Riding Simian Style
CMJ New Music Monthly, September 2001
Can you tell me whose cigarette butts are on the floor?
Murdoc: Why, do you want to spark up the juiciest one? Here, have one of my Lucky Lungs, they're my favourite brand.
Where did the bullet holes come from?
Murdoc: There’s a sniper in the Port-a-Loo. Roy, our driver, employed him after 2-D laid a heinous brown derby in there after our Paris gig. We had to travel all the way to Dublin surrounded by the foul stench of his arse offering. It does something to your soul having to breathe in the smell of another man's arse! Noodle wouldn’t give me the gas mask, so I had to spend the whole journey with my head out of the sunroof, like Tom Hanks in Big.
Can you give me a quote that 2-D would be saying to the reporter and explain what he's often asked most by reporters?
Murdoc: He’s probably banging on about the scale model of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal that he’s been making since he was twelve, he’ll bore anyone with that he can. What I don’t know is why anyone would want to talk to him anyway, it’s my band!
Why is Noodle high-kicking a fly?
Murdoc: Haven’t you ever seen The Karate Kid? Mr. Miyagi swore by the ancient fighting style Fly Foot stance. Anything good enough for Daniel-san is good enough for Noodle.
What's the story about the knife?
Murdoc: 2-D and I were trying out the old William Tell routine, I’d spiced it up for the new millennium and I was using a grape instead of an apple, but Roy hit a bloody pothole and I missed him by 6 feet 3 inches.
Who are the geeks who aren't in the band-can you identify them (particularly in the front right)?
Murdoc: The guy front right is Alan, Noodle's interpreter and personal trainer. I wouldn’t call him a geek if I were you, he’s one mean mother figure! The Rasta is Junior Dan “The Wobbulator”, we met him in Jamaica and he jammed on some of the basslines on the album with me, he’s a dub genius and used to play with Augustus Pablo, Marley, and Burning Spear to name but a few. The other geezer is a member of our road crew who we call Nature, on account of the fact that the man is a walking animal kingdom encyclopedia.
What do the Gorillaz love to watch on their TV?
Murdoc: Saved By the Bell, Pepe le Pew, Daffy Duck, and Saucy School Girls on Remand II.
Where are the groupies? Can you mention any difficulty or ease they have getting them?
Murdoc: I personally applaud anyone who’ll suspend all of their morals and deeply held beliefs to service my needs and desires because for them, at that moment, I am sex incarnate. I have to be really careful with any of the sexy e-mails I get though, because there’s no way I can tell if any of them are from some dodgy tabloid journo’ trying to make me the next Gary Glitter.
What's the band's favourite hooch?
Murdoc: Here’s my recipe for a Zombie;
Cracked Ice
1 msr dark rum,
1 msr Jamaican rum,
1 msr light rum,
1 msr lemon or lime juice,
4 dashes passion fruit or orange juice,
4 dashes of apricot brandy,
4 dashes of cherry brandy,
Loads of fruit,
Half-fill bucket/glass with cracked ice. Fill rest of bucket/glass with booze and blend. Serve with “loads of fruit.”
Any other favourite tour bus pastimes?
Murdoc: Never letting 2-D sleep, hiding Russel’s laundry, Scrabble, and Master Mind. While we’re not allowed to lay cable in the loo we can play as many games of “Take Your Cock to the Max” as we like, but I think the less said about that the better.
Are they traveling anywhere in particular?
Murdoc: Zion
Murdoc: Why, do you want to spark up the juiciest one? Here, have one of my Lucky Lungs, they're my favourite brand.
Where did the bullet holes come from?
Murdoc: There’s a sniper in the Port-a-Loo. Roy, our driver, employed him after 2-D laid a heinous brown derby in there after our Paris gig. We had to travel all the way to Dublin surrounded by the foul stench of his arse offering. It does something to your soul having to breathe in the smell of another man's arse! Noodle wouldn’t give me the gas mask, so I had to spend the whole journey with my head out of the sunroof, like Tom Hanks in Big.
Can you give me a quote that 2-D would be saying to the reporter and explain what he's often asked most by reporters?
Murdoc: He’s probably banging on about the scale model of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal that he’s been making since he was twelve, he’ll bore anyone with that he can. What I don’t know is why anyone would want to talk to him anyway, it’s my band!
Why is Noodle high-kicking a fly?
Murdoc: Haven’t you ever seen The Karate Kid? Mr. Miyagi swore by the ancient fighting style Fly Foot stance. Anything good enough for Daniel-san is good enough for Noodle.
What's the story about the knife?
Murdoc: 2-D and I were trying out the old William Tell routine, I’d spiced it up for the new millennium and I was using a grape instead of an apple, but Roy hit a bloody pothole and I missed him by 6 feet 3 inches.
Who are the geeks who aren't in the band-can you identify them (particularly in the front right)?
Murdoc: The guy front right is Alan, Noodle's interpreter and personal trainer. I wouldn’t call him a geek if I were you, he’s one mean mother figure! The Rasta is Junior Dan “The Wobbulator”, we met him in Jamaica and he jammed on some of the basslines on the album with me, he’s a dub genius and used to play with Augustus Pablo, Marley, and Burning Spear to name but a few. The other geezer is a member of our road crew who we call Nature, on account of the fact that the man is a walking animal kingdom encyclopedia.
What do the Gorillaz love to watch on their TV?
Murdoc: Saved By the Bell, Pepe le Pew, Daffy Duck, and Saucy School Girls on Remand II.
Where are the groupies? Can you mention any difficulty or ease they have getting them?
Murdoc: I personally applaud anyone who’ll suspend all of their morals and deeply held beliefs to service my needs and desires because for them, at that moment, I am sex incarnate. I have to be really careful with any of the sexy e-mails I get though, because there’s no way I can tell if any of them are from some dodgy tabloid journo’ trying to make me the next Gary Glitter.
What's the band's favourite hooch?
Murdoc: Here’s my recipe for a Zombie;
Cracked Ice
1 msr dark rum,
1 msr Jamaican rum,
1 msr light rum,
1 msr lemon or lime juice,
4 dashes passion fruit or orange juice,
4 dashes of apricot brandy,
4 dashes of cherry brandy,
Loads of fruit,
Half-fill bucket/glass with cracked ice. Fill rest of bucket/glass with booze and blend. Serve with “loads of fruit.”
Any other favourite tour bus pastimes?
Murdoc: Never letting 2-D sleep, hiding Russel’s laundry, Scrabble, and Master Mind. While we’re not allowed to lay cable in the loo we can play as many games of “Take Your Cock to the Max” as we like, but I think the less said about that the better.
Are they traveling anywhere in particular?
Murdoc: Zion