archive gramon

quotes, photos and facts about graham coxon + damon albarn dm or ask for credit/removal <3

[archivegramon]

welcome to the gramon archive :)

our main purpose is to gather information around the blur members, graham coxon and damon albarn, focusing on their dynamics and decades-long friendship.

how to navigate:

we will tag the posts with year, member, era (for pictures, i.e.: leisure, the great escape) and overall subject (for quotes, i.e.: friendship, fights)

you can look for specific terms or direct quotes through the search.

you can submit posts, just send us the direct source and year of publication

to ask for removal or credits, please, send us an dm or ask. we will gladly do it.

[archivegramon]

“I developed my artistic sense primarily through film. If I set Blur with Graham is because we watched together “Meantime” by Mike Leigh, one of his first films: Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Phil Daniels . This is the story of two brothers who are linked forever. It was projected to our relationship and our story. We wanted to experience the same thing with music. ”

Damon Albarn about movie 'Meantime' (1983) for Lucy, 2014. (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

Tim Roth in Meantime (1983). 😅

[archivegramon]

“I developed my artistic sense primarily through film. If I set Blur with Graham is because we watched together “Meantime” by Mike Leigh, one of his first films: Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Phil Daniels . This is the story of two brothers who are linked forever. It was projected to our relationship and our story. We wanted to experience the same thing with music. ”

Damon Albarn about movie 'Meantime' (1983) for Lucy, 2014. (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“I sang along to each song; I jumped, I smiled. I tried to hold Damon's hand each time he got close to us. I brought with me a "GRAMON INSPIRES ME" sign, and the first member of Blur to see it was Graham. When he saw it, he gave me a beautiful, naughty and embarrassed smile, and then laughed. The second person to see it was Damon- he smiled with an "Oh Dear" expression and turned to look at Graham knowingly. Alex also seemed amused and surprised by my sign. Then one of the blonde trumpet players tried to read the letters, and both Liz and I can read his lips: “GRAMON”. I held it up for a bit more; he laughed, pointed out my sign and called on his other trumpet-playing mate. I think my sign was very popular – it definitely made people laugh.”

Damon and Graham's reaction to a "Gramon inspires me" sign in Mexico, 2013 (via Blurballs)

The sign shared by the fan.

[philcollinsenjoyer]

it's like at least with oasis you know they were only doing coke backastage

[archivegramon]

Graham commenting on Damon's ass for Blur's documentary B-Roads (1995)

[archivegramon]

What’s the thing you admire the most about [Damon]?

Graham Coxon: His insatiable curiosity, his ability to blend into cultures that are so different from his. I love Gorillaz and all the bands he has created. Especially his collaborations with incredible Malian musicians such as Afel Bocoum, and Africa Express. He was in Mali during the Islamist occupation and he gave a long series of concerts over there and in England. No one but Damon would invite a hundred African musicians – Tony Allen, Salif Keïta, Rokia Traoré – and make them play with Englishmen like Paul McCartney, Carl Barât and Elvis Costello. They traveled around the country on a train called Africa Express and I joined in. Noel Gallagher was there, too!

Graham Coxon about Damon Albarn's personality to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“The first image I have of Damon is him onstage, at a school assembly: he was singing ‘Gee, Officer Krupke’ from West Side Story and I was really impressed by his presence. He was very extroverted, unlike me, who is very shy. [...] [The second image is] A puny and irritating show-off who told me my shoes were crap while showing me his. They were the shoes the mods were wearing and I couldn’t afford them. In those days I was playing the drums and the saxophone, and Damon was playing the violin and the piano. We would write songs… We were well aware of being the school weirdos… Damon has always been like an older brother to me, even if he says that he relied on me. He was very protective of me… But he never liked my girlfriends, which was a bit annoying. [he laughs] I have never known anyone like Damon, as bright and insecure. And yet, within Blur, I was convinced I was the black sheep… I’ve had episodes of rage, of non-communication… There was the Damon, Dave and Alex trio. And I felt isolated. But it’s all in the past.”

Graham Coxon about Damon Albarn to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“Graham is and always will be part of my life. We’ve been stupid and we were probably competing with each other. But whatever happens, Graham will come out with this terribly annoying sardonic humour that hides someone deeply human. He’s a true friend… I’ve often used him as a shield … I don’t know how to explain a thirty-five-year relationship that goes well beyond Blur. And I am so proud of having made [The Magic Whip] with him, Dave [Rowntree] and Alex [James]. We’ve been friends since we were teens and our personal stories don’t really need to be told. They’re much easily found in the music and the lyrics of our songs, or when we’re onstage, than in a biography.”

