Alex James speaks out on Blur - Adele controversy

Blur has finally addressed the Brit Awards controversy- they were blamed for cutting singer Adele's acceptance speech after they both won awards in the 2012 ceremony. 

Blur bassist Alex James has announced that the band were not aware that Adele's speech at this year's Brit Awards was interrupted and cut short. Taken from an NME article:

Adele flipped her middle finger after she was interrupted by host James Corden during her acceptance speech for the Mastercard British Album Of The Year gong. The comedian was forced to usher her from the stage so that Blur, who picked up the Outstanding Contribution To Music Award, could begin their live set. 

Both ITV and the Brit Awards have since apologised for the controversy, but in an interview with BBC Breakfast, James insisted that he and his bandmates had not been aware of the incident, and also said that the subsequent furore hadn't taken the spotlight away from Adele. 

Alex James, speaking on BBC Breakfast about the controversial issue, said:

That's live telly. I don't think it overshadowed anything. We were up there backstage and didn't know what was happening until afterwards. I think Adele is amazing and has a fantastic career in front of her.

Earlier, we wrote all about Blur being bashed at the Brits for their performance and acceptance speech length. The media was heavily focused on the Blur/Adele issue, as well as Damon's unusual live performance. 

This is the first time Blur has spoken out about the issue, although Damon Albarn did mention it very briefly on radio. And it seems like they didn't even know that Adele's speech was cut off. It goes to show, sometimes you just can't trust the media too much. 

Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE, 

Read all about Blur kicking Adele OUT of the Brits HERE, 

Olympics Gig HERE, 

New potential album HERE and new tear jerker song HERE 

and check out their newest track HERE and read our REVIEW HERE.

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Blur has a new hymn-like, tear jerking track up their sleeves for Olympics gig 2012

Alex James appeared on television show Top Gear on March 4th 2012 and spoke about Blur's future plans. 

He told host Jeremy Clarkson that Blur has been working on a new song - "We've got a new song to unveil, I just listened to it in the morning". 

Alex also added that the unnamed track was "like a hymn, a real tear-jerker".

When asked about their controversial Brit Awards performance of 12 days ago, (click to read a feature article about the happenings of that night) where Blur received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award, he said: "It was utterly magnificent to get back together and smash those songs out again." 


Last month, Blur's frontman Damon Albarn and guitarist Graham Coxon played a new Blur song 'Under The Westway' during an acoustic set at the War Child pre-Brit Awards charity gig at O2 Sheperd's Bush Empire in London. Watch an exclusive BlurBalls recording of the great performance in the video below.

In a recent NME Magazine interview, Blur did confirmed they were trying out new songs and new material since their 2009 reunion, but were "cagey about whether they'd record a new album", which would be their first since 2003's Think Tank.

When Graham Coxon was asked about new album plans in time for Blur's massive Olympics 2012 Hyde Park set, he said he'd be "interested in playing new things" during the live gig, exclaiming: "We always used to play underdeveloped things and kick them into shape during the shows, but it isn't the occasion for that. Obviously we're not gonna play the same set we played in 2009, but there things that people always, always wanna hear."


Previously, super producer William Orbit (who produced Blur's dark, edgy album "13" in 1999)  hinted he was working on new material with Blur in a series of tweets and facebook page, sparking rumours that there was a new Blur album.

Producer Stephen Street, who produced five Blur albums including the hugely successful "Parklife" in 1995, has also said he "would like to work with" the band and "recording with them again". 

Street is currently remastering all the Blur records, perhaps for a release late this year in a box set/ vinyl collection. Click here to read all about the Blur remasters. 

Besides the Hyde Park Olympics concert, Blur are also headlining two other events: Denmark's Skandeborg Festival in August 9th 2012 and Sweden's Way Out West Festival on August 10th.

A young Blur in their Modern Life is Rubbish days 

However, the band still contradicted themselves with mixed messages about their future "new" recording. 

In recent interviews, there were a lot of "Yes, we are working on new songs" and "No. we are not going to make a new album" and some "We're not sure"'s.

Watch Graham Coxon speak out about the band's preparations for the Hyde Park gigs and click HERE read all about Graham vowing to make this gig bigger and better than their 2009 runs. 

With these mixed messages about the potential new Blur album, fans can only speculate. So far, nothing was confirmed by the band. They seem reluctant to talk about any future albums, although are happy to chat about individual tracks. They debuted Under the Westway in the War Child event. However, Alex James did say it's probably a "no" to a new Blur album on last night's Top Gear episode. 

Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE, 

The Olympics Gig HERE

New potential album HERE

Alex Jame's new cheesy book HERE

and check out their newest song HERE and read our REVIEW HERE.

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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.

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Stay Tuned and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet! 

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

Also email subscribe to receive the latest news on everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon! 

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

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!

Stay Tuned and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet! 

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

Also email subscribe to receive the latest news on everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon! 

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

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.