Biography
Considered
the first "virtual hip-hop group," Gorillaz blended
the musical talents of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura,
Blur's Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, and Tom Tom Club's
Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz with the arresting visuals of Jamie
Hewlett, best known as the creator of the cult comic Tank Girl.
The virtual band is formed by the four animated band members:
2D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (guitars)
and Russel Hobbs (drums, percussion). Gorillaz has a dark and
humorous backstory. Murdoc inadvertently put 2D into and out of
a coma while trying to steal keyboards and reckless driving. Russel
and his family re-rooted to England from New York due to Russel
being possessed by a demon, put in a coma for 4 years until being
saved by an exorcism, and being on the wrong end of a drive-by
shooting, which contributed to his drumming and rapping skills,
since his friends' spirits reside in him. Noodle arrived in a
FedEx crate from Japan after an ad was posted for a guitarist.
According to the storyline, character 2D's legal name is Stuart
Tusspot. His original nickname was Stu-Pot. He Became 2D after
the accidents caused by Murdoc, giving him 2 dents in his head
(2D standing for two dents). No one knows what Noodle's real name
is, but it is said she was named "Noodle" because that
was the first word she said in English. The band lives in the
also-fictitious Kong Studios, high upon a mountain in the centre
of a cemetery in Essex.
Gorillaz was
created by Damon Albarn (of Blur) and Jamie Hewlett (of Tank Girl
fame) and was based on their interests, dreams and fears. Matter-of-fact
references to horror films are everywhere, including samples from
George A. Romero films and horror film locations stated on highway
sign posts in the promotional video for "19-2000". There
are also some rather obscure references made to people and things
such as Tom Savini, Looney Tunes and the band Swell Maps, to name
a few. Gorillaz have earned the Guinness World Record for being
the Most Successful Virtual Band .
The first
single for the band was Tomorrow Comes Today, which was very well
received in the UK underground music scene. The EP and video followed
suit a few months afterward, generating a lot of word-of-mouth
advertising, as well as a large shroud of mystery over who was
behind Gorillaz and what they were to expect in the months to
come. A promotional booklet was sold at record stores to promote
the backstory behind the band. The band's website, an orgy of
Macromedia Flash, was a representation of Kong Studios in the
fullest sense of the word: inside, you could browse through each
member's bedrooms, their recording environment and even the hallways
and bathrooms. Each room also had bonus surprises and games to
play: for example, the lobby had a remix machine, the cafeteria
contained the messageboard on the wall and Murdoc's Winnebago
contained a voodoo doll of 2D. Each member also had their own
computer which contained pictures, sound bits from various takes
of songs and their e-mail inboxes. Because of the nature of the
site, an official fansite was created to hold the standard band
website information, including a discography, touring schedules
and more.
The Clint
Eastwood single was released at the start of March, 2001. The
blend of raw hip-hop, cheesy horror music and a haunting melodica
solo struck chords around the world, thrusting Gorillaz into the
global limelight. Due to this, the band's Hotmail accounts were
abandoned (and later hacked) and the inboxes on the site were
never updated. Later that same month, their first full-length
album, the self-titled Gorillaz was released, producing four singles:
"Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock The
House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today". Each of the
videos contained humorous and often ridiculous storylines and
imagery, though "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000"
were the only singles to break through the American music scene.
"19-2000" became popular after being featured in an
Icebreakers commercial. The only time the video for "Tomorrow
Comes Today" was played in the States was when Toonami broadcasted
a "Midnight Run" special where they played animated
music videos from Gorillaz, Daft Punk, and Kenna.
Around this
time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts Of Darkness
was released, which follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy
attempting to track down Damon and Jamie after they were placed
in an insane asylum. The special also interviews Rachel of S Club
7 fame and a few of the band's voice talents, who had been given
roles to play. The end of the year brought 911, a collaboration
with rap artists D12 (sans Eminem) about the September 11, 2001
attacks, along with the announcement of G-Sides, a compilation
of the b-sides from the first three singles. The new year also
saw a spectacular performance at the 2002 BRIT awards, featuring
the band in 3D, weaving in and out of each other on four large
screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. The dub
remix album Laika Come Home was released in June. The record was
credited to Space Monkeyz Vs Gorillaz, containing most of the
debut album Gorillaz reworked by Spacemonkeyz. The single to follow,
Lil' Dub Chefin' (M1 A1), contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz
titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme".
