Graham Coxon has exclusively revealed to nme.com that the Blur “best of” compilation is likely to contain new material – but the guitarist hinted that he is not entirely happy at the prospect of putting the album together.
Speaking before the final gig in his solo UK tour last night (July 15) at the London Highbury Garage, Coxon said that the band were still heavily involved in negotiations with their label Food over the compilation.
He said: “It will be mainly singles, with maybe one new song. It’s kind of weird thinking about a record like that. We always want to be going forward but we have to think about all this past history.” He sounded almost weary when he explained that the band were in meeting after meeting about it, and added: “I raise my voice to say something and I get talked over.”
Fellow Blur members Damon Albarn and Alex James were in the audience at the previous night’s show (Friday) at the same venue, and Coxon admitted it was a bizarre experience seeing them in the crowd instead of beside him on stage.
“I tried not to think about them,” he said. “I looked out in the audience and there he [Damon] was. He looked like he was having fun. They’ve been really nice about the record [his new album, ‘The Golden D‘] as well. They’ve been very supportive. Alex was the first person I played it to.” He added that a lot of people had said they preferred the songs from the album in a live setting.
He added that he was enjoying his solo venture because it has a lower-profile and is less stressful than Blur tours, and admitted that he enjoyed his new role as frontman: “I really like singing, even though I’m not a terribly good singer. It’s a good release of energy.”
See nme.com later this week for our exclusive Graham Coxon vid.