WEBVTT - Damon Albarn 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:22.476 Pushkin. Over the course of a thirty five year career, 0:00:22.716 --> 0:00:27.636 Damon Auburn has reached international fame with two very different groups. 0:00:28.596 --> 0:00:31.476 In nineteen eighty eight, Damon created the rock band Blur 0:00:31.716 --> 0:00:35.396 with four friends in his native London. Blur started out 0:00:35.396 --> 0:00:38.556 as what Damon calls a classic art school band, but 0:00:38.596 --> 0:00:41.396 they quickly morphed into one of the seminal groups of 0:00:41.436 --> 0:00:46.196 the nineties britpop explosion, along with their former rivals Oasis. 0:00:47.396 --> 0:00:50.516 After a series of successful albums with Blur, Damon started 0:00:50.556 --> 0:00:55.476 Gorillas in nineteen ninety eight with cartoonist Jamie Hewlett. Dubbed 0:00:55.516 --> 0:00:58.716 is the world's first virtual group, the Gorilla's rotating lineup 0:00:58.756 --> 0:01:02.916 includes collaborations with De La Soul, Stevie Nicks, Bobby Womack, 0:01:03.036 --> 0:01:06.476 and Lou Reed. The band's influences are as diverse as 0:01:06.476 --> 0:01:09.636 electronic music, hip hop, and world music, and over the 0:01:09.716 --> 0:01:13.516 last twenty five years, Gorillas has been wildly successful, selling 0:01:13.516 --> 0:01:18.836 over thirty million albums worldwide. Despite having found such success, 0:01:19.076 --> 0:01:22.756 Damon's never stopped exploring his artistic potential. He's written in 0:01:22.756 --> 0:01:26.116 an opera, released solo and side projects, and recently he 0:01:26.196 --> 0:01:29.596 reunited with Blur to release the band's latest album, called 0:01:29.756 --> 0:01:33.516 The Ballad of Darren. On today's episode, Lea Rose talks 0:01:33.516 --> 0:01:36.076 to Damon Albarn about what it's like for Blur to 0:01:36.156 --> 0:01:40.396 headline music festivals in twenty twenty three. Damon also reveals 0:01:40.396 --> 0:01:43.636 how Gorillas are about to undergo a major paradigm shift, 0:01:44.036 --> 0:01:46.916 and he explains how, according to family lore, John Lennon 0:01:46.996 --> 0:01:49.556 and Yoko Ono first met at his dad's art gallery 0:01:49.956 --> 0:01:55.836 in London. This is broken record liner notes for the 0:01:55.876 --> 0:01:56.636 digital age. 0:01:56.796 --> 0:01:57.716 I'm justin Mitchman. 0:01:58.636 --> 0:02:00.676 Here's Lea Rose with Damon Albarn. 0:02:01.636 --> 0:02:04.556 Let's talk Blur. Okay, so it looks like you've been 0:02:04.556 --> 0:02:06.796 on a you all have been doing a little run 0:02:06.836 --> 0:02:11.116 of shows in Europe. How has it been being back 0:02:11.156 --> 0:02:12.356 on stage with everybody? 0:02:12.716 --> 0:02:16.076 Oh, it's great. Yeah. We did three four small gigs 0:02:16.156 --> 0:02:19.676 in England and then we went over to Spain and 0:02:19.756 --> 0:02:24.796 did the Primavera gigs. First one was Pastime. I mean, 0:02:25.476 --> 0:02:28.796 the only problem problematic thing is that if you're headlining 0:02:28.836 --> 0:02:33.116 you go on at two am, which are our age 0:02:33.156 --> 0:02:38.476 is almost unthinkable, but we can just about do it. Yeah, 0:02:38.516 --> 0:02:40.596 And then the next date was in Madrid and it 0:02:40.636 --> 0:02:42.396 was the first time they were ever doing it and 0:02:42.676 --> 0:02:45.236 the weather was so bad that they had to cancel 0:02:46.156 --> 0:02:49.356 our concert at two am, so we managed to find 0:02:50.436 --> 0:02:55.036 a smallish club called labry Vieira about two thousand people 0:02:55.356 --> 0:02:59.436 and two thousand of the forty thousand managed to see us. 0:02:59.716 --> 0:03:03.636 So it was quite quite a magical evening really, considering 0:03:04.436 --> 0:03:07.356 what a tumultuous afternoon it had been. 0:03:07.716 --> 0:03:09.636 You know, what was the energy like in the club? 0:03:09.836 --> 0:03:14.196 Yeah, it was fantastic. Threw myself around with Wild Abandon. 