Blur to debut new material live on Twitter!

For the first time, Blur will debut new material live on Twitter when they perform two new songs via a worldwide live video stream Monday 2nd July at 6.15pm UK time (for our Aussie readers, that's Tuesday 3rd July at 3.13am AEST. God knows what that time is in the US. Sorry, you'll have to do the math).

Filmed and streamed completely live from a secret UK location, the two new songs - which the band have never publicly performed - are Under The Westway and The Puritan. Damon Albarn said “I wrote these songs for Hyde Park and I’m really excited about getting out there and playing them for people.”

Go to @blurofficial at 6:15pm UK time on Monday to hear the first track and an exclusive band interview, followed by the second track an hour later.

Also, there is a swanky collector's item on its way! 21 years since the release of their debut album Leisure in 1991, Blur’s body of work has been personally compiled by the band and gathered together in one pretty fuckin awesome box. All seven studio albums are collected with over 5½ hours of unreleased material including 65 (65!) previously unreleased tracks and more than twice as many rarities, three DVDs, a collector’s edition book featuring rare and unseen photos and a new and exclusive interview with the band, and a special limited edition Seymour 7-inch vinyl. The box will also include a digital download code for the albums and all bonus material. Got all that? Because there will be a written test on all this at the end, you know.

Highlights of the box include early versions of tracks recorded for Leisure, bare bones early demos of the classic singles For Tomorrow and Beetlebum, previously unheard songs Saturday Morning and Hope You Find Your Suburbs and never released sessions with Bill Laswell and the legendary session with XTC’s Andy Partridge. There are heaps of other rarities too, but we're getting tired of all this typing, so head here for all the deets.

Beastman & Nanami Cowdroy team up with Smirnoff to design limited edition packs

Isn't it nice when friends team up? Bobbysix's old mate Beastman (Brad Eastman) has joined forces with our buddies at Smirnoff to design one of two limited edition Smirnoff No. 21 packs.

To celebrate his and fellow Australian artist Nanami Cowdroy's designs, for one week only Smirnoff Australia is opening an interactive gallery in Sydney’s hipster haven, Surry Hills. Inspired by the theme of creating something visually stunning from a blank canvas, the Smirnoff Start Pure Gallery will house a one-of-a-kind art installation that allows visitors to help create a piece of artwork that will contribute to the design for a third, and final, Limited Edition pack – only five of which will be created.

The gallery will be open to the public from Friday 2nd until Thursday 8th March, 10am – 5pm daily, and will also allow visitors to see the large scale versions of the pack designs by Beastman and Nanami, as well as exclusive artwork from both artists.

Commenting on his exclusive pack design Beastman said, “I tried to push the theme 'start pure' through the design – conceptually you start with nothing and you add life and you add years of hard work, and then you become something. Creating little stories that mean something to me, that’s what I love that about being an artist. I love that I can trigger people’s thoughts and trigger people’s emotions.” Remarking on her design, Nanami said, "I found the Smirnoff concept of 'purity' to be ideal, as I'm accustomed to starting with a blank canvas, which I find is always exciting and enticing. I was inspired by the unique twisting design of the Smirnoff Limited Edition pack - which sparked the idea of a playful octopus, its tentacles coiling around and embracing the bottle within.”

Visitors to the gallery will be able to view both artists’ designs first hand, as well as produce their very own of pieces of art using the paper chromatography process - a method for testing the purity of compounds and identifying substances. Once produced, each individual artwork will be stored in a display case on the gallery walls, contributing to the overall artwork, which will evolve over the duration of the gallery opening period. Following their visit to the Smirnoff Limited Edition Gallery, participants will be able to visit the Smirnoff Australia Facebook page  and tag their piece of art. The wall of art created by the gallery visitors will be captured and printed as a third Limited Edition bottle pack, and the five copies will be offered as prizes in competitions (deets to be announced).

The Smirnoff Start Pure Gallery will be located at 374 Crown St, Surry Hills, Sydney and will be open to the public from Friday 2nd until Thursday 8th March 2012 – 10am-5pm daily. Admission is free. 


The limited edition Smirnoff No. 21 packs designed by Beastman and Nanami Cowdroy will be available to purchase from Coles, Woolworths and local liquor retailers for a limited period. Drink responsibly, fools.