Damon Albarn, frontman for Blur and cartoon band Gorillaz has revealed in an interview that Blur plan to hang up the boots after their performance at the London Olympics. Speaking to The Guardian about the future of Blur, Albarn revealed that the band didn’t plan to perform together after the gig at the Olympics in London later this year.
The iconic British band first split up in 2003 but got back together five years later and have played a series of gigs and festivals since. They’ve also written a brand new song for the Olympics, ‘This is Under The Westway’, which was recorded live in one take.
“It’s the first Blur song where it’s been one take, because previously I never finished the lyrics before we recorded – which is quite nice, because I don’t really see any more recordings after this,” he said.
“And I hope that’s the truth: that that’s how we end it,” he continued. “I don’t know: you can write scripts, and they always end up going, well, one thing I’ve learned, and I’m sure you’re exactly the same, is that everything I think I’ve got totally sorted out, and I know exactly what’s going to happen – it never works out that way…”
The demise of Blur wasn’t the only bombshell Albarn dropped in the interview. After the fall out from Blur in 2003, Albarn sought other musical partnerships and Gorillaz was just one the many projects he has worked on since.
“Gorillaz was a really wonderful, spontaneous thing,” he says. “It started with two people sitting on a sofa, going, ‘Let’s make a band.’ ‘All right, I’ll go into my studio and draw some characters.’ ‘I’ll go in mine and make a tune, and we’ll put them together.'”
But Albarn now thinks it’s “unlikely” they’ll be any more music to come from Gorillaz saying that co-founder Jamie Hewlett wants to pull the pin after falling out over the last record and tour. “I think we were at cross purposes somewhat on that last record, which is a shame,” says Albarn. “So until a time comes when that knot has been untied…”
According to Albarn the story of the fall out is a long story, but it really came to a head in 2010 when Gorillaz toured as a band around the world and Hewlett’s visuals took a backseat to Albarn and the band.
“It was one of those things,” Albarn says. “The music and the videos weren’t working as well together, but I felt we’d made a really good record, and I was into it. So we went and played it.”
So did they fall out? “Erm… well, that sounds very juvenile, doesn’t it? But being juvenile about it, it happens. It’s a shame.”
