire to work with The Vaccines and join them on stage in the future, or perhaps during the summertime.

Slightly shaky footage of Coxon and Chung presenting an award to The Vaccines

Blur will play the outdoor closing ceremony show on August 12 for the games' closing ceremony. They have announced that they will headline two concerts in Denmark and Sweden just before the big Hyde Park gig.

Blur made a dramatic return to the stage in the 2009 NME Awards. Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon appeared on stage together for the first time in 9 years. They performed "This is a Low" from their 1995 hit album Parklife.

A touching performance of This is a Low - the performance was raw and emotional

It's exciting knowing that Blur will start rehearsing soon - hopefully there will be more warm-up gigs announced soon. Stay tuned for more up to date Blur news.

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.

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Gorillaz unveil full new collaborative track- Doyathing

Gorillaz released their 3-in-1 Converse campaign single Doyathing, featuring Andre 3000 and James Murphy, on 23rd February 2012. Damon Albarn raps as 2D in his monotone, signature style and the track.

Watch the music video featuring a sleepy 2D and a very green Murdoc parading around their rather tidy house below. It's strange but fits the tune well, and as usual, Gorillaz blends live action and graphics perfectly.

As for the music, this Gorillaz track is quite enjoyable - it's definitely something worth downloading for fans. Damon's rap is similar to the introduction of Gorillaz's hit "Clint Eastwood" and Andre 3000 is brilliant as usual. The beat is catchy and extremely addicting- in a good way of course!

Gorillaz also released the making of Doyathing's music video along with a nice little interview with Pitchfork (click to read):

Visit converse's website here to download the track.

There's also a 13 minute version available for those of you who want to enjoy a longer tune HERE.

And since we're ape-ing around, it would be appropriate to mention that Davy Jones of The Monkees passed away recently. The Monkees sounded somewhat like The Beatles, and of course, The Beatles have influenced Damon Albarn and Blur significantly (although this influence doesn't seem to extend to Gorillaz!).

You can also buy the Converse shoes with great designs on Amazon.

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!

March 1, 2012

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.

February 29, 2012

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!

March 3, 2012

Blur vow to polish up for massive London Olympics concert 2012

Gorillaz unveil full new collaborative track- Doyathing

March 1, 2012

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

February 29, 2012

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

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