Gorillaz Bio
|
|
Gorillaz BioThis Gorillaz biography contains information believed to be accurate as extracted from sources around the internet including Wikipedia. If you believe there are errors or omissions in this Gorillaz bio, please let us know so that we can correct any inaccuracies.
Gorillaz is a virtual band formed in 1998 by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. The band is composed of four animated band members: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. The band's music is a collaboration between various musicians with Albarn being the only permanent member. Their style is broadly alternative rock, but with a large number of other influences including hip hop, electronica, dub and pop. The band's first album, 2001's Gorillaz, sold over seven million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band's request. Their second studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005 and included the hit singles "Feel Good Inc.", "DARE", "Dirty Harry" and "Kids With Guns / El Maņana". Demon Days went five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States and earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. Gorillaz have also released two B-sides albums and a remix album. The latter B-sides release, D-Sides, was awarded the title "Album of the Month" by Mixmag in December 2007. Gorillaz: HistoryGorillaz - Early years (1998 - 1999)The people behind Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, formed the group in 1998. At the time, the two were living together in a flat on Westbourne Grove. The band originally identified themselves as "Gorilla", and the first song they recorded was "Ghost Train", later released as a B-side on their single "Rock the House" and the B-side compilation G-Sides. It has been suggested that the subsequent misspelling of 'gorillas' is a reference to the misspelling of 'monkeys' by 60s US band The Monkees. The trio of musicians behind Gorillaz' first incarnation, Damon Albarn, Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Dan the Automator, had previously worked together on the track "Time Keeps on Slipping" for Deltron 3030's eponymous debut album. The song can be seen as the genesis of the musical style that continued into Gorillaz' first album. Gorillaz - Phase One: Celebrity Takedown (2000 - 2002)The band's first release was Tomorrow Comes Today EP, released in 2000. It was very well received in the UK underground music scene and generated a lot of word-of-mouth advertising, as well as a large shroud of mystery over who was behind Gorillaz and what could be expected from the band in the months to come. Promo outlets circulated a booklet with the fictional backstory behind the cartoon band. The band's official website, www.gorillaz.com, is a virtual representation of Kong Studios, the band's studio and home. Inside, visitors can browse through each member's bedroom, their recording environment and even the hallways and bathrooms. Each room also has bonus surprises and games to play: for example, the lobby has a remix machine, the cafeteria contains the message board on the wall and Murdoc's Winnebago contains a voodoo doll of 2D. Each member also has their own computer which contains pictures, samples used in various Gorillaz songs, their favorite websites and their e-mail inboxes. Because of the nature of the site, an official fansite, fans.gorillaz.com, was created to hold the standard band website information, including news, a discography and the band's touring schedules. The band's first single, Clint Eastwood, was released on March 5, 2001. It became a smash hit and put Gorillaz into the global spotlight. Due to this, the band members' 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", "Tomorrow Comes Today", and "Rock the House". Each of the singles' 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 (Soulchild Remix)" became popular after being featured in both an Ice Breakers commercial, as well as in EA Sports' FIFA 2002. The video for "Tomorrow Comes Today" was only broadcast once in the United States on Toonami as a "Midnight Run" special. Around this time, a half-hour TV mockumentary entitled Charts of Darkness was released. It follows Channel 4 news reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy attempting to track down Albarn and Hewlett after they were placed in an insane asylum. The special also interviews Rachel Stevens 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 the song "911", a collaboration between the Gorillaz and rap artists D12 (without Eminem) and Terry Hall about the September 11, 2001 attacks. Meanwhile G-Sides, a compilation of the B-sides from the first three singles, was released in Japan on December 12, 2001 and quickly followed with international releases in early 2002. The new year also saw a complicated performance at the 2002 BRIT Awards, featuring the band in 3D animation, weaving in and out of each other on four large screens along with rap accompaniment by Phi Life Cypher. Finally, Laika Come Home, a dub remix album, containing most of the tracks from Gorillaz reworked by Spacemonkeyz, was released in June 2002. The single to follow, "Lil' Dub Chefin'", contained an original track