Graham Coxon Newsletter
Sign-up to receive daily news on Graham Coxon by email.
Graham Coxon Filmography
Source:
Theiapolis
Graham Coxon Resources
Books on Graham Coxon:
Latest Film News
Latest news on Graham Coxon
EuropeHow an eccles cake and a chat brought Blur duo together for comeback shows
You can take the boy out of Essex but not, apparently, Essex out of the boy. Damon Albarn has drawn musical inspiration from travels in China, Africa and other far-flung reaches but, as he prepares for the keenly awaited comeback of Blur, he admits that what excites him most is the prospect of going home to the county of Mondeo Man and estuary English.In an unusually candid interview, Albarn has spoken of a desire to return to his childhood roots in Colchester, Essex, and perform secret gigs with Blur, potentially under their original name, Seymour. And the key to his rapprochement with former bandmate Graham Coxon? A chat over an Eccles cake.Earlier this month Blur announced plans to re-form for several concerts next summer, culminating at Hyde Park in July and a rumoured headline act at the Glastonbury Festival in June. Their "Battle of Britpop" against Oasis in the mid-90s made front pages and was billed as a north-south clash between the working-class Gallagher brothers and Albarn's posh boys from Essex."Do you know what? The most exciting thing about all this for me is that I haven't been back to Colchester, or Essex, since 1994," he told broadcaster John Wilson in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow on Radio 4's Front Row. "That's a long time. I'm going to get the chance to take my daughter to walk through the meadows I used to walk through as a kid, go to the river I used to fish in, swing on the swings I swung on as a kid. For me that's the most wonderful thing. And I think it's beautifully ironic that with my kind of wanderlust and desire to travel and experience the, some would say, the exotic east, the south, wherever, the thing that excites me next year is going back to Essex. Can you believe it?"Blur, who had huge success with the album Parklife in 1994, last played together six years ago. Since then Albarn, 40, has taken on an array of innovative projects, including the virtual band Gorillaz, the group The Good, the Bad and the Queen, the musical revue Africa Express and the Mandarin opera Monkey: Journey to the WestCoxon, 39, who was Blur's guitarist, has made solo albums without recapturing the same success, while the bassist, Alex James, 40, has carved a new career as a columnist and cheesemaker, living on a farm in the Cotswolds. The band's drummer, Dave Rowntree, 44, runs a computer animation firm and is the Labour party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster.Blur will follow 90s acts, such as the Spice Girls and Take That, in burying the hatchet for a return to live gigs. Coxon, Albarn's childhood friend from Stanway Comprehensive School in Colchester, walked out during Blur's seventh and last album, Think Tank, branding the frontman an "egomaniac". The album was completed without him.Albarn said he had been "emotionally distanced" from Coxon for 10 or 12 years, but then his old friend "turned up just before I did the Africa Express Koko gig [in Camden Town, part of the BBC Electric Proms season] and we just went for a walk and bought a bun - I think it was an eccles cake - and we sat in a doorway," Albarn recalled. "We just looked at each other said, you know what, it's all over, isn't it? That strange feeling that had come between us had gone. So, shall we play together again?"It was like, we've got to do this at some point because we never actually split up, we just stopped talking to each other. It wasn't money, or anything like that, it was just two people who really loved each other but who found it impossible to communicate any more."He continued: "For me it's all about the fact that I've got my old mate back. We used to play in a band together and we're going to play in that band again ... that day, sitting on a doorstep ... we both accepted that we were never going to escape the fact that we were in Blur and that it was better to accept and go forward with optimism and not carrying that bloody heavy burden."The millions of fans craving a new record will be kept on tenterhooks. "If we get back together and it feels like the hottest band on the planet, then there will be a good argument to make another record. It would be because of the music, but for any other reason, forget it."When news of the Blur reunion broke, the band's official web forum was receiving 60 hits a second. One contributor wrote: "Tue Dec 09, 2008: a day to be remembered forever." All 45,000 tickets for the 3 July concert sold in two minutes, prompting a second date to be announced. The performances will coincide with Blur's 20th anniversary; they were briefly known as Seymour, but had become Blur by the time of their first hit, There's no Other Way, in 1991.Asked if they would be returning to a garage for rehearsals and playing gigs under the name Seymour, Albarn said: "Yes, we kind of are, I shouldn't really say too much, but ... yes, probably. We're going to retrace it and then go back to the Midlands, where we got our first taste of what it was like to really capture a crowd. People who haven't been roadies for 10 years are going to come back and be roadies for us, just for this occasion ... It's going to be really beautiful or the most horrific mistake ever!"Blurguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Published: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:04:20 GMT - Source: Guardian.Co.Uk - Read the articleEuropeBlur to re-form for massive Hyde Park gig
