In a recent interview with Apple Music, Damon Albarn, the lead singer of Blur, discussed the band’s latest release, ‘St. Charles Square’. Albarn spoke openly about his efforts to reunite the band, admitting that he let his guard down in the process. He said the following:
“When I kind of finished the demos, and I felt I’ve got something I’m excited about, I got everyone into a studio in January this year, and 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.'”
Albarn then revealed not wanting to have anyone but one person in the studio:
“But I mean, at the beginning, I really didn’t want anyone in the studio but Graham to start off with, but the other two kind of day one said, ‘No. We want to stay here if that’s all right.’ And they did. And do you know what? It was the best thing, really. It was the best thing.”
The frontman had a reason for wanting to work on his own rather than having others around. He explained:
“It was just, I suppose, me just trying to get my head round kind of working with more people at once in a studio because, I mean, a lot of the time, I just do it on my own, really. The reward of everyone playing together is one I do acknowledge as being maybe the greatest. You got to keep it real.”
He then topped it off by admiring the band:
“I’ve been playing with them since I was a kid. So to sort of 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.”
After eight years of silence, Blur is getting ready to play their first big show on July 8 in London’s Wembley Stadium. The band spoke about coming back together last year in November. The frontman said:
“I’m really looking forward to playing with my Blur brothers again and revisiting all those great songs. Blur live shows are always amazing for me. A nice guitar and an amp turned right up and loads of smiling faces.”
In the same interview, the drummer Dave Rowntree similarly talked about his excitement about coming back after the ‘chaos of the last few years’.
Blur will release their latest album, ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ on July 21. Listen to the latest song below.