Blur bass player Alex James has turned his back on pop to run a farm and a cheese-making business. He had a brief foray back into the world of pop last year with flop project WigWam alongside 1990s legend Betty Boo. He’s taken time away from his farm to pen an autobiography, Bit of a Blur, about his years carousing on the pop scene. The book is out now.

Read the full interview at Metro.co.uk

Bit of a Blur by Alex James is published by Little, Brown Book Group on 7th June. Hardback £16.99

For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more exciting life: a way to travel, meet new people and, hopefully, pick up girls. But as bass player of Blur – one of the most successful British bands of all time – his journey was more exciting and extreme than he could ever have predicted. Success catapulted him from a slug-infested squat in Camberwell to a world of private jets and world-class restaurants. As ‘the second drunkest member of the world’s drunkest band’ life was always chaotic, but Alex James retained a boundless enthusiasm and curiosity at odds with his hedonistic lifestyle. From nights in the Groucho with Damien Hirst, to dancing to Sister Sledge with Bjork, to being bitten on the nose by the lead singer of Iron Maiden, he offers a fascinating and hilarious insight into the world of celebrity. At its heart, however, Bit of a Blur is the picaresque tale of one man’s search to find meaning and happiness in an increasingly surreal world. Pleasingly unrepentant but nonetheless a reformed man, Alex James is the perfect chronicler of his generation – witty, observant, frank and brimming with joie de vivre.

As well as still being in Blur, Alex James is now a farmer and a Visiting Scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Europe’s largest space research facility. He lives with his wife and children in the Cotswolds.

Pre-order Bit of a Blur now from Amazon.co.uk for only £11.21.
via Blur Fan Club

Alex James is set to appear in new BBC Two show, The Verdict. The 4-part show features 12 celebrity jurors judging a fictional court case.

The Verdict starts this Sunday (11th Feb 2007) at 9pm.

More info on the BBC website.

Alex James will be shooting the video for the first single of his new project, WigWam, on Saturday 28th January.

The video, directed by Trigger Happy TV’s Dom Jolly, will feature Alex along with bandmate Alison Clarkson, aka Betty Boo, being chased through the streets of Soho by dogs and human cats.

If you would like a change to appear in the video and help create a buzz around WigWam’s new video, you get yourself to Dean Street at midday tommorow (28th Jan) where the band will be performing on the of a building.

If you manage to get any pictures, send them in to peter@caramel.org.uk so I can put them on the site.

Stay tuned for updates…

The Independent are autioning Alex James in their charity auction.

“Wouldn’t you love to see how a record gets made, in the company of a genuine rock star? Alex James, the Blur bass player and Independent columnist, offers to show one lucky winner around the recording studio when he cuts his next record.”

Full details of how to enter are available on The Independent website.

If you’ve missed out on Alex’s columns for the Independent newspaper, you can read them here: http://comment.independent.co.uk/

Also, Alex should be a reviewer on BBC2’s Newsnight Review - this Friday at 11.00pm

Blur Fan Club