It ended in acrimony, with the guitarist branding the singer an "egomaniac". But after months of speculation, Blur have confirmed that they will be reuniting for a massive gig in London's Hyde Park next summer. Unlike many a recent rock reunion, the reformed Blur of 2009 will actually consist of the original members: Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree. It will be their first performance together since the Royal Festival Hall in 2000."It just felt right again," Albarn told NME.com. "There's something for us to do again, we're not completely useless or pointless, we've got a reason to exist."Formed in Colchester in 1989, Blur broke into the mainstream in the mid-1990s with hits including Parklife, Charmless Man and Song 2. They became one of the two defining bands of the Britpop era, famously pitting their Country House against Oasis' Roll With It in a chart battle that ended with Blur victorious. After recording seven studio albums and notching up two No 1 singles, the group have been on indefinite hiatus since 2003 following the release of their critically acclaimed seventh album Think Tank. Since the band's split, Albarn has found success on various projects including animated pop group Gorillaz, supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen, the Africa Express series, and the opera Monkey: Journey to the West. Guitarist Coxon has found modest success as a solo artist, bassist James reinvented himself as a cheese-maker, while drummer Dave Rowntree tried unsuccessfully to become a Labour councillor in Westminster. Albarn had previously started rumours of a reunion after telling Radio 1 last month: "It's very possible I'll go back to Blur, it really is very possible ... it's fantastic to get my old friend back." However, this is the first time the band have confirmed that they are reforming. Although many fans hope Blur will play next year's Glastonbury festival, nothing is confirmed as yet. Albarn told NME.com, however, that there would be more shows "in other parts of the country". The London Hyde Park concert will take place on Friday July 3 2009. Tickets will go on sale from 9am Friday December 12 2008 at www.livenation.co.uk. Tickets are £45, limited to six per person, and subject to a booking fee.BlurPop and rockguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Published: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:54:12 GMT - Source: Guardian.Co.Uk - Read the articleEuropeBlur reunion 'very possible' says Damon Albarn after lunch with Graham Coxon
Damon Albarn has given hope to Blur fans by saying a reunion for the one-time kings of Britpop is "very possible", after the singer enjoyed a reconciliatory lunch with guitarist Graham Coxon. Coxon left Blur under acrimonious circumstances in 2002 and the band, one of the bestselling of the 1990s, have been on an indefinite hiatus since 2003 following the release of their critically acclaimed seventh album Think Tank. But Albarn has now revealed that he is back on good terms with the guitarist, who was a childhood friend and knew Albarn before the group got together at London's Goldsmith art college in 1989. "The truth be known, Graham and I have been hanging out together a bit. We had lunch the other day," Albarn told BBC Radio 1 on Wednesday. "It's very possible I'll go back to Blur, it really is very possible ... it's fantastic to get my old friend back."Though the band has never officially split up, Albarn has previously regularly quashed hopes Blur would ever work together again. He has found considerable success with side projects including animated group Gorillaz, supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen, and the Africa Express series. He received critical acclaim for his part in producing Monkey: Journey to the West, a circus opera based on 16th century Chinese literature, which opens at the 02 Arena in London this weekend. Coxon has released three solo albums since leaving Blur and has been working with Pete Doherty on the Babyshambles singer's forthcoming debut solo album. Former bassist Alex James is now a celebrated cheesemaker and occasional talent contest judge. Drummer Dave Rowntree tried unsuccessfully to become a Labour councillor in Westminster last yearBlurguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Published: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:14:25 GMT - Source: Guardian.Co.Uk - Read the article
Sign-up to receive daily news on Graham Coxon by email. See Also:
