1 Murdoc Niccals, in prison New band member Who is Ace? New album The Now Now The Origins of GORILLAZ PHASE FIVE All about The creators
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Gorillaz: The power of ‘Now Now’ After decades at the top, Gorillaz have just released their first album without errant bassist Murdoc. And it’s had quite the effect on frontman/ ape 2D, finds Dan Stubbs. 3 It’s 20 years since Gorillaz first exploded onto to the scene, and – hey – don’t they look good for it! But all is not hunky dory in Gorillaz camp: since the release of last year’s ‘Humanz’, Murdoc, the band’s bassist, was banged up in Wormwood Scrubs for a crime he claims he didn’t commit. That gave 2D, (singer, voice suspiciously like Damon Albarn’s), an opportunity to take back full creative control of the group. So while a petition to free Murdoc gains momentum, 2D has pushed out ‘The Now Now’, the Gorillaz’s sixth album, a summery cocktail of soulful jams and breezy bops that we bestowed four stars upon in our review. After the apocalyptic house party vibes of ‘Humanz’, their latest record couldn’t be a more different beast, helmed by Damo… we mean, 2D, with sparing guests: Snoop Dogg, George Benson and US house pioneer Jamie Principle. And that’s just how 2D likes it. We invited 2D to the NME dungeon to talk about all things Gorillaz. Hi 2D. With Murdoc out of the picture, you’re the leader of the band. How are you settling into the new role? 2D: “Hey NME. Really well, thanks. As they say, some people are born great, and some have greatness thrust inside them. I’m the second one. I certainly wasn’t a born leader, as at that time I was a baby and no one really took me seriously. But I’ve grown up a lot lately, and people are starting to listen. I’ve done a wikiHow on how to be a leader, and would describe my leadership style as a cross between Ghandi and Marge Simpson.” What’s been the impact on the band? Is everyone upset about Murdoc being away? 2D: “It’s been like a massive meteor strike, but instead of the meteor wiping out all life, it just blew up one really annoying dinosaur (that is a metaphor, by the way, guys. Just thought I’d clarify. OK, I’ll get back to my answer now). And in its place we have our replacement bass player, Ace. He’s cool and really respects me. Like this morning, I said, ‘Yo yo yo! S’up Ace?’ and instead of insulting me or pulling my trousers down, he said, ‘Please can you get out of my way.’ You see? Note the ‘please’. So no, I don’t think anyone is upset, except maybe Yakob, the guy who runs the off-licence on the corner. He’s ruined.” Do you think you’re a natural frontman? Which iconic lead singers of the past do you take inspiration from? 2D: “I wasn’t always. They used to have to push me onstage with a long stick, or lure me out with a Crème Egg dangling from the ceiling. Now I don’t need either, although I still like Crème Eggs. It’s my fans that get me out there now. My 2Disciples. I hear their call and I go to them, like Batman when he hears a scream for “It’s really hard to describe music with words. That’s why we make music, to fill in the gaps between the words.”
4 help. Sorry, I’ve forgotten the rest of your question as I’m now just thinking about Batman.” If the last album was an end-ofthe-world party, how would you describe The Now Now? 2D: “It’s really hard to describe music with words. That’s why we make music, to fill in the gaps between the words. It’s a lot like colouring-in; the words are the lines, and the music is the colouring pens. But what is the picture, you ask? It’s kind of a space rocket, with two round thrusters at the bottom, and a cone-shaped tip where the astronauts sit, with a little hole at the very top so they can get in and out.” Some people are saying ‘The Now Now’ is basically your ‘solo’ album. How do the rest of the band feel about that? And do you care? 2D: “Han Solo has always been a massive inspiration to me, and I guess he’s somewhere in all my music, but I wouldn’t say this album is only about him. Although both share themes of loneliness and isolation about a lone traveller drifting through the galaxy without a home. So actually, I guess this is my Solo album. Cool!” Er, you kind of missed the point there. If the rest of the band were to describe you in three words, what would those words be? 2D: “Not sure, maybe… Oh, dammit, that’s three. I always mess that question up.” A few questions for Russel now. Russel, who’s on your wishlist of legends to work with? Russel: “Joan Armatrading. John Shuttelworth. Next question.” OK… what about new artists? Russel: “I’d like to nominate two – Rosalia Vila and Rex Orange County.” What did you make of Kanye’s four new albums? Russel: “They’re OK. Better than these questions, anyway.” 2D: “Sorry about Russ. He’s having one of his migraines. I’ll take it from here. In answer to your question, what did you make of Kanye’s four albums – I made a square.” Your 2010 album ‘Plastic Beach’ was weirdly prescient: plastic in the ocean is THE big ecological talking point of our day. Did you pre-empt that? What can we do to solve the problem? 2D: “I wouldn’t use the word ‘prescient’ because I don’t know what it means. What I would say is sometimes we can miss a problem right under our feet. I mean, I’d been on the island two weeks before I realised it was made entirely of plastic trash. Maybe ‘cos my eyes are bad. I only realised the true scale of the problem when I learned the tragic truth about my pet sea cucumber, Peter. As Russel read the words ‘Vibro-Max 2000’ from the side, I fell to the ground, heartbroken. Suddenly I felt the full horror of man’s impact on nature. Plus I had also lost a good friend. But yeah, to solve the problem, we could start by each giving up one plastic thing that we love. I pledge to give up curly straws. Or in fact all plastic straws – but that’s more than one thing.” Did David Attenborough use you as a consultant for Blue Planet II? 2D: “No. Which is a real shame ‘cos I thought he was brilliant in Jurassic Park.” What’s the weirdest thing you saw washed up on Plastic Beach? 2D: “Cher.” ‘The Now Now’ is a quicker follow-up than we’ve ever had with a Gorillaz release before. Why is that? 2D: “Normally after a big release you feel empty for a long time. But this time I filled up again quickly, like a toilet cistern but sometimes it’s time to smash the cistern. And that’s what I’m all about now, making change happen, and speaking truth. Smashing the cistern. I might get that slogan printed on a hat.” You debuted the album live in Japan. Why there? 2D: “I did, yeah, because Japan is a special place for Gorillaz. It’s cool and the fans get us and like our style. They love dressing up as Noodle. I even saw a few 2D cosplayers in mom jeans and black eye shadow.” Snoop’s on it. What do you and Snoop talk about between takes? 2D: “Well, just normal stuff really. Like, I tell him my favourite sandwich filling (cheese and pineapple) and he tells me one of the ways he could have me killed. We’ve got quite a lot in common actually. He’s from California, I’m from Crawley. Both places begin with the letter ‘C’.” “And that’s what I’m all about now, making change happen, and speaking truth.”
