JULY 1999

Blur have announced South American tour dates.

        18th November - Metropolitan Theatre, Mexico City, Mexico
        21st November - Via Funchal, Sao Paulo, Brazil
        23rd November - Metropolitan, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
        25th November - Monumental Theatre, Santiago, Chile
        27th November - Obras, Buenos Aires, Argentina
        28th November - Obras, Buenos Aires, Argentina

   
The album '13' has been shortlisted for Best Album at this year Mercury Music Awards.

Blur's secret pre-Leeds and Reading gig at London's Goldsmith College has been sold out. Also the soundtrack from the movie Ravenous which Damon has worked on with Michael Nyman will be released by Virgin on 2 August.

Elastica's lead singer Justine Frischmann and Damon Albarn's former girlfriend has spoken to Radio 1 involving her relationship with Damon and their break-up. Read the interview at www.nme.com

A man claiming to be Blur's manager, Chris Morrison, appeared on Sky News last week talking about the way Blur were supposed to hit the top 10 but did not due to missing sales data. The real Chris Morrison said, "I am amazed, flattered and slightly concerned - and I want to know how much he got paid."
Story courtesy to dotmusic

Blur will release a 22 CD box-set in September to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the band

July 19

Damon is currently working on the soundtrack to a new Kevin Spacey film, Ordinary Decent Criminal. Meanwhile, Damon's collaboration with composer Michael Nyman on the soundtrack to Ravenous will be released on September 6 through EMI. The film stars Robert Carlyle and tells the tale of a group of soldiers who turn to cannibalism. It opens on September 3.

14 July 1999

Blur's company Food Records has demanded a re-count of all the copies of Coffee + TV. An error in a new computer program in the major record companies in England has made the company believe that they have received 13% less than the profit made from the sales. Many Blur fans believe that Coffee + TV, which only hit number 13 in the UK, should have entered the top 10. Coffee + TV has now dropped to number 18.

12 July 1999

Mogwai are selling a new line of T-shirts at this year's T in the Park simply stating: 'Blur: are shite'. Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite told NME: "We decided to proclaim our dislike of one of the weakest bands on the planet by putting out these shirts. We sold out in one day and Super Furry Animals and Pavement have put in an order for more. The thing about the shirt is it's like a dictionary definition. Blur: are shite. It's factual and if there's any legal problems about it I'll go to court as someone who has studied music so I can prove they are shite....using the break up with your girlfriend as a marketing tool is one of the most disgusting things I've heard in my life. Blur are fucking pish.'
Fuck off Mogwai.

Blur are on the front cover of this issue's Select magazine. Click here for the interview with them. Blur are also featured on the cover of this issue's Dazed and Confused. Read the interview at www.confused.co.uk

5th July 1999

Blur's official story, '3862 Days - The Official History,' has been released. It tells the story of Blur from the early Seymour days up until now. This is the review of it from the August issue of Select magazine:

This, happily breaks the sanctioned-biog mould - much credit for which must lie with Blur themselves. Long-time band chronicler Maconie uses his associations to good effect: it's the sheer honesty of the new interviews that drive this book (the 3862 days is the time between the first band meeting and this book's publication). The section on the band's post-'Great Escape' dislocation is certainly rich with revelation, but equally juicy are the 1992 scenes of career destruction. Events behind their notoriously paralytic performance alongside Suede at a Shelter charity concert - involving perhaps the most ill-advised pre-gig pub crawl in rock history - are recorded in detail. As are Damon's line on taking the stage: "We're so fucking shit you might as well go home now. This could be the worst gig you've ever seen." Good-cop-bad-cop Food Records founders Andy Ross  and Dave Balfe are also valued commentators. Particularly fascinating is Balfe's mission to turn the early Blur into the next Jesus Jones. Some sections (such as the Britpop hysteria-era) suffer from over-familiarity and the book fights shy of heavyweight analysis, but where else can you read of the first meeting between our two favourite Goldsmiths-attending proto-debauchees? "Alex remembers Graham's first words to him. 'He said, How long have you been playing the git? I said about four years. And then we got drunk together'."

Blur are due to play in this summer's T in the Park, Reading and Leeds festival. Click here for the interview with Damon in July's Q magazine.