'We've got Mos Def, Lou Reed and half of the Clash!'
The Guardian, February 2010
Murdoc from Gorillaz tees up their 2D takeover of our music site with a rough guide to the band's new best buddies on Plastic Beach. Plus! De La Soul give their side of the tale
Despite their own general amazingness, Gorillaz are serial collaborators, never happier than when they're milking the pendulous talent glands of hyper-cool, pan-generational pop icons. Or Shaun Ryder. On their new record, the environmentally aware, "oh no, the oceans are boiling" emoto-thon Plastic Beach, they've upped the collaboration stakes to previously un-thought of levels. Globally respected rappers, punk icons, legendary composer-performers of US soul, heritage-rock supermen, and that bloke who looks like a street drinker from Super Furry Animals - they're all here.
"Some people I had to physically smuggle to Plastic Beach," says the Gorilla known as Murdoc. "I had them drugged and FedExed over. Then there were people like Snoop and his entourage who cruised up dripping in gold on a private yacht, amid a cloud of pimp fur and weed smoke ..."
Oh yes. Here then is the Guardian's exclusive guide to a selection of just some of the guests on Plastic Beach and, more importantly, why they were invited in the first place.
BOBBY WOMACK Guests on: Stylo, Cloud Of Unknowing
Why Bobby Womack?
"His track 110th Street is soul, love and politics rolled into one huge blaxploitation soundtrack. But Bobby also wrote It's All Over Now, the Stones' first number one."
What can he do that no one else can?
"He brings that magnificent, oceanic 70s soul power to the table and he still looks great, rocking a leather jacket and shades. I'm 20 years younger but my skin looks like green pock-marked leather compared to his."
How well does he take direction?
"We just pointed him in the way of the mic booth and sketched out a rough picture of what Plastic Beach was and what it represented to us, but he put his heart and his soul into it. In fact, he'd been singing full blast for about 45 minutes, just unleashing a hurricane of emotion, then slowly he began slumping backward. I thought, 'Oh no. I've killed Bobby Womack!' He's a diabetic and it seems his blood sugar levels were off kilter, and he'd passed out. We gave him a banana and a glass of water and a few minutes later he came round and went for the take again."
Someone who's lived and loved like Bobby has must have some incredible stories?
"Yes, many. But I couldn't repeat any without securing some sort of extended jail term, especially for the one about Janis Joplin that's actually sort of illegal."
LOU REED Guests on: Some Kind Of Nature
Why Lou Reed?
"I grew up on the Velvet Underground and I love his solo stuff like The Blue Mask, Coney Island Baby and Transformer. I frequently put Metal Machine Music on while I meditate."
What can he do that no one else can?
"Conjure up the essence, sound, smell and soul of a whole city in a few croaky stanzas. He walks into a room surrounded by the aura of parping taxi cabs and the clatter of transsexuals' heels; you don't get more New York than Lou."
Is it true he banned you from the studio?
"He tried to! He wanted to do his whole vocal thing in private; he ordered everyone out the studio. Me too! I just waited until he was up and running, getting his groove on, then I crawled back in under the mixing desk where he couldn't see. I love Lou, but y'know, this is my album."
Was it hard getting him on board?
"No, well ... let's say the gangplank was a bit slippery, but no one fell overboard. It was a bit of an effort but we got what we wanted."
Was there any classic Reed-style rudeness at any point?
"He did push me very hard in the face a couple of times. But that's not rude. I was probably standing in his way. There's a certain process you have to go through of understanding who's in the room with many of these legends. He's not going to run around trying to make friends with everyone. Some of them just want to test the water, see where they stand before they feel comfortable with the whole thing. For people who don't know, the way Gorillaz go about things, and how we appear, can seem to some like they might be being set up for a Candid Camera stunt. But once they hear the music, and know it's for real they usually know we're all good."
His phrasing is utterly unique on this track, whose idea was that?
"Oh, that was mine. While he sang, I stood behind him and cupped my hand over his mouth. By opening and closing it I could make a kind of wah-wah effect with his face. I was surprised he let me get away with that."
MOS DEF Guests on: Stylo, Sweepstakes
Why Mos Def?