0:03:14.596 --> 0:03:16.436 Very nice. How has it been for the other guys 0:03:16.436 --> 0:03:19.196 in the bank? So, I know, you've been consistently touring 0:03:19.236 --> 0:03:22.516 for the most part since the last Blur album, has it? 0:03:23.156 --> 0:03:25.036 I thought you were going to say, you've been consistently 0:03:25.156 --> 0:03:26.116 tearing it up. 0:03:28.436 --> 0:03:30.756 Been thrashing, tearing the club up. 0:03:31.156 --> 0:03:36.396 Yeah, consistently yeah, yeah, Well, I mean everyone's been doing 0:03:36.836 --> 0:03:39.636 their own thing. Grahamson and lot of concerts, but not 0:03:39.756 --> 0:03:43.996 maybe of that size. Alex has his own festival, so 0:03:44.076 --> 0:03:47.796 he even he knows everything about about what a festival is, 0:03:47.956 --> 0:03:51.636 you know, the complete DNA of a festival. Dave's been 0:03:51.676 --> 0:03:57.796 doing everything humanly possible and also got his own little 0:03:57.836 --> 0:04:01.836 band out as well, So everyone's been super busy that's great. Yeah, 0:04:01.876 --> 0:04:05.636 But it's necessary, isn't it. Otherwise it just feels like, 0:04:06.436 --> 0:04:08.916 I don't know this. This is supposed to be old 0:04:08.956 --> 0:04:15.236 for ends sort of finding each other latterly and trying 0:04:15.276 --> 0:04:19.436 to express that in a sort of, you know, vibrant 0:04:19.476 --> 0:04:22.396 and honest way. 0:04:22.436 --> 0:04:25.396 Have you learned anything new about the old friends and 0:04:25.436 --> 0:04:27.716 the process of recording the new album? 0:04:29.116 --> 0:04:31.196 Well, they're a lot more grown up, all of them, 0:04:31.556 --> 0:04:37.156 a lot more maybe resilient than maybe they were twenty 0:04:37.236 --> 0:04:42.676 years ago emotionally and physically. Yeah, I think there's a 0:04:42.756 --> 0:04:46.036 huge amount of necessary growing up that's gone on for 0:04:46.116 --> 0:04:46.596 all of us. 0:04:47.236 --> 0:04:50.116 Are the band dynamics? Do they feel exactly the same 0:04:50.156 --> 0:04:53.356 as they used to, you know, way back when, or 0:04:53.716 --> 0:04:56.716 have things sort of changed just like on a more 0:04:56.796 --> 0:04:59.316 like interpersonal level, things. 0:04:59.076 --> 0:05:05.876 Have changed a bit, but essentially so exactly the same dynamic. 0:05:06.556 --> 0:05:08.316 That's so cool. It's so nice to have that. 0:05:08.876 --> 0:05:11.836 Yeah, really, it is really nice. It is really nice. 0:05:12.116 --> 0:05:16.076 But but I suppose the fact that we haven't kind 0:05:16.116 --> 0:05:20.276 of chased it much in the last twenty years means that, 0:05:20.796 --> 0:05:24.796 you know, there's there's still that possibility for something to 0:05:24.836 --> 0:05:28.836 surprise us, you know, And I mean this whole thing 0:05:28.876 --> 0:05:32.636 initially started off with a conversation about Okay, it's probably 0:05:32.676 --> 0:05:36.956 time we sang those songs again, with no real destination. 0:05:37.196 --> 0:05:42.356 And then when I was in the States in the autumn, 0:05:42.796 --> 0:05:45.196 I mean, I always take a studio on tour anyway, 0:05:45.236 --> 0:05:47.276 and I just thought, well, I'm just going to write songs. 0:05:47.996 --> 0:05:52.836 It's kind of interesting being here in all these mad 0:05:52.916 --> 0:05:56.716 cities and everything that you know that you carry on 0:05:56.756 --> 0:06:00.236 the road with you and the experiences you have, and 0:06:00.276 --> 0:06:02.916 I thought, maybe that's quite a nice sometimes it's quite 0:06:02.916 --> 0:06:06.076 a nice place to write about something else, you know, 0:06:07.356 --> 0:06:10.756 And so I just wrote lost songs. I didn't tell anyone. 