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2004-2008
Freakin'
Damon Days
January 2004 - Damon
Albarn begins recording the next Gorillaz album
at his 13 studio.
February 2004 - Alex James
becomes a father to a baby
boy called Geronimo.
March 2004 - Graham's
new single, "Freakin' Out", gets great
reviews from the press and fans. NME
calls it "maybe just the best flaming rock
'n' roll record of the week, the month and almost
certainly the year" and chooses it as The
Single Of The Week. Despite the single is
released only on a limited edition vinyl, it
reaches Number 37 in the UK charts. That's the
highest position for a 7" only single since
the late 70's and Graham's first Top 40 hit.
Hip-hop producer Danger Mouse
collaborates with Damon to work on the new
Gorillaz album.
May 2004 - Blur spend
some time in the studio recording new material.
Dave reveals that the planned EP may become a
full album at some point. Graham releases the new
single "Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery"
which reaches Number 22 in the UK. A few weeks
later, his new solo album Happiness In
Magazines hits the shops and enters Top 20
in the UK. The album is hailed as his best work
to date. Damon travels to Nigeria where he has
planned to record with Tony Allen,
the former
drummer for Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti.
July 2004 - Damon is
again in Nigeria recording with Tony Allen. The
pair and surviving members of Fela Kuti record material for the
album which will be later released on Damon's
Honest Jon's label. Graham releases his new
single "Spectacular".
October 2004 - The tour
documentary Starshaped is re-released on
DVD format. Unfortunately, the sound on this
edition is worse than on the original edition.
Sadly, EMI doesn't do anything for the issue and
many fans are left disappointed. Graham releases
the double A-side single "Freakin' Out / All
Over Me". The Mirror claims that he
will be rejoining Blur, but that is quickly
proved to be wrong.
December 2004 - Gorillaz
re-open their website and preview some new
material on it. Their new album is finished and
is rumoured to be released next spring.
January
2005 - Gorillaz preview more new
material releasing a new song called "Dirty
Harry" anonymously on a promo vinyl. The
song is a remake of "I Need A Gun" from
Damon's Democrazy record. Apparently in
January or February, Blur record "Sub Species Of An American
Day" which appeared on Democrazy
as well. Blur's version of the song remains
unreleased.
February
2005 - Graham starts to record his
new album with Stephen Street. He also wins an
award for Best Solo Artist at NME Awards.
March
2005 - Graham plays his first ever
US tour and releases a live DVD, recorded at the
Oxford Zodiac in the previous year.
May
2005 - Damon talks about a
'horrible hole' in Blur without Graham and hopes
he will rejoin Blur before starting a new Blur
record. Gorillaz release their new single
"Feel Good Inc". It is a big hit around
the world staying six weeks in the UK Top 5 and
hitting Number 1 in Spain, Portugal and Greece. A
few weeks later, their new album Demon Days
is released and goes straight to Number 1 in the
UK and Number 6 in the US. Graham finishes
recording and mixing his new album.
June
2005 - Damon refuses to perform at
Live 8 event because, according to him, the event
has a negative portrayal of Africa.
Later in the month, he is
involved with Flight 5065 event at the London Eye
to promote the new Honest Jon's signing, Ko Kan Ko Sata.
August
2005 - "Feel Good Inc" has slowly become a hit in
the US. It reaches Number 14 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart and
stays eight weeks at Number 1 in Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Danger Mouse reveals his plans to collaborate with Damon on the
unfinished Nigeria record (now The Good, The Bad & The Queen).
September
2005 - Damon finally breaks the
silence on Blur's future and reveals that the
band might do a "very basic" punk rock
record next. "We can't really make another Blur
record that's a big landscape thing ... I'm such
a rudimentary guitarist," explains Damon.
The band
had already hold a few rehearsals at The Premises
Studios in London over the summer. According to
Alex, they rocked
their socks off
and recorded
everything on a cassette
through one microphone.
