Blur’s Alex James has revealed that he is underway with trying to create a giant Frazzle in time for The Big Feastival 2024.
The bassist for the iconic Britpop group – who has also turned his sights to the food and beverage industry – confirmed that he was looking to make a huge, culinary version of the vintage British crisp during a new interview.
Speaking on the Chris Moyles Radio Show yesterday morning (May 29), the musician looked at the upcoming 2024 instalment of his very own festival, The Big Feastival, and discussed his plans for this year’s edition.
According to James, he has been looking at the issue of disposable plates at live events, and has been attempting to develop a massive version of a Frazzle that, one day, may work as an alternative.
He explained that the idea has been in the works since last year, and he even spoke about it with his Blur bandmates before they embarked on their reunion tour dates.
“There was a point where we first met to discuss touring again last year, and Damon [Albarn, frontman] was like, ‘So what you doing then Graham [Coxon]?’ And Graham’s doing a film score with Jess Butterworth. ‘What you doing Dave [Rowntree]?’ Dave’s doing a film score for Disney…
“Then he said, ‘What are you doing Alex?’ I was like, ‘I’m actually trying to make a really big Frazzle’,” he explained. “And I was. It was the truth. I still am.”
James continued, saying that his attempts haven’t quite materialised as he first envisioned.
“I haven’t got there yet. I’m still working on it. I love a Frazzle,” he explained, also adding where the inspiration for the project came from. “There’s this problem at food festivals: you’ve got to serve good food, but the disposable plates! It’s a massive waste of money and time and everything.
“So we were making these really nice steak sandwiches and I thought maybe we could serve them on a poppadom instead of a plate, but they just didn’t have the structural rigidity… but a huge edible plate that would soak up the juices?”
Big Feastival 2024 will be held at James’ farm in the Cotswolds between August 23 and 25. It will be headlined by Becky Hill, Ministry Of Sound Classical and Snow Patrol – visit here for remaining tickets.
James’ experimenting with the Frazzle, while unconventional, isn’t too unexpected either, as his time away from Blur has seen him venture into the food and beverage industry.
One route he has particularly made a name for himself in is the cheese world, where he has established himself as a professional cheesemaker and launched various cheeses of his own, including Blue Monday, Figgy Pudding and Farleigh Wallop.
Last summer, it was announced that the musician-turned-cheesemaker would be selling his award-winning Blue Monday cheese exclusively at Morrisons.
Named after his favourite song, the cheese is made in partnership with Yorkshire-based artisan cheese producers Shepherds Purse and was made available in more than 200 of the supermarket’s stores. It is priced at £3 for 100g.
Originally, his range of cheeses was sold in Asda. However, back in 2012, the UK supermarket decided to stop stocking six of his products, describing the flavours as being too “ahead of their time”. Morrisons, however, described its flavours as “complex, creating a creamy soft cheese with bold cracks and streaks of blue which echo its namesake”.
Speaking of the product, James hailed it as “a world-beating British cheese, made with love”. Funnily enough, he also dropped his love of a Frazzle in the praise, saying: “It pairs brilliantly with sparkling wine, beer or cider. Smush it on a Frazzle for the ultimate canapé. It goes well with pears, beetroot, cobnuts and even honey and is perfect for sweet dreams at bedtime.”
Since then, he has also gone on to bring out his own range of sparkling wine, inspired by the world of Britpop.
As for his time with Blur, the band have recently come off a huge run of live comeback shows – including two mammoth dates at Wembley Stadium last year and two headline performances at Coachella 2024.
Since then, the band have announced details of their new feature-length documentary To The End, which will follow their recent reunion and the release of their first album in eight years.