On October
30th, 2002, as the band was passing into global obscurity, Kong
Studios was closed by police, stating that a domestic disturbance
involving a running nude man was reported at the site. The building
was in shambles and it turned out that the band had fled to Hollywood
to escape whomever or whatever that was trying to attack them.
November saw the release of the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take
Down which features an abandoned 3D Kong Studios (only eight rooms,
including the lobby, are accessible.) If someone waits in a room
longer than a minute, zombie hands will appear and grab the viewer;
in some instances, a nude man is seen laughing maniacally. The
DVD contains all five videos (including the abandoned video "5/4"),
the "Charts Of Darkness" documentary, the five Gorilla
Bites (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000
server and much more. Rumours were circulating around this time
that Gorillaz were busy preparing a film, but an EMI interview
later revealed that plans for the film were abandoned. In an interview
with Haruka Kuroda (the voice of Noodle) on fansite Gorillaz-Unofficial,
Kuroda stated that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before
giving up on the movie.
On December
8th, 2004, the website reopened with the announcement of a new
album on the way, including production by DJ Danger Mouse and
guest appearances by De La Soul. A contest entitled Search For
A Star was also announced, allowing fans to send in a minute-long
clip of video or audio they had made; the prize included collaborating
with the band in some way, shape or form, as well as getting their
own room in the newly rebuilt Kong Studios. It has been revealed
that a log in system will be added to the website in the near
future.
Since then,
a second promotional booklet was issued, recapping the previously
issued booklet, as well as detailing the failed movie production
in Hollywood and the breakup and reforming of Gorillaz. A culture
jamming project named Reject False Icons was formed to strike
down at modern pop figures. A new album was first reported to
be released in March 2005, but was later changed to May of the
same year. The name of the album was reported to be "We Are
Happy Landfill", but has been changed to its official title,
Demon Days. The album was leaked onto the Internet in early April,
2005. The new video from the website, "Rock It", will
not be featured on the album.
On the chart
week ending April 23rd 2005, the official UK Singles Chart (which
originally had counted physical sales only) combined with download
sales. However, the new single from Gorillaz managed to spark
up a little "flaw," as with this new chart there is
a rule that download sales can only be counted and can only chart
if there is a physical equivalent sold at shops at the time. On
this very first combined chart, when Gorillaz released their single
"Feel Good Inc." to the shops, only a limited edition
300 copies in 7" format and was available online (with sales
of about 3000 that week) before its official release as a physical
CD single in May. The result was that it charted as high as #22.
It climbed to #21 the next week, and up to #20 two weeks later.
In the week of its official release (May 10, 2005) it finally
reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, giving them their highest
charting single to date.
At all performances,
the physical band plays behind a specially designed screen which
covers the stage area. Videos, animatics and image collages are
projected onto the audience side of the screen, while choreographed
lights behind the screen light up silhouettes of the physical
band, creating a meld of the physical and animated. For their
first tour of the United States, two screens were used; one was
simply the animatics, while the second, lower screen displayed
the band's silhouettes along with various quotes from interviews.
There have
been waves of controversy surrounding who is actually behind Gorillaz
ever since the first single was released. In the half-hour TV
mockumentary entitled Charts Of Darkness, it was explicitly stated
that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were behind the project; quoting
Albarn, "There could be fifty [people] here, but there's
two." Many fans have simply assumed that the guest artists
in the liner notes (including Cibo Matto vocalist Miho Hatori
and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien) complete the band. In fact, the
only permanent member behind the music happens to be Damon Albarn.
During the "hidden" credits to the DVD Phase One: Celebrity
Take Down, it states the names of the creators, the voice talents
and those responsible for performing live. The list of integral
performers in the group changed drastically for the second album,
with the exception of Damon Albarn himself. All artwork and promotional
videos are created by Zombie Flesh Eaters (Hewlett's own company)
and Passion Pictures.
Gorillaz is
not a traditional band with band members. The only permanent contributors
to the project are the creators, Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn.
The pair enlist collaborators as they see fit, and to date the
project has involved a bewildering array of artists. The pair
have always been equally influential in the direction of the project
and continue to be so with the promotion for the second album.
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