For most, a legacy as the bassist with Blur would be enough for one lifetime, yet Alex James has masterfully traded the neon lights of the Nineties for the rolling hills of the Cotswolds, reinventing himself as an award-winning cheesemaker, a vintner and the ultimate festival architect.
Today, his 200-acre farm, bought on a whim during his honeymoon with wife Claire more than two decades ago, serves as the headquarters for his latest ambitious venture.
Following the triumphant return of Oasis last year, Blur’s last reunion in 2023 and with a hunger for nostalgia that shows no signs of waning, Alex is now returning to the “goldmine” of his youth.
Taking the energy of the Big Feastival to a grander stage, he is bringing the symphonic sounds of Britpop to the Royal Albert Hall next month.
“When we played the big Pulp and Oasis bangers with the orchestra, the crowd was louder than the band!” Alex, 57, tells HELLO!. “Our Blur reunion was great, the Oasis tour went crackers last year and the Britpop period of music is a goldmine.
“So many songs seem to mean more to people now than they did when they were written. It was only after several meetings and many hours mulling in the bubble bath that we got the playlist down to four and a half hours of stuff we absolutely have to do.”
The show will include a “sprinkling of special guests” regionally, as well as Quadrophenia’s Phil Daniels, Reef’s Gary Stringer and Saffron of Republica.
“I’m not promising you Jarvis [Cocker], Damon [Albarn] or Liam [Gallagher],” he says, “but we’ll keep a few special guests up our sleeves and the orchestra gives their songs rocket fuel, especially as a lot of them have string and brass sections.”
Blur vs. Oasis
Considering the rivalry between Blur and Oasis back in the 1990s, how does Alex feel about performing some of their songs? “I look back on that time now with nothing but fondness,” he reveals. “At the time, from my point of view, it was just a hoot. Liam is a truly great singer and they are great songs, so I’ll have ’em! I didn’t go to their recent gigs, but I’ve seen Liam a bunch of times over the years and never seen a bad show. I’m absolutely delighted for them, it’s been a global phenomenon. And just that reconciliation and happy ever after.
“Wonderwall took me ages to crack, the bass line is really subtle and took a lot of work. I’ve had 30 years to learn all the Blur songs, so this is a whole load of new material to memorise. But it’s a real joy giving all this music some patient study and it’s been wonderful getting an appreciation of how loved the songs are, even by my kids and their mates.”
The buzz that Alex got from being back on the road with Blur for their reunion three years ago was one of the motivations behind Alex James’ Britpop Classical.
© Getty ImagesFamily affair
But it was also the fact that his five children, Geronimo, 21, twins Artemis and Galileo, 19, Sable, 17, and Beatrix, 15, all musicians themselves, loved seeing their dad on stage so much.
“It’d been eight years since the previous Blur tour, the longest time ever,” he explains. “Living on the farm and doing Feastival is all-consuming and the kids have been quite young. I was worried when Blur got back together that I wasn’t going to see them all summer. But they came to the first warm-up and were like: ‘Oh Dad! Wow!’
“At least one of them came to every single show. One of the twins, Artemis, came out to Japan and was like: ‘Dad, how are we ever going to go on holiday again after this?’ The greatest gift of being in Blur, other than music itself, was that opportunity to travel and see the world.”
Alex James’ Britpop Classical plays dates around the UK from March 11 to July 26.
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