5 There’s a ‘Free Murdoc’ campaign running online, but some people are saying you’re secretly happier with him in chokey. What’s your response to that? 2D: “Where is chokey? Is it near Basingstoke? I’m not really sure what you’re on about. I did hear something about a campaign but I think that was to make Toblerones back the way they were. It’s a real outrage, putting bigger gaps between the triangles to save money on chocolate. This is one of the things on my agenda. Make Toblerone Great Again.” Why did Russel trip you up in the ‘Humility’ video? 2D: “You’d have to ask Russel. I actually don’t know. Maybe he was high fiving me with his foot? Maybe he was trying to warn me about a snake or a banana skin? You’d have to ask him.” Not saying you had anything to do with it, but have you ever had any contact with El Mierda, the Mexican gangster who got Murdoc banged up? 2D: “I don’t mix with criminals. Well, not at the moment, anyway, ‘cos Murdoc’s in prison. I don’t know who this El Mierda is, either, but he might have contacted me on Facebook Messenger. A lot of people add me and I feel rude if I don’t send them a personal reply. I’ve got 256347 unread messages, actually, so it would be good to wrap this up soon, my people are waiting for me.” If you were a Gallagher brother, which one would you be? 2D: “I’d probably say Ian Gallagher. But I think what I really want to say is that I’m not a Gallagher, or an Albarn, or a Doggy-Dog. I’m a Dee. I mean, 2D. I’ve got my own music and my own message now. Russ reckons I’ve got something to say, and I should just say it. So I will. Umm… Can’t think of anything when I’m put on the spot. What’s the next question?” 2018 is your 20th anniversary as a band. How do you still look so youthful? 2D: “Do we? Thanks very much, you’re really kind. I haven’t looked in the mirror for ages, actually. Murdoc had them all taken down from our house ‘cos he said they were wankers and not able to truly reflect his genius or beauty. But yeah, maybe it’s cos we’ve got this brilliant stylist and wardrobe guy called Jamie. Also, Noodle gets some really good moisturisers flown in from Japan.” Do you have any special plans to mark the occasion? 2D: “I haven’t really made any plans yet, but seeing as I’m the leader of Gorillaz now, I’ll treat the band to dinner at the finest restaurant in London. Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse. Personally, due to my environmental concerns I won’t eat beef, so I’ll order the chicken nuggets, medium rare. Then I’ll say a few words to the band, like ‘hello’ and ‘thanks’ and ‘that’s all I’ve got to say’.” The town you grew up in, Crawley, voted to leave the EU. What are your feelings on Brexit? 2D: “Crawley is the doorway to England ‘cos of Gatwick airport, so I think we should be welcoming people into our home, not showing them the door (Gatwick). But maybe you’re asking the wrong question. The real answer to the question you didn’t ask is follow your dreams. And then unfollow them if it all goes wrong. Times are changing. All the time. Now becomes then in the blink of an eye. That’s why we called the album ‘The Now Now’ and not the ‘The Now Then’. ‘Cos things need to change right now. Je suis 2D. Thanks very much.” “I’ve got my own music and my own message now. Russ reckons I’ve got something to say, and I should just say it. So I will.”
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7 Noodle is in Patagonia to try to find the man that her long-time Gorillaz bandmate, bassist Murdoc Niccals, claims framed him for a crime he didn’t commit. It isn’t exactly clear how long Murdoc has been incarcerated at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs for, but he was last seen in public making a call from prison at this year’s Brit Awards. Since then a Change.org petition has accumulated almost 10,000 signatures, whilst #FreeMurdoc has seen a barrage of activity on Twitter. Murdoc claims he was framed by El Mierda, a man he says is the kingpin of a bloody crime dynasty in South America that he met on the band’s ‘Strobelite’ video shoot last year. Noodle is the only member of the band to have reached out to Murdoc while in jail, with 2D even seemingly suggesting he was happy to be rid of him in a recent interview. “I have been in touch with Murdoc,” Noodle says, only half concentrating on the conversation as she peruses the chessboard in front of her. “Innocent until proven guilty... I believe in justice, and the mystery is still being solved.” Noodle’s impromptu trip to Patagonia comes during a brief break between Gorillaz touring their new album, ‘The Now Now’, which landed in June. The record, which came together quite quickly after last year’s ‘Humanz’, feels like more of a festival-ready feel good (inc? – ed) piece than its predecessor – despite bearing Gorillaz’ indelible undertone of melancholy. The European run of shows, which ended in August, made stops at Sónar, Roskilde, Rock Werchter, Lollapalooza, Sziget and more. “We have been playing festivals all Summer,” Noodle agrees. “Sometimes the odds were against us [in Russia, a storm forced the band off-stage] but each show has felt like a biblical TRIUMPH,” she blurts. “I can feel a connection with the fans on ‘The Now Now’. We are connecting on a higher level. In another world.” With Murdoc incarcerated, the ‘The Now Now’ was recorded with Ace from Powerpuff Girls on bass. So how did that impact the dynamic of the band? “Ace is an old friend of Murdoc’s,” Noodle says, looking up to make a knowing eye contact. “So, of course, you’re not going to trust someone who calls Murdoc his friend. But we realised quickly that he’s not so bad after all. We’re friends now, everyone likes having him around.” After last year’s ‘Humanz’ saw collaborations with Grace Jones, Mavis Staples, Popcaan, De La Soul, Danny Brown, Kelela, Pusha T, Benjamin Clementine, Kali Uchis and more, the band’s sixth studio album is a much more insular affair in terms of collaborators, with only Snoop Dogg, George Benson and Jamie Principle contributing from outside the core band. Gorillaz’ performance of the new record on a live stream in Tokyo ahead of its release spurred some to reflect as to whether it’s more of a 2D solo album. “I don’t know how to approach this as we don’t talk about the music process,” Noodle says, looking up from the chess board. “But to take a stab: Who has explained ‘The Now Now’ as a 2D solo album?” she asks. “Sounds like something 2D might have said when he’s had too many twisters, it was very hot in London this summer. If I were to describe this album in a way that excluded people I would probably say it is a non-Murdoc album because he has been away for some time, and you know, the show must go on... right? No matter what, it is a GORILLAZ album!” she enthuses as black chess pieces fall from the board at an alarming rate. The album is also the second to be recorded in the band’s first permanent studio since Murdoc burned down Kong Studios in 2008 in an act of arson. Little is known of their new space, apart from the fact that James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco joined them there to produce ‘The Now Now’. GORILLAZ’ NOODLE IS FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE BAND AS WE KNOW IT: INTERVIEW DJ Mag travels to the closest land mass to Antarctica on the planet to meet Gorillaz’s lead guitarist, Noodle, as the band’s bassist remains incarcerated for a crime – he says – he didn’t commit...
8 “It’s about the now... NOW!” Noodle enthuses talking about the album. “The current political climate reminds me that we must stick together and be the light in the dark.” Noodle remains tight-lipped on her plans to find El Mierda whilst in Patagonia but does let slip that she’d had to travel from the free port just outside the city to make the interview. “I like James Ford,” she says, noticeably trying to change the subject. “I think he might have a thing for bands with animals in their names. Maybe he should rename his band Non-Hominoid Simian Mobile Disco?” Despite her current position of searching an unknown country for a man she hasn’t met, who – it is claimed – set up one of her bandmates, Noodle seems very relaxed. “Taking care of your mind is crucial to survival,” she explains, taking her focus off the chess set for a brief moment. “Not just on the road. I meditate daily, with success it is important to stay grounded. Don’t let it get to your head. This happened to Murdoc, he is obsessed with fame. Hopefully he will emerge a better person, maybe he just needed some time alone. Life is short. Take a time out and look at GIFs of cats, it’s very soothing.” Born in Osaka, Japan, as a child Noodle was the subject of a classified Japanese super soldier project, before being shipped over to the UK in a crate almost 20 years ago. When she arrived at the doorstep of Kong Studios, Essex in 1998 she quickly replaced Gorillaz first guitarist, Paula Cracker. Could you imagine at that stage you’d ever go on to tour the world as one of the biggest bands on the planet? “We don’t count years in Gorillaz.” she explains. “When you have been in a box for a very long time and emerge from the box and deliver the best guitar solo of your life – so far – it’s one of those moments when you just know it’s the beginning of something very special. It is an honour to work with many legends like Snoop, Bobby Womack and Grace Jones, though.” The interview was supposed to be accompanied by a mix to follow up Noodle’s “kick-ass women” one from 2017, but her ventures in Patagonia have put a stop to that being delivered, for now at least. “Yes!” she beams. “My kick-ass women mix was my way of celebrating some amazing female talent past and present. I have many different ways of finding new music. Russel is a serious crate-digger and has taught me a lot. His record collection is so big he had to find a new space for them – a disused missile silo in the rolling hills of Wales – which I get to explore whenever I want. My favourite record stores are Phonica in London, Hard Wax in Berlin and Big Love in Tokyo. I often find myself in a Spotify hole too as we travel the world on tour. We all have playlists, you should listen to them!” Noodle is only in Patagonia for two more weeks before the relentless Gorillaz schedule kicks back into gear. She won’t be drawn on how Murdoc’s incarceration has impacted the band, but what is certain is that Gorillaz touring recommences in North America in October, as the band play a run of shows that build up to the first edition of their Demon Dayz festival in the U.S. That event, which celebrates the same diversity in music that Gorillaz’ back catalogue has, features Erykah Badu, The Internet and Tony Allen, alongside the band as headliners. And Noodle agrees that is something important to the band’s core. “I like to think that Gorillaz is a platform that celebrates diversity and inclusiveness. If we don’t connect, we die,” she explains, as the waiter clears the empty plates from the table. As I ponder the dusty chess board in front of me, I realise Noodle has quietly put me in check mate. Looking up, she smiles, before packing the board back into her inside coat pocket and throwing it on. Muttering something about how Murdoc isn’t going to get himself out of jail, she counts some money and throws it on the table before leaving as quickly as she arrived. Just days after returning from Patagonia, DJ Mag receives a garbled selection of messages on Facebook alongside a picture that seems to suggest Noodle had not only found El Mierda, but also Murdoc on the back of a yak. Ace Copular from the PowerPuff Girls
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10 ThE cReaTOrS : JAMIE HEWLETT Brought up in Horsham, West Sussex, Jamie Hewlett was a pupil at Tanbridge House School, A local co-educational source comprehensive for pupils aged 11–16 years. He contributed to the art work of a road safety campaign that ended up as a runner-up in a national television competition. He was inspired by the punk group The Undertones. While studying at Northbrook College Worthing, Hewlett, Alan Martin and fellow student Philip Bond created a fanzine called Atomtan. This brought him to the attention of Brett Ewins. After leaving college Hewlett and Martin were invited by Ewins to create material for a new magazine he was setting up with Steve Dillon in 1988. The magazine was called Deadline and featured a mixture of comic strips produced by British creators, and articles on music and culture. Martin and Hewlett created Tank Girl, an anarchic strip about a teenage punk girl who drove a tank and had a mutant kangaroo for a boyfriend. The strip proved instantly popular and quickly became the most talked about part of Deadline. Hewlett’s eccentric style proved popular and he started to work with bands such as Senseless Things and Cud providing covers for record releases; he also contributed artwork sporadically to Commodore User magazine. He also designed decor for a nightclub called The Factory in Chatsworth Road, Worthing. The decor featured red and green stripes, a wall of blownup panels from Tank Girl set against 1970s wallpaper, a Ford Escort hung from the ceiling and toilets pasted with pages from old comic book annuals. The Factory has since been refurbished and renamed several times. By 1992, Hewlett had become a major creator in the comics industry, and one of the few to break into mainstream media. He had worked with writer Peter Milligan on Hewligan’s Haircut in 2000 AD issues 700 to 707. The series was later compiled into a trade paperback. He was also involved in providing covers and art for Shade, the Changing Man, also written by Milligan for DC Comics. Tank Girl was also optioned to be made into a film by MGM after being considered by, among others, Steven Spielberg. The film was released in 1995 and featured Lori Petty as Tank Girl. It was a commercial and critical failure and was criticised by fans who said it failed to capture the essence of the original strip. Hewlett had very little involvement with the film. He also drew a Tank Girl mini-series for the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics written by Peter Milligan. He also opened a secondhand clothing store, 49. The shop, at 49 Rowlands Road, Worthing, was managed by girlfriend Jane Oliver, originally a member
