BLUR NEWS: Blur has been featured on many more magazine and media coverage. Highlights include DIY Magazine, where Blur can be found across four fully coloured editorials on Pages 6-10. Read the magazine here: http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/magazine/read/september-2012/
Last month's Loaded Magazine featured Blur on a 6 page cover. There's new / old pics of the band and and an exclusive interview with Alex James. Check out the large scans, awesome Blur union jack logo and some other rare pictures of the band below.
September 4, 2012
Blur features in DIY, Loaded Magazine - August 2012
September 3, 2012
Blur - Hyde Park versus Brit Awards
Quite an interesting comparison - for those who bashed Blur at the Brits for performing poorly... note how the crowd makes or breaks the band.
September 1, 2012
Alex James' Big Feastival - Music and fine foods galore
Alex James has been continuing with his various, multicoloured side projects since Blur finished their Hyde Park gig (with Damon Albarn saying there are no plans to continue yet).
For those in the UK and are free on September 1st - 2rd, master chef Jamie Oliver is presenting The Big Feastival with Alex James, a colourful two-day celebration of music, food and fun for all the family, set on Alex James’s very own Oxfordshire farm.
As mentioned on the website, you can "enjoy music from top acts, tuck into top chef demos in the Big Kitchen and have your fill from The Menu, which brings together pop-ups from top restaurants and the cream of the UK’s street food crop."
Browse the Artisan Food Market for more edible enjoyment from a stunning selection of small producers and food businesses, and between eating, drinking and dancing, join a cookery session, dig a herb garden, raid the dressing-up box or take a spin around the on-site funfair.
Keep big and little kids happy in the fun-filled Little Dudes Den, where Peppa Pig herself will be among the all-day entertainment highlights – or put them to work in Mini Masterchef and turn them into little Jamies. Go for the day, go camping, or style it out with our glamping options provided by The Pop-Up Hotel – there really is something for everyone.
So, if you want to meet Alex James, or enjoy the music, remember to visit the site for full details of where it is, what’s on and why you mustn’t miss out on the Feastival. Buy tickets here.
August 30, 2012
Damon Albarn to put Blur aside for now
According to a recent report by Total Essex, Damon Albarn dismissed the 'this-is-all-over' Blur talk that was all over the media before and after Hyde Park 2012.
On Hyde Park, Damon Albarn was patriotic and very proud to be British: "It was brilliant really. The whole thing was very special. What an extraordinary couple of weeks it's been. The whole Olympics has been brilliant – a tonic for the whole country – and it was an honour to be a part of that.
"I love this country and I love this city. London is our city and I live just round the corner from Hyde Park so when I was given the invitation to do the gig, I jumped at it really."
"Yes, It's a full stop for now because we've all got other stuff going on – Graham has another solo album due out, Dave is busy with politics and being a lawyer and Alex is combining making cheese and running a farm with his life as a media whore while the African Express sets off round the country this week – but to say it's 'The End', that's not true at all."
There's also a secret - Damon also remarked: "We've talked about it privately and I have my own idea of a scenario but it probably won't be that either because you can't be that clear about such things because you just don't know."
So, 21 years later and the vision is still no clearer than ever. Yes Blur or No Blur, it's still a blurred future.
All we want to know is - what exactly did Blur discuss about that they can't tell us ?
August 29, 2012
Graham Coxon - A new album to be out in 2013
Graham Coxon has revealed that there will be a new solo album out some time next year. His latest, A+E, was his seventh solo work after leaving for Blur's Think Tank.
The guitarist posted several cryptic tweets on his official Twitter page with revealing pictures of various body parts. When someone asked, he said that these were hints as to the name of his new solo album. Given the short time of announcement, it is likely to say that the new record will be out some time in January or early 2013.
"Yes Clues" says the next mysterious tweet |
Ankle ? Knees ? |
Who's a Graham Coxon Fan ? |
For you Graham Coxon fans, this is exciting and great news. New album out soon in 2013! We all could do with something new. Since the Olympics closing ceremony and it's grand Blur gig, some may feel like it's a Blur slump after the climatic return.
So here's the riddle:
August 27, 2012
Damon Albarn hops abroad train for next big tour - Africa Express live
Damon Albarn's moving on after Blur, and he's moved on fast. The front-man literally jumped abroad a fast moving, speedy train and hired all his fellow musicians to create a massive Africa Express tour extravagance. Damon Albarn's Africa Express will be playing from September 3rd 2012 to September 8th 2012.
Led by Damon, Africa Express brings together musicians from different cultures, genres and generations to break boundaries and offer a new perspective on Africa and its music.
