Gorillaz in Japan
Seven, September 2001
Curried cabbage, schoolgirls' knickers, crystal meth, typhoons and karaoke. Fresh from their withdrawal from the Mercury Music Prize, last month the Gorillaz travelled to Japan. This is 2-D’s story of exactly what happened...
We left from Heathrow on August 15. Murdoc was green and sick and ill. He hadn't slept the night before ‘cos he hates flying, so he was shitting himself. He acts all tough, but you know he’s easily scared. It don’t take much to put the wind up him. The only time I worried on the flight over was when we went through what I thought was heavy turbulence. But it wasn’t turbulence at all. It was just Russel getting out of his seat to go to the toilet.
Noodle just took the fast Fed-ex crate home. Same way she arrived. It was a long flight for us. 13 hours. But I just watched the in-flight movies. They showed Tim Burton’s new remake of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. It’s good, but even though all the costumes are better, you can’t really beat the original.
Russel got stuck in customs twice. Once ‘cos he couldn’t get through the X-Ray Machine and another time ‘cos they thought he was smuggling something in. They didn’t believe it was just him under those clothes so they strip-searched him. Bad move. I mean if he had put up any type of protest it would have been like tryna slay a wookie. Russel in a bad mood is unbelievable. Like a mad mountain.
Anyway, we arrived at Tokyo/Narita at 9.00 in the morning Japan time. We got mobbed at the airport by loads of Gorillaz fans taking photos. Murdoc looked pale. First two faces we see when we got off the plane were Jamie and Damon! I can’t believe they were out there as well. Murdoc was furious; he doesn’t know why they keep following us around. It’s a mad place Japan, there’s bloody robots everywhere fighting each other. Huge Godzillas playing Gameboy Advance.
We met Beat Takeshi who wants to film us for our film. He was wearing a yellow suit with drawings of pigs all over it and a fluffy pig hat but he wasn’t joking and that scared me. Everyone says Osaka looks like Blade Runner, but I reckon it’s the other way round.
Thursday August 16
Osaka gig at the Imperial Hall
This was our first ever gig in Japan. The concert promoter gently herded the audience into the centre of the room and then surrounded them with a cattle pen. The gig was just mental, but weirdly these kids just stopped dead at the end of each song and politely clapped, apart from one kid who threw some cabbage at Murdoc, but I think that’s because Murdoc told some magazine that he likes eating curried cabbage. Noodle was treated like some homecoming queen, but maybe she’s just got a lot of mates there. I thought when we played ‘Punk’ they were gonna explode and ‘Soundcheck (gravity)’ was so good I could see kids crying. I think the kids in Japan really understand where were coming from. I think they see so many arsey bands go over there acting like big boring rock stars, instead of giving them something really adventurous, that they’re really open to it. Having said that Murdoc takes every opportunity to act like a big, boring rock star. We got taken out for some record company meal and at the end, we got fed these rice crackers things that they fry in hot oil. They’re inedible. Really. Like a big wad of Copydex. Russel’s still chewing his and we left ages ago.
Friday August 17
Travel Day
Murdoc did some shopping today in Osaka town. He discovered that they sell schoolgirls’ used knickers in cans for frustrated businessmen. So he started tryna sell his used pants for 3000 Yen. That’s about eighteen quid. Weird thing is he did manage to sell them. So then he started tryna soil his new pants so he could knock them out as well. I didn't think he needed the money that bad, but maybe he just likes to be appreciated. Maybe he’s tryna pay off his hotel minibar bill. Who knows? You can get loads of cool gadgets over here. Russel was looking for some cool stuff to bring back. He really wanted this watch with a laser in it that cuts people in two and stuff. But they were sald out. So we got taken to the Japanese poundstretcher, which was just rubbish. Japanese rubbish. Noodle bought herself a new jetpack in town, but everything I bought cost me “$400”. That’s what all the shopkeepers keep telling me. “$400...$400”. It’s so expensive.
