Gorillaz Questions
Boyz, June 2001
Have you been surprised by the success of 'Clint Eastwood' and your debut album, or were you confident that they would do well?
Murdoc: No, we released it in the vein hope that they would disappear without a trace so that we could all get back to our true love, the dole queue.
Will such success swell Murdoc's head to even bigger proportions than recent interviews would suggest it's already grown?
Murdoc: I’m great, and I can back it up. I’m better looking than most of the chicks at our gigs! I’m doing it for the kids, they’ve never seen a real band. I remember when Hendrix died, when Elvis died, Phil Lynott, Sid Vicious, and Joey Ramone. What’s your excuse?
Russel: What’s your point Murdoc? Have you been drinking?
Are Gorillaz the future of pop music?
Murdoc: We're about to kick open a new ring piece for the tired old endgame of hackneyed popular music that is comprised of the turgid leftovers from the feeble-minded, consciousness-choking, half-arsed, lowest common denominator dross from last century's impotent pretenders to our crown.
2D: You said that in Esquire, that’s cheating!
Murdoc: Shuttit, bell end!
Are there any other artists out there that you would like to work with?
Murdoc: It’s about time someone took over from that pencil pusher Hewlett, I can tell you that for nothing.
In light of your success, have any other artists approached you to work with them, or begged to guest in one of your videos/asked you to remix
their single?
Russel: Yeah, we’ve had quite a few but we’d turned them all down until recently, when Redman asked us to remix a track. I wasn’t about to let Murdoc stand in my way on that one.
Lo-fi indie rockers Mogwai recently described Gorillaz as 'totally irrelevant'. Would you care to comment on such tardy criticism?
2D: I was a bit gutted because I really like their stuff, but I have no hard feelings. I was really upset for them when their album stiffed, I do hope they’re not dropped.
Europe seems to be going gaga for Gorillaz at the moment. Do you think you'll be able to seduce America too?
Russel: We’ve been number four in the college Hip-Hop charts, number one in the college radio charts back home, and Clint Eastwood is on heavy rotation on MTV so the climate seems cool.
Murdoc: We formed as a band in April 1998. It then took some time for our individual characters to gel together. It’s only after many punch-ups, screaming matches, and late-night colouring-in sessions that we have reached a point where we can get on stage, pull our pants up high under our armpits and shout “Hello Mr. President...”
Are you expecting any chancers out there to eye up your success and decide to launch their own group of such... ahem, animated individuals?
Murdoc: I’m sure that Tom Watkins is tossing and turning in his tasteless, podgy, empty bed attempting to manufacture a Manga-meets-Five hybrid, but that doesn’t make me lose any sleep.
What can audiences expect from the Gorillaz live experience?
Russel: What we're doing live is approaching how we “Show ourselves” in a new way. We do that with everything from our music, to our videos on our internet site, all of our design work, and in our merchandise. We don’t like to take anything for granted. Our shows work on a lot of levels, obviously, we aim to give a liver-quivering audio adventure but we don’t stop there. We’re developing a visual presentation that isn’t simply the standard four faceless dullards banging through their barely discernible repertoire. It’s a culmination of genres that’s in line with our diverse musical influences. While we’re the live band at the heart of the show, the projections, rap, and DJs have their roots in a more club-orientated tradition, but those are just the parts of the experience, the sum itself is something else. Something much more.
Do Gorillaz get any groupie action, and if so, who gets the most?
Murdoc: What I do is take them back to my Winnebago and play them the Lamb Lays Down On Broadway. Genesis never fails with the birds, I’m telling you. If you wanna get dirty Abacab always gets them juicy, but my personal sure shot is “In the Air Tonight”. Who could resist?
If your eyes are the windows to your soul, what does that tell us about 2D's soul?
Murdoc: That I saved his life and he owes it to me!
Will Gorillaz be setting an example to the youth of the nation and voting in the upcoming election... or is it the youth of the nation who are setting the example with the recent May Day riots?
Murdoc: I thought about it for that spectacular Prescot nanosecond but I’m under no illusion that politics is anything other than a public pacifier, giving us the illusion of playing some part in deciding what issues and policies define our lives when global commerce continues to determine world events unabated. Given the choice, I’d cut out the middlemen, vote for the horsemen of the apocalypse every time, and get it all over and done with.
Finally, if all bands have a limited shelf life, do you envisage Gorillaz having a sell-by date?
