1989-1991
Seymour
impresses, Blur sign to Food Records
1989

The band made their debut gig at
this converted goods shed at the East Anglian Railway Museum. |
Spring / early summer 1989
- Damon, Graham,
Alex and Dave's new band,
christened Seymour (from the J.D. Salinger
character, Seymour Glass in Salinger's Seymour: An
Introduction),
is formed, and do their first gig at
the East Anglian Railway Museum, five miles outside Colchester, in
front of various friends and high on such diverse influences
as The Pixies, Kurt Weill, Dinosaur Jr and
Antonin Artaud's "theatre of cruelty". (The first
ever rehearsal of Seymour took place at The Beat Factory on
18th December 1988. This session produced "She's So High").
August 1989
-
The first journalist to take notice of them is
Music Week / Sounds journalist Leo Finlay,
who describes their performances as being "astonishingly tight
and imaginative".
In the very first review of them he
writes, the band are credited as "Feymour" thanks to the article
being dictated over the phone. Seymour send Food Records man
Andy Ross a demo which contains "She's So High",
"Dizzy", "Fried" and "Long Legged".
He goes to see Seymour live at the Powerhaus in
Islington, North London and is suitably impressed.
December 1989
- Food Records approach Seymour, offering a record deal. All
four members meet up with the two chiefs of Food Records, Andy
Ross and
David Balfe (formerly of Teardrop Explodes) at Soho
Pizzeria. Over a deep pan they discuss the deal. There are two
stipulations - before they can sign, Dave must stop wearing his
pyjama bottoms at gigs, and they must change their name. After
going through several possible names, such as "The Shining
Path", "The Government", "Sensitize" and "Whirlpool", they agree
on the name "Blur" - "a bit arty but not obscure," says Ross. Damon's management deal with Marijke Bergkamp
and Graeme Holdaway of The Beat Factory falls
through after he walks out on them, though they helped getting
Seymour/Blur a deal. Relations between Damon and The Beat
Factory had been getting "stressful".
1990
March 1990 - Blur officially sign with Food Records. Graham
and Alex give up their degrees, and the new band begins a tour
of the UK. The music press start taking notice, though it is not
always complimentary - "He's obviously been eating too much
cheap beef," says the Melody Maker, referring to
Damon's antics.
July 1990
- The tour ends in London, with gathering interest from music
journalists. One of their biggest fans is another Sounds
journalist, David Cavanagh, who describes their
live performances as "breath-taking". The band begin recording
tracks at Battery Studios, well known for being the place where
The Stone Roses recorded Fool's Gold, with two songs
being looked at as a possible first record - "She's So High" and
"I Know" (both tracks produced by Steve Lovell
and Steve Power).
October 1990 - Andy Ross' favourite Blur song, "She's
So High" is chosen as the band's first single. The single is
actually a double A-side with "I Know", but almost all attention
goes to "She's So High". NME and Sounds both
choose it as Single Of The Week. The single comes in a sleeve
that features a painting by Californian pop artist Mel
Ramo s,
of a naked woman astride a hippotamus. The poster and accompaning
T-shirt, with the picture printed in full size,
causes some controversy amongst students and
advertisements for the single are banned in
Hackney and the London Underground, and defaced
elsewhere. The single peaks at Number 48 in the
official Gallup chart, and Number 2 in the
Streets Ahead indie chart. Another tour begins,
this time to promote the single. They are
supported by The Keatons, a band specialising in
bizarre and outlandish confrontational tactics
such as throwing honey and flour at the audience.
As autumn wears on, Blur decide to get a manager
- up until this point, Balfe and Ross had taken
care of these various duties. There are two
candidates - Chris Morrison, who
had managed Thin Lizzy, Jesus & Mary Chain
and Midge Ure, and Mike Collins who had managed
Wire. Blur plump for Collins who offered the band the best lunch
and drinks. This decision turns out to be a bad one later on...
December
1990 - Blur return to the studio to
record a follow up to "She's So High".
However, sessions with Steve Power prove to be
problematic, with the two songs they have chosen
as possible seconds singles - "Close"
and "Bad Day" - simply not working.
Salvation arrives in the form of producer Stephen
Street, who had previously worked with
The Smiths. Street had seen the band's video for
"She's So High" on the BBC television
programme Juke Box Jury, and had wanted
to work with them.
1991
January
1991 - The band record two songs with
Street - "Come Together" and
"There's No Other Way". The second had
not been marked for greatness by the band, merely
intended as a throwaway, but Street makes the
song "baggier" and turns it into a
proper indie dance song. Balfe and Ross are
delighted by the results and the song is marked
as the next single.
April 1991
- "There's No Other Way" is released
and the music press fall head over heels for
Blur. NME, Melody Maker, Sounds
and Smash Hits go mad over the single, and
the video for the song - which is a parody of the
British OXO adverts - gets screenings on the ITV
Chart Show. The single gets a lot of radio airplay and peaks at Number 8. Blur appear on Top of the
Pops for the first time.
June 1991
- The group spend the early part of the summer
basking in all the press attention. They are
regularly seen at the indie club Syndrome, and
start recording at Maison Rouge studios for their
debut album. Damon starts going out with Justine
Frischmann, then playing guitar in
Suede.
July 1991
- "Bang" is released as a preview of
the album, and gets the NME Single Of The Week
award. Blur make their second apperance on Top
of the Pops. In this performance, Damon
messes around with a cardboard chicken head. But
"Bang" underperforms after the Top Ten
success of their previous single - it only
reaches 24. It's at this point that strain
appears in the relationship between the band and
Dave Balfe. Both parties have very different
views on what kind of music they should be
making. "The stumbling block was that he
wanted us to be Jesus Jones", Alex would say
later.
August 1991
- The first album, Leisure, is released to mixed
reviews. Melody Maker
gushes about "guitars like forests of
burning pylons", but the NME are
somewhat underwhelmed, claiming: "Blur are
really pretty good. But it ain't the future. Blur
are merely the present of rock and roll." The album
peaks at Number 7 in the Gallup chart and Number
2 in the MRIB chart.
September
1991 - Blur are unhappy with their
debut album, thinking that their B-sides have been
better. They record some new material, which is a
vast leap in quality from Leisure. Among
the tracks are "Oily Water" and "Resigned".
October to December 1991 - Blur premiere their great
new song "Popscene" at the gigs. The band do a debut tour
of North America, starting in Toronto. At the Marquee club in
New York, they meet My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields,
who delights them by declaring that he loves the Leisure
song "Slow Down". Just before Christmas, the band play
"Popscene" on the Channel 4 show The Word.
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