“Blur will certainly do something else,” said Dave Rowntree, drummer of the British rock group directed by Damon Albarn, who is preparing a photobook about the beginning of the emblematic Britpop quartet.
In England and beyond, the enthusiasts of the English rocks of the 1990s have only one appointment in mind: on Friday begins in Cardiff The Oasis Tour, which brings together the brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher after 15 years of rupture.
Meanwhile, Dave Rowntree, founding member of Blur, refines a photobook that will be published on September 9, already pre-orderable.
He found these clichés by chance, in an old cardboard promised to the recycling center.
“In my memory, it only looked like vacations,” said the 61 -year -old drummer, met in Paris. But with retrospect, they testify “our emotion to do all kinds of things for the first time,” he says.
No one you know: Dave Rowntree’s first photos of Blur It offers a group of stuttering behind a stuttering group of the end of the 1980s, just before the Britpop explosion, British Rock Alternative Sauce).
In the act, sometimes blurred and in the framework at random, these shots show Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon and bass player Alex James, sometimes accompanied by Dave Byars lighting director. Rowntree is behind the plane.
“We gave very small concerts in front of very few people. We were playing music that was not fashionable at that time,” he recalls.
Alegre Banda
Registration contract in their pocket, the cheerful band, cigarette in the beak, smile on the omnipresent lips and alcohol, discover the world.
“A travel package, a lodge package where you are desperately looking for something to do,” the mixer photographer smiles, remembering the moment when they “made the fools” spend time during their first international tour.
When the Windpop wind rises, the blur flies towards success with tubes such as “Girls & Boys” and “Song 2”.
However, training knows turbulence, breaks and reforms: the last date of 2023 for Darren balladAlbum followed by a tour passed by Wembley.
Since then, the future has been uncertain. Damon Albarn, who is full of projects (Gorillaz, Mozart Revisited), spoke several times the end of Blur. His comrade Dave does not want to believe it: “It seems to me that it is not over,” he said.
“There is no plan, Blur really does not work in this way. We have no planning and strategy meetings, it is a bit as if we were working as we advanced,” said Rowntree, who had other lives in music and politics, within the Labor Party.
Disturbing evolution
Oasis and pulp mark a winning return on stage. But, instead of Britpop’s rebirth, the artist sees him as a disturbing evolution of the music industry.
“It is increasingly difficult to make money selling recorded music, musicians should look for other ways to make a living,” so “many groups are forced to go on the road,” he says.
“It’s good because I think that’s where music lives, in the concert hall, in front of an audience. (…) But the disadvantage is that it only works for groups of our level, pulp, blur, oasis,” he adds.
The expected tour of the Gallagher brothers also suffered strong criticism for the price of places, which exploded due to dynamic prices, a tool to maximize ticket offices.
“It’s a double -edged sword, right? On the one hand, I am very happy that they are on tour,” excites Dave Rowntree, highlighting “the economic advantages” generated by this million places sold.
“On the other hand, it is a shame that the right tickets are now so expensive,” admits the musician, who had bought one but cannot attend the concert. “I had to give it to a friend!”
Source: BFM TV
