(* Damon talking in German)
Inteviewer: Damon, Alex, welcome to the show.
Alex: Cheers.
Inteviewer: It's a pleasure to have you here.
Alex:
to be here in London fashion week.
Inteviewer: In London fashion week?
Alex: Yes.
Inteviewer: Aah
I know what you're saying. Now where do we start? What's
the latest fashion?
Alex: Big trousers.
Inteviewer: Oh
Damon: (*) No no, what he just said was that it's 'London fashion week' this
week, or something. For five days all the people are in London for the latest
fashion, dunno what.
Inteviewer: (Wearing greybrownish trousers, a pair of black Adidas trainers
and a black shirt
)
To buy like trousers that I'm wearing?
Damon: No.
Inteviewer: Hehe
I bought them in London.
Damon: Depκche Mode, ya know.
Inteviewer: Right.
Alex: You went to London to buy German trainers?
Inteviewer: I didn't. They're from Germany, of course. Is this the latest in trainers fashion? Probably not. What fashion are you suggesting?
Damon: (Observing the interviewer's shoes
) That's uhm
. that's uhm
they're kind of
well, it could be, ya know. Not really, but
not bad.
Inteviewer: Not bad!
Damon: Not bad! Not bad
Inteviewer: For a start
Damon: (Now talking about the interviewer's greybrownish trousers) But I
wouldn't have gone for the grey with the black and white. I would have gone for
something
Inteviewer: Uhm
does it look like an odd colour combination?
Damon:Well, black and white is fine but then grey just makes it all
ya know
you kind of
Inteviewer:
instead of grey, then?
Damon: Well, I, well
I think if you'd be wearing these (points to his blue
jeans), you'd look kinda fine. Well, it's just the colours, you know, you gotta
get your colours right, mate.
Alex: Sometimes they're in!
(The interviewer starts translating the whole thing into German for the viewers
and tells them about London fashion week.)
Damon: (*)
new black and new white
Inteviewer: The new black, the new white and the new grey.
Damon: (*) There is no new grey.
Inteviewer: Grey was last year, right?
Damon: (*) I don't know
maybe
maybe
maybe it's four years late.
Inteviewer: Four years late?!
Damon: Yep, four years.
Inteviewer: Four years, wow.
Damon: (*) But that doesn't matter
Inteviewer:
it doesn't, of course
Damon:
since we're here for Music
not for trousers! Hehe ..
Inteviewer: That's right. Hehe. We deviated
(The interviewer announces the video to 'Song2'.)
Inteviewer:
World famous tune
ah
now it was in 'The Simpsons', right?
Damon: (*) That's right.
Inteviewer: And uhm, when is the episode coming up? Do you know?
Damon: (*)
I think it's been already
already
Inteviewer:
has been already?
Damon: (*) It has been already in America, but not here in Europe.
Inteviewer: Aha. That was the one with Superbowl?
Damon: Yep.
Inteviewer: Aha
Actually
do you want me to ask in English or in German?
In English, probably
and then you can answer in German?
Damon: No, we can do it in German if you want.
Inteviewer: Well, it depends on whatever you like.
Damon: Or, whatever you like!
Inteviewer: No, whatever you like!
Damon: (*) I don't mind!
Inteviewer: So, we can just mix it!
(Damon is laughing.)
(They play the video to 'Song2'.)
(The interviewer announces the news section.)
(Damon takes some orangebrownish coloured sunglasses out of his pockets and
puts them on.)
Inteviewer: Oh, you're wearing coloured glasses now?
Damon: (*) Yes.
Inteviewer: So, the news section is coming up and, uhm, for the last couple
of years, Blur have always been a band that, uhm
Alex: Well, since you start getting into the news you're too busy to do
anything interesting, that's what I've noticed.
Inteviewer: Yeah?
Alex: Mmmh.
Inteviewer: So, you just didn't pay any attention to, like, what the music
gossip press wrote about you?
Damon: (*) Uhm
but what? What did they say about us?
Inteviewer: Uhm, yeah, you must have had feelings, like uhm, of being
observed for one time in London, every time you went to a restaurant it was in
the press next day, every time you met somebody it was in the press
Damon: (*) Sometimes.
Inteviewer: But, they did a very good, nasty job
Damon: (*) That's normal in England
Tabloids
Shit.
Inteviewer: Yeah? And uhm, so that means you didn't really care what they
wrote about you?
Damon: Uhm
Alex: Sometimes they even spell your name wrong.
Inteviewer: Hehe, they should have learnt it by now.
Alex: Well, they say it doesn't matter what they write as long as they spell
your name right. But sometimes they even get that wrong.