0:06:11.956 --> 0:06:15.996 Then in the new year, I said to all of them, 0:06:16.076 --> 0:06:18.556 I said, just can I invite you down to the studio, 0:06:18.556 --> 0:06:21.716 I just like play some stuff suit you think And 0:06:22.636 --> 0:06:25.476 I said, look, I think I've written an album. There's 0:06:25.516 --> 0:06:27.756 twenty songs. You choose the ones you want to record, 0:06:28.076 --> 0:06:31.156 and that's really It was as simple as that. They 0:06:31.156 --> 0:06:34.276 were like into it, and it felt, I suppose of 0:06:34.356 --> 0:06:36.476 that moment, I was kind of, you know, I was 0:06:36.476 --> 0:06:39.596 still kind of a bit nervous about letting all that 0:06:39.636 --> 0:06:43.556 material go without knowing where it was going to go. 0:06:44.196 --> 0:06:47.676 But it went pretty much exactly where I hoped it would, 0:06:47.916 --> 0:06:52.316 and yeah, I didn't take us more than six weeks 0:06:52.356 --> 0:06:53.196 to do the whole thing. 0:06:53.836 --> 0:06:54.516 It's amazing. 0:06:55.356 --> 0:06:58.956 But the most amazing thing about that was that that 0:06:59.116 --> 0:07:02.836 seemed to sort of inform the momentum of everything and 0:07:02.836 --> 0:07:06.436 the fact that we already had this sort of totemic 0:07:07.316 --> 0:07:10.956 Wembley gig. It's sort of everyone was like, oh, well, 0:07:11.036 --> 0:07:12.836 where we should get the record out in time for 0:07:12.916 --> 0:07:16.476 that as well, or at least least proximity to it. 0:07:16.556 --> 0:07:20.956 So something a process that that latterly, to be honest, 0:07:21.036 --> 0:07:24.116 has just become so sort of slow for me, you know, 0:07:24.276 --> 0:07:27.716 like having to wait a year sometimes to put a 0:07:27.756 --> 0:07:30.116 record out. She's just so that's happened a few times. 0:07:31.076 --> 0:07:33.796 So this was literally we we finished it and then 0:07:33.836 --> 0:07:35.396 it was like, oh shit, we need to rehearse for 0:07:35.436 --> 0:07:38.996 these concerts, and now we're here and I haven't and 0:07:39.236 --> 0:07:42.356 we're putting another single out next week and then an album, 0:07:42.396 --> 0:07:45.316 and that's it's just nice to know that that nothing 0:07:45.436 --> 0:07:49.236 existed in January apart from the songs I suppose, so. 0:07:49.196 --> 0:07:52.476 The gig existed first and then the album came yes, 0:07:53.036 --> 0:07:56.636 So it's sort of like a Beatles, get back, let 0:07:56.676 --> 0:07:57.476 it be situation. 0:07:57.996 --> 0:08:00.156 It's exactly like that, and it's. 0:07:59.956 --> 0:08:01.996 Just why did you get back right now? 0:08:02.396 --> 0:08:04.716 I mean, this is inevitable, isn't it. That's sort of 0:08:04.756 --> 0:08:08.276 for some reason because we come from this island. We're 0:08:08.316 --> 0:08:10.596 always going. But but I mean, this is the annoying 0:08:10.596 --> 0:08:12.556 thing about the Beasts is that they kind of sort 0:08:12.596 --> 0:08:17.596 of they created every kind of sort of trope that 0:08:17.676 --> 0:08:20.836 you throw up pop music really you know, not invented, 0:08:20.916 --> 0:08:23.756 but they seem to embody so many and you know, 0:08:23.836 --> 0:08:28.196 the the idea of mass hysteria, although it happened previously 0:08:28.276 --> 0:08:30.916 with Elvis, I don't think it ever happened for a band. 0:08:31.036 --> 0:08:35.236 The idea of the independence that are banned when it's 0:08:35.236 --> 0:08:39.396 a good one kind of offers its its audience. You know. 0:08:39.476 --> 0:08:43.156 They know that these these individuals have come up together 0:08:43.316 --> 0:08:47.796 and that they share very similar kind of sort of beliefs, 0:08:48.116 --> 0:08:51.276 you know, and passions, and that like you know, there's 0:08:51.276 --> 0:08:53.276 no need to have since they were kids. So it's 0:08:53.316 --> 0:08:56.956 just it's so important really that bands exist. And I 