Gorillaz Interview
Rockin' On, March 2001
First of all, could you please tell us who, amongst the members of Gorillaz, are responding to this interview?
Gorillaz: Murdoc, Russel, 2D and Noodle.
Gorillaz seems so cosmopolitan with members from all over the world, the UK, the US, Japan... Where are you at the moment and what are you doing (don't say you are answering these questions, but are you touring or recording or what)?
Russel: We are at our studio Kong Studios, which is on top of a hill and has several levels which are dug deep into the hillside, it's a bit like the sort of place a James Bond bad guy would live. As for what we are doing: We are playing Soul Blade on the PlayStation, Murdoc is Li Long and I am Taki the Demon Hunter. Noodle and 2D are watching George Romero's Day of the Dead for the tenth time this week.
This is our (that is Rockin' On from Japan) first interview with you, so we would like to get basic info about you. Gorillaz had remained unknown until you released this single Tomorrow Comes Today last year. However, you have already collaborated with famous musicians such as Damon Albarn from Blur, Dan the Automator, and Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto. Tell us how you met all these big names and how you convinced them to work with you.
Murdoc: We already knew Damon from a long time ago. We used to be enemies with him, but through a bizarre twist of fate, we became close friends. He's done a lot of work with us on our album.
Russel: I met Dan on the Million Man Left Hand March which congregated at the White House. It was here that we discovered that not only did we have a shared love of Hip-Hop, but that we were both left-handed.
Noodle: I met Miho in a dream. I was standing on the platform waiting for the next Bullet train to take me to Kingston Jamaica, and Miho was there with a ticket for the same trip.
Your bio tells us how diverse/messy your backgrounds and musical tastes are. Seems like a classic source of an ego clash in a band. How can you deal with it? And what is the common interest in bringing these SPLENDIDLY different personalities together?
Murdoc: Dune Buggies, Zombie films, Hip Hop, John Cassavettes, Chuck Jones, and trainers.
In a way, you are the first band with four totally different characters with each individual so much stands out, since The Archies and The Monkees. We find it too "well-made" and in a way "unrealistic". Don't you find it that way too?
Russel: We feel Gorillaz were supposed to be together. From the moment each of us was born, we have been heading on a crash-collision course with each other. On the first day, we got together a huge black rain cloud appeared over London and it rained for ten hours. That's when we wrote our first song; Tomorrow Comes Today. This we decided was a portentous sign.
We heard your single and a 6-track sampler and they all show how diverse your music tastes are. Tell us what kind of music each of you are into at the moment. (Can you elaborate on it as well please, like the name of bands and the title of songs you are into, what sort of music they are, and why you like them? We assume you will pick up underground bands...)
Russel: I'm listening to Deltron 3030. Del's the spirit of my dear departed high school pal who now lives inside of me. He keeps playing the album again and again inside of my head. Also, I can't stop playing Gang Starr Full Clip, there are some serious beats on this album.
Murdoc: I'm well into Dinosaur Junior, Freak Scene on Bug still rocks my world, and Buckcherry; Lit Up is cool. Other than that I've been listening to Raging Speedhorn, let me assure you, these boys are very heavy.
2D: I've been watching Rockers on my portable DVD, and I've left Augustus Pablo's King; Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, Tom Tom Club, and Simian; Watch It Glow on my C.D player for ages, all of them make me feel happy and I like that.
Noodle: I've got Cornelius and Graham Coxon; The Big D on my MP3 player. I'm in love with Graham and with an artist named Takashi Murakami.
Tomorrow Comes Today is very funky and very chilling, and it is totally a unique song. But at the same time, you have rap stuff and world-music stuff, etc., and it really sounds like a mixed bag. Can we say Gorillaz is an outlet or musical lab for musicians with various styles?
2D: As a result of us living in a parallel two-dimensional reality, we often find ourselves in an overall patterning of colours, sounds, and shapes that provide an escape from the pressures and expectations of the everyday human paradox.
If Gorillaz is an outlet as such, producing it must be quite tough. Do you know what Dan the producer actually thinks of you and your stuff?
Russel: You'll have to ask Dan about that one.
Here's a question for Murdoc, the de facto leader of Gorillaz. You formed this band in order to hit the chart. Do you have any role models in your mind? Or if you haven't got any, tell us your idea/image of a "successful" band.
Murdoc: I always have the models of Brian Jones, Dennis Hopper, and Peter Faulk in my mind. I'd say the Stones are pretty successful.
