INTERVIEW: Blur frontman Damon Albarn talks about inspiration for Everyday Robots

Blur: New World Towers, Firstsite Gallery, Lewis Gardens, Colchester, December 2, 7.30pm. 01206 577067.

IT may have taken him 20 odd years, but finally Damon Albarn is starting to like the area where he grew up.

The Blur and Gorillaz frontman has always had a bit of a “difficult” relationship with the little patch of rural Essex – Ford Street, a hamlet near Colchester – where he lived from the age of 11 until his late teens when he left for London.

But it appears in recent years that has all changed.

He tells me: “For anyone making that kind of move from somewhere like Leytonstone to rural Essex, it’s going to be quite profound.

“There was quite a bit of conflict with the place when I left, but now I’m really settled and feel very warmly about it.”

While this change of heart has taken place gradually over a number of years it has well and truly been brought to the public’s attention with the release of his debut solo album, Everyday Robots.

Described as his most private and autobiographical work to date, before making the record Damon decided to re-visit his old childhood haunts starting with Leytonstone and then Colchester.

“After I visited Leytonstone,” he says, “the very next day a very good friend of mine, Remi, and I went to Colchester.

“We both brought our bicycles and cycled through the town. We went to the museum and around Culver Square, that’s changed a lot, and then down Eld Lane past the greengrocers.

“After that we went to Fiddlers Wood (near his old home in Ford Street) and all around there. That was a place I spent a lot of time – those solitary moments – and then up the nearby hill where there’s a great view of the surrounding area.

“Then we went down to Ford Street and into the Shoulder of Mutton pub. I remember the first time I went there I had a great gammon and chips.”

Rounding off the trip past Great Tey village hall, where he used to go to the youth club, Damon and his friend popped into a place “where you can have a cup of coffee, a bite to eat and then buy a leopard print sofa”.

He laughs: “We never had anything like that in my day. I nearly went back to Copford, past the old Windmill club, to the village where I used to have my piano lessons, but there wasn’t enough time.

“When I came back, I put all those places into the record. Ford Street in History of a Cheating Heart, the pentangle in Fiddlers Wood and the Stanway School bell in Hollow Ponds.”

The latter has already been described as the pivotal track on the album, charting Damon’s life from his very early days in Leytonstone, through to his teen years in Colchester and finally adult life living in London.

As you may expect from the first solo album from one of the world’s most famous musicians, a lot has already been written about Everyday Robots.

But while the national press has preferred to concentrate on the intensity of his songs, in particular, his comments on modern-day life and references to drug taking, we’re more interested in playing with the Colne Valley Youth Orchestra and his first live gig, which took place as part of a Stanway School assembly.

“Rather than getting into the Colne Valley Youth Orchestra,”

Damon explains, “I think it would be better to say they allowed me to be in it. I was one of the third violins.

“I left when I was 16 and I knew it was time to go when the other violinists who were coming in were better than me and aged only eight.”

The orchestra is still led by Nigel Hildreth, Damon’s old music teacher at Stanway School, who asked him to be patron of the ensemble a few years back .

Damon says: “It wouldn’t be right to have this little chat without mentioning Nigel Hildreth. I think for Graham and I, he was extremely helpful to us both and when he asked me to be patron, I was honoured and proud to accept.”

Despite Damon saying in previous interviews how his move to Colchester left him isolated and feeling like an outsider, it was where his musical career took shape.

Stanway School was where he met Graham Coxon, who later with Damon would form the songwriting backbone of Blur.

“That was where I formed my first band with Graham,” he says.

“It was called Real Lives and my first ever gig was with them during the 9am assembly.

“There was Havers, Paul Stevens and Graham and we all played in front of the whole school, who patiently watched this very amateur band inspired by the Jam and the Who.

“I think it went as well as could be expected.”

No doubt that audience would feel very different about a return gig, but while a Stanway School assembly might be unlikely, a trip back to the church where he used to play the organ in his spare time might not.

Damon says: “I would love to do a gig at Aldham Church.

“I think it would be perfect for this album. If everyone was up for it, I would love for it to happen.

Do you know what, let’s make that happen.”

REVIEW

WHAT does one expect from the debut solo album of one of this country’s greatest musicians?

It’s not the normal run-of-the-mill debut album, especially as Damon has had more than 20 years to work on his craft.

So what makes Everyday Robots so very different to everything Damon has done in the past?

Well, he’s made it personal for a start – very personal.

Never one usually to wear his heart on his sleeve, or to talk about his childhood for that matter, the songs on this record ache with intense candour and nowhere more so than in the guts of the album.

From the Selfish Giant to History of a Cheating Heart, Damon lyrically lays it all bare, but matches it with such musical mastery you cannot help, but be seduced by it all.

The Selfish Giant is particulary impressive with a lovely improvised piano section leading into it.

I suspect many will love Mr Tembo, the only real upbeat track on the album, and it is pretty great, especially with the addition of the Pentecostal City Mission Choir from Leytonstone featuring. Other highlights include the stirring finale Heavy Seas of Love, complete with Brian Eno on vocals, and the haunting opener, Everyday Robots, Damon’s comment on the effect of the technological revolution. But for me, the real treat is the rather lovely and mournful Hostiles, Damon Albarn at his ballad best.

NEIL D'ARCY-JONES

OUR TOP 10 ALBARN SONGS

1. Chemical World - Forget Parklife, Modern Life is Rubbish was Blur’s best album and this its best song. Graham’s crunchy guitars and Damon’s witty social commentary set the tone for the band’s future as one of the greatest this country has ever produced.

2. Out of Time - The standout track by far on Blur’s Think Tank album and, perhaps, the most mournful song about the break-up of any band. This sees Damon lament the loss of Graham bathed in woozy North African rythms.

3. Popscene - With a lovely scratchy punk feel this was to be the lead single off Modern Life is Rubbish, but did so badly in the charts, it never made the album. It finally made it on to Blur’s 2009 compilation – it was a track way ahead of its time.

4. Clover Over Dover - One of Damon’s greatest writing strengths is creating songs which sound very English and yet aren’t twee. Clover Over Dover from the Parklife album is a fine example 5. Rock the House The third single from Gorillaz debut album with its infectious trumpet loop and a snappy rap is genius!

6. BBC Beijing Olympics 2008 – Journey to the East Inspired by his mammoth opera Monkey: Journey to the West, apart from winning a suitcase full of gold medals, Damon’s music for the BBC trailers was easily the best thing about the Beijing Olympics.

7. On Your Own - Damon called this Blur track from their fifth studio album, the first Gorillaz song and it does have some crazy synths.

8. Fool’s Day - If you bottled Blur’s entire back catalogue and shook it about a bit, this would probably be the result.

9. On Melancholy Hill - This Gorillaz song from the Plastic Beach album saw Damon return to his poppy best, crafting a gorgeous melody from different synth sounds.

10. Tracy Jacks - No doubt poking fun at the commuters he used to sit next to while taking the train back home to Colchester. The best part of this song from the Parklife album was Tracy dancing naked on the seafront at Walton.