Saturday August 18
Tokyo Makuhari Messe
This was part of the Summer Sonic Festival, We took the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo. Today we played at the Makuhari Messe, the Osaka gig was good, but the one in Tokyo was really mad. it was in this huge hanger, like a giant bus depot. All these Tokyo kids whacked out of their heads on Crystal Meth. I wouldn’t do that stuff even if it was free, Well not if I've got to fly ‘cos you get so dehydrated. Tonight we played like industrial light and magic on Imax. All these other bands were playing like Primal Scream, The Orb and Marylin Manson. He’s a funny looking fellow, isn’t he? But none of us wanted to watch any of that lot so we went to see some Japanese Hardcore punk bands. I really liked Gauze and Knucklehead and Smash Your Face were wicked! Both the bass players were naked with bleached hair and masks. If Murdoc played naked we'd be in so much trouble. Murdoc’s favourite were D.S.B. which stands for Defiance of Shit Bastards. Russel hates that sort of music but got on quite well with Muppy the guitarist from Wrestling Crime Master.
Afterwards we went to a karaoke bar and Murdoc got his face smashed in when he spilt some big sumo bloke’s saki. That did make me laugh. Murdoc was halfway through doing 'Turning Japanese’ by the Vapours when the guy struck. Russel had a go at singing ‘Small Town Boy' by Bronski Beat which was really one of the most frightening things I've ever seen. I thought he was into hip-hop, I dunno?
Sunday August 19
Flight home
Another 13 hours back. We only just managed to avoid the typhoon that had been threatening to hit Tokyo all week. It was so big that we were told it would suck up the whole city. Murdoc was crapping himself. He thought he was gonna get sucked off the plane. But it was fine. I just sat there eating nuts the whole way back and watched Weekend at Bernie's 1, 2 and 3. Wicked!
Gorillaz 'Rock The House' is released October 22 on two CDs featuring unreleased tracks and band videos. The British leg of the tour kicks off at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange on September 24, calling at the Birmingham Academy (25), Manchester Academy (26) and the London Forum (28)
We left from Heathrow on August 15. Murdoc was green and sick and ill. He hadn't slept the night before ‘cos he hates flying, so he was shitting himself. He acts all tough, but you know he’s easily scared. It don’t take much to put the wind up him. The only time I worried on the flight over was when we went through what I thought was heavy turbulence. But it wasn’t turbulence at all. It was just Russel getting out of his seat to go to the toilet.
Noodle just took the fast Fed-ex crate home. Same way she arrived. It was a long flight for us. 13 hours. But I just watched the in-flight movies. They showed Tim Burton’s new remake of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. It’s good, but even though all the costumes are better, you can’t really beat the original.
Russel got stuck in customs twice. Once ‘cos he couldn’t get through the X-Ray Machine and another time ‘cos they thought he was smuggling something in. They didn’t believe it was just him under those clothes so they strip-searched him. Bad move. I mean if he had put up any type of protest it would have been like tryna slay a wookie. Russel in a bad mood is unbelievable. Like a mad mountain.
Anyway, we arrived at Tokyo/Narita at 9.00 in the morning Japan time. We got mobbed at the airport by loads of Gorillaz fans taking photos. Murdoc looked pale. First two faces we see when we got off the plane were Jamie and Damon! I can’t believe they were out there as well. Murdoc was furious; he doesn’t know why they keep following us around. It’s a mad place Japan, there’s bloody robots everywhere fighting each other. Huge Godzillas playing Gameboy Advance.
We met Beat Takeshi who wants to film us for our film. He was wearing a yellow suit with drawings of pigs all over it and a fluffy pig hat but he wasn’t joking and that scared me. Everyone says Osaka looks like Blade Runner, but I reckon it’s the other way round.
