Graham Coxon has said that Blur will “always be capable” of reforming whenever the time is right.
Speaking to Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt on their Rockonteurs podcast, Coxon said that Blur’s 2009 reunion to headline Glastonbury was a real turning point on his view of the band, and - having settled his differences with Damon Albarn - there is always the possibility that they’ll do more together.
Of that Glastonbury set, he says: “It was great because I played in a completely different way. I didn’t feel forced to play them and I felt more grateful for the situation, and PAs had come on a long way ... So you could hear yourself clearly, it was less of a struggle in that way, the audiences were huge and happy, and I thought ‘well, this is a flipping good job, I’m playing a lovely guitar through a Marshall that’s cranked right up, I’m singing and I can hear myself’. I became a little more grateful for what we’d always had”.
“I reckon a lot of bands would get that if they had a chance to do that again”, he goes on. “It’s why I almost get annoyed with other bands who have been squabbling and not really got it together to have another go. I think it’s kind of sad to hang on to resentments ... And so I was really really glad that Damon and I had that chat over an Eccles cake, or whatever it was and we decided, ‘why haven’t we really been talking? I’ve no idea. So let’s just get on with it, shall we?’”
Asked it Blur is now “in the rear view mirror”, he says: “Alex James is in the passenger seat, prodding me all the time! They’re not in the rear view mirror at all! They’re all sitting in the car with me still, ‘Shall we do some more?'”
The problem is, he adds, that while they all agree that they should do something together again whenever there’s a moment when all four members aren’t working on other projects, that moment hasn’t occurred yet. But, he reckons, it will.
“I actually think that Blur will always be capable of . When the time comes around and the stars are aligning, and we’re all into the idea, I think we’ll always be capable of doing something interesting. It doesn’t mean everyone will like it, but it’ll be interesting. And it’ll be something that we’ll want to do and feel the need to do”.
Coxon’s last solo project, ‘Superstate’, which comprised music and a graphic novel, came out last year. In the Rockonteurs interview he says that he has a new collaboration in the works that will come out later this year, although he doesn’t give any further details.