Alex James says there was “ill feeling” before Blur’s reunion

In a new inteview, Blur’s Alex James has spoken about tense relations in the band prior to their reunion.

Speaking to The Irish Independent, James said, “there came a point around 2003 where we all needed to go off and do our own things and be other people, rather than being this four-headed monster. I wouldn’t call it animosity, but there was a little bit of ill feeling. We needed time out and to reconcile.” Blur split up that year, shortly after Graham Coxon walked out midway through sessions for their seventh album ‘Think Tank’.

James added, of the subsequent reunion: “it is very much like a sibling relationship, or a marriage. This is a really lovely thing to dip into, because it takes us out of our lives, even though we needed to have lives outside Blur for a while. Now, it is the exact opposite. Blur is like a complete release. At this point, which you could probably call our rock gentlemen phase, everything has become very fulfilling and satisfying.”

“We needed our downtime, but in many ways, nothing has changed too much in 27 years. The crucial difference is that doing all this now is such a complete and utter joy.”

Listen to Blur’s ‘The Lonesome Street,’ from new record ‘The Magic Whip,’ below: