And, like the rest of their formation, the journey to find Noodle was tumultuous. Still determined to make it big, they placed an ad in NME and a freight container was FedExed to their house the very same day. The vessel contained a small girl, only eight years old, with amnesia and a Les Paul. Their odd, complex, often goofy story is a commonly underlooked part of their artistry as a whole. The Gorillaz may be fictional but, thanks to the thought put into them by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlettt and a pack dedicated fans, their storyworld and feels as real as anything and is definitely worth diving into while you enjoy Demon Days.
Record Of The Month. Buy Now. Shop Till You Drop. HEWLETT: The coolest thing is that kids are catching the references we put in the music and the visuals, and then they're going out to learn about the original pieces of culture we were inspired by. The payoff is that the next generation of artists and writers might say, "I learned a lot from listening to the Gorillaz when I was Instead, I use a songwriting method that's a lot like sampling without actually digitally sampling.
Gorillaz is how I take everything I hear and filter it. It's been really helpful having Danger Mouse onboard for that aspect of it. He's an exceptional American. I love the idea of his Grey Album - the conceit of mixing such disparate sources. It's what I love about the crazy process of making music - the moments like that. It was just such a great idea. Danger Mouse is now working on a bunch of other records, translating his ideas about remixing into all sorts of other projects.
It's really exciting to find like minds. Gorillaz seems to have gone from small indie band to huge supergroup. It's as if the Archies had stayed together and turned into the Beach Boys. ALBARN: Well, we see it this way: Gorillaz shouldn't be denied any of the affectations of genuine rock stars just because they're cartoons.
They've been very successful, so now they have more money and they can make bigger, more grandiose videos. The paradox is that by being completely artificial, Gorillaz is a lot less artificial than a boy band or any of these other constructed entities we're all used to.
If you're going to pretend to be somebody you're not - which is the whole point of being a rock star - then why not just invent fake characters and have them do it all for you? ALBARN: I hope we can keep doing it this way - making music and art that are pure products of our influences while not really having to let the whole celebrity side of it get in the way. Then maybe more virtual bands will come out and do the same thing. And then hopefully there will be so many of us that people will ask themselves, What in the world is going on here?
We're buying magazines full of cartoons! You redesigned the characters for Demon Days. You can actually see a progression. They needed updating. You know, cartoon characters aren't really supposed to change over time. But my version of Scrappy-Doo would be really annoying.
Way more annoying than the real Scrappy-Doo ever was, and he would sing just like the Chipmunks. You're paying homage through imagery from lots of different cultures.
I came back with lots of inspiration from Mongolia. There was one moment in particular that inspired some of the darker elements of Demon Days. I bought lots of old Betty Boop cartoons with really bad, aggressive Chinese overdubs and watched them with my daughter on a train traveling through Northern China. The area is utterly destroyed by all the farming - there was a mile stretch where all the trees were dead. The scene felt totally apocalyptic. With the success that Gorillaz has seen, have you been amused to see this virtual band that you created taking over the world?
JH: Glimpses. For instance, as Damon just said, Coachella, there was definitely a buzz going around after the show. We were very excited. But of course then you move on the next day and think about the next thing. DA: I think anything in the performing visual artistic world, you have a brief moment where you can have some perspective on it and enjoy the vibrations.
The rest of the time is just hard work and frustration. How does doing Gorillaz compare to the hard work and frustration of being an artist in general or playing in a band? Each individual thing has an entirely different character.
But this is one of the most demanding things. But quite close. JH: Having a live show that has all of those people on stage, who all have to be flown around the world and put up and paid for.
DA: Traveling around the world to record. Everything is expensive. Modern life is expensive. We think about what we need to make it work, and then the cost hits us in the face six months later.
You mentioned trying to constantly refine the presentation even beyond what you did at Coachella. Can you tell me anything about what ambitions you have?
DA: There are definitely areas. Mos [Def] at the Roundhouse , he dressed up. The costume really worked in context with everything else. So I think maybe a bit more of that.
I certainly think each song has a different world to it, or a lot of the songs do. Maybe that would be a way of punctuating the moods. At one point you had discussed doing a Gorillaz movie. DA: And maybe at the end of it, we might have enough material to actually edit a proper movie together.
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