11 of Elastica, but this was a short-lived venture and closed within a year. Hewlett was still involved with British bands of the mid-1990s, including illustrating a comic strip version of Pulp’s song “Common People”. Deadline was eventually cancelled in 1996 due to falling sales in a changed market and Hewlett concentrated on working in advertising and designs for television, most notably the children’s series SMTV Live, featuring Ant & Dec. He also created the strip Get the Freebies, which was published monthly in British fashion magazine The Face. The stories, all set in London, followed the exploits of Terry Phoo, a gay, Buddhist kung-fu law enforcement officer and his sidekick Whitey Action, an enigmatic young anarchist with a bad attitude, as they tackle their primary adversaries The Freebies Gang. The dynamic between the two heroes was much like that of Tank Girl and her mutant kangaroo boyfriend Booga, with the episodes from the female protagonist’s point of view. The strip’s primary function was for Jamie to vent his spleen against the media idols and trends of the day, the story often taking second place to the jokes. At this time, he had moved into a flat with Blur’s Damon Albarn after Hewlett split with Oliver, and it was while sharing the flat that the pair came up with the idea of Gorillaz, a virtual band. Albarn would work on the music, while Hewlett would come up with character designs, and both came up with ideas for the members of the band. The first Gorillaz EP was released in 2000 followed by the first album, Gorillaz in 2001. In 2005, their second full studio album, Demon Days was released. In January 2006, Hewlett’s artwork for Gorillaz was shortlisted for the Design Museum’s Designer of the Year award. In May 2006, Jamie Hewlett was named the Designer of the Year 2006. On 25 May 2006, both Hewlett and Albarn won the joint award for Songwriters of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards. In 2007, Hewlett and Albarn premiered their first major work since Gorillaz, entitled Monkey: Journey to the West, a re-working of the ancient Chinese legend Journey to the West. Albarn wrote the score whilst Hewlett designed the set, animations and costumes. Written and adapted by Chen Shi-zheng, the show featured 45 Chinese circus acrobats, Shaolin monks and Chinese vocalists. It premiered at the Palace Theatre, Manchester as part of the Manchester International Festival, on 28 June 2007. His Get the Freebies strip was adapted by BBC Three for a pilot entitled Phoo Action, broadcast in February 2008. Hewlett and Albarn created the animation sequence the BBC used to introduce coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The sequence titled Journey to the East uses the Monkey character from Monkey: Journey to the West. He married French presenter and actress Emma de Caunes at Saint-Paulde-Vence on 10 September 2011. A 2014 Kickstarter campaign successfully raised the capital for a new Tank Girl bookcalled 21st Century Tank Girl featuring co-creators Hewlett and Martin, as well as other artists, including Brett Parson, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, Philip Bond, Jim Mahfood, Craig Knowles, and Jonathan Edwards. In November 2015, Hewlett debuted his first art exhibition called The Suggestionists at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The exhibition then made its American debut at the Woodward Gallery in Manhattan in May 2016. Throughout his career as a designer and a comic book artist, Hewlett’s works have contained a diverse selection of influences from a variety of many different artists. In a 2013 interview with Consequence of Sound, Hewlett stated that his primary influences were the works of cartoonists such as Mort Drucker, Carl Giles, Jack Davis, and
12 Ronald Lowe. In a 2012 interview for Absolut Vodka, Hewlett also listed Harvey Kurtzman’s American satirical magazine MAD Magazine as a leading influence of his art. Hewlett has mentioned that he is largely influenced by the works of American animator Chuck Jones of Looney Tunes, and cites the works of British comic book artists Ronald Searle and Mike McMahon as influences on his artwork. In fact, Hewlett has even stated that the entirety of Chuck Jones’ filmography and Mad Magazine as a whole are the biggest overall influences on his work. Hewlett was influenced by not only the works of Chuck Jones, but also various UPA cartoons. Hewlett’s Absolut London web profile also revealed that along with Chuck Jones, American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and American author Hunter S. Thompson were big influences on his artwork as well. Hewlett has also admitted to being heavily inspired by the likes of artists such as Robert Crumb, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Martin Kippenberger, and Richard Caton Woodville, acknowledging the impact their art has on his own work. During a 2012 Interview with Alfred Dunhill, he also lists the first film of the Star Wars series as another main influence on his artwork. Hewlett has admitted to being a big fan of Brendan McCarthy’s works, more specifically his work on his comic book Strange Days. Hewlett has said that French comic book artist Moebius is a big influence on his art, calling him ‘unbelievably inspiring’ and saying that he considers him to be ‘one of the greatest’. In addition to Moebius, Hewlett has been heavily influenced by the works of artists like Tony Hart and Tanino Liberatore as well. In an interview with The Telegraph, Hewlett also mentioned being a fan of American animator Brad Bird and his work on Family Dog, as well as American cartoonist Charles Schulz’ Peanuts comic strips. In a conversation with Mark Kermode, Hewlett said that the 1973 French stop motion animated film Fantastic Planet was the very first animated film that showed him animation is also a medium for adults. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett Jamie Hewlett and his official artbook
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17 ThE cReaTOrS : DAMON ALBARN Albarn was born on 23 March 1968, is the elder child of artist Keith Albarn and his wife Hazel. Their daughter Jessica, born in 1971, also went on to become an artist. Hazel Albarn, originally from Lincolnshire, was a theatrical set designer for Joan Littlewood’s theatre company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London, and was working on the satirical play Mrs Wilson’s Diary just before Damon was born. Keith Albarn, originally from Nottinghamshire, was briefly the manager of Soft Machine and once a guest on BBC’s Late Night Line-Up. He was head of The School of Art and Design at Colchester Institute. When Damon and Jessica were growing up, their family moved to Leytonstone, East London. The household was described as “bohemian” and their upbringing as “liberal”. Damon and Jessica were also raised in the Quaker religion. Albarn agreed with his parents’ views, later claiming, “I always thought my parents were absolutely dead right. I went against the grain in a weird way – by continually following them.” When Albarn was nine years old, his family took a holiday trip to Turkey for three months before settling in Aldham, Essex, an area described by Albarn as “one of those burgeoning Thatcher experiments where they were building loads of small estates”. The population of the area was predominantly white as opposed to the ethnically mixed part of London which he had become used to. He described himself as “not really fitting in with the politics of the place.” Albarn was interested in music from an early age, attending an Osmonds concert at the age of six. He started playing guitar, piano and violin in his youth and was interested in composing music, one of his compositions winning a heat in the nationwide Young Composer of the Year competition. Damon and Jessica both attended a primary school nearby which, according to Damon, was burnt down seven times over a period of 18 months by one of the teachers. After both siblings failed their eleven-plus exams, they started attending Stanway Comprehensive School, where Damon described himself as being “really unpopular” and [irritating to a lot of people” However, he developed an interest in drama and started acting in various school productions. It was at Stanway where he would meet future Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, who recalls seeing him act and feeling that he was a “confident performer” as well as a “show off ”. Albarn’s first words directed at Coxon were “Your brogues are crap, mate. Look, mine are the proper sort” as he was showing off his leather shoes, fashionable footwear at the time influenced by the Mod Revival. Nevertheless, the pair went on to become good friends, due to their shared passion for music, particularly bands such as The Jam, The Beatles, The Human League, XTC and Madness. He entered a production and management contract with Marijke Bergkamp and Graeme Holdaway, owners of the Beat Factory recording studio, where the members of Blur, then known as Seymour, did their first recordings. His first band was the synthpop group, Two’s a Crowd. Before Blur, he played with The Aftermath and Real Lives.