by the Spacemonkeyz titled "Spacemonkeyz Theme". In November 2002, a DVD titled Phase One: Celebrity Take Down was released. The DVD contains the four Phase One promos, the abandoned video for "5/4", the Charts of Darkness documentary, the five Gorilla Bites (short vignettes), a tour of the website by the MEL 9000 server(in reference to the book 2001:A Space Odyssey: Hal 9000) and much more. The DVD's menu was designed much like the band's website and depicts an abandoned Kong Studios. Along with the release of the DVD, the band's website closed down almost completely. Kong Studios was no longer accessible, instead, visitors could only enter a police cabin, where the message board and chats were still accessible. From there, a small robot called G.R.3.G. could be used to explore the abandoned Kong Studios in a 3-D shockwave environment, though doing so would only grant access to a few games. The Abandoned Gorillaz Site Rumors were circulating at this time that the Gorillaz team 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), Kuroda stated that Jamie Hewlett rejected many scripts before giving up on the movie. Hewlett later explained why the film was abandoned, "We lost all interest in doing it as soon as we started meeting with studios and talking to these Hollywood executive types, we just weren't on the same page. We said, fuck it, we'll sit on the idea until we can do it ourselves, and maybe even raise the money ourselves." Gorillaz - Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (2004 - 2007)On December 8, 2004, the band's website reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It". Along with the music video, there was an announcement of a new album on the way, which would be produced by Danger Mouse. A talent contest entitled Search for a Star was also announced, allowing fans to send in a minute-long clip of video or audio or an image file. The prize included collaborating with the band to create the music and video for "El Maņana", the fourth single for the new album, as well as getting their own room on the newly rebuilt Kong Studios website. 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 viral marketing project named Reject False Icons was formed criticizing modern pop figures. The first single from the album was "Feel Good Inc.", released as an EP in Japan and as a CD single in Europe and Australia. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at #22, several weeks before the CD single was released due to the single being released as a 7" vinyl in April, and new charts regulations included sales at online music stores, where the song had been available since March 22. "Feel Good Inc." managed to reach #2 in the UK Singles Chart the week it was released, being the band's highest ever positioned single up to that point in time. The single stayed in the top ten for eight consecutive weeks. In the United States, it peaked at #14. The song also garnered a Record of the Year nomination for the 2006 Grammy Awards later that year. The album, Demon Days, was released on May 11, 2005 in Japan, May 23 in the United Kingdom and Australia, and on May 24 in the United States. The album debuted at #1 on the UK Album Charts, but fell as low as #29 in just seven weeks. However, as the music video for the second single "DARE" started getting played on MTV and other music channels, Demon Days rose up to the top 10 again. "DARE" was released on August 29, 2005 in the UK, where it debuted at #1. A Japanese EP followed on September 7. "DARE" eventually reached #87 in the United States, also becoming a Top 10 hit on the Modern Rock listings. Shortly afterwards, Gorillaz contributed an exclusive track entitled "Hong Kong" to the charity compilation Help: A Day in the Life released on September 10, 2005. The third single off Demon Days was "Dirty Harry", which had already been released as a promotional single earlier that year. It was released in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2005. On its first week, it charted at #6. The release of the single raised the album once again back up to the top 10. The fourth and final single was the double A-side, "Kids With Guns"/"El Maņana". It was released in the UK on April 10, 2006. Unlike its Top 10 predecessors, "Kids With Guns" / "El Maņana" reached #27 upon its release in the UK. A week later, the single had fallen out of the Top 40 in the UK (see 2006 in British music). By the end of 2005, Demon Days had sold over a million copies in the UK, making it the fifth best selling album of 2005. Demon Days has since gone five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States, triple platinum in Australia and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide. Plans were unveiled for Gorillaz to go on a holographic world tour in 2007 and 2008. The cartoon members would be shown as holograms on stage using Musion Eyeliner technology, giving them a life-like appearance on stage. The holograms were first used at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 3, 2005 and again at the 2006 Grammy Awards on February 8, 2006 with the addition of a virtual Madonna, where the band played a pre-recorded version of "Feel Good Inc." However, the tour was eventually