CD d'interview

[Maryse]

Pour info
A l'occasion de la sortie de Think Tank est paru un CD d'interview, durée 52 minutes. Le contenu est très intéressant. Intv de Damon, Dave & Alex. Ambiance détendue, bcp d'info sur l'enregistrement du CD, le départ de Graham, et un passage en revue de l'album. Tout ça en anglais bien sûr. Si vous êtes collectionneur, ça vaut la peine. Malheureusement, vous ne le trouverai pas dans le commerce car c un objet promotionnel.

[Jesus Quintana]

C'était vraiment très intéressant...

[Spike S]

maryse, tu las ce cd? si oui, ils disent koi sur le depart de graham?

[Lazer]

Malheureusement, vous ne le trouverai pas dans le commerce car c un objet promotionnel.

gna gna gna... pffff. marre.

[Maryse]

maryse, tu las ce cd? si oui, ils disent koi sur le depart de graham?

question 1: So, we have a new album from Blur, who are now a 3 piece. What’s the mood in the camp; and how does everybody really feel about the departure of Graham Coxon?

Damon: Communication is easier with 3 than it is with 4. It would even be easier with 2 ( laughs)
Live, things will be different. There is absolutely no way to re-create the magic we had as a 4 piece.
We decided not to give up and we are trying to create a new kind of magic with 3 people.
On the 1st day of recording, Alex, Dave & Damon turned up but Graham didn’t turn up and we were given no warning of that. Later that day we were informed that Graham wouldn’t be around for a couple of months anyway. It was a very difficult decision. It’s like “Do we just go home now today or do we do sth in the studio? Being optimistic, positive souls, we gave it a go. What happened is what always happens when you make a decision like that. You do it quite innocently. You’re not thinking that it is a permanent decision that you’ve made but we just restarted recorded and it just sounded great immediately.
Alex: It was never a question of “oh my god, it’s all over”.
Damon: When Graham actually returned, it just didn’t work as a 4 piece any more. No-one was sacked. Nothing like that. It was just that it didn’t work any more. The spirit of Blur was more important than the individuals. It could have happened to anyone of us. The only reason you’re in a band is to… er…., you’ve invested so much in the spirit of being sth, you’ve got that kind of residual memory of all those gigs and all of that amazing love that you’ve been given over the years, and that’s more important actually than any of you. That’s the reason why people love bands, it’s because they sense that willingness amongst the people in that band to just forget themselves…
We love each other a lot. We have an enormous history together and obviously very loyal to each other but we know each other far too well to be blissfully in love. (laughs) We have revealed our unpleasantness to each other (laughs) far too often BUT when we are actually really making music, we are very happy together. It is to this day ridiculous Graham isn’t here. It really is stupid BUT basically Graham can’t do with the promotional and the intense scrutiny and emotional demands of being in a professional situation. It’s got nothing to do with making music. He made a decision I totally respect. He didn’t want to be part of it anymore. But for me, I’m in it for life, I can’t leave. I can’t ever do anything else. I’m totally and utterly committed to making the best music and trying to do sth that has some kind of affect, makes some kind of difference. I can’t leave even if I wanted to. I feel like, if it’s alright for you, you can walk away. I can’t walk away.
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Ca, c grosso modo le script de la 1ère piste du CD, c-à-d. 5’38 d’intv. Le disque compte 44 pistes et dure 52’13. Désolée, j’ai pas le temps d’en transcrire davantage. Le nom de Graham revient régulièrement dans l’intv, notamment au sujet de Sweet Song. Damon explique que c Graham qui l’a inspiré pour écrire cette chanson. Il regardait la couverture du magazine Dazed & Confused avec le portrait de Graham (celui fait par Julian Opie). Graham lui manquait et ça a donné Sweet Song.