Alex James (musician)

Collaborations

Unlike Albarn, Coxon and Rowntree, James has not released any solo material, although he has been involved in other collaborative side projects. In 1998, James formed Fat Les with actor Keith Allen and artist Damien Hirst, releasing the unofficial theme song (excluding three others) "Vindaloo" for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. He also worked on side project Me Me Me with Stephen Duffy, co-wrote songs for Marianne Faithfull (appearing in drag playing a double bass in the music video for her single "Sex With Strangers") and Jane McDonald, and worked with Florence and the Machine and Gene Loves Jezebel.

James worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on her solo debut Read My Lips, co-writing and co-producing "Move This Mountain", and co-producing "I Believe" with Ellis-Bextor and producer Ben Hillier. He also played bass on both tracks. Ellis-Bextor's 2003 album, Shoot from the Hip also featured James as bass player and co-writer on the track "Love Is It Love". He also joined his friend and singer-songwriter Betty Boo in a band called WigWam in 2005. In 2009, James appeared as bass player on debut Bad Lieutenant record Never Cry Another Tear. The band consists of New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner and guitarist Phil Cunningham, along with Jake Evans of Rambo And Leroy. In 2013, James co-wrote the song "Did I Lose You?", performed by Giorgia and Olly Murs.

Writing

Alex James is a food writer for The Sun and has a weekly column, 'Alex James on All Things Food'; as well as a regular column on farm and family life in The Sunday Telegraph titled 'Mucking In'.^[6] He also writes a monthly column on cheese for Esquire Magazine.^[7] Alex contributes to a number of other British newspapers including The Independent,^[8] The Observer,^[9] The Times,^[10] and The Sunday Times,^[11] as well as Q magazine, The Spectator and The Idler. An autobiography of James's experience with Blur, Bit of a Blur, was published in June 2007 by Little, Brown & Company. It has since been described as "the definitive guide to Britpop".^[12] James published a follow-up entitled All Cheeses Great and Small: A Life Less Blurry in September 2011, charting his transformation from rock star to cheesemaker as he moves to a farm in Oxfordshire.^[13]

Television appearances

In 2001, James and Graham Coxon appeared in the Channel 4 Pixies documentary "Gouge". James represented The Idler on BBC Two's University Challenge: The Professionals in 2005 with John Moore of Black Box Recorder. They secured a heavy win over the Financial Times in their heat, but did not score highly enough to return for the tournament's later stages. In 2007, James was a judge on the Channel 4 show Orange unsignedAct and, in November 2007, appeared as a panellist on the BBC One satirical news quiz, Have I Got News for You. He also appeared in episode #3.4 of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word^[14] TV series as a participant in the Recipe Challenge which occurs in each episode. In August 2008, James appeared in reality TV series, Maestro on BBC Two.^[15] He was voted out in the fourth episode of the series.

In September 2008, a documentary television series, Cocaine Diaries: Alex James in Colombia, premiered on BBC America, in conjunction with the BBC America Reveals program. As the documentary progresses, James – who admits to having used cocaine extensively during Blur's Britpop heyday – learns about Colombia's violent drug export trade.^[16] In October 2009, James presented an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and, in January 2010, he participated in the ITV1 reality television programme Popstar to Operastar. On 4 March 2012, James appeared on Top Gear as a guest for their 'star in a reasonably priced car' segment, clocking in at 1:45.2.^[17]

On 3 December 2011, he appeared on The Chase with Sara Cox, Ann Widdecombe and Eamonn Holmes against chaser Anne Hegerty, but he was caught by the chaser. On 16 March 2012, James appeared on The Bank Job and made the final, where he was beaten by Rachel Riley. He is also the first Bank Job contestant to find two "bankrupts" in a single game. James has been a participant in BBC One programme 10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight.^[18] On 26 December 2014, he appeared as one of the celebrity homeowners on Through the Keyhole with Keith Lemon.^[19] In August 2015, he won the Channel 4 programme [Celebrity Fifteen to One].^[20]