Inteviewer: Right. So what would be the worst rumours that you've read or had
to read about yourself?
Alex: Well, if you think we gonna start perpetuating the worst rumours
Damon: Yeah, that's ... y'know, that's ...
Inteviewer: Or, any nice rumours, then?
Alex: You know, papers, you know, all kinds of publicity are fine as long as
you don't inhale, you know, by any kind of refusal
any kind of reporting about
you is, you know, you just have to read it, at all its length, you know
if you
start to believe it
Damon: Yeah
the press is like
Clinton and his marijuana
Inteviewer: So yeah, but, it's, it's still hard I think, I mean, if you're a
band and you just can't play music for the sake of music?
Damon: But that's what we do.
Alex: Haha! And what we're doing now, sitting on a sofa talking about music.
Damon: Yeah.
Inteviewer: Yeah.
Damon: I mean, we're doing what we do, just playing. I know it's hard to
understand, you know, because the English press is really obsessive
and uhm,
it's not something any of us really enjoy but we just live with it because
that's the country we live in, you know?
Inteviewer: Mmmh.
(They play the video to 'The Universal'.)
Inteviewer: 'The Universal'
Alex: Yeah, I like that, it's in the future.
Inteviewer: Hehe
it's in the future?
Alex: Yeah
definitely.
Inteviewer:
Coming up now?
Alex: No, that last one
it's something about 2025
Damon: 'The Universal' was definitely in the future.
Inteviewer: What do you mean?
Damon: Well
what do I mean
it's not in
it's not today.
Inteviewer: Oh yeah, OK, so, haha! Yeah, of course not, hehe
But, still,
'The Universal' was, uhm, a video, uhm, with references to, like, uhm, 'A
Clockwork Orange'
Alex: References! Hehe. I mean, it's straight forward steal, really, if we
have to be honest.
Damon: Yeah, it's a, they say, the word they use is 'a homage'
Inteviewer: That's a nice word.
Damon: 'Homage'
'homage'
Inteviewer: But isn't it, in the music business anyway, you can't steal?
Is, everything is a homage or a remake
Alex: Haha.
Damon:
Or a sample.
Inteviewer: Or a sample, yeah.
Alex: There's no new tunes, only new equipment.
Inteviewer: Right. So that's not a crime.
Damon: No, no.
(The Interviewer announces the video to 'Tender' and talks about that live gig
Blur had just done for Viva2.)
Inteviewer: There were a few people talking to you at the station today, and,
uhm, there were a few people listening to the new record, to the new single, and
everywhere you went, basically, everybody was humming 'Tender'. So, is that a
sign that, uhm, this could be very successful?
Damon: Well, uhm, it's always an indication.
Inteviewer: When you wrote 'Tender', uhm
do you remember the feeling you
had when you wrote it?
Damon: I was
I mean
well, the original song was quite, I mean, it's a sad
song, but I think the way that we recorded it, it ends up being quite
optimistic.
Inteviewer: Mmmh. Is that like the sound of the record, would you say? Of
'13'?
Damon: Sad but ultimately
a celebration. Yeah, a celebration of sadness
turning into
you know
something more positive. Definitely.
Alex: Sadness isn't like depression, is it? I mean, it's quite a particular
Damon: Well, it's melancholy!
Inteviewer: Mmmh. Anyway, there was a lot of talking, a lot of, uhm, that
people thought how the new record, how is it going to be, and uhm, there were
indications that the band had bad periods within the last year that you had to
go though, where on the verge of splitting up at one point, and
Damon: Well, no, not really, I mean, you know, we've been together for ten
years, so, in ten years there's always gonna be
a period of
you know. But
things aren't quite right, I mean, it really was our seven year ridge
where
things got a bit hairy for us, but, you know, I think
we worked it out.
Alex: It's all fine now.
Inteviewer: Plus to that, people were speculating, uhm, how personal this
record is going to be, uhm, where it comes to, like your person. Is it more
personal than any other record?
Damon: Uhm, no, it's definitely, that is an affirmative, Sir.
Inteviewer: Thank you, hehe. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like it's a lot more
personal.
Damon: So what it sounds like is what it is
as with music generally.
Inteviewer: Sometimes, it's not what it sounds like, is it?
Damon: Yeah, I think, uhm
Inteviewer: It should be. That's the ideal
Damon: Now what's that band I saw on MTV? When presenting the award to
Madonna, there was this band on before, the German one, it had that guy with all
the muscles and singing into a telephone about, uhm
Inteviewer: German band with muscles
Damon:
it was kind of techno and heavy metal.