0:08:56.956 --> 0:08:59.676 suppose I feel like, I don't know, I feel like 0:08:59.716 --> 0:09:02.236 it was a bit more excitement about guitar music again 0:09:02.596 --> 0:09:05.716 at the moment, and that can't be a bad thing 0:09:05.796 --> 0:09:09.516 because it got so sterile. I mean, you know, for me, 0:09:09.676 --> 0:09:13.996 really the last great guitar band would have been the 0:09:14.116 --> 0:09:18.796 Artic Monkeys. I don't really know if there's anything as 0:09:18.836 --> 0:09:22.036 good as that since. I mean, but but now there's 0:09:22.076 --> 0:09:24.436 bands who look got a huge amount of potential, and 0:09:24.756 --> 0:09:28.196 it's really it's kind of dismantled itself guitar music, and 0:09:28.236 --> 0:09:30.276 it's kind of putting itself back together again in a 0:09:30.316 --> 0:09:33.396 different form, you know, you get you've got some fantastic 0:09:33.476 --> 0:09:38.476 new kind of sort of mutations of the the genus 0:09:38.516 --> 0:09:38.796 of it. 0:09:39.716 --> 0:09:41.396 Yeah, what are some that you're thinking of when you 0:09:41.436 --> 0:09:43.796 say there's new there's some new bands out there that 0:09:43.876 --> 0:09:45.516 are bringing back aut our music. 0:09:45.676 --> 0:09:48.156 Well, I really, I really like I really like a 0:09:48.196 --> 0:09:52.236 band like Wooloo. They seem to be really cool. There's 0:09:52.276 --> 0:09:57.796 one that I picked up on somewhere in the American countryside, 0:09:58.236 --> 0:10:02.036 but I like, I can't remember his name. That's narrowing 0:10:02.076 --> 0:10:02.916 it down, isn't it. 0:10:04.236 --> 0:10:05.676 American countryside? Okay? 0:10:05.876 --> 0:10:08.676 Yeah, in the American countryside, the great the great American 0:10:08.716 --> 0:10:13.116 country side. Yeah, it's a collective of I don't know, 0:10:13.156 --> 0:10:15.876 it's sort of just felt like exactly what a young 0:10:15.956 --> 0:10:18.076 band should sound like. Lots of there are lots of them, 0:10:18.476 --> 0:10:20.916 and you've got bands like Yard Acts who are here. 0:10:21.276 --> 0:10:23.876 It seemed to be getting better and better, and obviously 0:10:25.116 --> 0:10:27.916 not that they're new, but I still see them as 0:10:27.996 --> 0:10:32.036 kind of emerging bands like Sleaford Mods, you know, brilliant. 0:10:32.436 --> 0:10:35.276 So it's and lots of great language being used again, 0:10:35.636 --> 0:10:38.996 you know, not the generic rock shit. I hate that. Yeah, 0:10:39.076 --> 0:10:42.276 I hate that. I like I like poets and guitars, 0:10:42.316 --> 0:10:46.116 you know, it's like that's what always inspired inspired me. 0:10:46.916 --> 0:10:49.436 I was curious about your relationship to the Beatles because 0:10:49.476 --> 0:10:52.396 you came up you were sort of the generation after 0:10:52.476 --> 0:10:55.396 the Beatles, and we've had a lot of artists on 0:10:55.436 --> 0:10:58.476 this show who talk about, you know, someone like Ozzy 0:10:58.556 --> 0:11:00.836 Osbourne when he heard the Beatles, it was like it 0:11:00.876 --> 0:11:03.756 went from black and white to color, so you. 0:11:03.756 --> 0:11:08.436 Being and then back and then back to black permanently. 0:11:09.276 --> 0:11:10.116 He brought it back to book. 0:11:10.196 --> 0:11:11.876 Yeah. I'm not sure where the color comes in really 0:11:11.876 --> 0:11:14.356 with Ozzy Osborne, but I mean, yeah, you know. 0:11:14.796 --> 0:11:17.916 So they still put out albums while you were alive young, 0:11:17.996 --> 0:11:18.396 but you. 0:11:18.356 --> 0:11:21.036 Were alive well yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:11:20.836 --> 0:11:23.956 Growing up when you were finding your own music. What 0:11:24.116 --> 0:11:27.036 role did the Beatles play with you and your friends? Like, 0:11:27.076 --> 0:11:28.356 were you guys into the Beatles? 