“We didn’t really know what to expect, we just did it,” says Graham Coxon of ‘The Magic Whip’

“We were in Hong Kong, we didn’t even know we were going to record,” said Coxon, speaking to Beats. “We just thought, well, we can do it without telling anyone, it’ll take the pressure off. We didn’t really know what to expect, we just did it. We’d been playing with each other quite a lot since 2009, we were used to each other again, and it seemed like an obvious thing to do.”

Expanding on ‘The Magic Whip’s sound, Coxon said; “it’s an interesting record because there are familiar moments like ‘Lonesome Street’, and maybe ‘I Broadcast,’ and the sorts of songs that people will be very familiar with, but sonically we had tons at our disposal… there was unfamiliar territory too.”

“I reckon a lot of people would have expected me to just put tonnes of guitar all over it this time,” Coxon added. “I just didn’t want to do it. It’s not a solo record. I had to sit there with three other imaginary members of the group in a room…and also I wanted it to be inspiring to the others.”

After years of collaboration, Coxon agreed with producer Stephen Street, who pointed out in the interview that Blur couldn’t have made this album earlier in their career. “I think Damon has this great knack of saying in very few words what I’ve realised that I’m feeling as well,” Coxon said. “I think I’ve developed a sort of telepathic way of backing him up on the guitar, it’s just what’s happened over the years.”

Of Blur’s recent 300-cap live shows, Coxon enthused “there were moments when I thought we were all going to levitate. It just felt like this sort of power ran through everyone.”

Watch Graham Coxon and Stephen Street’s full interview with Beats by Dr Dre below:

Tags: Blur, News