18 Albarn enrolled on a part-time music course at London’s Goldsmiths College in 1988, claiming that his sole intention was to gain access to the student union bar. Albarn was in a group named Circus alongside Coxon and drummer Dave Rowntree. Alex James, a fellow student at Goldsmiths, eventually joined as the group’s bassist. They changed their name to Seymour in December 1988, inspired by J.D. Salinger’s Seymour: An Introduction. In March 1990, after changing their name to Blur, they signed to Food Records. Blur came to release seven studio albums until it split up in 2003. It was considered one of the best Brit-pop bands, outselling Oasis in the peak of their career. However, the relationships between its members gradually worsened until making more music was an impossible task. Their third album Parklife stood out as the most awarded one, their fourth album The Great Escape hosted their personal battle against Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, and 13, their sixth studio album, was greatly influenced by Damon Albarn’s breakup with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann, his partner of eight years. In 2009, Blur toured one last time before leaving the stage forever, and in 2010, a documetary about the band, No Distance Left to Run, was released and nominated for the 53rd Grammy awards. Albarn met Jamie Hewlett in 1990 when Coxon, a fan of Hewlett’s work, asked him to interview Blur. The interview was published in Deadline magazine, home of Hewlett’s comic strip, Tank Girl. Hewlett initially thought Albarn was “arsey, a wanker”, and despite becoming one of the band’s acquaintances, Hewlett often did not get on with its members, especially after he started going out with Coxon’s ex-girlfriend, Jane Olliver. Nonetheless, Albarn and Hewlett started sharing a flat on Westbourne Grove in London in 1997. Hewlett had recently broken up with Olliver and Albarn was also at the end of his highly publicised relationship with Frischmann. The idea to create Gorillaz came about when the two were watching MTV: “If you watch MTV for too long, it’s a bit like hell—there’s nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that,” Hewlett said The band’s music is a collaboration between various musicians, Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor, and incorporates influences including alternative rock, Britpop, dub, hip-hop, and pop music. In 2001, the band’s eponymous debut album sold over seven million copies, and featured hits such as the songs “19-2000” and “Clint Eastwood,” earning them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. The second Gorillaz studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005 and included the singles “Feel Good Inc.”, “Dare”, “Dirty Harry” and “Kids with Guns”/”El Mañana”. Demon Days went five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States and earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. Gorillaz released their third studio album, Plastic Beach, in early 2010, which was received with high praise. In December 2010, the group released The Fall, recorded over 32 days during their North American tour. In a 2012 interview, Albarn talked about the unlikelihood of any future Gorillaz releases; his relationship with Hewlett had soured when Albarn chose to undercut the role of animation on their Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour. Albarn later rescinded this claim, stating “When Jamie [Hewlett] and I have worked out our differences, I’m sure we’ll make another record.” On 23 March 2017, the fifth Gorillaz studio album, Humanz, was announced and released worldwide on 28 April 2017. The sixth Gorillaz album, The Now Now, was announced on 31 May 2018 and released on 29 June 2018. In May 2006, NME reported that Albarn was working with Danger Mouse on his first solo album, tentatively titled The Good, the Bad & the Queen.It featured Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. The album was awarded Young Damon Albarn
19 Best Album at the 2007 MOJO Awards on 18 June. The first single by the line-up, “Herculean”, was released in late October 2006, and peaked at No. 22 in the UK Singles Chart. A second single, “Kingdom of Doom”, and the band’s debut album were then released in January 2007. That single fared slightly better than “Herculean”, peaking at No. 20, while the album peaked at No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart and went gold during its first week of release in the UK.“Green Fields” was released as the third single from the album in April 2007, just missing out on the Top 50. On 27 April 2008, The Good, the Bad & the Queen headlined the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival in Victoria Park where they introduced on stage several guests including ex-Specials keyboard player Jerry Dammers. He also worked with Syrian rapper and friend Eslam Jawaad on the song “Mr. Whippy”, though the song does not appear on the album it is a B-Side on the Herculean single. In his eventful music career, Damon has also participated on numerous solo and side projects, like Rocket Juice and the Moon, Mali Music, Democrazy or Everyday Robots. In 2005, Albarn, among others, criticised the London Live 8 concert for not featuring enough black artists; among the few included were Ms. Dynamite, Snoop Dogg, and Youssou N’Dour. Eventually the organisers added a separate concert at the Eden Project in Cornwall to the programme in order to showcase African musicians. Albarn said he did not want to perform at Live 8 because he thought it was too “exclusive” and may have been motivated by self-promotion. Albarn has been a vocal critic of celebrity culture: “We need to dismantle very significant parts of our culture and really re-examine them. I suppose you start with the celebrity thing... you have to get rid of things like The X Factor immediately.” On 2 October 1999, artist Suzi Winstanley gave birth to their daughter, Missy, named after hip hop artist Missy Elliott. Albarn described becoming a father as “witnessing a life force” and saying: “it massively changes you. It slowly sort of shaves off the unpleasant thorny bits and hopefully creates a nicely rounded... I don’t know, having a kid, you just become far more, inevitably you look to the future far more and, you know, it’s desperate sometimes when you have a particularly bad few weeks of the newspaper just reminding you about this is wrong, this is wrong. We’ve got ten more years everyone.” Albarn has also been an active supporter of various charities and philanthropic efforts throughout his career as a musician and has been involved in various charity albums and singles. Apart from this, he has participated in different anti-war campaigns. “Each individual has their own opinions about whether war is an answer to any problems. Personally I think it’s a waste of time, but I think more importantly, that it’s an issue that we haven’t had any say in. That’s why I feel so strongly about it. I don’t feel like we’ve really been given any choice in this matter. I think if you had a referendum tomorrow, Tony Blair would have no choice but to call off the war.” —Albarn on Britain’s involvement with the Iraq invasion Albarn performing with Gorillaz at the Roskilde Festival in 2010. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett
