Damon Albarn “really didn’t want anyone in the studio but Graham” when starting work on new album

nme.com:

Damon Albarn has recalled the first time he showed his bandmates the demos for Blur’s upcoming album, and admitted he only wanted Graham Coxon to be in the studio at first.The singer-songwriter was speaking as part of a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, when he recalled what it was like reuniting with Blur and starting work on their new album, ‘The Ballad Of Darren’.According to Albarn, he began writing the demos for the new tracks before he gathered his bandmates together, but felt reluctant to show all of them at the same time.“When I finished the demos and I felt I’d got something I’m excited about, I got everyone into a studio in January this year.

I just sort of sat them down and I said, ‘Right. This is what I’ve got. You choose what you want to use from it and we move forward from that,’” he began.“At the beginning, I really didn’t want anyone in the studio but Graham [Coxon] to start off with, but the other two said, ‘No.

We want to stay here if that’s all right’… and they did,” he added. “Do you know what? It was the best thing really. It was the best thing…The reward of everyone playing together is one I do acknowledge as being maybe the greatest.

You’ve got to keep it real.”In the interview, he explained that the inital reluctance to show all the members at once stemmed from him being used to working “on his own” and that the idea of working with multiple people simultaneously was something he was still “trying to get his head around”.Elsewhere, Albarn also reflected on the latest single to be taken from the album: ‘St.