Gorillaz
score their first ever Number 1 hit in the UK
with "DARE" which is the second single
from Demon Days.
December
2005 -
"The Foo Fighters are going to
wet their pants when they hear this stuff,"
says Alex as Blur return to studio. They aim to
record the EP as quickly as possible without
producer and using live recording. An album might
follow if the sessions go well. The band are also
about to play new songs at a secret fan club gig
in the UK, but the gig gets cancelled because
they want to concentrate on recording instead.
Blur Fan Club releases its eight members-only CD
which contains a track called "Some Glad
Morning" from Think Tank sessions.
January 2006 - Damon
visits Iceland to perform a new song called "Aluminium" with
Ghostigital (later, the Gorillaz B-side "Stop The Dams"). The song is a tribute to the Icelandic nature that
is being destroyed by aluminium smelters.
February 2006 - It has
been reported that Damon has two new projects going on. He
will write a score for the Chinese literary classic Monkey:
Journey To The West and a musical theatre piece for the
National Theatre.
March 2006 - Love
Travels At Illegal Speeds, Graham's sixth album, is out.
April 2006 - Alex's new
side project band WigWam release the debut single that sadly fails
to reach Top 40. The group consists of Alex James and 90's pop
star Betty Boo.
June
2006 - Dave begins gigging around the UK in the new band
called The Ailerons. The hope of getting new Blur music this
year begins to fade. The idea of EP has been
apparently abandoned.
July 2006 - The wave
of new non-Blur projects continues as Damon announces The Good, The Bad
& The Queen.
It is the London-themed album recorded by Damon, the ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Tony Allen
and Simon Tong.
|
Tony Allen, Damon
Albarn, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong: the musicians
behind The Good, The Bad & The Queen |
October 2006 -
"Herculean", the first GBQ single, is out. New Gorillaz
releases, Phase Two: Slowboat To Hades DVD and Rise Of
The Ogre book hit the shops.
November 2006 - Graham
reveals that he has considered rejoining Blur. "Would it be fun?
What would the dynamic be in a studio?" he comments about the
reunion. Alex says: "One way or the
other, there'll be another Blur album, with or without Graham -
but hopefully with Graham". Damon is apparently
waiting for Graham to rejoin before Blur can start recording.
January 2007 - The
Good, The Bad & The Queen is released to favorable reviews
and reaches Number 2 in the UK. The project proves to be another
successful venture of Damon. At the end of the month, the band
begin the sold-out UK tour.
April 2007 - Alex
reveals that Blur will soon return to the studio to see
whether they are still able to work together. Apparently, Graham
is coming too. "If things don't
go to plan in the studio they're all quite happy to walk away,
safe in the knowledge they gave it their best shot," a source told
to Daily Star.
June 2007 - Alex
releases his autobiography Bit Of A Blur. At the end of
the month, Monkey:
Journey To The West opera gets premiered in Manchester.
August 2007 - A rare
collection of Parklife demos leaks to the Internet.
October 2007
- All Blur members, now including Graham, meet over lunch to
discuss about the future of the band. They decide not to return
to the studio in the near future. Apparently Damon thinks it's
not a good idea to record before him and Graham have solved
their problems. He says in Q that Blur reunion feels
"a disingenuous thing to do".
January 2008
- Graham, who is preparing to
make a new solo album, reveals that Blur reunion may take years.
"Nothing like recording was discussed [on lunch] and of course
we're all busy. I think it's something that might happen when
everybody feels ready and that might be years."
August 2008
- A soundtrack for Monkey: Journey To The West opera is
released.
November 2008
- Damon says that working with Graham may be "very possible". He
comments to Sky News: "I can tell you genuinely I'm getting on really well
with Graham at the moment, so it's distinctly possible." A
little later, he confirms that Blur will hit the studio in 2009.
The history years 1989-1997 were written by Cristopher Lyons
at BlurPoint. Some
additions and corrections were made by Veikko.
The years 1998-2008 were written by Veikko.
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