Inteviewer: 'Rammstein'?
Damon: Yeah. Now, do you wanna know what that sounds like?
Inteviewer: Tell me.
Damon: It's sounds shit!
(Everyone is lauhing.)
Damon: But
you know
Inteviewer: Haha! Just
because?
Damon: Because it's
Inteviewer: It's less personal than your record.
Damon: Well, you know, it's the opposite of personal, intimate music, isn't
it, it's completely theatrical.
Alex: That was marketing and theatre.
Damon: I mean, as a piece of theatre, if you like that kind of theatre, it's
good, I suppose.
Inteviewer: It could be a slight justification for anything, then.
Damon: It is. That's the danger. Theatre can be a justification for anything.
Inteviewer: Right. That is dangerous.
Damon: Well, no, I mean, it's like, you know, I didn't mean that in a
you
know, you've got to accomodate our sense of humour. I think sometimes we come
across in a slightly, you know, negative way when actually we're just trying to
be a little more, uhm
I don't know
well, you know, we're just trying to put
a little bit of humour into things, actually.
Inteviewer: Yeah. On the verge of sarcasm?
Damon: Uhm
no. No.
Inteviewer: No?
Damon: I wasn't being sarcastic, then.
Inteviewer: OK, hehe.
Alex: Cheeky.
Damon: Being cheeky. Cheeky monkey.
(The interviewer is about to translate the whole thing in German for the
viewers.)
Inteviewer: So, we have to start from the end with translating, in case I
forget anything, could you help me out, then?
Damon: OK.
Inteviewer: If there's something important missing.
(The interviewer tells the viewers that Damon thought 'Rammstein' were very
theatrical.)
Damon:
and I said 'funny', not 'shit'.
Inteviewer: 'Funny'? OK, then we turn around that second
Damon: Just slightly modifying my answer.
Inteviewer: Hehe.
Damon: (*) Funny, yeah, very funny.
Damon: (*) I've got a question. It is funny, isn't it? It's not
Inteviewer: No, it is funny. Yeah. So it's free of any analysis, free of any
personal, ironic things.
Damon: (*) Is that right?
Inteviewer: Yeah.
Damon: (*) It is funny?
Inteviewer: Yeah.
Damon: (*) Oh, good.
Inteviewer: Hehe.
(The interviewer announces the video to 'Tender'.)
Inteviewer: So, the video for this potential hit 'Tender' is coming up.
Damon: Mmmh.
Inteviewer: Uhm, a few words about that?
Damon: Well, it's us playing live and the sound is not
uhm, it's not us lip
sinking, it's us singing, so the sound you hear and you see is all one thing,
it's not the record. It's us playing.
Inteviewer: Mmmh.
(They play the video to 'Tender'. Afterwards, the interviewer tells the viewers
about the survey in British music magazine NME, where Blur fans could comment
the new single and how different their opinions were.)
Inteviewer: I just mentioned that
Damon: (*) Yes, I know.
Inteviewer: Did you understand it, Alex? The range that people voted 'Tender'
for
Alex: Yeah.
Inteviewer: What is it for you, uhm, is it
actually, is it a complement, to
have this range, when you do something which is not super commercial from the
first second on?
Damon: Uhm, I mean
Alex: Well, it's a good sign that they're bothered to print what people think
about it, I suppose.
Damon: Yeah. I mean, the thing about the English press is, as I said earlier,
that it is very extreme, you know? So
Inteviewer: Mmmh. But these were fans, right. Do you think they were quoted
right?
Damon: Well, I don't know. I mean, I don't trust the press, here.
Inteviewer: Mmmh.
Damon: It's like always, they just, they create
they create things how they
want them to be perceived, you know.
Inteviewer: How were the immediate, uhm, facetoface, uhm, reactions that
you got for 'Tender' and your record in general?
Damon: Well, I think great, you know, I got, I mean, I got a letter from, uhm,
Brian Eno's wife today
Alex: That's nice!
Damon:
saying it was the most moving song she had ever heard.
Alex: Really? I bet Brian's pissed off about that.
Damon: Well, he probably ... right, you know Brian. So, you know, I don't
know, that's a random thing, I mean it's the last thing on earth I'd ever
expected. So I think people do, you know, I think it's, it's definitely touching
to people in a kind of positive way.
Inteviewer: It is. Everyone who was humming it, uhm, had a smile on their
face, so it was very uplifting.
Damon: That's good
that's good.
Alex: It's the gospel choir, I think, that's what gives it the real kind of
lifting.
Inteviewer: Is that a choir from London, actually?
