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1 month ago

It changed everything definitely when he left. But all changes have good effects and bad effects. So I think if he hadn’t left, we wouldn’t have got to play with such an extraordinary range of musicians as we are now in the live shows. There’s nine of us on-stage now, backing vocals, percussion, keyboards, brass.

It’s kind of — so that was definitely a good effect. But he’s one of our oldest friends, so if you’re losing one of your oldest friends, there’s always going to be a bad effect. Well, we haven’t lost him. We know where he is. We know where to find him.

Dave answering the question “how different was it recording, writing and touring without Graham?,” 2003

8 notes

1 month ago

Time Out: Is it true that you were the least comfortable with the whole 'Parkilfe' period, and the whole New Lad, Groucho Club thing that Alex and Damon seemed to embody?

Graham: I wasn't very happy. Damon would say things and we'd all be tarred with the same brush. I'm still constantly accused of being a Chelsea supporter, when, if I supported any team, it would be Derby where I come from. And I love Alex, but he's very good at winding people up. At that time, the groups I liked were groups I didn't wanna be bigger than. I wanted to be like Dinosaur Jr or My Bloody Valentine or The Pastels and be on Creation. I remember being on a tube train with Damon when he first said he wanted to put brass and different instruments on our records. And I was like, 'What?!' It took me a lot of time to get used to the fact that we were this big pop band.

4 notes

2 months ago

"I thought Nevermind was brilliant, as I think we probably all did. But we didn’t want to say so. We knew that it was the enemy. We had a lot of respect for the enemy, but we knew that we had to be completely different."

Graham speaking on the “irony” to Blur’s want for a “full-scale English Pop Renaissance,” 2001