A ballad has broken the musical silence that Blur has maintained for eight long years, until the proposal to perform at Wembley Stadium brought together the Albarns, Coxon, James and Rowntree again to prepare for the two nights in which they brought together 180,000 people, proof of the attachment that the Parklife band maintains three decades after their golden years, when they competed with Oasis for the throne of Britpop. From this reunion also emerged The Ballad of Darren, the band's tenth album published for the pleasure of composing, recording and offering new songs to its audience by a band that has never completely left music, as drummer Dave has shown. Rowntree, who after his four-year political journey (2017-2021) as a Labor Party parliamentarian, published his first solo album in January and this September he will visit Ibiza to play the music he likes most at the Contrast Ibiza festival, next September 30, as he explains to La Vanguardia in a videoconference talk.
What moved you to release a new album after eight years without new music?
We had been offered the chance to play Wembley Stadium, something we had never imagined we would be able to do, and when the show and tour were organized we had a couple of months before we started rehearsing. It's always great to play new material when you go out on the road. On the contrary, spinning without it feels like you're ripping people off. Also, sometimes it's not possible to have new material, so when we have the opportunity, we like to do it. It wasn't clear that there was going to be enough time to make a whole album, but we went for it anyway and it went really well. Everything we tried worked, all our ideas seemed to come together the first time, it was one of those magical moments that don't come very often in life, when everything seems easy and effortless.
How do you manage to maintain a good relationship after years?
Since we don't see each other as much now it's easier to maintain a good relationship. In the early days of the band we were side by side every day, all year round, so it was difficult to maintain a good relationship. Nowadays we all do other things in life and get together from time to time to do things related to Blur, so you don't have to try as hard. We've had our ups and downs, and I think we've learned to prioritize having a good relationship with each other and do whatever it takes to make it that way.
The Ballad of Darren is a more reflective album.
The lyrics are very personal to Damon. Are we more reflective people now? I guess we have a little more experience under our belts and a few more responsibilities, we're not 20 years old anymore. It would be a bit silly to make an album pretending that we are that kind of carefree young people who travel the world.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Modern life is rubbish, the album that made you famous
I don't think this album was really the one that made us famous, to be honest it was Park Life and The Great Escape. The second album wasn't a commercial success, but it made the critics sit up and reevaluate us. It wasn't until Park Life and the start of all that, the Four Brits and the chart battle with Oasis, that's what made us really famous. But in the 1990s we weren't playing Wembley, we're much bigger now than we've ever been. The idea of playing two nights at Wembley Stadium, at any point in our career, would have been ridiculous until now. I think that now we are more famous than ever but of course, then we were young people who didn't know what we were doing, although we knew that we were enjoying it enormously. So there was no plan in those days, we lived a pretty carefree life even though we were extremely ambitious. We dealt with life as it presented itself each day, which is a very exciting and free way to live.
What about your solo album, Radio songs?
I had written several songs in the previous two years and about ten or fifteen seemed pretty coherent, spoke to a specific theme and seemed to come from a musically similar place. I had been wanting to work with the producer, Leo Abrahams, for a long time, he is a very interesting musician and we had plans to work together but they had all fallen through in one way or another, the last time due to Covid, the “lockdown” and all that. . When we had the second lockdown in the UK we had booked the studio, but we couldn't record. So we started working remotely in our own studios, via Zoom, so we can at least prepare some music for when we could get back together and record the album. Six weeks later, the album was finished.
The strategy worked
It turned out that it was a very efficient way of working, because the songs were in a good place, if there had been more work, a real production, it would have been a little different. But it seems that two people working independently do it twice as fast as if they are together in the same studio. It was an interesting experience, although I probably won't do it the same again.
He will do a DJ session in Ibiza, what kind of songs will he play?
I will play the songs that make people dance, I will see what they feel like and I will play it, that is my plan. I try to play a lot of guitar music, people don't play enough guitar music in clubs, so I put in as much guitar music as I can. Other than that, I play music from my entire career, music that I've liked over the last 40 years.
How do you feel being a DJ?
It's kind of strange, because you're not doing anything different than what you would do at home, you know, playing records. But when it goes well it's fantastic, when you get that connection with the audience it's like playing a concert with the drums, it's in your mind and they read yours. Plus I get to travel and meet fans, it's an excuse to go out to a club, which is something I don't do much these days, so we all win.
You have participated in politics as a member of the Liberal Party. Do you believe that musicians and all artists should participate in public affairs?
I don't think anyone should stand for elected office, but we have real political problems in the UK at the moment. We have a party that has been in power for too long, has no ideas and is very corrupt. Parties can only get their way if people don't get directly involved in politics, but most people think they are all equal. There's an old saying: people get the government they deserve, and I think in this country we've ended up with the government we deserve because we're so cynical about politics here. And only we suffer when we are cynical about politics.
