if you knew you were going to get abducted by aliens, what three things would you each bring on your journey? (Jessie Jessup, California)
Graham: "A flame thrower, a recordable MiniDisc player..."
Damon: "I think I'd bring with me what I'd bring on any interstellar journey. Lots of drugs."
Dave: "A toothbrush. Some useless effects."
Alex: "Space noises."
Graham: "Binary code. And a gorilla."
Alex: "'The Great Escape'."
Damon: "Alex and Dave are sending a Damien Hirst spot painting to Mars. He's doing it with some kind of reactive paint or something, so that certain elements of the atmosphere will react to the spots. It sounds quite interesting. The Groucho Club, basically, is going to Mars. God help the Martians."
What are your favourite Linda McCartney veggie meals? (Liz Smeaton, Wiltshire)
Alex: "Sausage rolls."
Dave: "The country pies."
Alex: "Do you glaze yours?"
Dave: "Of course."
Damon: "I don't eat frozen foods. Either I cook things or I eat out, nothing in between."
Graham: "My freezer doesn't work. So I have to eat ice cream, constantly."
I've heard Dave is interested in animation. Can we expect to see any of his work in the near future? (Duncan Genevieve, Surrey)
Dave: "It's a painstaking business, but I am working on animation type stuff, very slowly. The world will have to wait for a while."
Is it true that you almost split up? And do you argue all the time? (Sarah, Bristol)
Damon: "We do argue quite a bit. But not all the time."
Graham: "I think argue is too strong a word for what actually happens."
Damon: "It amazes me how fascinated everyone is with whether we argue or not. It's like someone constantly going, 'Is your nose falling off?' Ultimately, you're going to get a complex about your nose. People keep mentioning this one thing, and because they mention it other people mention it. Then suddenly everyone seems to think we're going to split up, and that's not an issue."
Damon, do you ever want to punch Brett? (Shaun, Weymouth)
Damon: "My feeling is that it would be nice to stroke Brett's balls. I'd rather get on with him, really. It's rubbish. The last time I saw Brett, I had a cup of tea with him. He's not a friend of mine, really, but he's also not someone that I'd want to run over in the street."
What's the worst haircut Damon's had? (Lucy Hollis, Edinburgh)
Graham: "It always looks OK at the time, but you look back and go, 'Bloody hell'."
Alex: "The 'There's No Other Way Video'. They're all pretty spectacularly bad haircuts, aren't they? Damon had a sort of tidy bowl, with the fringe cut off."
Damon: "My worst haircut was actually when I was at school. I used to have a mullet, with a sort of spiky bit at the front."
Does your wealth embarrass you? (Courtney Banks, Inverness)
Damon: "Yeah, on occasions."
Alex: "It depends who you're with."
Damon, is it true you've been working on film soundtracks? (Ingrid Eaves, London)
Damon: "Yeah. I've done one with Michael Nyman, which will be coming out in the summer here, called Ravenous. It's about cannibals. A horror film, basically. A serious horror film. And there are a couple of other things that I'm working on, in the pipeline."
What's your favourite drink? (S Henry, Watford)
Alex: "Perfume."
Damon: "Rum and cranberry juice, though I don't have it very often. No, actually, to be honest, my favourite drink is tea with fresh mint."
From the perspective of the rest of the band, what's the most embarrassing thing Damon has ever done onstage? (Gavin M, Australia)
Alex: "When his drawers came down. That takes the biscuit."
Damon: "I pulled my trousers, and pants down at Brixton Academy. And I then realised that the whole audience was laughing hysterically. So I fell on the stage and tried to make it look like it was all a big accident. It was like the Theatre Of Cruelty. That was on the Rollercoaster tour, probably the most alcoholic period of our entire career."
Alex: "Remember what J Mascis said? 'Are you gonna get your little butts out again tonight?'"
Graham: "That was the most rock'n'roll tour ever. It was the most booze I've ever drunk."
Alex: "And there was that other fucking nutter from Dinosaur Jr throwing beer bottles around."
Damon: "I remember one hitting me on the head while I was playing the piano. It was like being in a Western."
You've said you don't want to tour again, but what about the fans? (Betsy-Shane Rosenblum, New York)
Damon: "First of all, you shouldn't refer to yourself as a fan, it's demeaning. We are playing some places. We're playing big festivals, and we've already played loads of little gigs. Over the years, we've done just about everything, and people have always moaned. When they've been little, they've been too little, and when we've played big ones, they've been too big. It shouldn't matter. We're never going to be able to please everybody all of the time. So our only responsibility, ultimately, is to make good records. That's our main aim. And that's what we're going to concentrate on continuing to do."
And it's here, sadly, that we have to cease our interrogation, despite the fact that we still have a holster full of unanswered questions. Blur are a busy band, you know, and they've promises to keep. Damon has a meeting he needs to get to, so he's already waving goodbye and running for a taxi. Dave is off to the airfield, where Alex will join him later. They are going to fly to Spain for a day, but first, Alex has to attend a charity function. Graham is removing his headphones and minidisc player from his oversize backpack, trying to find something to soundtrack his journey to Camden, where he plans to continue avoiding the lure of the pub.
Still, we leave feeling confident we've gained some insight into the Blur psyche. We may still not know what that weird noise is in 'Trimm Trabb', but at least we know that next time - if we really want to impress them - we should bring along some cheese sandwiches. And maybe a few monkeys.
Interview by April Long