When you four guys got together and made a noise in the studio, were you (Murdoc) happy with the outcome? Were you convinced that this band could create a chart dominator?
Murdoc: Of course. The moment 2D went through the windscreen of my Vauxhall Astra I knew we were going to rule the day.
Amongst your ambitions as Gorillaz, is being on the Top of the Pops one of them? When you are on TV (or TOTP), are you gonna have Damon Albarn or Dan Nakamura with you as guest musicians?
Russel: We can't ever be human, but humans can be drawn so in our world so anything is possible.
Currently, TOTP is totally swamped by boys/girls bands, and kid/candy pop. Don't you ever wonder if your sound is a bit too hardcore, sophisticated, and challenging for TOTP? Or are you confident that you will fascinate or brainwash that TOTP audience with your FABULOUS looks and GROOVY music?
Russel: Our music doesn't brainwash as it's a pure expression but it can stimulate intelligent minds, and there are more of those than the public is given credit for.
Murdoc: We hope to be able to remind people of what it is they have been missing out on. The charts have become a playground for talentless, uninspiring freeloaders with one party trick up their sleeves. Being able to do a backflip and having a floppy fringe doesn't make a pop star if you ask me.
Your album will be out in March or April. Did you finish recording already? Tell us the most exciting moment while you were recording.
2D: We recorded the album in Jamaica. I was on the studio roof recording the vocal for Sound Check (Gravity) and while I was singing and looking up at the stars, a giant vulture that the locals call Johnny Bird swooped down and took me off into the mountains and left me there with a Rastafarian medicine man. I stayed there for a week and he fed me with vegan food and educated me in the ways of Jah, but I can't remember a word that he said.
Could you please tell us secretly about your album, and if you have any special/unusual plans in promoting the album?
Russel: We will be appearing everywhere, all the time, with everyone, personally on the Internet for al of our fans.
Please do come to Japan for the live show!! We would love to see you all, and especially Japanese Noodle fans here hope to see her on the stage.
Murdoc: We have a special plan that we can't reveal to you yet but keep tuned to www.gorillaz.com for details.
Noodle: I can't wait to play for everybody back home. Although the West is very loud and exciting, I sometimes miss home very much. Russel and 2D are like big brothers and Murdoc is very funny and naughty, so I'm always having fun.
Thank you very much.
Rockin'On, Tokyo, Japan
Gorillaz: Murdoc, Russel, 2D and Noodle.
Gorillaz seems so cosmopolitan with members from all over the world, the UK, the US, Japan... Where are you at the moment and what are you doing (don't say you are answering these questions, but are you touring or recording or what)?
Russel: We are at our studio Kong Studios, which is on top of a hill and has several levels which are dug deep into the hillside, it's a bit like the sort of place a James Bond bad guy would live. As for what we are doing: We are playing Soul Blade on the PlayStation, Murdoc is Li Long and I am Taki the Demon Hunter. Noodle and 2D are watching George Romero's Day of the Dead for the tenth time this week.
This is our (that is Rockin' On from Japan) first interview with you, so we would like to get basic info about you. Gorillaz had remained unknown until you released this single Tomorrow Comes Today last year. However, you have already collaborated with famous musicians such as Damon Albarn from Blur, Dan the Automator, and Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto. Tell us how you met all these big names and how you convinced them to work with you.
Murdoc: We already knew Damon from a long time ago. We used to be enemies with him, but through a bizarre twist of fate, we became close friends. He's done a lot of work with us on our album.
Russel: I met Dan on the Million Man Left Hand March which congregated at the White House. It was here that we discovered that not only did we have a shared love of Hip-Hop, but that we were both left-handed.
Noodle: I met Miho in a dream. I was standing on the platform waiting for the next Bullet train to take me to Kingston Jamaica, and Miho was there with a ticket for the same trip.
Your bio tells us how diverse/messy your backgrounds and musical tastes are. Seems like a classic source of an ego clash in a band. How can you deal with it? And what is the common interest in bringing these SPLENDIDLY different personalities together?
Murdoc: Dune Buggies, Zombie films, Hip Hop, John Cassavettes, Chuck Jones, and trainers.
In a way, you are the first band with four totally different characters with each individual so much stands out, since The Archies and The Monkees. We find it too "well-made" and in a way "unrealistic". Don't you find it that way too?
Russel: We feel Gorillaz were supposed to be together. From the moment each of us was born, we have been heading on a crash-collision course with each other. On the first day, we got together a huge black rain cloud appeared over London and it rained for ten hours. That's when we wrote our first song; Tomorrow Comes Today. This we decided was a portentous sign.