0:11:28.596 --> 0:11:30.596 Well, the first thing I knew about the Beatles really 0:11:30.716 --> 0:11:33.796 was that my parents lived in the same mansion block 0:11:33.956 --> 0:11:38.596 in Emperor's Gate back in the very early sixties as them. 0:11:39.116 --> 0:11:42.916 And then what's my next connection and the other thing 0:11:42.996 --> 0:11:47.116 within my family kind of sort of folklore, is that 0:11:47.196 --> 0:11:50.876 my dad had a gallery in just off Carnoby Street 0:11:51.436 --> 0:11:56.116 and he put on the exhibition where Yoko Ono had 0:11:56.156 --> 0:11:59.876 the ladder and John Lennon climbed up a ladder to 0:12:00.276 --> 0:12:03.716 read the word yes or whatever. It was, so kind 0:12:03.716 --> 0:12:05.956 of he kind of got them together. That was their 0:12:05.996 --> 0:12:10.796 first meeting, really, yeah, I mean office, it's it's not. 0:12:11.396 --> 0:12:13.636 I've been dying to know how those two met watching 0:12:13.716 --> 0:12:14.276 Get Back. 0:12:14.716 --> 0:12:18.356 Yeah, they met in he came to see her art 0:12:18.396 --> 0:12:19.836 show at my dad's gallery. 0:12:20.516 --> 0:12:22.676 Was she like a popular artist at the time. 0:12:22.516 --> 0:12:27.596 I mean underground, yeah, but very cool cool yeah, so 0:12:27.596 --> 0:12:29.556 so so that was I kind of knew more about that. 0:12:29.596 --> 0:12:31.956 And I also I used to love lucim the Sky 0:12:31.996 --> 0:12:35.876 of Diamonds because I got given it, but I didn't 0:12:35.916 --> 0:12:37.316 know that it was a Beatles song. I thought it 0:12:37.356 --> 0:12:41.356 was Elson John's song. Oh, but then and then I did, 0:12:41.396 --> 0:12:44.596 and obviously I did discover the Beatles, and like, you know, 0:12:44.956 --> 0:12:48.396 then then it becomes an obsession until you've kind of 0:12:48.596 --> 0:12:52.996 you've listened to everything and kind of assimilated the whole thing. 0:12:53.396 --> 0:12:58.396 But then you know, like other amazing things came into 0:12:58.396 --> 0:13:00.076 my life, you know. But I mean, it was one 0:13:00.116 --> 0:13:03.476 of the very early influences. Obviously very cool. 0:13:03.756 --> 0:13:07.276 I've seen your your house describe the house you grew 0:13:07.356 --> 0:13:10.756 up in described as bohemia, and I know what that 0:13:10.796 --> 0:13:13.796 means in America, but what does that mean in London? 0:13:14.516 --> 0:13:17.156 I did till I was nine. I lived in London 0:13:17.196 --> 0:13:19.636 when I moved to the to the Essex countryside. But 0:13:19.756 --> 0:13:21.916 he mean, I suppose in the sense that my dad's 0:13:21.956 --> 0:13:27.836 and my dad was like very into latterly into art education. 0:13:27.996 --> 0:13:32.676 My mum's always been an artist, painter and creates installations 0:13:32.756 --> 0:13:36.956 and everything really just everything is and yeah, I've got lots, 0:13:37.076 --> 0:13:40.116 just lots of artists in my family, which is pretty normal. 0:13:41.196 --> 0:13:43.116 Yeah, so it wasn't. I mean, I don't know. I 0:13:43.156 --> 0:13:46.076 guess I picture sort of just like people sitting around 0:13:46.076 --> 0:13:48.956 on pillows and smoking hookahs and yeah, that. 0:13:49.036 --> 0:13:50.596 Sort of thing. I mean, it was a bit like 0:13:50.636 --> 0:13:53.396 that in the late sixties, me and my dad's. Amongst 0:13:53.396 --> 0:13:58.196 the many things he did, he created happenings and psychedelic 0:13:58.236 --> 0:14:02.276 buildings in weird places. In fact, once he kind of 0:14:02.316 --> 0:14:05.356 worked with a soft machine and they did a concert 0:14:05.396 --> 0:14:09.716 in the south of France and be a really good 0:14:09.716 --> 0:14:13.156 idea to go out the night before because it was 0:14:13.396 --> 0:14:15.876 on a beach. He went out into the bay and 0:14:15.916 --> 0:14:21.116 it doused the whole bay in Petrol, and then when 0:14:21.156 --> 0:14:24.316 they came on that evening, he lit it. So they 0:14:24.316 --> 0:14:26.996 had this amazing, very dangerous but no one would ever 0:14:27.076 --> 0:14:29.556 let you do that now, but that Hey, it was 0:14:29.596 --> 0:14:32.356 the sixties. I mean, but you know, I just heard 0:14:32.396 --> 0:14:36.716 all of this through, you know, just the thing that 0:14:36.756 --> 0:14:39.196 all families have, which are like these stories you know 0:14:39.516 --> 0:14:41.516 that you want to hear again and again and again. 