Blur’s Damon Albarn recently joined in for an interview with The Sun.
One of his main drivers is to keep Blur’s much-loved songs alive — Parklife, Beetlebum, Coffee & TV, There’s No Other Way, Song 2, The Universal, Tender and the rest. But in order for it to be a truly fulfilling experience, Damon is bringing new music into the mix.
The Britpop band has firm roots in Colchester. They had announced four warm-up shows ahead of their European tour, which will see the band take to the world-famous Wembley Stadium for two nights in July. The band is playing this year’s Primavera Sound and will headline two Wembley Stadium shows in July. Ahead of the show in their hometown Colchester, Essex at the Colchester Arts Centre, Damon Albarn spoke about his songwriting:
“I’ve been having quite a good run with my songwriting,” he says. “I seem to have hit a vein in my subterranean world. I’ve been digging for a while and I’ve found something.”
If his new Blur songs continue his creative streak, they would have also caught everyone, including his bandmates, by surprise.
“I didn’t tell anyone I was writing an album. I pretty much wrote it while I was on the road with Gorillaz, I even demo’d the songs out there on my travels. By the New Year, I had 24 songs ready to record.”
Damon also revealed why he considers the time is right for a reunion:
“It’s important to some of the members to play again. Maybe not so important for me in some senses but, you know what, why can’t I play those tunes? They’re part of who I am and it’s potentially a very joyous night out. Also, I firmly believe we’ve all improved as musicians.”
Popular band Blur have announced a new album, The Ballad of Darren which is out July 21 via Parlophone. It’s the band’s first new album in eight years following 2015’s The Magic Whip. Blur’s last album ‘The Magic Whip’ was released in 2015’s with the group remaining coy about the prospect of new music since they announced their reformation last year.
