AS Blur begin their big comeback, singer Damon Albarn joins the rest of us in asking the burning question.

When will their main Britpop rivals Oasis follow suit?

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With a warm-up show tonight in Colchester, Essex, the place where it all began, and a surprise new album, The Ballad Of Darren, due in July, Blur are all systems go – but what about Noel, Liam and Co?

“I can guarantee they will reform,” says Damon. “In fact, I put money on it.

“They are brothers and it would be great to see them reconcile.”

Damon believes the Gallaghers’ relationship “will have changed dramatically” since the announcement of Noel’s impending divorce.

“The only funny thing is that we will be dwarfed by their SEVEN for two nights at Wembley!” he exclaimed.

That said, he accepts that “no one else can play Blur songs but us, but Gallagher seems to be able to do their songs”.

Over the years, Damon developed a warm friendship with Noel and even got him to co-write and perform on Gorillaz track We Got The Power in 2017.

But he is also keen to set the record straight on the two biggest British bands of the nineties.

Our general perception is of brash Manchester boys, Oasis, versus posh Essex boys, Blur.

But Damon says: “The worst aspect of it, and something that needs to be addressed, is that we were sold as privately educated and yet none of us were.

‘Life is too short’

“Alex (James) went to the grammar school because he passed the 11-plus. The rest of us went to shy comprehensive schools in the eighties.

“So it was a total myth. Both my parents were artists. One of them had a job as a teacher and that was it. It was a complete jam. The idea that I am a public schoolboy. . . what!?”

At this point, he stops himself from descending into rant mode and adds with a wry smile, “Every time I open my mouth these days, I sound like a middle-aged grumpy old man!”

I speak to Damon in the top floor “office” of his Studio 13 in the shadow of London’s Westway and it’s clear that 2023 is getting a bit blurry for this restless soul.

Dressed in a baggy denim skateboarder outfit to go with – despite what he says – his youthful spirit, the 55-year-old explains why he’s one of the busiest men in music.

“Life is too damn short!” I cried. “I still see myself as the guy in Girls & Boys and Parklife videos and I know I’m not. I just need to man up a little.”

Along with co-creator Jamie Hewlett, he released the latest Gorillaz album, Cracker Island, in February and headlined America’s biggest music festival, Coachella, with the virtual band in April.

Yesterday, Blur announced The Ballad Of Darren, their ninth studio album (out July 21), with single The Narcissist the first tantalizing part of what’s to come.

The ten-track song cycle was produced by James Ford, best known for his work with Arctic Monkeys, and is their first studio effort since their last comeback, 2015’s chart-topper The Magic Whip.

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Tonight Blur play the first of four warm-up gigs to an audience of 200 at Colchester Arts Centre, in the heart of their old student stomping grounds.

And on July 8 and 9, they’ll be playing their first ever shows at the 75,000-capacity Wembley Stadium, proving that our collective thirst for Britpop remains unquenched.

I ask Damon how the meeting is going. “It’s always a little weird to begin with,” he replies.

“We haven’t seen each other for a few years, and that’s how it goes sometimes, but we catch up soon. We’re just a little more considerate of each other now. Less selfish. What works!”

One of his main drivers is keeping Blur’s beloved songs alive—Parklife, Beetlebum, Coffee & TV, There’s No Other Way, Lied 2, The Universal, Tender and the rest.

But for it to be a truly fulfilling experience, Damon brings new music into the mix.

“I did quite well with my songwriting,” he says. “Looks like I’ve hit a nerve in my underground world. I’ve been digging for a while and I found something.”

If his new Blur songs continue his creative streak, they also surprised everyone, including his bandmates.

“I didn’t tell anyone I was writing an album. I kind of wrote it while I was on the road with Gorillaz,” he reveals.

“I even demoed the songs out there on my travels. I had a studio that came with me everywhere, so I recorded everywhere.”

Then, while back in the UK over Christmas, he “wrote a few more” and “by the New Year he had 24 songs ready to record”.

Next came sessions in London and Devon with bandmates Alex, Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree.

“We just started it and the results sound good. I’m very, very excited about it,” says Damon.

In fact, a perverted side of me would quite like to walk out on stage at Wembley Stadium and play a new one.”

He describes The Ballad Of Darren, its name inspired by the idea of ​​an everyman character, as “a really emotional record”.

“My personal life has been a bit stormy recently, so it has a bit of that,” he admits. And, even if he says so himself, he believes the album is “really good”.

Damon reveals that the band ended up recording about 20 songs and then “absolutely whittled them down” to ten for standard versions and 12 for deluxe formats. “We were very hard on ourselves.”

The resulting album comes with an evocative, classic Blur cover photo by Martin Parr, of Gourock lido, Renfrewshire, under glowing gray skies.

In their announcement, the bandmates each made a comment. First Damon, who says: “It’s an aftershock record, reflection and commentary on where we find ourselves now.”

Guitarist Graham adds: “The older and crazier we get, the more essential it becomes that what we play is charged with the right emotion and intention. Sometimes just a riff doesn’t do the job.”

Bassist Alex sees it this way: “For any long-term relationship to last with any meaning, you have to be able to surprise each other in some way, and somehow we all continue to do that.”

And finally the drummer Dave: “It always feels very natural to make music together. With every record we make, the process reveals something new and we evolve as a band. We don’t take it for granted.”

I ask Damon how the other three reacted when they discovered he wanted them to record a new Blur album.

“They were satisfied and happy. Recording the new songs then became a good way for us to practice the old stuff,” he replies.

Next, Damon considers why the time is right for a meeting.

“It is important for some of the members to play again,” he says.

“Maybe in some ways not that important to me, but, you know what, why can’t I play those tunes?

“They are part of who I am and it’s potentially a very joyful night out. I also firmly believe that we have all improved as musicians.”

When he looks back on those heady days when Blur battled with Oasis for chart dominance, he admits: “I was much more of an amateur then than I am now.

“But there’s a lot to celebrate about amateurism when it comes to making bands.” Damon maintains that public interest in a band like Blur is cyclical.

“The barometer of this country is so all over the place,” he says. “Sometimes the response can be overwhelming and sometimes completely overwhelmed.”

So what can we expect from the big Wembley shows, the centerpieces of their European tour?

“I try to keep them as simple as possible,” he says. “I don’t really want huge amounts of other musicians.

“My attitude is: If the songs don’t work, why are we doing them? We might bring out the London Community Gospel Choir for Tender, but they’re on the record anyway.”

And he confirms that we can expect Quadrophenia star Phil Daniels to reprise his brilliant “vorsprung durch technik” spoken word role on Parklife.

Damon knows that Blur has a special place in the hearts of so many people and that this comeback is for them.

“What’s the point of doing it otherwise?” he says. “I’m very aware that it has to be something that uplifts people and is positive.

“This is the first really big post-Britpop statement from one of those bands. We had the distance to assimilate and evaluate what we mean to people.”

As for the band’s future, Damon, who seems to always have multiple projects going, can’t possibly predict what lies ahead.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever make another Blur record,” he says. “I didn’t really expect to make this one.”

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BLUR – The narcissist

★★★★★

IT has the hooks, the chorus, in fact all the hallmarks of classic Blur.

But the first single also finds Damon Albarn in a reflective mood, looking at himself in the mirror and dwelling on famous rock star profiles. . . the bottle, drugs and ego. It’s raw, honest and exciting. SC