Questions for Gorillaz
International Feature, May 2001
Real human bands like the Jackson 5 and The Beatles were pretty much ripped off by cartoon characters who landed TV deals by blatantly imitating them. Of course, the humans have now struck back by doing the same thing to Josie & the Pussycats. Is this an ongoing battle, and how do you feel about it? Do you think there will suddenly be a human band trying to look like you guys and making a movie called Gorillaz? Will you sue?
Murdoc: You got all that off of your chest? Been living with that philosophical poser for long, have we? What are you dribbling on about? If I remember correctly there was a Jackson 5 cartoon, and did the Yellow Submarine pass you by somewhere around the sea of holes or something?
Russel: That Josie and the Pussycats thing looks almost as bad as the non-Romero adaptation of Resident Evil, when will Hollywood learn? I do hope they don’t balls up Spiderman too.
2D: When I was a kid I had to have an x-ray, I asked the technician to overload me with gamma rays so that I could become The Hulk!
Murdoc: Sounds about right. “Please overload me with toxic radiation!”, you bloody prat!
Are your fans mostly cartoon characters themselves, or do you have a great deal of human fans, as well? And does being two-dimensional make it difficult to interact with your human fans?
2D: Murdoc gave me the name 2D because of the two dents I have in my skull, it's nothing to do with being two-dimensional!
Murdoc: It would be difficult for anybody to think that you've got any hidden depths, numb nuts!
2D: I wasn't trying to be difficult...
Russel: ...Let me interject at this point and put it plainly, before these two bicker your column space away. This ain’t Toontown, we may live in an animated alter world, but all of our fans are living breathing homosapiens.
I hear the Gorillaz are going on tour. What are you going to do about the fact that all the hip hotels only allow human guests?
Murdoc: I wish there was some funny story about why this might be true, I'd love to tell you about the time Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck destroyed an entire sweet at the Metropolitan with an ACME anvil and some high explosives. But you're just making it up, aren't you? Anywhere that lets Alice Cooper in is gagging to have us through their doors, anything is better than a bible-bashing old fart with a collection of snakes.
Is your relationship to Jamie Hewlett the same as a human's relationship to God? And does it bother you that he has so much power over you?
Murdoc: Let's get this straight, this is my band and I'd be surprised if that little pen-pushing comic book geek had control over his own bladder, let alone me! As for God, haven't you heard that anthropomorphic misrepresentation is dead? Hail Satan! The Niccals.
Murdoc: You got all that off of your chest? Been living with that philosophical poser for long, have we? What are you dribbling on about? If I remember correctly there was a Jackson 5 cartoon, and did the Yellow Submarine pass you by somewhere around the sea of holes or something?
Russel: That Josie and the Pussycats thing looks almost as bad as the non-Romero adaptation of Resident Evil, when will Hollywood learn? I do hope they don’t balls up Spiderman too.
2D: When I was a kid I had to have an x-ray, I asked the technician to overload me with gamma rays so that I could become The Hulk!
Murdoc: Sounds about right. “Please overload me with toxic radiation!”, you bloody prat!
Are your fans mostly cartoon characters themselves, or do you have a great deal of human fans, as well? And does being two-dimensional make it difficult to interact with your human fans?
2D: Murdoc gave me the name 2D because of the two dents I have in my skull, it's nothing to do with being two-dimensional!
Murdoc: It would be difficult for anybody to think that you've got any hidden depths, numb nuts!
2D: I wasn't trying to be difficult...
Russel: ...Let me interject at this point and put it plainly, before these two bicker your column space away. This ain’t Toontown, we may live in an animated alter world, but all of our fans are living breathing homosapiens.
I hear the Gorillaz are going on tour. What are you going to do about the fact that all the hip hotels only allow human guests?
Murdoc: I wish there was some funny story about why this might be true, I'd love to tell you about the time Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck destroyed an entire sweet at the Metropolitan with an ACME anvil and some high explosives. But you're just making it up, aren't you? Anywhere that lets Alice Cooper in is gagging to have us through their doors, anything is better than a bible-bashing old fart with a collection of snakes.
Is your relationship to Jamie Hewlett the same as a human's relationship to God? And does it bother you that he has so much power over you?
Murdoc: Let's get this straight, this is my band and I'd be surprised if that little pen-pushing comic book geek had control over his own bladder, let alone me! As for God, haven't you heard that anthropomorphic misrepresentation is dead? Hail Satan! The Niccals.