Gorillaz Interview
Spain, May 2001
Which creative advantages have you got as a hologram band?
2D: Are we a hologram band? Is that like the hologram doctor on Star Trek?
Murdoc: I can’t believe that you’re gibbering on about Star Trek in one of our interviews, we’ll be forever tainted as sad sacks. Black Francis made references to Spain's illustrious artistic and cultural history, and all you can think of is power conduits, numb nuts!
What are the true intentions of a band like this one? Where is the subversion and the rebelliousness?
Russel: I’d be lying if I said that we had no Gorillaz guerilla agenda, but we’re not a group of tedious media activists contriving to be smugly other just for the sake of it. Music is our weapon of choice.
If the Gorillaz concept as a virtual band is something preconceived by his four members, is the CD musical concept preconceived too?
Murdoc: Anything that’s preconceived is dead and if you don’t want to end up the same way, I’d watch the lip!
The media are presenting you as a provocative invention, almost as a messianic one, in opposition to a very boring pop music scene. Is your music born in the streets or is it simply the product of a marketing strategy?
Noodle (Translated from Japanese): It is written that if you meet the Buddha in the street, you should kill him. The same is true of marketing men.
How do you solve the virtual concept in a live concert?
Russel: I hit out with them fat beats like I’m hitting out against the world, you dig?
How do you distribute the work when you compose a musical piece?
2D: Give it to the record company and they put it in the shops, nothing clever!
Murdoc: Nothing clever, ay? No surprises there then.
How did you start to work with Ibrahim Ferrer?
Murdoc: We invited him over, gave him a bottle of JB, and off he went! It's a shame that somebody as gifted as Ibrahim can spend 20 years shining shoes when bands like Westlife are forever at number one, polluting the charts and kiddies' brains. Makes me want to shit.
If you wanted to be radical, why didn’t you remain anonymous until the last consequences?
2D: Radical? Like a skateboarder, you mean? Catching radical air? I think if everyone was more radical then everything would be radder, don’t you?
Murdoc: Somehow hearing you say “I think” always sounds like an oxymoron, moron!
2D: Are we a hologram band? Is that like the hologram doctor on Star Trek?
Murdoc: I can’t believe that you’re gibbering on about Star Trek in one of our interviews, we’ll be forever tainted as sad sacks. Black Francis made references to Spain's illustrious artistic and cultural history, and all you can think of is power conduits, numb nuts!
What are the true intentions of a band like this one? Where is the subversion and the rebelliousness?
Russel: I’d be lying if I said that we had no Gorillaz guerilla agenda, but we’re not a group of tedious media activists contriving to be smugly other just for the sake of it. Music is our weapon of choice.
If the Gorillaz concept as a virtual band is something preconceived by his four members, is the CD musical concept preconceived too?
Murdoc: Anything that’s preconceived is dead and if you don’t want to end up the same way, I’d watch the lip!
The media are presenting you as a provocative invention, almost as a messianic one, in opposition to a very boring pop music scene. Is your music born in the streets or is it simply the product of a marketing strategy?
Noodle (Translated from Japanese): It is written that if you meet the Buddha in the street, you should kill him. The same is true of marketing men.
How do you solve the virtual concept in a live concert?
Russel: I hit out with them fat beats like I’m hitting out against the world, you dig?
How do you distribute the work when you compose a musical piece?
2D: Give it to the record company and they put it in the shops, nothing clever!
Murdoc: Nothing clever, ay? No surprises there then.
How did you start to work with Ibrahim Ferrer?
Murdoc: We invited him over, gave him a bottle of JB, and off he went! It's a shame that somebody as gifted as Ibrahim can spend 20 years shining shoes when bands like Westlife are forever at number one, polluting the charts and kiddies' brains. Makes me want to shit.
If you wanted to be radical, why didn’t you remain anonymous until the last consequences?
2D: Radical? Like a skateboarder, you mean? Catching radical air? I think if everyone was more radical then everything would be radder, don’t you?
Murdoc: Somehow hearing you say “I think” always sounds like an oxymoron, moron!