Murdoc: I don’t hear the Wooly’s bargain bin calling just yet.
Murdoc: No, we released it in the vein hope that they would disappear without a trace so that we could all get back to our true love, the dole queue.
Will such success swell Murdoc's head to even bigger proportions than recent interviews would suggest it's already grown?
Murdoc: I’m great, and I can back it up. I’m better looking than most of the chicks at our gigs! I’m doing it for the kids, they’ve never seen a real band. I remember when Hendrix died, when Elvis died, Phil Lynott, Sid Vicious, and Joey Ramone. What’s your excuse?
Russel: What’s your point Murdoc? Have you been drinking?
Are Gorillaz the future of pop music?
Murdoc: We're about to kick open a new ring piece for the tired old endgame of hackneyed popular music that is comprised of the turgid leftovers from the feeble-minded, consciousness-choking, half-arsed, lowest common denominator dross from last century's impotent pretenders to our crown.
2D: You said that in Esquire, that’s cheating!
Murdoc: Shuttit, bell end!
Are there any other artists out there that you would like to work with?
Murdoc: It’s about time someone took over from that pencil pusher Hewlett, I can tell you that for nothing.
In light of your success, have any other artists approached you to work with them, or begged to guest in one of your videos/asked you to remix
their single?
Russel: Yeah, we’ve had quite a few but we’d turned them all down until recently, when Redman asked us to remix a track. I wasn’t about to let Murdoc stand in my way on that one.
Lo-fi indie rockers Mogwai recently described Gorillaz as 'totally irrelevant'. Would you care to comment on such tardy criticism?
2D: I was a bit gutted because I really like their stuff, but I have no hard feelings. I was really upset for them when their album stiffed, I do hope they’re not dropped.
Europe seems to be going gaga for Gorillaz at the moment. Do you think you'll be able to seduce America too?
Russel: We’ve been number four in the college Hip-Hop charts, number one in the college radio charts back home, and Clint Eastwood is on heavy rotation on MTV so the climate seems cool.
Murdoc: We formed as a band in April 1998. It then took some time for our individual characters to gel together. It’s only after many punch-ups, screaming matches, and late-night colouring-in sessions that we have reached a point where we can get on stage, pull our pants up high under our armpits and shout “Hello Mr. President...”
Are you expecting any chancers out there to eye up your success and decide to launch their own group of such... ahem, animated individuals?
Murdoc: I’m sure that Tom Watkins is tossing and turning in his tasteless, podgy, empty bed attempting to manufacture a Manga-meets-Five hybrid, but that doesn’t make me lose any sleep.
What can audiences expect from the Gorillaz live experience?
Russel: What we're doing live is approaching how we “Show ourselves” in a new way. We do that with everything from our music, to our videos on our internet site, all of our design work, and in our merchandise. We don’t like to take anything for granted. Our shows work on a lot of levels, obviously, we aim to give a liver-quivering audio adventure but we don’t stop there. We’re developing a visual presentation that isn’t simply the standard four faceless dullards banging through their barely discernible repertoire. It’s a culmination of genres that’s in line with our diverse musical influences. While we’re the live band at the heart of the show, the projections, rap, and DJs have their roots in a more club-orientated tradition, but those are just the parts of the experience, the sum itself is something else. Something much more.
Do Gorillaz get any groupie action, and if so, who gets the most?
Murdoc: What I do is take them back to my Winnebago and play them the Lamb Lays Down On Broadway. Genesis never fails with the birds, I’m telling you. If you wanna get dirty Abacab always gets them juicy, but my personal sure shot is “In the Air Tonight”. Who could resist?
If your eyes are the windows to your soul, what does that tell us about 2D's soul?
Murdoc: That I saved his life and he owes it to me!
Will Gorillaz be setting an example to the youth of the nation and voting in the upcoming election... or is it the youth of the nation who are setting the example with the recent May Day riots?
Murdoc: I thought about it for that spectacular Prescot nanosecond but I’m under no illusion that politics is anything other than a public pacifier, giving us the illusion of playing some part in deciding what issues and policies define our lives when global commerce continues to determine world events unabated. Given the choice, I’d cut out the middlemen, vote for the horsemen of the apocalypse every time, and get it all over and done with.
Finally, if all bands have a limited shelf life, do you envisage Gorillaz having a sell-by date?
Murdoc: I don’t hear the Wooly’s bargain bin calling just yet.