0:14:42.156 --> 0:14:43.316 Totally the family law. 0:14:43.516 --> 0:14:45.316 Yeah, he's at the family law exactly. 0:14:46.036 --> 0:14:47.716 I don't know if you went through like an early 0:14:47.996 --> 0:14:52.316 experimentation drug phase when you're a teenager or whatever, But 0:14:52.356 --> 0:14:54.356 were they cool with that, like, could you talk to 0:14:54.396 --> 0:14:55.716 them about Oh. 0:14:55.596 --> 0:14:59.716 Yeah, my parents were always very good with all my yeah, 0:14:59.716 --> 0:15:03.036 my dalliances, you know, I didn't necessarily think I was 0:15:03.076 --> 0:15:06.836 being very responsible sometimes, but I mean they were never 0:15:06.916 --> 0:15:07.876 judgmental ever. 0:15:08.796 --> 0:15:12.716 Yeah, I read that your primary school burnt down like 0:15:12.796 --> 0:15:13.876 seven or eight times. 0:15:14.156 --> 0:15:15.716 Yeah, that's true. 0:15:15.756 --> 0:15:17.356 Why what is that about. 0:15:17.516 --> 0:15:20.316 Well, it turned out that our form teacher was a 0:15:20.316 --> 0:15:24.396 complete psychopath. But the sad thing is that the school 0:15:24.396 --> 0:15:28.116 care segue, the school caretaker was blamed initially, and he 0:15:28.196 --> 0:15:31.356 had a heart stack because he was so distressed that 0:15:32.076 --> 0:15:34.596 anyone could think he'd do anything like that. But it 0:15:34.676 --> 0:15:37.316 kept happening and it really disrupted two years of my 0:15:37.436 --> 0:15:41.236 education like terribly. And then in the end it turned 0:15:41.236 --> 0:15:44.516 out it was our teacher who'd been burning the school down. Yeah. 0:15:45.196 --> 0:15:47.996 Was it big fires or was it just like little yeah? 0:15:48.076 --> 0:15:52.516 Yeah, well, like classrooms and stuff on them. Once we'd 0:15:52.556 --> 0:15:55.716 done his whole projects of raising all these hamsters, and 0:15:55.756 --> 0:15:57.836 then he burnt the hamsters as well, which you know, 0:15:59.236 --> 0:16:00.476 it was not nice. 0:16:00.596 --> 0:16:02.236 It's like serial killer stuff. 0:16:02.036 --> 0:16:04.836 Yes, I mean yeah, I mean sort of. Essex in 0:16:04.836 --> 0:16:08.636 the nineteen eighties was a fairly errant place, to be fair. 0:16:10.116 --> 0:16:12.396 We're taking a quick break and then coming back with 0:16:12.436 --> 0:16:19.756 more from Leo Rose and Damon Albarn. We're back with 0:16:19.836 --> 0:16:22.436 more from Damon Albarne and Lio Rose. 0:16:23.036 --> 0:16:25.116 As a kid, like what was how did you find music? 0:16:25.156 --> 0:16:26.956 What was the first music that you felt was like 0:16:27.676 --> 0:16:28.556 really spoke to you. 0:16:28.956 --> 0:16:33.796 Oh, I was more family law. I had a harmonic 0:16:33.836 --> 0:16:37.276 hererap that was in my cot which I used to play. 0:16:38.316 --> 0:16:41.796 I've always always been interested in music. Yeah. I went 0:16:41.876 --> 0:16:47.836 through quite conventional musical education, classical, and then I just 0:16:47.876 --> 0:16:52.636 sort of with Graham, discovered other kinds of ways of 0:16:52.676 --> 0:16:55.436 playing music, you know, and here I am. 0:16:55.476 --> 0:16:59.036 Now what were you guys into music wise? Were you 0:16:59.036 --> 0:17:01.676 into punk or were you like what was a new wave? 0:17:01.756 --> 0:17:02.196 What was there? 