20 2018 TOUR SETLIST DATE 1 June 2018 3 June 2018 9 June 2018 15 June 2018 21 June 2018 22 June 2018 5 July 2018 6 July 2018 7 July 2018 11 July 2018 12 July 2018 14 July 2018 19 July 2018 21 July 2018 CITY Nuremberg Nürburg Dublin Barcelona Chiba Tokyo Werchter Gdynia Roskilde Bern Lucca Bilbao Nyon Carhaix COUNTRY Germany Germany Ireland Spain Japan Japan Belgium Poland Denmark Switzerland Italy Spain Switzerland France VENUE Zeppelinfeld Nürburgring Malahide Castle Fira de Barcelona Makuhari Messe Zepp Diver City Werchterpark Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport Festivalpladsen Gurten Mountain Piazza Napoleone Mount Cobetas Plaine de l’Asse La Prairie de Kerampuilh
21 DATE 22 July 2018 25 July 2018 28 July 2018 9 August 2018 11 August 2018 16 August 2018 17 August 2018 8 October 2018 9 October 2018 11 October 2018 13 October 2018 14 October 2018 16 October 2018 20 October 2018 24 October 2018 CITY Paris Kyiv Moscow Budapest Winchester Sankt Pölten Biddinghuizen Toronto Montreal Philadelphia New York City Boston Chicago Pico Rivera Mexico City COUNTRY France Ukraine Russia Hunagry United Kingdom Austria Netherlands Canada Canada United States Unites States United States United States United States Mexico VENUE Longchamp Racecourse Arch of Diversity Gorky Park Hajógyári Island Matterley Estate Farm VAZ St. Pölten Gurten Walibi Holland Scotiabank Arena Bell Centre Wells Fargo Center Barclays Center TD Garden United Center Pico Rivera Sports Arena Palacio de los Deportes
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23 THE ORIGINS OF 2-D: “I was more into films than music back then. ‘Meantime’, ‘Scum’, ‘Made in Britain’. Know what I mean? Plus, I was a big fan of zombie flicks too. ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Evil Dead’, ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’. I was well into Lucio Fulci, The Godfather of Gore. I really loved his film ‘Zombie’ and ‘The Gates Of Hell’ too. And George Romero’s stuff was brilliant! I liked Cronenberg’s ‘Rabid’ and ‘The Brood’. Abel Ferrara’s ‘Driller Killer’ was another cool film. ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ are both great. Well scary. Oh, and ‘Cannibal Massacre’ too. But ‘Dawn of the Dead’ is still probably my favourite. I dunno what it is but something about zombies just really creeps me out. The way they move really slowly but they always seem to get you in the end. Really freaks me out, but that’s why I watch ‘em I guess.” Stu-Pot (or Stuart Pot to give him his full name), was born on 23rd May 1978, the son of David and Rachel Pot. The Pots lived in a normal comfortable family home in Crawley New Town (or Craw Leah, meaning ‘crow-infested clearing’ as the original Saxon settlers named it). Stuart was a polite, well-mannered boy, with little to say for himself. Less charitable people could possibly describe the young Stuart Pot as, maybe, a bit thick. His upbringing, like Stuart himself, was mainly unremarkable and uneventful. Other than the fact that both he and Murdoc were Horses in the Chinese Horoscope, they couldn’t have come from more separated stock. 2-D: I know there’s a rumour going around that my real name is Stuart Tusspot or summfink, but that’s not true. It’s Pot. Stuart Pot. David Pot: Actually, my name was originally Tusspot, but having endured a lifetime of ridicule I thought, around the time of Stuart’s birth, that I would shorten it to Pot. But deep down both myself and Stu are still Tusspots. Also despite what Stu-Pot says, music, alongside films, had always played a large part in his life. David and Rachel Pot both recall Stuart as an excitable ten-year-old jumping around his bedroom to a noisy backdrop of The Jam, The Specials, The Clash, Wire, and Buzzcocks. Early compilation tapes reveal he was also a fan of Jason Donovan, Five Star, Shakatak, and Stu’s favorite artists, The ‘Human” League. He was also quite a keen melodica player, crafting simple but memorable melodies on his Hohner instrument in the style of his idol, Augustus Pablo. 2-D: Oh yeah. Well, I forgot about all that. When Stuart was 11 years old he fell out of a tree, landing on his head, causing a complete and total loss of bodily hair.When it did finally grow back, the nature colour was a vibrant azure blue. how the band came together in 1997 Young Stuart Pot at school
24 His father, David, was a mechanic and all-around electronic tinker-er for fairground rides. Stuart’s mother was a big-breasted nurse, and it was she who secured the endless supply of painkillers for the terrible migraines that Stuart suffered from. These attacks only got worse after the accident that was to fling Stuart and Murdoc’s together so forcefully in later years. 2-D: Well, you know what they say, ‘A little knowledge is a wonderful thing.’ I hadn’t really thought about what I wanted to do after school, though. This is followed by a long pause. 2-D: I never really thought anything as far I can remember. I went through a period where I wanted to be stormchaser, and recorded loads of videos off the TV of like, tornados and stuff. I liked messing about with keyboards, and bits of electronics. My dad used to help me customise bits of instruments so that I could make, like, new keyboard sounds and stuff. We’d use Stylophones, Moogs, old drum machines, anything electronic that made noise, really. I had a Casio VL-tone that I thought was well crucial. I was just into playing around making bloopy noises, being a bit spacey. I can play you a tape I made ages ago if you want. No, it’s alright. 2-D: I was a bit into painting too, messing around with graffiti and stuff. At one point I guess I wanted to be a vandal like that bloke Bansky. But apart from that, the odd game of Sub- bureo, and my Saturday job, I had no real ambition t o do much. I only got the saturday job so I could raise enough to get The Euro 96 Subbureo set. It had the all the Eruo 96 balls, fiences and players an a cool looking box, which was bit like the USA 94 set box, which itself was like the Italia 90 box, expect they... Meanwhile, back in Stoke. Murdoc had fallen in with with a shady individual, assembling a gang of villainous scoundrels and cronies, all sods to a man. Tired of the endless monotony of dead-end-jobs and hopeless rehearsals, he decided to ‘crank up the crime’ and put his masterplan into action... August 15th, 1997 ‘D-Day’ Murdoc: New gear, new singer, new band. That’s what I needed. I had a bunch of great songs and demos. I knew they could tear the charts apart! But I also know that any song is only as good as the outfit playing them. So I set about assembling a killer band. They had to be the best or no dice. I decided to put together the cast way. Ramraid the shop, hijack the gear, smash our way into the charts. Grab the chicks and slay the dragon, get it? So, it was while Stu was working as a Saturday boy at Uncle Norm’s Organ Emporium that his and Murdoc’s worlds collided, top speed, in a very real way... Murdoc: Me and my gang snaggle-toothed hardnuts decided that was enough. What we’d do is nick a car, burn it round town, build up a bit of speed and then launch it right through the music shop window, ramraid style!! That way, right, we could smash some stuff up, and get all the latest equipment free, and have a laugh doing it. The fact that the car landed on 2-D’s face was just a bonus.
