Alex James to chronicle ‘mayhem’ of Blur reunion in new book
The Britpop group had not played a major UK show for eight years before Wembley.
Alex James is to release a new book chronicling Blur’s comeback to the spotlight.
The bassist, 55, along with the other members – lead singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon and drummer Dave Rowntree, announced in 2022 a Wembley stadium show and spoke about releasing new music.
The Britpop group had not gone on tour since 2015’s Magic Whip series of gigs, with their last major UK show at London’s Hyde Park.
They did play together in 2019 in a surprise gig in east London, four years after putting out their last record The Magic Whip.
James will cover their return, along with the warm reception of their 2023 record The Ballad Of Darren, in Over The Rainbow: Tales From An Unexpected Year.
He said: “Over The Rainbow chronicles the mayhem of exactly what happened when I hooked back up with my Blur brothers.
“It’s eight years since we last made a record and I’d forgotten how much I love them. So this is a book about the healing power of music, about friendship and family.
“It’s the story of an extraordinary year – of playing Wembley, looking after a farmhouse full of teenagers and running a festival.
“It’s about what it felt like to be living in the eye of a superstorm, where past and present collided, and I’d wake up every morning thinking, ‘What on earth is going to happen next?'”
Described as a “love letter to Blur” the biography focuses on their “rollercoaster year” which saw their comeback record nominated for a Brit award for album of the year and the band named in BBC Radio 6 Music’s inaugural artists of the year list.
It also touches on how James fitted into his “Britpop Trousers” by undergoing a diet and him trying to make a giant Frazzle crisp for his own event The Big Feastival 2024, which continues at his farm in the Cotswolds in August.
James said: “There is nothing that can touch the sound made by a close-knit group of people who have been playing together for years and years and years, playing as though their lives depended on it.
“For many years, all our lives did, and actually, I’d suddenly realised, they did still.”
Blur, who have scored 13 UK top 10 singles and seven number one albums, also fronted their own documentary, called Blur: To The End this year.
They first came to public attention when their second single, 1991’s There’s No Other Way, reached number eight in the UK singles chart, before they achieved worldwide fame with their third album, 1995’s Parklife.