called off due to budget issues. Jamie Hewlett has stated that "...it was extremely expensive, extremely difficult, a million and one things can go wrong, every second that the thing's playing." On September 21, 2006 the main lobby of Kong Studios was destroyed for unknown reasons and a teaser clip for Slowboat to Hades appeared and could be played on a TV screen. The Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades DVD was released on October 30 in the United Kingdom, and October 31 in the United States. The official Gorillaz illustrated autobiography, titled Rise of the Ogre, was released on October 31, 2006 in the United Kingdom, and November 2 in the United States. In a 2006 interview with Verbicide magazine, band members were asked if a new remix album would be produced for Demon Days as there was for Gorillaz. They answered that it was a possibility and that might involve the Space Monkeyz again. In the same interview, they were asked if there might also be another G-Sides. Again, their answer was that it might be possible. In January 2007, websites began listing a March release date for a Phase 2 B-sides album. One of the websites, musictap.net, later pushed this back to April 3. According to Gorillaz-Unofficial, the reaction of official parties behind Gorillaz is that the release date is just a rumour for now. On August 29, 2007, musictap.net reported that the B-side album would be titled D-Sides and will be released on November 20, 2007. On September 18, 2007 the official Gorillaz fansite confirmed the release of the album, as well as unveiling the album artwork and track listing. The two-CD compilation has B-sides on its first disc and remixes on the second. D-Sides was released on November 19, 2007 in the UK and on November 20, 2007 in the U.S. Gorillaz - Future plansBananazOn October 24, 2007, after the announcement of the D-Sides compilation album, the official Gorillaz fansite announced that a documentary film about the Gorillaz, titled Bananaz, would be released. A quote on the official fan site stated, Gorillaz feature filmIn 2002, there were plans made for a Gorillaz film, but it was soon abandoned due to Jamie Hewlett's dissatisfaction with many of the proposed scripts. However, in 2006, Hewlett stated that they will produce the film on their own. American film producer and Weinstein Company co-chairman, Harvey Weinstein, is also said to be collaborating with Albarn and Hewlett. In a September 2006 interview with Uncut magazine, Albarn was reported saying "[Gorillaz] has been a fantastic journey which isn't over, because we're making a film. We've got Terry Gilliam involved. But as far as being in a big band and putting pop music out there, it's finished. We won't be doing that any more." In an interview with the Gorillaz-Unofficial fansite, Jamie Hewlett and Cass Browne revealed that in the movie the band members will act as other characters presenting a new story, instead of playing themselves. Hewlett also said that the movie's soundtrack will be the next Gorillaz album. "The soundtrack will be the third album. Damon will do the soundtrack, which will be the soundtrack, which will be the third album." As of April 2007, Cass Browne is still finishing the script and Albarn has said that he hopes production of the film will begin in September 2007. However, in a more recent interview with Gorillaz-Unofficial, Hewlett stated that since the time of the previous interview, Damon and Jamie's fixtation on the film had lessened, and it will once again not happen. Gorillaz: Band historyThe story of Gorillaz begins on 15 August 1997. Stu-Pot was a not-so-bright but all-around great guy who led a somewhat unremarkable and uneventful life. A keyboard enthusiast, he worked as the star employee of Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium. Hoodlum Murdoc Niccals decided to ramraid Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium to procure synthesizer equipment in order to establish a "chart topping" musical group. However, Murdoc ended up driving his Vauxhall Astra through the building and directly into Stu-Pot, permanently damaging ("fracturing") Stu-Pot's left eye and putting him into a catatonic state. Murdoc was sentenced to "30,000 hours of community service, plus 10 hours every week of caring for the vegetabilised Stu-Pot". Not long after, Murdoc again injured Stu-Pot in a car accident in Nottingham's Tesco car park when attempting a 360°, which permanently damaged Stu-Pot's right eye, but revived him from his coma. Murdoc then recruited the newly recovered Stu-Pot as the keyboardist and vocalist for his group, re-dubbing him '2D' for the fact that Stu-Pot now had two similar dents above his eyes. Murdoc then found a drummer for the group in a SoHo rap record store: black expatriate Russel Hobbs. A middle-class native of New York, Russel was deeply troubled as a youth. He was expelled from an expensive private school for suffering from demonic possession. The trauma of said possession resulted in a four-year coma from which Russel was roused only by an elaborately executed exorcism. After his recovery, Russel began attending Brooklyn High School, where he quickly cultivated friendships with a group of