Damon Albarn “didn’t want anyone in the studio but Graham” for new Blur album
Damon Albarn, the mastermind behind Gorillaz and frontman of Blur, has revealed that he only wanted Graham Coxon present in the studio at first while recording material for the new Blur record, The Ballad of Darren. The singer explained that, after having the demos devised, he was apprehensive about showing them to the whole band at the same time.
Speaking in a new interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music 1, Albarn reflected on the recent Blur reunion and discussed the band’s forthcoming follow-up to 2015’s critically and commercially successful release, Magic Whip.
“When I finished the demos, and I felt I’d got something I’m excited about, I got everyone into a studio in January this year,” Albarn began. “I just sort of sat them down, and I said, ‘Right. This is what I’ve got. You choose what you want to use from it and we move forward from that.’”
“At the beginning, I really didn’t want anyone in the studio but Graham to start off with, but the other two said, ‘No. We want to stay here if that’s all right’… and they did,” he added. “Do you know what? It was the best thing really. It was the best thing…The reward of everyone playing together is one I do acknowledge as being maybe the greatest. You’ve got to keep it real.”
Later in the conversation, the Blur singer explained that his reluctance to show the demos to all three of his bandmates was a result of becoming used to “working on his own”. He added that working in a larger group in a songwriting effort was something he was gradually “trying to get his head around”.
Albarn also took some time to discuss the latest single to preview the album, ‘St. Charles Square’, which arrived on streaming platforms on Thursday, June 29th. “It’s got an amazing atmosphere. Everybody’s playing really well on that thing,” he beamed. “The whole thing has really felt like we’re somewhere in 1992 — something like that, ’92, ’93. We’re just sort of back!”
“I’ve been playing with them since I was a kid,” Albarn added. “So to be able to chart that ridiculous journey from being teenagers to being five years off 60 is quite… It’s a little bit odd but wonderful at the same time. It’s wonderful.”
Listen to ‘St. Charles Square’ below.
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