Blur bassist Alex James has dampened hopes of a possible reunion of the band.

Reports of a full scale reformation have increased over recent weeks since frontman Damon Albarn reonciled his friendship with former guitarist Graham Coxon.

But in an interview with Q Radio, James said he had become “too old” and instead hoped to make a classical album.

"I think I'm going to make a record with an orchestra. Since I moved to the country I've suddenly started to like the sound of violins and French horns and started to hate the drums,” he said. “I've gone right off drums. They're too noisy."

"There's a part of you that always wants to still be Arctic Monkeys or keep thinking that pop music is cool, but there comes a point when you have to throw away your jeans and your trainers and start admitting to yourself that you're too old for Lily Allen.”

He added: "You know pop music is about 'I love you forever let's run away together'. I've done that bit, I've run away forever and I'm on the next thing now which is, 'Look, we've run away together, here we are surrounded by nappies - where's the violins?'"

James was photographed alongside Albarn and Coxon last month at the opening of Albarn's opera, Monkey: Journey To The West, in London.

Albarn had previously claimed that a Blur reunion was “very possible” after he revealed that he and Coxon had been “hanging out together”.

Coxon left the band in 2002 in order to follow his ambition to be a solo artist, although Blur still continued to record without him.

(by Jason Gregory)