25 2-D: I remember the day quite clearly actually. I was standing behind the counter, like, staring into space. I’d probably been in that position for three hours or so. Just standing there. Murdoc: Like some kind of moron. 2-D: Suddenly Murdoc came smashing through the wall of the building in his Vauxhall Astra, which lands bumber first on the side of my head. Murdoc: Happy days!... That’s when your eye came out, wasn’t it? 2-D: Yeah. The first one. It didn’t come out, it was pushed inward. Fractured. God, that hurt. By driving his stolen Vauxhall Astra through the building and directly into Stu-Pot. Murdoc has permanently damaged Stu-Pot’s left eye, also putting him into a deep catatonic state. Murdoc: You were just a vegetable, instantly. If I hadn’t a been laughing so much I probably would have heard the cops pulling up outside. Murdoc was arrested and sentenced to 30,000 hours of community service, plus 10 hours every week of caring for the vegetabilised StuPot’. Murdoc: God bless the British Justice System, eh? Unbelievable! They put ME in charge of YOU. It was a bit of a drag, but we used to have a lot of fun during those sessions. You wouldn’t remember though. You were just a comatosed plank really. It was like looking after a bag of cement. Murdoc’s ‘Care in the Community’ service usually involved as much mistreatment of the deaf, dumb and blind Stuart Pot as Murdoc could squeeze into his appointed time slot. Kicking, slapping, punching, dragging, dunking, catapulting...nothing seemed to affect the catatonic kid. Until one incident went a little bit too far. Murdoc: We were in a car park in Nottingham, and I was pulling a whole load of very snazzy 360 donuts. I had a proper burn on, and was getting some good smoke off the tyres. The girls that were standing around were really impressed. So I thought I’d take it up a notch, took my foot off the brake and went for a grand finale. I was probably hitting about 90, when 2-D got catapulted through the windscreen. He flew about 50 yards, landing face first on a kerb. Er...ooops! 2-D: Really? Murdoc: Yeah. That’s when your second eye went. You flew through the windscreen at 70 miles an hour, landing on your head once more. You skidded on your face for maybe half a mile, but when you came round, my God! The impact of the accident had revived Stu-Pot from his state paralysis, and in doing so gave us one of the greatest frontmen the world had ever seen! Murdoc: But, I’ll tell you what. When he stood up... Wow. What an image. Tall, pretty, blue, spiky hair...
26 Russel: My first encounter with Murdoc really was when the bag went over my head. He asked me for some obscure 50’s records and, er...I turned around to look for it. I was working behind the counter in Big Rick Black’s Record Shack, in London’s Soho area. I had my back turned to him for just a moment and that’s when he slipped the sack over my head and bundled me out of the shop. It wasn’t until it came off that I found myself at Kong Studios and that Murdoc Niccals was my assistant. But the music he played me was good enough to keep me there. Enter Russel Hobbs, the Hip Hop Hardman from the US of A. If 2-D was the looks, Murdoc the brains, then Russel truly was the heart. While Murdoc and 2-D were into music, this dude Russel was a musician, whose knowledge of sound spanned around the globe. Trouble, however, had always followed Russel Hobbs around. Murdoc: I’d heard about this hip hop maestro Hobbs, a one-man rhythm king who had been possessed by the ghosts of his dead friends. C’mon, how much press is that gonna get you? It’s got everything! Hip hop, the undead, 2-D: No eyeballs. Murdoc: ...no eyeballs. 2-D: That must have been pretty scary. Murdoc: No, mate. I saw it! It looked great! A blue-haired, black-eyed God! The girls would go wild. I knew I had it. You were still a bit mental, but I had my frontman! Despite the mess, and the fact that half you face was hanging off, I could see that the girls would go crazy for his pretty-boy looks, so I made him the Gorillaz singer! How could you not? There he stood before Murdoc, ‘love’s young deity’. Awkward and angular, like a speed-ridden corpse with Grade Eight keyboard skills. Perfect! Murdoc recruited the newly revived (albeit still mentally defective) Stu-Pot as the keyboardist and vocalist for his group, renaming him ‘2-D’ in honour of the two dents that he now sported in his head, scars left by the twin Murdoc-induced car accidents. Murdoc: Now I needed a drummer... Of course. The backbone of any great outfit. Next stop, Soho. Murdoc: Techincally, though, my voice is a lot better than 2-D’s. Russel Hobbs - Awaking the Slumbering Giant
27 X G-SHOCK G-TIME IS NOW
Del the ghost and Russel 28 all of them died apart from me. For some reason, the bullets never hit me... 2-D: That’s really strange. Murdoc: You may have noticed that actually a lot of what happens to us isn’t exactly normal, moron. Russel: But from where I lay on the floor of the truck, I could see his face, the one with the black hood ... It was Death incarnate himself. The Grim Reaper. That image will stay with me forever. That was the first time I saw him. Murdoc: Save it for the biography, Russ. 2D: But...I thought this is what we’ve... Russel: Immediately, that’s when all these spirits, the ghosts of my dear departed friends all entered my body, like they were being sucked up. Like sheets sucked into a vacuum cleaner. Bam! Bam! Woosh! Straight into me. The process of possession turned Russel’s eyes a permanent shade of milk white. It also gave Russel his exceptional music skills, his friends in question being the ones he’d made after an earlier brush with the Demonic underworld, all musical suppremos to a man. Murdoc: So, I dragged Russ back to the old... Russel: Del. He was my true soulmate. My best friend and brother. When he was killed, his spirit took up residence inside me. He became the ghost rapper who appeared on the ‘Clint Eastwood’ record. But I’ve always been a recceptacle for wayward spirits, demon apparitions. Murdoc: Well, Russel, that’s probably because of the size of the vacant ‘real estate’ you offer. Russel: I think it’s more that I guess I just kinda...vibrate at that frequency. Murdoc: You wot? Russel: I originally used to go to a private school in New York, The Xavier School for Young Achievers, but I was removed from there by the faculty governers after an incident in which some of the other graduates were horribly mauled. Unknown to me at the time was that I was already possessed by a demon, and a big one too. One night in the campus dormitory apparently I swelled to twice my size, went on a rampage, picked