Damon Albarn Does Q and A with Rolling Stone Magazine

Damon Albarn of Blur, Gorillaz and countless side projects, talks about his many musical endeavors in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.  He even admits that he would love to play Gorillaz songs with his Blur band mates.

In some ways Gorillaz are a bigger band in America than Blur.

"Oh much bigger, yeah. It would be nice to play "Clint Eastwood" and "Feel Good Inc." with Blur, but I can't. They won't play them with me! [Laughs] But I've just finished a solo record – when I go tour that, I'll play stuff from all my different bands."

Albarn is currently touring with Blur in Europe.  Check out the full interview at Rollingstone.com.

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Introducing "Pig Monster"

The new character from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett

 "Pig Monster" is joining the cast of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's play "Monkey: Journey to the West".  As MTV reports, the play is an adaptation of "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng, written and directed for the stage by Chen Shi-Zheng with the music provided by Albarn and the costume and characters designed by Hewlett.  "Monkey: Journey to the West" will be showing at The Lincoln Center in New York this July.  Get your tickets and be sure to watch the "Piggy Piggy" episode of "American Horror Story" before the show, just to make "Pig Monster" extra terrifying.

Damon Albarn Hints at New Blur Album

It's a good day when your favorite band decides to make a new record.

 

 

Last night during Blur's show in Hong Kong, Damon Albarn suggested that the band will be recording new music in the very near future.  Check out the video below.  Can I get a collective "Whoo Hoo"!  Thanks to Blur Balls for first reporting the happy news.

http://www.blur.co.uk/

How Blur Just Became My Favorite Band

Isn't it great when you see a band live and it completely elevates your feelings about them. Blur just went from a band I love, to a band I insanely love and obsess about. I was looking forward to Blur's set at Coachella 2013 (weekend 1) all year and it was worth the wait. They were amazing, but they weren't flawless, they actually made a quite few mistakes and the crowd was relatively tame from what youtube videos led me to expect from a Blur show, but Blur made me feel. I was happy, I was sad, I was in the palm of Damon Albarn's hand as he led us through some of Blur's most intellectual and emotional songs. The devastating thing is that may have been the first and last time I get to see Blur, as they don't have any other dates in America, let alone Chicago.

Blur's Coachella set, snuck up on me. At Coachella, I would mention them as a highlight along with How to Destroy Angels (Trent Reznor's side project), Hot Chip and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. When I returned home to Chicago, I quickly learned that Blur towered over all other bands in my mind's eye. It's all I could listen to. First I put on Parklife, the epitome of Brit Pop's heady, but accessible 3 minute songs. "Girls and Boys", Blur's set opener and track 1 of "Parklife", is rock music that makes you want to dance because anything is possible. "End of the Century" and "Parklife" remind us not to be satisfied with just going through the motions. There's more to life than watching television.

Next I dove head first into 13, listening with new ears and remembering Damon and his hundred mile stare. What can I say about "Tender", that hasn't been said before? It is a beautiful song that is somehow simultaneously joyous and heartbreaking. I found myself tearing up listening to "Caramel", putting myself in that place of loneliness. “Where is the magic?” Damon groans. As it turns out the magic is in the music, and the ability to convey emotion to millions of people across the globe.

I obviously took a spin over to wikipedia, to quickly learn everything I need to know about Blur.  Insert "wikipedia is the best place to get info" joke here :)  I read all about failed relationships, struggles with drugs and the ever present, up and down friendship at the core of the band between Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon. I then listened again, trying to figure out the dynamic of each track. Why was is written? Was it personal or a statement on life in general?

I am truly grateful that I had the opportunity to see Blur. They easily could have been a band that remained casually in my mid-day music rotation, background music for whatever I was working on, but after seeing them live, I have found that their music touches my soul. It is to be listened to in headphones with no distractions. Excuse me as I close this up so I can listen to Modern Life is Rubbish.

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Please share your experiences where a live show took a band to the next level for you. Thanks for reading!