The Cold Reception

This album was a definite ’soundtrack to my life’ thing back in 1994 and 1995. Though I already liked Blur a bit from hearing ‘There’s No Other Way’ in the early 1990s and then a passing acquaintance with ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’ (an album I would return to after Parklife and end up loving just as much), it was this album that made me a proper fan of the band.

Before Mansun came along Blur were my ‘band of the moment’ in the mid 90s and could do no wrong. Girls and Boys with it’s John Taylor-ish bass line certainly caught my ear and I bought the album around the time of that single’s release. I played this album everywhere. At work (over the PA system), in the car, in the house, in bed (on my Walkman – sorry kids we didn’t have iPods back then) and even in my sequencer on the Amiga 500 as I reconstructed various songs from the album into midi files to be used as backing tracks for my guitarist friend  and I who both liked Blur and were starting to play together as a ‘band’ (this was around a year before I started recording my own proper songs under the name ‘Outsider’).

By the end of 1995 Blur were massive,  the UK was at the summit of Britpop, it could only go down from there.

In November 1995 I went to see Blur live at the Sheffield Arena. It was actually a mistake as we (my previously mentioned Guitarist Friend and I) were supposed to be going to see them in Birmingham (which was only about 10 miles away from where we lived) but due to some error reading ‘Select’ magazine on his part, and dialing the wrong number we ended up going to Sheffield instead. And we didn’t mind, we thought we’d make a day of it. Home of Jarvis Cocker (and others) it seemed a good location for some Britpop adventures anyway.

14 year old ticket, forgive it some wear marks!

The day was spent around the town centre, in various pubs and bars, playing games of pool and having just enough beer to keep us happy but not too much to dull the senses. It was here I bought Pulp’s then newly released single ‘Disco 2000′ on CD. Still got it somewhere and it is now a nostalgic reminder of what ended up being an amazing day.

The gig was very good, as good as those large arena gigs can be anyway…  but Albarn, Coxon and co teared up the stage to good effect. On our seats we noticed ‘invitations’ to Blur’s after-show party ‘Bank Holiday’ which was to be held at the famous Leadmill nightclub. We couldn’t take that seriously really as this was a 12,000 seat arena, why on earth would they risk 12,000 fans rampaging down the tiny backstreets of Sheffield town centre at close to midnight?

The original flyer from 1995, I hang on to music related stuff!

Leaving the gig we noticed other ‘Great Escape’ Program holders heading into town so followed them for a bit (stealth and stalking have always been favourites of mine). Parked up the car and then followed on foot. I didn’t even know at the time where the Leadmill was but in the end it was easily findable due to the massive line of Blur fans queued outside.

The Leadmill by Day

Long story short we got into the club, then through a bit of cheek and a touch of bravery on my part I blagged some passes from ‘Smoggy’  Blur’s security guy, for me and my friend to get into the small annex bar which is where the ‘real’ after-show party was. And by real I mean, you look through the door and you see Damon 3 feet away, Graham in a blue puffy jacket leaning over the bar and Alex dancing drunkenly on the tiny dance floor in front of the DJ’s lights.

The Golden (Green) Pass – actually a sticker but mine is still ‘as new’ and unworn!

So we got in, and one by one we talked to the members of Blur… ‘working our way up’ from Dave to Damon. I didn’t say much to Dave or Alex for a few reasons (Dave was on his way to bed, Alex was drunk and a bit aloof), but Graham proved to be quite chatty for a man who had obviously not just had his first pint of the evening. We talked about his guitars and trivial things, he disappeared, then reappeared and pointed at me (for some reason) saying ‘hey it’s you again’ but put his hand on his face when he pointed and knocked his glasses down his nose, I was more than a bit tipsy by now so I pushed them back up.. hey if you can’t help one of the best guitarist of his generation see a bit more clearly then what can you do?

After that, It was time for Damon… and I kinda thought he wouldn’t have time for us, the press and he himself had often played up the aloof and arrogant character but as it turned out he was the kindest and most open of the lot. We chatted for over 30 minutes, my friend, Damon and me in one quiet corner of the small bar. We even danced a little (I’m glad no one took video of that!) not together of course but opposite each other with 2 females either side (Hey I didn’t ask questions I just got on with it), talked some more… Damon showed me where he’d grazed his elbow when falling back onto the stage at the climax of ‘The Universal’ and said it was worth it as it felt amazing when all the crowd cheered. I was, as I say, barely out of my teens at the time and was getting more into music so I asked him about song writing, his best advice? ‘Just write songs’. We talked about Britpop and his then girlfriend (Justine) and quite a few trivial and inquisitive matters including questions about the ‘Starshaped’ documentary I’d always wanted to know the answers to. Damon even asked us if we thought the show had had been any good (he said it felt great that night but was a little worried how it came over in the venue), of course, we said it was great!

If he had grown tired of our banter and questioning he didn’t show it, and at the end the only reason we stopped was because the club was closing. The large room was empty, most of the crew and cleared out, Graham was sat on a table by the fire exit, Damon held up his bottle to my glass and we did the ‘cheers’ thing and I finished the pint and headed for the exit.

On our way out, in the now dark and quiet legendary night club, there was Damon stood on one side by the door, Graham on the other side on his table (half asleep I think), their security guy (who I’d got the passes off hours ago)  and some Leadmill staff… we walked down this tunnel of Britpop genius and someone said ‘Thanks for coming lads, it’s appreciated’ It could have been the security guy, it may have been the Leadmill’s locker-upper, It could very possibly have been Damon all I know is, it wasn’t Graham… not in the state he was in.

As the door closed behind us.. gone 2am in a dark side street in a town centre neither of us really knew, we just looked at each other and laughed, did that really just happen?

The Leadmill by Night

There was a magic feeling in the UK around the mid ’90s, inspiring, uplifting and great to be a part of.  And I put this story here along with the album as it’s all one ‘time machine moment’ to me now and is that pivotal and memorable era of my life where I became more determined to write music and began to appreciate the beauty of chance.

My Parklife Blip.Fm Blips (click to play track @blip.fm)

Trouble In The Message Centre
End of a Century
This Is a Low
Girls and Boys