Gorillaz Interview
Rolling Stone, August 2001
Are there any people in your life that have profoundly affected what you do?
2D: My P.E. teacher, Mr. Braintree, was very particular about making sure that we showered properly after gym class, and made it his personal duty to make sure that we all knew how to dry all our bits properly. We all thought he was a benny back then, but I saw a program on Discovery about a nasty fungus that can grow in warm, damp places, and the last thing I’d want is a toadstool in my pants. So I have him to thank for my lovely, growth-free areas!
Murdoc: What about that huge boil you showed me, the one on your yozzer? What did you call it?
2D: Oh, you mean Simon. He’s not fungal.
Russel: OK, enough! Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to know. So you can both stop right there. I don’t want to hear another word about no “Simon” and before you get going, Murdoc, I don’t want to hear anything about Satan either, you get me?
Murdoc: Well if that’s the case, you can’t talk about your finger-lickin’ friend the Colonel either!
Any particular childhood occurrences, or memories, that made you who you are?
Russel: I can’t remember much from my childhood, my demonic possession seems to overshadow everything from those years!
Murdoc: Funny that! Hail Satan!
Russel: Brother, I’ve already told you once and I won’t tell you again.
2D: I guess now isn’t the time to give you any more specific details about how Mr. Braintree handled us all in the locker room, is it?
Murdoc: That’s not what the judge had to say about it though, is it?
Russel: I’m warning you two, this is not what the American public wants or needs to know about. Maybe Noodle has a better insight into childhood than the rest of us, what d’ya say Nood’s?
Noodle (Translated from Japanese by her interpreter Alan): I was sent to a Zen guitar monastery at the age of three, this is a long tradition in my family. My great, great, great, great grandfather discovered the missing chord.
Russel: Thank god somebody else is taking this seriously. Noodle, you da bomb, girl!
Do you have any strange guilty pleasures?
Russel: Listen, you may not have noticed, but we have a ten-year-old in our band. You’re worse than these other two.
Murdoc: Or Mr. Braintree, you filthy bugger!
I'd love to get something kinda randy. Naughty. Steamy. I'll leave it up to your imagination.
Murdoc: Now you're talking my kind of language! You know what I love about being the living personification of rock-idol-lust-promise? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s being the focus for an entire generation's sexual desire, the hoped-for escape from the untutored fumblings of stolen backseat teen love. I am the sex-toting behemoth of their dreams, and…
Russel: I’m not going to let you all corrupt Noodle with any more of this filth.
Murdoc: Oh can it, Russ, that’s the problem with the world today. Everyone is so uptight about sex, man. Not me, baby! Life should be free, and kids should learn to cherish nature's gift like in The Wicker Man, I love that movie! You’re just like Edwood Woodwood’s character in that film, Russ. A state-controlled, self-censoring, sex-police-puppet-pig-enforcer!
2D: Ha! Edwood Woodwood, that’s the noise you make when you fart in the bath! He had a long career out of that Enforcer thing, didn’t he? I thought you said you’d never seen the Wicker Man though, Murdoc.
Murdoc: Shut up! I don’t have to see it to know what it’s about, alright?
Noodle: I kissed a boy, we both like Shaggy.
Murdoc: I’ll kill the filthy little sod, who was it? Russel, how could you let this happen?
Russel: I think she means Shaggy, Mr. Lover Lover. You know, Mr. Boombastic, she loves him. Anyway, I thought that’s what you were all about, “man”.
Murdoc: Well, I’m not sure I approve.
2D: My P.E. teacher, Mr. Braintree, was very particular about making sure that we showered properly after gym class, and made it his personal duty to make sure that we all knew how to dry all our bits properly. We all thought he was a benny back then, but I saw a program on Discovery about a nasty fungus that can grow in warm, damp places, and the last thing I’d want is a toadstool in my pants. So I have him to thank for my lovely, growth-free areas!
Murdoc: What about that huge boil you showed me, the one on your yozzer? What did you call it?
2D: Oh, you mean Simon. He’s not fungal.
Russel: OK, enough! Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to know. So you can both stop right there. I don’t want to hear another word about no “Simon” and before you get going, Murdoc, I don’t want to hear anything about Satan either, you get me?
Murdoc: Well if that’s the case, you can’t talk about your finger-lickin’ friend the Colonel either!
Any particular childhood occurrences, or memories, that made you who you are?
Russel: I can’t remember much from my childhood, my demonic possession seems to overshadow everything from those years!
Murdoc: Funny that! Hail Satan!
Russel: Brother, I’ve already told you once and I won’t tell you again.
2D: I guess now isn’t the time to give you any more specific details about how Mr. Braintree handled us all in the locker room, is it?
Murdoc: That’s not what the judge had to say about it though, is it?
Russel: I’m warning you two, this is not what the American public wants or needs to know about. Maybe Noodle has a better insight into childhood than the rest of us, what d’ya say Nood’s?
Noodle (Translated from Japanese by her interpreter Alan): I was sent to a Zen guitar monastery at the age of three, this is a long tradition in my family. My great, great, great, great grandfather discovered the missing chord.
Russel: Thank god somebody else is taking this seriously. Noodle, you da bomb, girl!
Do you have any strange guilty pleasures?
Russel: Listen, you may not have noticed, but we have a ten-year-old in our band. You’re worse than these other two.
Murdoc: Or Mr. Braintree, you filthy bugger!
I'd love to get something kinda randy. Naughty. Steamy. I'll leave it up to your imagination.
Murdoc: Now you're talking my kind of language! You know what I love about being the living personification of rock-idol-lust-promise? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s being the focus for an entire generation's sexual desire, the hoped-for escape from the untutored fumblings of stolen backseat teen love. I am the sex-toting behemoth of their dreams, and…
Russel: I’m not going to let you all corrupt Noodle with any more of this filth.
Murdoc: Oh can it, Russ, that’s the problem with the world today. Everyone is so uptight about sex, man. Not me, baby! Life should be free, and kids should learn to cherish nature's gift like in The Wicker Man, I love that movie! You’re just like Edwood Woodwood’s character in that film, Russ. A state-controlled, self-censoring, sex-police-puppet-pig-enforcer!
2D: Ha! Edwood Woodwood, that’s the noise you make when you fart in the bath! He had a long career out of that Enforcer thing, didn’t he? I thought you said you’d never seen the Wicker Man though, Murdoc.
Murdoc: Shut up! I don’t have to see it to know what it’s about, alright?
Noodle: I kissed a boy, we both like Shaggy.
Murdoc: I’ll kill the filthy little sod, who was it? Russel, how could you let this happen?
Russel: I think she means Shaggy, Mr. Lover Lover. You know, Mr. Boombastic, she loves him. Anyway, I thought that’s what you were all about, “man”.
Murdoc: Well, I’m not sure I approve.