July News

26-
Meltdown Webcast
Blur's gig that they played at the Meltdown Festival was said to be webcasted today at the link below. so far, i-gig has not made it available to view, but there is an address you can mail to that will remind you when they will put it on their site.
http://www.i-gig.com


26-
graham speaks to nme.com
Graham has spoken to nme.com about his recent solo tour dates and how he feels about being the frontman, along with other things like his biggest talent. follow the link.
http://www.nme.com/features/features/20000726164420.html


BLUR'S 'BLACK BOOK' RECORDING
BLUR’s next single is almost certain to be the track ‘BLACK BOOK’, which they unveiled at their recent MELTDOWN gig in LONDON.

According to the band’s spokesperson, no word has yet come from their record company to confirm the rumours, and no scheduled release date has been made public. But it is likely that the song will be the next release from Blur, who have been keeping a low profile this year.

As revealed by guitarist Graham Coxon - who has just completed a successful solo tour of the UK saying he would like to do more solo live work in future - on nme.com yesterday (July 16), one new song will be on the band’s forthcoming "best of" album. The title and tracklisting have still to be finalised, but the spokesperson said it looks like ‘Black Book’ could well be the new song Coxon's referring to.
-nme.com


16, July
NEW SONGS FOR BLUR BEST OF?

GRAHAM COXON has exclusively revealed to nme.com that the BLUR "best of" compilation is likely to contain new material - but the guitarist hinted that he is not entirely happy at the prospect of putting the album together.

Speaking before the final gig in his solo UK tour last night (July 15) at the London Highbury Garage, Coxon said that the band were still heavily involved in negotiations with their label Food over the compilation.

He said: "It will be mainly singles, with maybe one new song. It's kind of weird thinking about a record like that. We always want to be going forward but we have to think about all this past history." He sounded almost weary when he explained that the band were in meeting after meeting about it, and added: "I raise my voice to say something and I get talked over."

Fellow Blur members Damon Albarn and Alex James were in the audience at the previous night's show (Friday) at the same venue, and Coxon admitted it was a bizarre experience seeing them in the crowd instead of beside him on stage.

"I tried not to think about them," he said. "I looked out in the audience and there he [Damon] was. He looked like he was having fun. They've been really nice about the record [his new album, 'The Golden D'] as well. They've been very supportive. Alex was the first person I played it to." He added that a lot of people had said they preferred the songs from the album in a live setting.

He added that he was enjoying his solo venture because it has a lower-profile and is less stressful than Blur tours, and admitted that he enjoyed his new role as frontman: "I really like singing, even though I'm not a terribly good singer. It's a good release of energy."
-nme.com


11, july
GOLDEN GRAHAM!


BLUR guitarist GRAHAM COXON kicked off his solo tour at GLASGOW GARAGE last night (Monday July 10), giving nine songs from his new album ‘THE GOLDEN D’ their first live airing.

The hour-long set of 13 songs in total was a riff-heavy almost pure rock outing. Starting off with older track ‘That’s All I Wanna Do’, which began in the gentler style of his debut album ‘The Sky Is Too High’, he quickly plunged into a heavy, metal-tinged rendition of ‘Jamie Thomas’, the opening track on ‘The Golden D’, followed by ‘The Fear’ and his cover of Mission Of Burma’s ‘Fame And Fortune’, virtually mirroring the album’s tracklisting.

Looking quite apprehensive as he took the stage, after the first number he turned to his co-guitarist, Rod Jones from Idlewild, and said, according to audience members at the front of the stage, said quietly: "This is scary."

Quiet for most of the show, he spoke to the audience - a mixture of moshing, crowd-surfing younger fans at the front and more sedate spectators at the rear of the 600-capacity venue - only a few times during the show, saying: "This is a cover version of a Swedish band," before the first number of the three-song encore, ‘Min Trampolin’. Introducing the song ‘Fags And Failure’, he said: "This is a song about not achieving what you set out to achieve."

He grew more confident as the show progressed and the audience reaction grew louder, many clearly taken aback at the sheer volume and rock-out attitude that suggested he has been listening to Mötorhead, Black Sabbath, NOFX and Pavement. The new songs bore little or no resemblance to his Blur work.

By the last song, a slow-build epic rendition of ‘Lake’, both Coxon and Jones were doubled over their guitars and built up a swathe of feedback, with the frontman leaving the stage last to wildly enthusiastic applause.

The full set list:

‘That’s All I Wanna Do’
‘Jamie Thomas’
‘The Fear’
‘Fame And Fortune’
‘I Wish’
‘Leave Me Alone’
‘That’s When I Reach For My Revolver’
‘Fags And Failure
‘Don’t Think’
‘Who The Fuck?’
ENCORE
‘Min Trampolin’
‘My Idea Of Hell’
‘Lake’
Coxon plays Sheffield Leadmill tonight, and goes on to Nottingham Rock City on July 12, London Highbury Garage (14, 15), followed by festival appearances at Carling Weekend Reading on August 26 and Leeds on 27.
-nme.com

2, July
BLUR'S LITTLE BLACK BOOK

BLUR wound up SCOTT WALKER‘s MELTDOWN FESTIVAL tonight (July 2) with their only UK gig of the year, but the promised set of all-new tracks as hinted at by DAMON ALBARN recently never materialised.

The band, who went on stage at 10.15 pm to allow footie fans to see the final of the Euro 2000 Championship, played only one new track, ‘Black Book’, in the 13-song set, which saw them joined on stage by Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone for the song ‘Ernold Same’.
-nme.com

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