Graham Coxon of Blur has opened up about his experiences of dealing with some of the Britpop legends’ more obsessive fans.
In an interview with The Idler magazine, the guitarist recalled suffering from insomnia and anxiety at the height of Blur’s fame in the 1990s as the result of unwanted, intrusive attention from some “unhinged” followers of the band.
“You get unhinged people. People who are obsessive,” he said. “And until it happens to you, you don’t quite realise just what a nightmare that is. Months and months of not sleeping. Worrying every day, every hour of the day. It was awful.”
Coxon also encountered men who would make advances upon his girlfriends. “You’d be on tour and your girlfriend would have all these suitors, trying to get with your girlfriend. Because fair enough, if they like your girlfriend, but if they’re trying to get with her because she’s with you … well, I found that a world of super meanness that I didn’t realise was there.”
Blur have announced details of a 2023 reunion gig at London’s Wembley Stadium. CREDIT: Kevin Westenberg
He also discussed turning a spare room in his North London house into a quiet space for him to work undisturbed, explaining that he “really needed” the peace and quiet to preserve his mental health. “My own space became very important to me over the last few years. It was a place of peace and quiet. I knew who I was in there. I really needed it. Because out there it’s out of control.”
“It’s not that I’m a control freak,” he continued. “It’s just that it’s stabilising to be in a place where nothing really changes and you can be creative and you can feel reasonably safe.”
Blur will be reuniting for two shows at Wembley Stadium next summer and also have several festival appearances booked. Last week, they were announced as one of the headliners of next year’s edition of Roskilde Festival in Denmark and they will also be headlining Primavera Sound in Barcelona and Madrid. Elsewhere in the summer, they are set to play Beauregard Festival in Normandy, France, Lucca Summer Festival in Italy and a headliner at Dublin’s Malahide Castle.
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