0:17:02.316 --> 0:17:06.316 Yeah, well, I mean a lot of our early stuff 0:17:06.396 --> 0:17:10.036 is comes directly from Thursday Night on Top of the Pops. No, 0:17:10.196 --> 0:17:14.796 it's a national obsession with the youth. Really, it felt 0:17:14.836 --> 0:17:19.116 like that where I lived. That was my connection with everything, 0:17:19.196 --> 0:17:23.316 you know, Top of the Pops, clothes, music, hairstyles. 0:17:23.956 --> 0:17:25.756 How much did you guys think about the way that 0:17:25.796 --> 0:17:28.356 you looked, like the aesthetic look of Blur when you 0:17:28.396 --> 0:17:30.996 first started. Was there are a lot of thought put into 0:17:31.036 --> 0:17:33.156 the haircuts and the clothes. 0:17:34.516 --> 0:17:36.756 It was a lot of thought put into making it 0:17:36.756 --> 0:17:39.956 not look like there's a lot of thought put into it. Yeah, 0:17:40.516 --> 0:17:44.316 it was just a classic art school band really yeah, 0:17:44.756 --> 0:17:52.916 slightly foppish, slightly foppish, slightly disheveled, but kind of you know, cool. Yeah. 0:17:52.916 --> 0:17:54.076 But the hair was always good. 0:17:54.236 --> 0:17:55.836 Yeah, we had good hair. We had good hair. 0:17:56.156 --> 0:17:58.356 Like it looks dishovel, but yeah, yeah. 0:17:58.156 --> 0:18:01.076 I mean remarkably, we've still pretty much all got our hair, 0:18:01.396 --> 0:18:07.796 which is honestly, that's quite the thing. Fifty five is 0:18:07.876 --> 0:18:12.676 definitely not something to take for granted. For sure, you 0:18:12.716 --> 0:18:13.756 know it's true. 0:18:14.316 --> 0:18:16.476 But yeah, I've always wondered that because you always look cool, 0:18:16.596 --> 0:18:18.636 and it's like, how much thought, I'm just curious, how 0:18:18.796 --> 0:18:21.596 still you look cool your cool outfits. You obviously make 0:18:21.636 --> 0:18:23.116 cool choices with what you wear. 0:18:23.516 --> 0:18:25.916 Oh, I mean, I mean you know, we we were 0:18:25.996 --> 0:18:28.876 in second hand shops from day one. I mean it's 0:18:29.396 --> 0:18:32.396 it's one of our great joy especially Graham and I 0:18:32.476 --> 0:18:34.716 you know, we just love shopping for old clothes. 0:18:35.516 --> 0:18:37.436 Yeah, but still you have to be good at it, 0:18:37.476 --> 0:18:40.316 like someone on you two three thousand, like always looks cool. 0:18:40.356 --> 0:18:42.956 Oh yeah, you could walk into the same shop and no, of. 0:18:42.876 --> 0:18:45.876 Course, but it's like it's like everything practice makes perfect, 0:18:45.956 --> 0:18:48.956 you know, It's like all those things that you tried 0:18:48.996 --> 0:18:51.796 on that really didn't work, but you put down and 0:18:51.876 --> 0:18:53.796 I bought a lot of stuff that I was convinced 0:18:53.996 --> 0:18:58.756 was a major statement in fashion that when I got home, 0:18:58.796 --> 0:19:02.076 it's like, and these days I have I mean my 0:19:02.196 --> 0:19:06.236 daughter because she's at London School of Fashion, very serious, 0:19:06.596 --> 0:19:10.996 very very serious about everything. To that, I mean, I 0:19:10.996 --> 0:19:13.036 can't get with anything anymore, you know what I mean. 0:19:14.636 --> 0:19:17.556 I have to really be my top a game every 0:19:17.636 --> 0:19:21.196 day otherwise she will call me out. 0:19:22.236 --> 0:19:23.436 So does she like your style? 0:19:24.076 --> 0:19:25.836 Well? I think, I mean I'm a dad, do you 0:19:25.836 --> 0:19:27.596 know what I mean? I can't. Yeah, I mean, I'm 0:19:27.636 --> 0:19:31.036 never going to be have as much trip as other people, 0:19:31.156 --> 0:19:34.636 but you know, yeah. 0:19:34.956 --> 0:19:37.236 Do you remember I was reading about your first Blurs 0:19:37.316 --> 0:19:39.956 first tour in America and it sounds like it was 0:19:40.396 --> 0:19:42.916 a bit of a disaster. I don't know if that's accurate, 0:19:42.996 --> 0:19:45.356 but do you remember first going on the road and 0:19:45.756 --> 0:19:47.356 playing shows in the States. 