Moreover, there's a train set involved in all this. And it's not unlike the train from the cover of Blur's 'Modern Life is Rubbish' album. Africa Express, the collective of African and Western musicians, is filling a moving train with many guest artists and collaborators and taking it on a musical adventure across mainland Britain this September, produced in association with the Barbican as part of London 2012 Festival.
Africa Express will become ‘The Africa Express’, departing London’s King’s Cross on 2nd September for a unique musical tour journey passing through England (Bristol, Cardiff and more), Scotland and Wales.
Check out some scans (credits to Shelley) of Damon's recent Africa Express interview, dated August 26th 2012 from The Guardian, below.
Check out the times and dates for Africa Express, and buy your tickets here.
August 25, 2012
Charting Britain's love affair with Blur (Special Story)
And then something strange happened. Slowly but surely, music critics and fans alike began to wake up to the fact that there was a gaping, Blur-sized hole in British music. It became obvious that history was winning all of Blur’s wars for them, without them having to raise a finger or a pistol. Suede had long ago faded into a ghastly parody of themselves before calling it a day (and if Damon ever needed comfort during dark nights of the soul, Brett Anderson’s solo records would surely have brought the laughter back).
As for Oasis, they had degenerated into such a generic, repetitive caricature that only the doggedly loyal didn’t want the Gallaghers to finally have an argument big enough to make them leave the rest of us alone.
Pals again - Brit Awards 2011 saw Noel and Damon mend their grudges |
In 2009, after a few false starts, Blur again decided to give Britain what it wanted. Usually news of a band reforming is met with sneers, shrugs or cynicism – but Blur couldn’t be accused of needing the money, and the announcement of new live shows was met with a jubilation that may have surprised even Albarn. And so, for perhaps the first time in their career, the band lived up to expectations with ease.
Damon Albarn in Denmark, August 2012, Smukfest warm up |
The set list touched on every album they’d ever done, from “Leisure” through to “Think Tank”, saw a band finally unified. It showed a band who could happily indulge in the pop romp of “Parklife”, but also give space to the more esoteric “Oily Water”, who could all take their moments in the limelight for “Tender” or who could be a springboard for Albarn’s hyperactive frontmanship on “Girls And Boys”. It showed a band who could be scuzzily furious (“Popscene”) or shamelessly, utterly beautiful (“For Tomorrow”), and every shade in between. It revealed Britain’s most complex, most versatile, most beautiful band in short, as did this year’s Hyde Park reunion reunion, in spite of the now famous sound problems.
It really, really could happen - Blur on Primrose Hill and it's (now removed) graffiti |
And if not, if Blur have no distance left to run, we still have something quite extraordinary: the Blur songbook. Because one other thing has become obvious. Blur have probably not produced a perfect album. Every one of them has been bedevilled by lapses into the obvious or the obstinate, glibness or grumpiness.
But they do have, overall, one of the best, most glittering back catalogues in all of our pop history. They won the only war that has ever mattered, the one for greatness, and they have earnt our love.
The full version of blurblog 5, the final part in our blur marathon can be read here. blurblog 1, on Hyde Park and how Blur have become a central part of our pop life is here, blurblog 2 on the tricky early years is here , blurblog 3 on the triumph of Parklife, and the cracks beginning to reveal themselves in the Great Escape here and blurblog 4 on Blur to Think Tank here.
Graham Coxon to collaborate with Example in new album
NME Magazine writes:
Graham Coxon has teamed up with rapper Example on his new album.
The guitarist features on four tracks on the rapper's forthcoming third album 'The Evolution Of Man' - scroll down to listen to first single 'Say Nothing', which will be released on September 16. Example met Coxon at a gig and asked him to feature on the record, which is due on November 18. "I met him at a War Child gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire," he says. "Then I saw him at The Brits, and told my manager we needed to get him on the album. So I pitched my idea, then went to his house and played him the album. On some songs he just picked up his guitar and started freestyling. It was fucking amazing."
As well as 'Say Nothing', Coxon features on three more tracks – ' Crying Out For Help', ' Snakeskin', and the Zane Lowe-produced 'Blood From A Stone'.
The rapper has also announced an arena tour for early 2013, which will kick off at Bournemouth's BIC on February 11, finishing at Manchester's MEN on March 1.
Example will play:
Bournemouth BIC (February 11)
Nottingham Capital FM Arena (12)
Liverpool Echo Arena (13)
Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (15)
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena (16)
Glasgow SECC (17)
Aberdeen AECC (18)
London Earls Court (23)
Cardiff Motorpoint Arena (25)
Brighton Centre (26)
Birmingham LG Arena (28)
Manchester Arena (March 1)
Looks like Graham Coxon is doing his own thing and trying new things, after Blur's summer shows.
Check out a new interview from FT Magazine by Graham Coxon here.