Damon: Yeah, it's 'London Community Gospel Choir'. Really, really lovely
people. I mean, really
Alex: There is no bad lass in them.
Damon:
really beautiful.
Alex: They are fundamentally good.
Inteviewer: Was it that you have written the song and already knew that it
needed some kind of choir in, later on?
Alex: (shaking his head) It's like playing a joke or something, using a gospel
choir, I think you can probably only do it once
in your life.
Damon: I tell you because the song, the lyrics on the song are so kind of
close to uhm, you know, something you'd
you'd
you'd associate with gospel
singing, really.
Inteviewer: Love.
Damon: Yeah, love and
just
crank, sort of calling people to be strong.
Yeah, that's what, kind of, it's all about, isn't it, gospel music? So, I think
that's why it works. It wouldn't have worked for anything else. And they
certainly wouldn't sing about something which wasn't
you know
sort of close
to them.
Alex: Close to their hearts.
Inteviewer: Right. Now your request videos are coming up. Very interesting
bands that you picked.
Damon: Yeah. 'Can' and 'Kraftwerk'. I mean, I don't know what the footage you
got of either of them is, because I'm leaving it up to you, but
Inteviewer: Yeah, we gonna dig out some vintage footage we have by those
bands.
Damon: Mmmh.
Inteviewer: You know that 'Can' are doing some kind of a reunion in, uhm
Damon: Yeah. I think, uhm, we're doing an interview with them, on Wednesday.
Inteviewer: Oh!
Damon: I've just heard of it and it's really
(holds his thumb up)
great.
Alex: I think we like both those bands 'cos they kind of sound very German.
German bands sounding German. Always in rock music a good thing to do. If you're
German. Other than trying making heavy metal, or something. I hate it when
German bands try to make bad American rock music.
Inteviewer: Yeah.
Alex: 'Cos there is a German style.
Damon: There's a really brilliant German style, you know. When I was growing
up I was so into Hermann Hess and Kurt Weill, they were like my two, two of my
biggest influences, as a teenager. And Krautrock
as they kind of
you know,
it's like Britpop, isn't it, Krautrock
you know
but a lot better, uhm
you
know, really, really important, and this album has got a lot of, uhm, it's not,
just in the spirit of it you know it's quite, uhm
it's quite adventurous
music. So uhm, you know ...
Inteviewer: Have you noticed, uhm, that also a lot of people in Britain are,
uhm, appreciating music from that area more
Damon: Entirely, 'cos its' really good. Yeah, it's seen as the beginning of
dance music, really. So
Alex: You got any Bonnie M?
Inteviewer: Uhm
I think we do.
Alex: Bonnie M is great.
Inteviewer: The second wave of great dance music.
Damon: Yeah!
Alex: That was German as well, wasn't it?
Inteviewer: Yeah. Frank Farian.
Damon: Yeah.
Inteviewer: I just saw you two the other day with him.
Alex: He was mean, though, wasn't he?
Inteviewer: He was very mean, the big inventor of Milly Vanilly, and he
killed them, potentially. At least one of them.
Damon: Well, you can say that, we can't.
Alex: He was good but he was mean.
Inteviewer: Very mean. But uhm, great producer. Great music.
(They play Damon and Alex' request videos, 'Oh Yeah' by 'Can' and 'Die Roboter'
by 'Kraftwerk'.)
Inteviewer: Your live performances are coming up. When do we have a chance to
see you on tour?
Damon: I think we might do a festival in Germany, or two.
Inteviewer: Mmmh. Sometimes in Spring, Summer?
Damon: Yeah, but uhm, no touring.
Inteviewer: No touring?
Damon: No. But this show on Viva, it will be
uhm, you know, we're gonna play
a proper, uhm, all the songs from the album. So you, you know
just keep
playing it if you miss us. Just record it and play it at home.
Inteviewer: Hehe, show it over and over 'cos you don't come.
Damon: Get your friends round and have a little ease!
Inteviewer: Haha! Yeah, we can do that.
(They play 'Mellow Song' live from the Blur gig for Viva.)
Inteviewer: Thank you very much for joining us on this program.
Damon: Ah, it's a pleasure.
Inteviewer: All the best and for the new record, uhm
Damon: Yeah, so, thanks.
Inteviewer: Thank you, too.
Alex: Thanks.
Damon: (*) See you later.
Inteviewer: See you later.
Damon: (*) And bye.
Inteviewer: And bye.
(They play 'TrimmTrabb' live from the Blur gig for Viva.)
***Many, many thanks to Helen who transcribed this (love you girl, this must have taken for ever), and also to Gabrielle who managed to figure out what Damon was saying when he was in *muffle* mode :)