Blur: 'We used to take it in turns to punch each other'

Back in Hong Kong, where they recorded their album The Magic Whip, Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave speak about falling out and making up, the state of British pop music and why 90s Britpop was a wasted opportunity

Hong Kong in July is usually a disorientating place for outsiders: the suffocating humidity, the density of human bodies, the mind-jarring collision of east and west. Maybe the last thing you want once you’ve arrived there, mind fuddled with jetlag, is a dialog with Damon Albarn in full manic movement. One minute he’s talking about refusing to leave the stage after a five-hour gig with Africa Categorical (“Am I addicted to work? Clearly”), the subsequent he’s revealing his ardour for selecting wild flowers. Then he begins talking about fairies ...

“I’ve a house that’s built on a bit of land which was a recognised fairy group,” he says, with a straight face, once we meet backstage at the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre, the place Blur are resulting from play that night time. “We had to get a fairy lawyer in. When individuals come and keep at my home, they go and provides them an offering just to keep them comfortable because we’ve built on their land.”