Speaking to The Quietus, Damon Albarn has revealed that the band’s current reunion for the Olympic knees-up in Hyde Park does not necessarily point to a rejuvenated, long-term return for the band.
Albarn told Stephen Dalton that the new track, first aired when he played live with Graham Coxon in February, is a song about that perennial West London inspiration, the Westway route. “Funnily enough I’ve done a new tune for Blur, I don’t know if it will ever see the light of day but it’s really traditional… it’s something I’ve had knocking about for years and didn’t know what to do with it," he said.
"Initially I wrote it as a slightly wistful national anthem for my house, I had this idea of getting it made into an old 78 record and making a flag and then just playing it – just being really silly. But I had these chords and I ended up writing this tune around it…"
Albarn went on to say that although the band are back together for this summer’s live appearances, "I don’t really do anything with Blur any more – there’s this concert this year but its not a full time thing at all. Maybe this tune’s a last little coda to the whole story.”
Mr Dalton had previously reviewed Mr Albarn’s Dr Dee musical up in Manchester, and had found it rather lacking, something Albarn has taken squarely on the chin. “Oh it certainly lacked narrative! No shit Sherlock! Ha ha! But I mean, you know, what do you do… ? I’m quite comfortable with presenting a work in progress and I know we made some stinkers as decisions, but you can’t really move forwards unless you make those mistakes. Hopefully it will be a more rounded and satisfactory piece, narrative wise, this time around. I sincerely hope so, otherwise I’ll be very disappointed."
Albarn also commented on his prolific work rate and history of wide-ranging collaboration… that at one point even included an album with Ray Davies and David Bowie. “I do genuinely like working with people but at the same time I don’t expect it to work, and there have been a lot of people who… a lot of things don’t happen," he said "I mean, for about 24 hours, many years ago, I was making a record with David Bowie and Ray Davies. But that only lasted 24 hours…. that was a long time ago, it’s not news, and it’s certainly not the case any more. The point is, I have played around with a lot of ideas and most of them don’t come to fruition." Damon Albarn’s Dr Dee album will be released by Parlophone Records on 7th May 2012. Check The Quietus later this week for Stephen Dalton’s full interview with Albarn.