"Because he's 'most definitely' in the premier league. That's indisputable. I love Ms Fat Booty and UMI Says and the heavier stuff from his The Ecstatic album. Mos is a smart guy who casts his eye over most areas, including the rockier sides of music. That works a storm with Gorillaz. Live, his track Sweepstakes is going to take the roof off, even outdoors."
How did he and Bobby get on?
"Instant connection. Mos freestyled the lyrics, threw 'em all down in one take. When he came out the vocal booth. Bobby just said: 'Call the fire department!'"
What can Mos do that no one else can?
"He's a very fluid guy. When he raps you believe him, when he acts you believe in it. He's authentically talented and he's someone who'll open his mouth on things he believes in. He's got an opinion on the way the world works and he's not afraid to voice it."
Was it easy for him to get into his Gorillaz character?
"It was easy; a small mental shift, a couple of deep breaths, then four hours in makeup."
MARK E SMITH Guests on: Glitter Freeze
Why Mark E Smith?
"Cruiser's Creek, Living Too Late, Mr Pharmacist, There's A Ghost In My House. I'm a Fall fan! Mark is the soul of belligerence, the chairman of the opposition, an educated belch from the north; he's the black wind of doom, the roaring cantankerous pirate trader; he'll grab you in your sleep, stick you in the hold, and put you to work on his rum-sodden pirate ship. Apparently he's only got one chair in his house, cos he doesn't like other people. I can understand that. I had to sit on his lap."
We like Glitter Freeze but apart from, "Where's north from here?" we couldn't understand a word.
"Oh, he lets out a whole bunch of stuff. 'It waaaass the GLITTER FREEZE!' 'Listen-ah! You wouldn't credit or believe this-ah'. But you're not meant to be able to understand it; just meant to feel the force of this pirate ship sailing into the middle of the album."
The Glitterbeat revival is overdue.
"Yeah, Gary kind of took the fun out of all that really, didn't he? Still, it's a perfect rhythm for this track. Very cartoon glam-military. Is that a new genre? It is now."
MICK JONES & PAUL SIMONON Guest on: Plastic Beach
Why Mick Jones and Paul Simonon?
"For me the Clash were atomic, they were like what the scientists are doing at CERN in Geneva, smashing 800m protons into each other to recreate the events at the beginning of time. Getting those two back together was like recreating the beginning of it all. Clampdown, Safe European Home, Bankrobber and Train In Vain are all in my desert island discs, the ones I sailed to my own plastic beach. I used my Jan Hammer records as a paddle when I lost my oar, so obviously they don't mean as much to me."
What can these two do that no one else can?
"They sum up the grey skies of west London and the sunshine heat of Jamaica in the same three chords. The Clash were very smart lyrically, and more ambitious in their subject matter than your usual top 40 contestant."
Is this, in fact, the most west London track ever?
"It is west London to the power of three: Paul Simonon and Mick Jones on a Gorillaz track recorded near Ladbroke Grove is denser than a dying sun. Like the Clash, Gorillaz are a definitively west London band but one with a global international outlook. The Clash were chucking in punk, reggae, calypso, dub, rap, rockabilly. Gorillaz don't really do rockabilly, but the rest is all in there.
'We didn't know which track would make it. But a month or so later we heard Superfast Jellyfish and it sounded amazing!'
Posdnuos of De La Soul reveals the collaborations that led to one of Plastic Beach's standouts, Superfast Jellyfish. But who's this Damon fella he keeps mentioning?
"We had mutual friends who knew Damon, guys like Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Dan The Automator, and we're hip to a challenge, so we love to get involved. When we walked in the studio we knew nothing about the track – we really had no idea what we were going to do – but we're really good friends now, we hang out a lot, so we feel comfortable with Damon and what he wants to do with the music. There were so many ideas flowing out, we heard all these different things that were possible to do. As a band, De La Soul feels similar to Gorillaz; we work in a similar way. They know how to manipulate music, they know that a voice can be an instrument, like we do.
"We ended up working on three tracks. There was Electric Shock, a great song that was never finished, another called Float Tropics that was incredible, like club music, and then the track that's on the album, Superfast Jellyfish. The title alone called out, lyrically, for something funny. It sounded like a cool kids' commercial. We didn't know which track would make it. But a month or so later we heard Superfast Jellyfish and it sounded amazing. Gorillaz are part of our lives now; we'll always feel part of what they do. They're family!"
Despite their own general amazingness, Gorillaz are serial collaborators, never happier than when they're milking the pendulous talent glands of hyper-cool, pan-generational pop icons. Or Shaun Ryder. On their new record, the environmentally aware, "oh no, the oceans are boiling" emoto-thon Plastic Beach, they've upped the collaboration stakes to previously un-thought of levels. Globally respected rappers, punk icons, legendary composer-performers of US soul, heritage-rock supermen, and that bloke who looks like a street drinker from Super Furry Animals - they're all here.
"Some people I had to physically smuggle to Plastic Beach," says the Gorilla known as Murdoc. "I had them drugged and FedExed over. Then there were people like Snoop and his entourage who cruised up dripping in gold on a private yacht, amid a cloud of pimp fur and weed smoke ..."
Oh yes. Here then is the Guardian's exclusive guide to a selection of just some of the guests on Plastic Beach and, more importantly, why they were invited in the first place.
BOBBY WOMACK Guests on: Stylo, Cloud Of Unknowing
Why Bobby Womack?
"His track 110th Street is soul, love and politics rolled into one huge blaxploitation soundtrack. But Bobby also wrote It's All Over Now, the Stones' first number one."
What can he do that no one else can?
"He brings that magnificent, oceanic 70s soul power to the table and he still looks great, rocking a leather jacket and shades. I'm 20 years younger but my skin looks like green pock-marked leather compared to his."
How well does he take direction?
"We just pointed him in the way of the mic booth and sketched out a rough picture of what Plastic Beach was and what it represented to us, but he put his heart and his soul into it. In fact, he'd been singing full blast for about 45 minutes, just unleashing a hurricane of emotion, then slowly he began slumping backward. I thought, 'Oh no. I've killed Bobby Womack!' He's a diabetic and it seems his blood sugar levels were off kilter, and he'd passed out. We gave him a banana and a glass of water and a few minutes later he came round and went for the take again."
Someone who's lived and loved like Bobby has must have some incredible stories?
"Yes, many. But I couldn't repeat any without securing some sort of extended jail term, especially for the one about Janis Joplin that's actually sort of illegal."
LOU REED Guests on: Some Kind Of Nature
Why Lou Reed?
"I grew up on the Velvet Underground and I love his solo stuff like The Blue Mask, Coney Island Baby and Transformer. I frequently put Metal Machine Music on while I meditate."
What can he do that no one else can?
"Conjure up the essence, sound, smell and soul of a whole city in a few croaky stanzas. He walks into a room surrounded by the aura of parping taxi cabs and the clatter of transsexuals' heels; you don't get more New York than Lou."
Is it true he banned you from the studio?
"He tried to! He wanted to do his whole vocal thing in private; he ordered everyone out the studio. Me too! I just waited until he was up and running, getting his groove on, then I crawled back in under the mixing desk where he couldn't see. I love Lou, but y'know, this is my album."
Was it hard getting him on board?
"No, well ... let's say the gangplank was a bit slippery, but no one fell overboard. It was a bit of an effort but we got what we wanted."
Was there any classic Reed-style rudeness at any point?
"He did push me very hard in the face a couple of times. But that's not rude. I was probably standing in his way. There's a certain process you have to go through of understanding who's in the room with many of these legends. He's not going to run around trying to make friends with everyone. Some of them just want to test the water, see where they stand before they feel comfortable with the whole thing. For people who don't know, the way Gorillaz go about things, and how we appear, can seem to some like they might be being set up for a Candid Camera stunt. But once they hear the music, and know it's for real they usually know we're all good."
His phrasing is utterly unique on this track, whose idea was that?
"Oh, that was mine. While he sang, I stood behind him and cupped my hand over his mouth. By opening and closing it I could make a kind of wah-wah effect with his face. I was surprised he let me get away with that."
MOS DEF Guests on: Stylo, Sweepstakes
Why Mos Def?
"Because he's 'most definitely' in the premier league. That's indisputable. I love Ms Fat Booty and UMI Says and the heavier stuff from his The Ecstatic album. Mos is a smart guy who casts his eye over most areas, including the rockier sides of music. That works a storm with Gorillaz. Live, his track Sweepstakes is going to take the roof off, even outdoors."
How did he and Bobby get on?
"Instant connection. Mos freestyled the lyrics, threw 'em all down in one take. When he came out the vocal booth. Bobby just said: 'Call the fire department!'"
What can Mos do that no one else can?
"He's a very fluid guy. When he raps you believe him, when he acts you believe in it. He's authentically talented and he's someone who'll open his mouth on things he believes in. He's got an opinion on the way the world works and he's not afraid to voice it."
Was it easy for him to get into his Gorillaz character?
"It was easy; a small mental shift, a couple of deep breaths, then four hours in makeup."
MARK E SMITH Guests on: Glitter Freeze
Why Mark E Smith?
"Cruiser's Creek, Living Too Late, Mr Pharmacist, There's A Ghost In My House. I'm a Fall fan! Mark is the soul of belligerence, the chairman of the opposition, an educated belch from the north; he's the black wind of doom, the roaring cantankerous pirate trader; he'll grab you in your sleep, stick you in the hold, and put you to work on his rum-sodden pirate ship. Apparently he's only got one chair in his house, cos he doesn't like other people. I can understand that. I had to sit on his lap."
We like Glitter Freeze but apart from, "Where's north from here?" we couldn't understand a word.
"Oh, he lets out a whole bunch of stuff. 'It waaaass the GLITTER FREEZE!' 'Listen-ah! You wouldn't credit or believe this-ah'. But you're not meant to be able to understand it; just meant to feel the force of this pirate ship sailing into the middle of the album."
The Glitterbeat revival is overdue.
"Yeah, Gary kind of took the fun out of all that really, didn't he? Still, it's a perfect rhythm for this track. Very cartoon glam-military. Is that a new genre? It is now."
MICK JONES & PAUL SIMONON Guest on: Plastic Beach
Why Mick Jones and Paul Simonon?
"For me the Clash were atomic, they were like what the scientists are doing at CERN in Geneva, smashing 800m protons into each other to recreate the events at the beginning of time. Getting those two back together was like recreating the beginning of it all. Clampdown, Safe European Home, Bankrobber and Train In Vain are all in my desert island discs, the ones I sailed to my own plastic beach. I used my Jan Hammer records as a paddle when I lost my oar, so obviously they don't mean as much to me."
What can these two do that no one else can?
"They sum up the grey skies of west London and the sunshine heat of Jamaica in the same three chords. The Clash were very smart lyrically, and more ambitious in their subject matter than your usual top 40 contestant."
Is this, in fact, the most west London track ever?
"It is west London to the power of three: Paul Simonon and Mick Jones on a Gorillaz track recorded near Ladbroke Grove is denser than a dying sun. Like the Clash, Gorillaz are a definitively west London band but one with a global international outlook. The Clash were chucking in punk, reggae, calypso, dub, rap, rockabilly. Gorillaz don't really do rockabilly, but the rest is all in there.
'We didn't know which track would make it. But a month or so later we heard Superfast Jellyfish and it sounded amazing!'
Posdnuos of De La Soul reveals the collaborations that led to one of Plastic Beach's standouts, Superfast Jellyfish. But who's this Damon fella he keeps mentioning?
"We had mutual friends who knew Damon, guys like Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Dan The Automator, and we're hip to a challenge, so we love to get involved. When we walked in the studio we knew nothing about the track – we really had no idea what we were going to do – but we're really good friends now, we hang out a lot, so we feel comfortable with Damon and what he wants to do with the music. There were so many ideas flowing out, we heard all these different things that were possible to do. As a band, De La Soul feels similar to Gorillaz; we work in a similar way. They know how to manipulate music, they know that a voice can be an instrument, like we do.
"We ended up working on three tracks. There was Electric Shock, a great song that was never finished, another called Float Tropics that was incredible, like club music, and then the track that's on the album, Superfast Jellyfish. The title alone called out, lyrically, for something funny. It sounded like a cool kids' commercial. We didn't know which track would make it. But a month or so later we heard Superfast Jellyfish and it sounded amazing. Gorillaz are part of our lives now; we'll always feel part of what they do. They're family!"