Thursday August 16
Osaka gig at the Imperial Hall
This was our first ever gig in Japan. The concert promoter gently herded the audience into the centre of the room and then surrounded them with a cattle pen. The gig was just mental, but weirdly these kids just stopped dead at the end of each song and politely clapped, apart from one kid who threw some cabbage at Murdoc, but I think that’s because Murdoc told some magazine that he likes eating curried cabbage. Noodle was treated like some homecoming queen, but maybe she’s just got a lot of mates there. I thought when we played ‘Punk’ they were gonna explode and ‘Soundcheck (gravity)’ was so good I could see kids crying. I think the kids in Japan really understand where were coming from. I think they see so many arsey bands go over there acting like big boring rock stars, instead of giving them something really adventurous, that they’re really open to it. Having said that Murdoc takes every opportunity to act like a big, boring rock star. We got taken out for some record company meal and at the end, we got fed these rice crackers things that they fry in hot oil. They’re inedible. Really. Like a big wad of Copydex. Russel’s still chewing his and we left ages ago.
Friday August 17
Travel Day
Murdoc did some shopping today in Osaka town. He discovered that they sell schoolgirls’ used knickers in cans for frustrated businessmen. So he started tryna sell his used pants for 3000 Yen. That’s about eighteen quid. Weird thing is he did manage to sell them. So then he started tryna soil his new pants so he could knock them out as well. I didn't think he needed the money that bad, but maybe he just likes to be appreciated. Maybe he’s tryna pay off his hotel minibar bill. Who knows? You can get loads of cool gadgets over here. Russel was looking for some cool stuff to bring back. He really wanted this watch with a laser in it that cuts people in two and stuff. But they were sald out. So we got taken to the Japanese poundstretcher, which was just rubbish. Japanese rubbish. Noodle bought herself a new jetpack in town, but everything I bought cost me “$400”. That’s what all the shopkeepers keep telling me. “$400...$400”. It’s so expensive.
Saturday August 18
Tokyo Makuhari Messe
This was part of the Summer Sonic Festival, We took the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo. Today we played at the Makuhari Messe, the Osaka gig was good, but the one in Tokyo was really mad. it was in this huge hanger, like a giant bus depot. All these Tokyo kids whacked out of their heads on Crystal Meth. I wouldn’t do that stuff even if it was free, Well not if I've got to fly ‘cos you get so dehydrated. Tonight we played like industrial light and magic on Imax. All these other bands were playing like Primal Scream, The Orb and Marylin Manson. He’s a funny looking fellow, isn’t he? But none of us wanted to watch any of that lot so we went to see some Japanese Hardcore punk bands. I really liked Gauze and Knucklehead and Smash Your Face were wicked! Both the bass players were naked with bleached hair and masks. If Murdoc played naked we'd be in so much trouble. Murdoc’s favourite were D.S.B. which stands for Defiance of Shit Bastards. Russel hates that sort of music but got on quite well with Muppy the guitarist from Wrestling Crime Master.
Afterwards we went to a karaoke bar and Murdoc got his face smashed in when he spilt some big sumo bloke’s saki. That did make me laugh. Murdoc was halfway through doing 'Turning Japanese’ by the Vapours when the guy struck. Russel had a go at singing ‘Small Town Boy' by Bronski Beat which was really one of the most frightening things I've ever seen. I thought he was into hip-hop, I dunno?
Sunday August 19
Flight home
Another 13 hours back. We only just managed to avoid the typhoon that had been threatening to hit Tokyo all week. It was so big that we were told it would suck up the whole city. Murdoc was crapping himself. He thought he was gonna get sucked off the plane. But it was fine. I just sat there eating nuts the whole way back and watched Weekend at Bernie's 1, 2 and 3. Wicked!
Gorillaz 'Rock The House' is released October 22 on two CDs featuring unreleased tracks and band videos. The British leg of the tour kicks off at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange on September 24, calling at the Birmingham Academy (25), Manchester Academy (26) and the London Forum (28)