Damon Albarn - Damon Albarn's Kicking Confession

Damon Albarn thought kicking Graham Coxon in the face would make him sober.

The Blur singer didn't know what to do when tensions between bandmates worsened as they wrote their album 'Think Tank' 2002 - shortly before the guitarist left the group - and considered physically harming him to help keep him away from alcohol.

He said: "I didn't want to do it, I had my other group Gorillaz - and then Coxon didn't turn up.

"I'd made a commitment to him as a brother and he didn't turn up to record. I'd had enough. I thought a kick in the face would sober him up. And it did."

As his alcohol problems worsened, Graham says there was a lot of confusion as to why he didn't turn up to recording sessions with the band - also consisting of bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree.

Consequentially, Graham began to think of his relationship with the band as a doomed romance.

He explained: "There was a lot of miscommunication as to why I went to The Priory rehabilitation centre. I think they thought I was being destructive but wasn't. It was like your girlfriend saying, 'I'm not chucking you, but let's not see each other for a while.' Make of that what you will.

"I was terrified of bumping into them. I was saying daft stuff in the press. I should have shut up. I saw Damon and Jamie Hewlett, the Gorillaz collaborator, at London Zoo and spent the afternoon hiding from Damon!"

The group reformed earlier this year for a string of comeback concerns and Damon is proud they were able to put their turbulent past behind them.

Speaking on new Blur documentary 'No Distance Left To Run', he said: "What we've done that other bands haven't managed is come back intact and done the best gigs we've ever done. That's testament to the original friendship."