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Back to: Archive · 2002 Gorillaz Warfare From the Daily Mirror, 29 August 2002. Written by the "3am" girls They've been doing their own thing for years. Damon Albarn has been tinkering around with Gorillaz, Alex James has been messing about with novelty band Fat Les and Graham Coxon has been working on solo material. But Blur have always insisted they are still very much a band and would be back with a new album. Until now that is. For in what looks like the beginning of the end for the Britpop group, guitarist Graham has had a massive bust-up with Damon and has quit the group. And while insiders say there have been rows before, no one has witnessed anything like this. Trouble has been brewing for months but things came to a head last week. During the blazing row Damon boasted that Blur need him more than he needed them. Furious at what he was hearing Graham, 33, told him that if that was his attitude he didn't want anything else to do with the group. And not even fellow band members Alex and Dave Rowntree could persuade him to stay. Last night a band insider told us: "Damon has got a real attitude problem. He's increasingly cocky and thinks the band can carry on without a guitarist but not without him. "He has enjoyed so much solo success with Gorillaz that he now thinks he's bigger than the band. "When they had the fight Graham told him he could stick the band where the sun don't shine." Singer Damon, 34, has been increasingly distant since he returned from Mali earlier this year where he had been working with African musicians on the album Mali Music which was released on his own label Honest Jon's. Last year he enjoyed phenomenal success with his virtual reality band Gorillaz. The critically-acclaimed album won a string of awards and sold more than four million copies. But not everyone was impressed. In a jealous attack Graham said: "It's obviously going to be more popular than the Blur stuff because it's of a substandard nature. The music is pretty good but the more popular a thing in this country, the more rubbish it is." Despite being credited with penning some of Blur's most moving songs, Graham's own solo efforts have been far less successful. Last year he released his third solo album Crow Sit On Blood Tree, which was panned by critics. It's all a far cry from the heady days of Britpop when the band ruled the charts with albums like Modern Life Is Rubbish and Parklife. Blur had planned to release a new album anonymously before it's due to hit the shops in January and they've recently returned from recording in Marrakesh. But now even that is in doubt. The band's management are desperate to keep news of the fight quiet in the hope that they can persuade Graham to return. Niamh Byrne from the group's management company CMO insisted: "There has been no bust-up. Graham isn't in the studio with Blur. "He is putting the finishing touches to his own album which is out in October." |