Blur's Alex James almost went bankrupt when work dried up during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The bassist - who runs the Big Feastival festival at his farm in the Cotswolds - has revealed he suffered spiralling money problems throughout the pandemic as he couldn't put on his music event or perform with his band but he was saved by royalty money from his football anthem 'Vindaloo', which was released under the name Fat Les and co-written by Alex, Keith Allen and Guy Pratt.
He told the Guardian newspaper: "It was hairy. Lockdown killed us - I couldn’t get a loan and I wasn’t going to get paid for six months. The band couldn’t pay, because we needed all the money for production rehearsals."
Alex revealed he had to borrow money from his mother-in-law to tide him over until the money from 'Vindaloo' came rolling in following the summer football season.
He added: "It’s a bit like having a Christmas record, having a football record. There’s football every two years, and if England have a good run, when they get to the quarter-finals, it starts kicking in.
"When they get to the semis, it goes fully bonkers. And it came in. Oh, my God, that was such a good day. I literally hadn’t had lunch all year.
"Maybe an apple. And the whole family went to [posh restaurant] Scott’s. That was one of the all-time great lunches."
Alex went on to talk about the upcoming Oasis reunion tour - dubbed Oasis Live '25 - which is reuniting Blur's former arch-rivals for a massive money-spinning trek and the musician admits he's happy warring brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher have put their feud behind them.
He said: "I’m so happy for them. Delighted. They’re great. I like them. You know, there’s some people – mentioning no names – that when they walk in a room, you’re like: 'Oh, f****** hell, he’s here'
" But when either of them walk into a room, it’s like: 'Heyyy'. He’s an incredible singer, Liam, and he can’t help being a rock star."
Alex went on to joke he's glad they waited until the 2023 Blur reunion was finished before they announced their comeback, saying: "It’s nice that they waited till we got our s*** out the way, you know? That’s very good manners."