Damon Albarn about Graham Coxon's personality to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“Graham has always been pessimistic, terribly nostalgic, but in the end, I think he’s a very enthusiastic person. This record proves it. We formed some bands long before we started Blur, he has seen me act in plays, when I wanted to become an actor… I laughed when I saw his first artworks, when he wanted to be a painter. I’m not laughing now: he was very talented. I’ve always admired him a great deal, for his knowledge of fine arts, his old school style… Graham is a workhorse, he can push the limits of his instrument, he can make you discover new sounds and new chords, he can set himself the task of deciphering one of Miles Davis’ solos for days on end.”

Damon Albarn about Graham Coxon to Rolling Stone France, 2015. (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“I feel like I’ve known Graham forever. I was 12 when we met at school, in Colchester. The other kids were crazy about football, whereas Graham and I shared a passion for clothes and music. We listened to The Beatles, The Jam, Madness… We instantly became friends.”

Damon Albarn about Graham Coxon to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“[The lyrics in The Magic Whip] deal with our relationship and the way we perceive the contemporary world, this crazy planet we’re living on. When I recorded my vocals, I was feeling very nervous… It was the same kind of insecurity I had felt when recording Think Tank, on which I sing: ‘What am I to do/Someone here is really not happy.’”

Damon Albarn about writing the lyrics and recording the vocals for The Magic Whip to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“The relationship between me and Damon had to evolve, and this record helped us fix what we had broken, or damaged, over the years: today, the respect we have for each other is unwavering. I wouldn’t have been able to say the same two years ago. Our friendship is the story of a lifetime… The story of a band, too. There were beautiful times, but also very tricky, difficult phases. And, to be honest, we’ve let each other down. This album is a way of saying sorry. Forgive me for being a nuisance, a pain in the arse during the last thirty years.”

Graham Coxon about his and Damon's relationship to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“One day, not long after we’d been in the studio in Hong Kong, I suddenly felt frustrated, and deeply irritated. I was listening to the tapes on a loop. And what I was hearing was much more than just a naive and spontaneous racket. The material was there, hidden beneath all the noise! I knew it! I thought that it couldn’t remain buried, and that once again we had found ourselves in an unresolved situation. That really infuriated me. So I called Stephen Street [their producer from the outset: Parklife, Modern Life Is Rubbish…] and we put it all in order. Then I brought the demos to Damon. Knowing him, I was expecting him to say: ‘Nah, there’s no point… I refuse to release another fucking record with Blur!’ But against all odds, he started dancing and he exclaimed ‘It’s great! Keep going!’ I felt like I was driving in central London at 60 miles an hour, on an empty road with nothing but green traffic lights ahead of me. And, in a way, I felt like I was going home.”

Graham Coxon about The Magic Whip to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

What did Graham tell you to convince you to make a new record sixteen years after the last one Blur made?

Damon: Probably something like: ‘Whether we keep doing stuff together or not after this, we absolutely need to take this step!’ And also that to him, it would be a bit like the Beatles’ Abbey Road! (he laughs).

Graham: Whenever I have to make decisions in life, even if it’s chosing a yoghurt in the supermarket, I always find the answer by asking the same, very sensible question: what would the Beatles have done?

Damon and Graham about The Magic Whip to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“Some of the lyrics are very intimate. ‘My Terracotta Heart’, for example, is a profoundly sad song. Everyone thought it was a love song but it’s actually about our friendship. Graham plays a deeply moving guitar solo on it. And I sing: ‘We were more like brothers / But that was years ago.’ Then I ask: ‘Is something broke inside me? / Because at the moment I’m lost and feeling that I don’t know / If I’m losing you again’. It’s a beautiful song that looks back on Blur’s past… We’ve all gone on our own journeys, and this song is where we meet again. It’s the result of our journeys and of our differences. A sort of dissonant harmony.”

Damon Albarn to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“Damon and I are bound by something so strong it’s beyond us, a kind of telepathy that I have never had with anyone else. When I double his voice with my guitar in heterophony or in counterpoint, I feel like I can finally release a part of me that cannot be expressed otherwise.”

Graham Coxon to Rolling Stone France, 2015 (via Damon Albarn Unofficial)

[archivegramon]

“IS THAT DAMON IN THE PHOTO! TWEEDO KNOWS BEST...

theres sum tell tale signs wit the foto tho... damon wouldnt be seen dead in a belt like that... he is far too hip hop. damon doesnt have a concave chest at all!! er.... quite the opposite :D

and the nose is totally wrong yeaaah...and the hair and the arm and the ring and hyippy rock drongo bracelets.....

on page 2 of this thread there is abundant proof of this foto being ryan [Adams].....

fun tho no? no??? oh!!:D”

Graham as Tweedo on Blur's now deactivated official forum, micro analyzing and fact checking a photo of Ryan Adams, claiming it was Damon. (via @damonalbarn / link)

[archivegramon]

“why?? its like me showing you the mooon and saying "thats the moon!" and you asking me why?”

Graham's answer when someone didn't believe him.

[what-distance-left-to-run]

Here's the picture, guys