We heard your single and a 6-track sampler and they all show how diverse your music tastes are. Tell us what kind of music each of you are into at the moment. (Can you elaborate on it as well please, like the name of bands and the title of songs you are into, what sort of music they are, and why you like them? We assume you will pick up underground bands...)
Russel: I'm listening to Deltron 3030. Del's the spirit of my dear departed high school pal who now lives inside of me. He keeps playing the album again and again inside of my head. Also, I can't stop playing Gang Starr Full Clip, there are some serious beats on this album.
Murdoc: I'm well into Dinosaur Junior, Freak Scene on Bug still rocks my world, and Buckcherry; Lit Up is cool. Other than that I've been listening to Raging Speedhorn, let me assure you, these boys are very heavy.
2D: I've been watching Rockers on my portable DVD, and I've left Augustus Pablo's King; Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, Tom Tom Club, and Simian; Watch It Glow on my C.D player for ages, all of them make me feel happy and I like that.
Noodle: I've got Cornelius and Graham Coxon; The Big D on my MP3 player. I'm in love with Graham and with an artist named Takashi Murakami.
Tomorrow Comes Today is very funky and very chilling, and it is totally a unique song. But at the same time, you have rap stuff and world-music stuff, etc., and it really sounds like a mixed bag. Can we say Gorillaz is an outlet or musical lab for musicians with various styles?
2D: As a result of us living in a parallel two-dimensional reality, we often find ourselves in an overall patterning of colours, sounds, and shapes that provide an escape from the pressures and expectations of the everyday human paradox.
If Gorillaz is an outlet as such, producing it must be quite tough. Do you know what Dan the producer actually thinks of you and your stuff?
Russel: You'll have to ask Dan about that one.
Here's a question for Murdoc, the de facto leader of Gorillaz. You formed this band in order to hit the chart. Do you have any role models in your mind? Or if you haven't got any, tell us your idea/image of a "successful" band.
Murdoc: I always have the models of Brian Jones, Dennis Hopper, and Peter Faulk in my mind. I'd say the Stones are pretty successful.
When you four guys got together and made a noise in the studio, were you (Murdoc) happy with the outcome? Were you convinced that this band could create a chart dominator?
Murdoc: Of course. The moment 2D went through the windscreen of my Vauxhall Astra I knew we were going to rule the day.
Amongst your ambitions as Gorillaz, is being on the Top of the Pops one of them? When you are on TV (or TOTP), are you gonna have Damon Albarn or Dan Nakamura with you as guest musicians?
Russel: We can't ever be human, but humans can be drawn so in our world so anything is possible.
Currently, TOTP is totally swamped by boys/girls bands, and kid/candy pop. Don't you ever wonder if your sound is a bit too hardcore, sophisticated, and challenging for TOTP? Or are you confident that you will fascinate or brainwash that TOTP audience with your FABULOUS looks and GROOVY music?
Russel: Our music doesn't brainwash as it's a pure expression but it can stimulate intelligent minds, and there are more of those than the public is given credit for.
Murdoc: We hope to be able to remind people of what it is they have been missing out on. The charts have become a playground for talentless, uninspiring freeloaders with one party trick up their sleeves. Being able to do a backflip and having a floppy fringe doesn't make a pop star if you ask me.
Your album will be out in March or April. Did you finish recording already? Tell us the most exciting moment while you were recording.
2D: We recorded the album in Jamaica. I was on the studio roof recording the vocal for Sound Check (Gravity) and while I was singing and looking up at the stars, a giant vulture that the locals call Johnny Bird swooped down and took me off into the mountains and left me there with a Rastafarian medicine man. I stayed there for a week and he fed me with vegan food and educated me in the ways of Jah, but I can't remember a word that he said.
Could you please tell us secretly about your album, and if you have any special/unusual plans in promoting the album?
Russel: We will be appearing everywhere, all the time, with everyone, personally on the Internet for al of our fans.
Please do come to Japan for the live show!! We would love to see you all, and especially Japanese Noodle fans here hope to see her on the stage.
Murdoc: We have a special plan that we can't reveal to you yet but keep tuned to www.gorillaz.com for details.
Noodle: I can't wait to play for everybody back home. Although the West is very loud and exciting, I sometimes miss home very much. Russel and 2D are like big brothers and Murdoc is very funny and naughty, so I'm always having fun.
Thank you very much.
Rockin'On, Tokyo, Japan