A 2016 documentary titled Alex James: Slowing Down Fast Fashion examined the fashion industry and how "consumers' seemingly unquenchable thirst for cheap clothing is having a huge effect on the environment and workers, both at home here in the UK and abroad".^[21]

Radio

In 2007, James presented the BBC Radio 4 programme On Your Farm.^[22] He presents Alex James's Date Night on Classic FM every Saturday at 7-10pm.^[23]

James presented The A-Z of Classic FM Music.^[24] The show was named Commercial Radio Programme of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards on 5 June 2009.^[25] He has also contributed to the show's accompanying memorabilia, writing the foreword to both the book and CD box set, published by Reader's Digest in 2010.^[26]

Cheesemaking

This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (April 2023)

After his career with Blur James moved into cheese production. He purchased a farmhouse in the Cotswolds and renovated it into a cheese farm. His 200-acre cheese farm in Kingham, Oxfordshire, now produces cheeses including Good Queen Maude, Blue Monday (named after his favourite New Order song) and Goddess.^[27] James made two cheeses with New Zealand cheese expert, Juliet Harbutt: Little Wallop (2007) and Farleigh Wallop (2009),^[28] the latter won the Best Goat’s Cheese award at the 2009 British Cheese Awards.^[29]

In 2011 James launched a range of everyday cheeses through at Asda.^[30] with flavour combinations include 'cheddar and tomato ketchup', 'cheddar and salad cream', and 'cheddar and tikka masala'.^[31] Tim Chester, writing in The Guardian, described James's cheese as "bizarre flavour mash-ups in sliced, processed, plasticky form".^[32]

Music & food festivals

James announced he would open his Oxfordshire farm to host an annual food and music festival. The event, Alex James Presents Harvest,^[33] ran from 9 to 12 September 2011, in conjunction with promoter Big Wheel Promotions. The event had a shaky start when Big Wheel Promotions went bankrupt leaving the ticketing company out of pocket and stallholders and performers unpaid.^[34]

The local primary school, Kingham Primary, were also owed £7000 for the entertainment they organised,^[35] with the headteacher telling the Guardian that "We are either going to have to lose the music teacher or take it from other budgets which will reduce other parts of the curriculum".^[34]

In December 2011, a concert was staged locally to settle the debt. "I pledged to match the funds raised from my own pocket ... I was very happy to do that" said James.^[36] Big Wheel Promotions, the company behind 'Harvest', then abruptly ceased trading even though it had already taken ticket fees for 2012. 'Alex James Presents Harvest' was also notable for a photograph of James with David Cameron and Jeremy Clarkson.^[37]

Since 2012, James, along with Jamie Oliver, has hosted The Big Feastival, an annual food and music festival, on his Oxfordshire farm. On joining forces with James, Oliver said "The Big Feastival was a great success in South London last year and I cannot wait to take this celebration of the greatest chefs, the best local produce and suppliers and some fantastic entertainment to a more rural location at Alex's."^[38] Along with live musical performances from Paloma Faith, Gaz Coombes, The Cuban Brothers, Noisettes, Razorlight, Texas, and Sahand,^[39] there were cooking demonstrations, masterclasses, Q&As and book signings with well-known chefs, as well as family entertainment from Peppa Pig, Slow Food Kids' Taste Adventure and Chipping Norton Theatre.^[40] 'The Big Feastival' returned to James's farm on 31 August and 1 September 2013 with a line-up including KT Tunstall, The Feeling, Rizzle Kicks and Basement Jaxx. The festival attracted over 30,000 attendees in 2014 and has continued to be held annually on August Bank Holiday weekend.^[41]

On 19 June 2019, James visited Bledington Primary School and invited the children to submit a fun, colourful, festival-inspired design. The winning entry was displayed as a stage backdrop at The Big Feastival.^[42] The 2019 festival took place on 23–25 August. The music line-up included Elbow, Lewis Capaldi, Jess Glyne, Rudimental and Jonas Blue, with chefs including Prue Leith, Mark Hix and Candice Brown.