It seems that 2018 is going to be the year of Damon Albarn, with the famed Brit-pop artist revealing that a new album from his The Good, The Bad & The Queen supergroup is on the way.
Back in 2007, an officially-unnamed supergroup released their debut album, The Good, The Bad & The Queen. Soon, this group that consisted of Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve), and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), became unofficially known as The Good, The Bad & The Queen, and received critical acclaim along the way.
Since 2007 though, there’s been chatter of a new record, with Albarn noting new songs had been written, before confirming last year that the band had been in the studio, eschewing Danger Mouse on production duties in favour of the legendary Tony Visconti, who produced many of David Bowie’s albums.
“I’ve been recording the Good, The Bad & The Queen album,” Damon Albarn told Zane Lowe in an interview last year. “I’ve been working with Tony Visconti. He’s responsible for some of my favourite records, so that’s been really enlightening and inspirational.”
While Tony Visconti also confirmed that a new record was indeed on the way, he noted production had been held up while Damon Albarn was busy touring and recording a new album with Gorillaz.
Now, in an interview with Consequence Of Sound, Albarn confirmed that the new record from The Good, The Bad & The Queen is set to be out by the end of the year.
“I’m on tour in Europe doing festivals, but I’m coming home in between them [to finish the record],” Albarn explained. “I’m working all weekend doing festivals and then come home Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday — that’s should be your weekend. But because I’ve stupidly started and want to make this record right, I don’t have any weekends.”
Damon Albarn also noted that another album from Blur could also be in the works at some point, stating that “Whenever Graham [Coxon, Blur guitarist] is around, I’m up to playing music with him.”
Of course, with Gorillaz’s second album in two years having been recently released, and a new one from The Good, The Bad & The Queen on the way, Albarn did also poke fun at his level of musical output as well. “What I would really like never to do is for people to get sick of me, because I was putting out too much stuff,” he joked.
“If that ever happens, like you do to elderly relatives, put your arm around me and wheel me off please.”
While there’s no word yet as to when The Good, The Bad & The Queen (or even Gorillaz and possibly even Blur) could return to Aussie shores, we’re certain it’s high time that Damon Albarn brings back the tunes that made him a household name to local stages once again.
Check out The Good, The Bad & The Queen’s ‘Herculean’:
