18 | Living | Christmas 2019 FEATURE FROM POP STARDOM TO A LIFE OF CHEESE Nikki Owen meets former Blur bassist Alex James at his Cotswold farm to talk about his journey from pop superstar to acclaimed cheesemaker ‘Making music is the easy part. It’s such a lovely thing to have in my life’ lex James is currently just French at Goldsmiths, and it was there he five children – teenager, Geronimo, twins around the corner of his joined a band with fellow students Graham Artemis and Galileo, and Sable and Beatrix converted barn-come-party Coxon and Damon Albarn, who, along with – but it’s where Alex’s new passion began – place smoking a cigarette. drummer David Rowntree, became known making cheese. There’s a waft of smoke, as Blur. It was the Kingham farm that also A followed by a faint cough. It was a lucrative move. The band inspired the Big Feastival, a three-day food Kate, Alex’s busy PR flashes me a quick smile. personified the iconic Britpop 1990s music and music event which Alex started back in “Alex will be here in a minute. Would you sound, and Blur not only went on to have six 2011 with his good friend Jamie Oliver. It is like a coffee? I can…”, but she doesn’t get number one albums, including songs such as now so popular, featuring big names such a chance to finish, because he’s here, Alex Girls and Boys, Parklife and Song 2, but they as Lewis Capaldi, that it is run by a separate James, the Blur bassist and now award- won an amazing five Brit awards, and were management company, but for Alex, and winning cheesemaker, cider man and festival nominated for both a Grammy award and for Claire, it is a full-on role. mogul. the coveted Mercury music prize. But then, When I begin interviewing Alex, it’s For a moment, I’m speechless. I say “Hi.” in 2002, lead guitarist Graham quit the band, only a few days after the 2019 Big Feastival I think I smile, I know I should be nervous and for Alex, that was a turning point. has finished, and to say Alex is tired, is – I loved Blur in their day – but I’m not, and By then Alex had met his now-wife, music an understatement. “I’m exhausted if I’m this momentarily throws me. Why am I not video producer, Claire Neat, and it was on honest,” he says as soon as we start. nervous? And then, just like that, Alex is a trip through the Cotswold countryside on Alex is surprisingly tall, a relaxed T-shirt shaking my hand, and I soon realise why I’m their honeymoon that the pair happened teamed with low-slung black jeans completing calm – it’s because he is a genuinely nice guy. upon an old farmhouse in a village called the relaxed rock star look, with, of course, Alex was born Steven Alexander James in Kingham. that trademark black curtain of hair. Alex Boscombe, where he taught himself bass and That 200-acre farmhouse in the Cotswolds starts pacing the room. “The festival is just so attended grammar school in Bournemouth. is now not only the renovated home Alex full on you know, and the weather, you never He moved to London in 1988 to study shares with Claire, Claire’s mother, and their know how that’s going to go.” Christmas 2019 | Living | 19 He trails off and looks to his PA, Kate, as if for reassurance. She offers him a brief, kind smile. On the surface, Alex comes across as a little rock ‘n’ roll, and sure, there is evidence of that. There is the huge glitter ball hanging from the ceiling of the converted and very well-appointed barn house for a start, electric guitars leaning against the walls, rumours of New Year parties with the Soho House set, which includes David and Samantha Cameron, not to mention the 18 – yes, 18 – various kitchens the sprawling estate contains. But scratch a little deeper and I start to discover a man who is not just cerebral, but extremely caring, maybe, even a touch nervous sometimes. A man who has always loved cheese to the point that when he played with Blur in Japan, fans would throw boxes cheese at him, and most touchingly, a man for whom his family and his home are front and centre in his life. “I always joke about how I’ve made five kids, seven albums and six kinds of cheese,” Alex tells me. One thing’s for sure, Alex likes to talk about his cheeses, and rightly so. he packaging revamped and looking slick, there are now six premium flavours from a punchy cheddar to a silky T goat’s cheese. Last year, the cheeses were stocked by Ocado, as well as being available through UK-wide independent retailers, and as Alex tells me all about it, I ‘I always joke about how I’ve made five kids, notice how he jumps from subject to subject. seven albums and six kinds of cheese’ One minute cheese, next minute the Big Feastival and how much there is to do, then straight to his newly-launched, very hip cider called Britpop, all the while pacing. 20 | Living | Christmas 2019 FEATURE “Claire and I did a trip to Normandy to do cheese sniffing,” Alex suddenly tells me. I watch as he returns to his chair and his tone turns wistful “I’ve always wanted to be in France and just eat cheese.” This would be quite a touching moment, the way he’s reflecting openly like this, except right at that moment, I notice a tiny bit of tissue hanging from Alex’s nose. I’m torn. Do I tell him? I’d want to know if it were me. “I was walking up the ramp and it hit me, though he can’t remember my name.” I’m a And so, I deliver the news. “Oh,” Alex that I had this thing that I thought had gone bit choked, if I’m honest, the very warm way immediately says, sitting up from his former forever, and now I had it back, and I had, at Alex talks about his dad. slouch. He wipes his nose. “That’s so the time, four kids and the farm, and Blur Just then, Alex’s wife Claire comes in, embarrassing. I’m so sorry.” I say it’s quite had stopped. And walking up this ramp at dressed in her sports gear, a healthy glow on a okay and that it genuinely happens to me, Glastonbury, I suddenly thought, what if we kind face with an amazingly pretty smile. too. And whether it is his human side being can’t rock this crowd? I was really shaking.” “It's Claire’s 50th next week,” Alex says. revealed or just his energy reserves levelling, But if Glastonbury makes Alex shake, it’s “I’ve got a lot to do!” And then Claire and from that moment on, Alex seems more his home, family, and specifically Christmas, Alex share a loving hug, and it’s time for me settled. which makes him calm again. to leave, and just as I’m thinking how nice his I ask Alex what it is like to play live in a “Christmas is my absolute favourite time family life is, Alex says goodbye to me in a band. “Making music is the easy part,” he of year,” he says. “It will be here at ours again way that only a rock star can, by lighting up a tells me. “It’s such a lovely thing to have in my this year, the place full to rafters with food cigarette and recommending what cocktail to life.” and fires roaring. The whole family will be make for Christmas! L Have you ever been nervous? He pauses. here. We’ll cook the turkey on the barbecue.” “The only time I’ve ever got nervous was On the barbecue? Okay. Do you cook Alex James’s cheeses are available for when we played at Glastonbury,” he says. Christmas dinner, I ask? “Always,” he says. Christmas at ocado.com and through The room is quiet. I can see the Big “Dad will be here for Christmas,” then he independent retailers across Feastival fields through the floor to ceiling hesitates. “Dad’s got quite advanced dementia the Cotswolds windows of the converted party barn. now. Mum’s amazing and she’s so calm, even thebigfeastival.com Christmas 2019 | Living | 21.