Slim chance?

FATBOY SLIM has been axed from production duties on BLUR’s new album after drunken rows with DAMON ALBARN about dance music, NME.COM can exclusively reveal.

The superstar DJ has appealed to the Blur frontman via NME.COM to let him know if he’s still any chance he' s needed for the new album or not.

Damon Albarn revealed to us last year that Fatboy – aka Norman Cook – had been lined up to work with the band. At the time, Albarn denied this meant the band were taking a dance direction. Since then, Cook and Albarn have fallen out.

Norman Cook told NME.COM: "To be honest, the last time I saw Damon was at the Brits in February and he said ‘I’ve written 14 songs, I’ll send them to you tomorrow’. But nothing happened and then about a month later I read that they were halfway through the album. So I kind of figured that I’d got gonged!

"So much water’s passed under the bridge since we first talked about doing it, and then there’s the whole Gorillaz thing. Anyway, I haven’t heard from Damon since the Brits. So Damon if you’re reading this, do give us a ring! Don’t be scared. Even if it’s a no, do give us a ring."

Cook admitted that part of the problem seems to be that his dance music background caused friction with the Blur man. "I kept bumping into Damon when he was on tour with Gorillaz, and we did have a couple of drunken late night arguments about dance music," Cook told NME.COM "He said dance music’s shit, and I said well, a) you’re making it and b) what are you doing working with me then?’. He said ‘Gorillaz isn’t dance music and what you do isn’t dance music’. We did have a few arguments. You know what it’s like, four o’clock in a hotel room when you’re pissed. Maybe that’s why I got gonged off!"

For more, see this week's NME, which is out now.


From vblurpage.com:

Corrections

According to NME, Blur's new album will be out in the Spring 2003. However, Damon said it will be out "very soon, actually" at Tower Records in London yesterday. He also mentioned that the story above was "bollocks".

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