up some of the kids and threw them around like dolls, I wouldn’t have believed it was me if I hadn’t seen the “Russel Hobbs woz ere” sign scrawled in blood in the school hall. It was definitely my signature. Murdoc is shaking his head. Murdoc: You’re a real crackpot, Hobbs, you know that? rapping spirits, deportation and a devastating drummer, all rolled up in to one big royalty cheque. No, baby, the second I heard about Russel Hobbs, I knew that he was going to be in my band, whether he liked it or not... Russel, born in Brooklyn, New York City on June 3, 1975, had been sent to England for his own safety after all of his friends were suddenly gunned-down one night in a drive-by shooting. He recounts the tale in his deep, slow East Cost drawl. Russel: It’s still so vivid. The sound of a car coming around the back of us. Me and my friends were parked outside a 7-Eleven store, and it was raining real hard. We was minding our own business, you know. The Humvee, a big black Humvee kind a crawled around the back of our vehicle, and we just knew this was trouble... 2-D: Go on, what happened next? Murdoc looks at 2-D and rolls his eyes. 2-D’s heard this story 50, 60 times, and Murdoc knows it. He throws a hefty phone book at 2-D, hitting him squarely on the back of the head. Murdoc: Oi! Rain Man! Why don’t you go and memorize this? Getting Russel to go through this again was like sitting on some tedious old fart’s therapy session. Russel: Gangbangers. The truck was full of them, all wearing red hooded tops, apart from one. His hood was black, his face completely in shadow. Then we noticed the barrel tips, just poking through the window. They opened fire and the night sky was ablaze, the gunfire from their Uzis just lit up the place. My friend Del died instantly, the others just...
29 thing’s irreplacable. It’s the TARDIS of the hip hop world. Its rhythms span both time and history, right across the universe. Never mess with that machine, it’ll eat you whole. As the big man says, the machine is a towering hybrid of every drum machine, beatbox, ryhthm-track, breakbeat and sample ever created. The fact that it also contains the souls of many dead drummers that roll endlessly round its cirquits, well, you can see why the box is so heavily coveted. Now, you can’t buy that kind of equipment at out the back of Exchange & Mart, can you? With the inclusion of Russel into the band, Gorillaz’ stock boosted to no end. He brought with him hip hop, funk, dub, world music, Krautrock and more. From big band, to bluegrass and booty bass to jazz, ska, white noise and reggae, his knowledge was infinite. More than this, his education and schooling in New York brought an understanding of the arts and literature, a tuition that spanned Busted, to Basquait, to Bukowski. It’s an overused term but it would be possible to describe Russel as a true Renaissance man. Though, I’m...um... not exactly sure what that really means. Russel: It pertains to the Renaissance period, when a gentlemen was expected to have a whole breadth of knowledge, talents in a wild range of fields. Unlike polymaths, who are people who excel in many fields. I’m a cross between the two. I’m a jack of all trades, but a master of drums. What more can you ask for? Murdoc: A decent guitarist? Russel: Take it easy, Muds, or I’m gonna pound you, Brooklyn style. (pause) Anyhoo, I was expelled from the school but the possession and the anxiety sent me into a coma. I was in a coma for about four years until a Father Merrin exorcised the demon from my soul. That’s when I came round. With the demon finally vanquished, Russel came to after four years in the comatose state. Unfortunately, his old school refused to take him back. Russel: That’s when I went to Brooklyn High School, and met my new crowd. They were street musicians, rappers, DJ’s and MC’s. I learned so much so fast. Hip hop saved my life, my soul... But this honeymoon period was not to last. The drive-by massacre not only killed his crew but also sealed his fate. His parents shipped him off to England, to his uncle’s home in Belsize Park and to what they imagined would be a relative safety. Russel: I was sent here to convalesce, to recover and unwind... Murdoc: (snickering) But you didn’t count on me tracking you down though, did you, mate? Oi! Russ. Didn’t think that would happen, did you? Among Russel’s belongings that were shipped over was one that was to become mainstay of the Gorillaz sonic arsenal...the legendary Hip Hop Machine! Russel: That box contains every beat known to man. The
30 I took great joy in telling all the headknobs who turned up for the job to sling their hooks. The band change their name to Gorillaz. A legend was born! 2-D: We weren’t really Gorillaz until Noodle arrived. Murdoc: Well, we went through a lot of names. But seeing as, musically, I wanted to swing through the jungle baring my ass, I thought Gorillaz was a perfect name. Noodle was the spirit and the joy. Even her amnesia and total lack of knowledge of her past could not cause a ripple to the joyful approach she took to life. Her presence perfectly balanced the exceptional individual components of this extraordinary group. Russel: Despite the language problem, you picked up fast 2-D: All we needed was a guitarrist. Well, we did have one, Paula CrackerMurdoc: She was rubbish. So we advertised for another. In time-honoured tradition, Murdoc placed an ad in the back pages of the weekly music institution that is NME. Murdoc: I read the wordings for the advert down the phone. ‘Global phenomenon seek guitarist for World domination. Blah, blah, blah. GSOH required. No hippies, etc...’ No sooner I had put the phone down when there’s a knock at the door. I open the door, no-one there. In the deserted hallway stood only a 10ft high freight container marked FedEx. As Murdoc pushed the crate into the middle of the room, out sprung Noodle, all three foot two of her. 2-D: I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t really expecting that. We heard a knock at the studio door, and there’s just this big box there. Out jumps a small Japanese person carrying a Les Paul. I couldn’t make out a word she was saying. Just gibberish. But then she just unleashed a massive guitar rift wot sounded like 200 demons screaming in Arabic. Brilliant! She ended with a 20ft hi-karate jump. She bowed and said just one word... ‘Noodle.’ Murdoc: That was it. The position was taken and my group was complete. You could feel this electricity running right through the four of us. Actually, Noodle - A Very Special Delivery From Gorillaz: Rise of the Ogre
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