Blur played Tender, No Distance Left To Run and Bugman. Damon was also interviewed by Jools.
Jools Holland: Welcome to the program!
Damon stands up and sort of bows
J: What I first want to ask you about is the sleeve of the record.
Points at picture which is blur set backdrop
Damon Albarn: Thats Grahams.
J: Did he do that?
D: Yes he did.
J: And who is it?
D: Well you’ll have to ask Graham.
J: Graham, who is that in the painting?
Graham looks up, smiles, looks embarrased and runs away. Damon laughs.
J: Right, an unknown portrait for the moment. It is a very good record though. Are you pleased with that record?
D: Yeah, I think we feel like we’ve kind of got somewhere at last.
J: Its got a magnificant sound though.
D: Thankyou very much.
J: Now Tender we hear on the radio, Top 10 for weeks, months. Was it a hard song to write.
D: No, its very easy. Its only three chords with a C minor in the middle.
D: How long did it take?
D: I can’t remember, but not long.
J: A life time of experience.
D: Well, you know.
J: And Alex you see has a double bass. I was very excited to see that. What do you make of it?
D: Welll we’re trying not to encourage him to play it too often.
J: It looks lovely though.
D: It’s warn a bit now though, when he first got it, it looked a bit inconjourous, I felt.
J: Well you have to stand up straight with a double bass or you look small.
D: Thats true. Well he still manages to play it like Cliff Richards.
J: You’ve been together ten years now, that’s a long time. Do you still have ambitions that you harbour or have you done them all, do you think?
D: Well, I think we’d still like to get a little deeper into what we do. I think we feel like we’ve been studying for ten years. Publically.
J: And it’s just got better and better, hasn’t it? Do you still have the same inspirations? Do the same things inspire you as ten years ago?
D: I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t at Goldsmiths, Graham and Alex were. I just sort of hung around the bar.
J: We’ve got a clip now of your first Top 10 hit, from spring 1991.
D: Oh no, bad haircuts.
J: Historic haircuts.
Play clip of Blur doing Theres No Other Way on Top Of The Pops. Halfway through, they show a studio shot of Damon laughing.
J: I was told that it was your ambition, since you were eleven, to be on Top Of The Pops.
D: When I was eleven I saw Fun Boy 3 first appearence and I was very impressed.
J: No turning back. It was good though wasn’t it? Perfectly good. What are you’re favourite Blur albums, looking back?
D: Well, I can find something of worth on all of them.
J: Is the most recent one your favourite?
D: Yeah, of course.
J: Now you’re going to play No Distance Left To Run. What’s that about?
D: It’s about losing somebody in your life. It’s a very sad song.
J: I don’t think the album sounds sad though.
D: No, I don’t. It’s optimistic.
J: Yeah, that’s right. Well we’ll have that later on and if you could ask Alex if he has a name for his double bass. It’d be nice for the circular, and in the meantime- Damon, thankyou very much indeed.
D: Thankyou.
J: Damon Albarn.