0:19:47.676 --> 0:19:50.596 They weren't all a disaster, but we did play quite 0:19:50.596 --> 0:19:54.836 a lot of kind of sort of Midwest towns where 0:19:55.356 --> 0:19:57.756 no one had an idea who we were at all, 0:19:58.716 --> 0:20:02.796 you know, which is part of I mean, looking back, 0:20:02.836 --> 0:20:06.356 it's an incredibly important part of our development, and I 0:20:06.396 --> 0:20:08.556 mean of recently, especially with Grid, as I spent so 0:20:08.636 --> 0:20:11.196 much time in America. I've done a lot of playing 0:20:11.236 --> 0:20:14.676 in America, so I feel I feel very comfortable and 0:20:14.676 --> 0:20:18.396 at home in America these days. Yeah, ironically, I feel 0:20:18.476 --> 0:20:21.076 very home in America these days. I've even got my 0:20:21.116 --> 0:20:21.876 Hala hat on. 0:20:22.596 --> 0:20:24.796 I know it seems like you like that hat. 0:20:24.836 --> 0:20:29.236 I'm I know it right, I've literally I can't get 0:20:29.316 --> 0:20:31.956 rid of the fucking hat. I love it? 0:20:31.996 --> 0:20:34.116 Is it just the same hat every time, the. 0:20:34.036 --> 0:20:37.156 Same hat I dropped. I've bought so many hats since 0:20:37.196 --> 0:20:40.996 I got this hat, and nothing, nothing kicks like this hat. 0:20:41.116 --> 0:20:43.596 But it's totally the wrong hat for Blurd. I shouldn't 0:20:43.596 --> 0:20:45.796 be wearing a hat like this. I should be wearing 0:20:45.956 --> 0:20:47.516 I shouldn't be wearing a hat. I mean, I don't 0:20:47.516 --> 0:20:49.756 wear a hat on stage obviously, but and all the 0:20:49.756 --> 0:20:52.276 clothes that I kind of sort of you know, the 0:20:52.316 --> 0:20:55.596 whole look that I've got. Yeah, but I've thought about anything. 0:20:55.796 --> 0:20:57.876 It's just ruined when I put this hat on. So 0:20:57.916 --> 0:21:00.316 I can't really wear the hat. I shouldn't really be 0:21:00.316 --> 0:21:03.676 wearing the hats in this podcast, But I just I 0:21:03.716 --> 0:21:06.916 can't help it. But you but you're right, I literally, 0:21:07.276 --> 0:21:09.516 I mean, I haven't washed it either since I've had it, 0:21:09.556 --> 0:21:12.996 and it was about thirty years old when I bought it. Really, 0:21:13.356 --> 0:21:15.836 this is a truly loved hat. 0:21:16.436 --> 0:21:18.516 Yeah, it's a cool hat. It's gotten broken in over 0:21:18.556 --> 0:21:21.036 the years. I've watched a lot of your videos. Yeah, 0:21:21.076 --> 0:21:24.116 and in the beginning it was a little bit more stiff. Yeah, 0:21:24.236 --> 0:21:25.556 I saw you had it at Coachella. 0:21:25.756 --> 0:21:27.356 What you're trying to say about my hat? 0:21:28.916 --> 0:21:30.716 It's a good thing. It's like a nice pair of 0:21:30.756 --> 0:21:31.356 leather shoes. 0:21:31.476 --> 0:21:34.436 It is. It is. But I mean, the only other 0:21:34.516 --> 0:21:36.516 kind of hats that I really feel comfortable and have 0:21:36.636 --> 0:21:40.756 been like old Fisherman's beanie hats, you know, like those 0:21:40.756 --> 0:21:42.756 are cool. Yeah, but I can't wear them in the summer. 0:21:43.076 --> 0:21:46.756 Too hot, too hot. Nothing else I've got. I found 0:21:46.796 --> 0:21:49.196 some nice old deer stalkers that I might be able 0:21:49.236 --> 0:21:51.796 to get away with, but it's been so hot. Really, 0:21:51.836 --> 0:21:53.236 this is the only hat I can wear. 0:21:53.236 --> 0:21:56.716 It seems like I don't know if this is true, 0:21:56.836 --> 0:22:02.436 But was Gorilla's the first project where the music really 0:22:02.476 --> 0:22:05.076 super resonated with Americans? 0:22:05.636 --> 0:22:08.716 Well, no song Too was, but no one knew who 0:22:08.756 --> 0:22:13.516 made too. It's just that you be just woo who song. Yeah, 0:22:13.676 --> 0:22:16.836