rappers, DJs, and street musicians. (He has been quoted as saying that "hip-hop saved [his] soul.") This was but a short-lived respite, however, as all of Russel's newfound friends were suddenly gunned down one night in a drive-by shooting. Russel, the sole survivor, became the unwilling receptacle for the spirits of all of his slain compatriots, most notable of whom was the rhyme-dropping blue phantom Del. Thanks to the spirits' latent possession of his body, Russel gained incredible musical prowess in percussion, rap, and hip-hop as well as a disturbing side-effect: his eyes glowed an eerie white. With this new and violent turn of events, Russel's family shipped him off to England in hopes of helping him recover from his traumas quietly-not realizing they'd put him directly into the path of Murdoc's aspirations to superstardom, and the excesses that came along with it. At that point, all the fledgling group needed was a guitarist. The three's first choice was 2D's then-girlfriend Paula Cracker. After Russel discovered that Paula had had sex with Murdoc in one of the studio's toilets, she dropped out of the band. (Another result was that Russel broke Murdoc's nose in five places.) So, like so many British bands before them, the trio placed an advertisement in NME. The very day the ad ran, a "DedEx" (Play on words from FedEx) freight container from Japan was delivered to their doorstep. Out jumped a mysterious amnesiac 10-year-old wielding a Gibson Les Paul. The tiny girl made an incomprehensible introduction in Japanese and tore into a "riff to end all riffs" which ended with an impressive karate kick to the air. She then spoke a single word in English to the stunned boys, "Noodle", which was to become her moniker. In the later part of 1998, the Gorillaz played their first show at the Camden Brownhouse. Although it ended prematurely due to a riot during the song "Punk", EMI A&R man Whiffy Smiffy, discharging several rounds from his shotgun to disperse the crowd, was able to make his way to the stage and quickly sign them to the label. Ten months later the Gorillaz had recorded their self-titled debut LP. In the winter of 1999 Murdoc acquired the property of Kong Studios, a sprawling haunted studio with a rather shady history, situated atop a hill in the midst of a run-down cemetery and landfill in Districtshire, Essex. The Gorillaz lived and recorded in Kong Studios up until their 2002 11-month tour of North America. At the end of July of that year, the Gorillaz took a six month break in L.A.. There they attempted to get a movie project off the ground. Meanwhile, that Halloween, Kong Studios had been shut down tight in its owner's absence by local law enforcement after an unknown man was seen running, naked and in hysterics, in the marshes near the studio. The police proceeded to keep the area secured while they investigated the strange paranormal events surrounding Kong. The Gorillaz spent the interim period working on their movie, while living in a large rented home in the Hollywood Hills. Alas, the film was not meant to be, due in part to extensive over-partying, in-fighting, and disagreements with producers, directors, and a notable incident of Murdoc getting himself banned from the Playboy Mansion for stealing ashtrays. Understandably, at this point the Gorillaz went on a year and half hiatus, each of the members going their separate ways to find themselves. Murdoc headed to Mexico to booze it up in Tijuana brothels, getting himself arrested for passing bad cheques in the process. He enjoyed little company in his Mexican jail cell aside from his raven, Cortez, and two Mexican mobsters who would later help break him out. 2D went back home to work for his father at his carnival, re-establish his grip on reality, and come to terms with his newfound pop icon status with the ladies. Russel disappeared into the States to literally and figuratively exorcise his personal demons, regrettably including the ghost of Del, leaving Russel a mentally and spiritually exhausted wandering shadow of the man he once was. After shambling around Los Angeles for some time, Russel was taken in by Ike Turner and helped to recover, and while living in Turner's basement Russel recorded his own solo album which was shelved due to strange supernatural activity inherent in the music itself, which Russel described as something of a "cosmic disruption". Noodle travelled to Japan, in a fruitful attempt to uncover the secrets of her own past which included not only the revelation that she was a test subject in a secret government super soldier project, but that she also speaks fluent English. Armed with her newfound knowledge and iron resolve, Noodle was the first to return to Kong Studios. There she went to task battling the zombie and monster-infested darkness of the building, set up the Search for a Star contest, and began the process of pulling the band back together to record their new album, Demon Days. After the mystery surrounding El Maņana, the band seemed to have disbanded, with Noodle's room on gorillaz.com becoming empty and derelict and her voice appearing in the room of Brian's, desperately pleading for Murdoc to come and recuse her from some hidden danger. Murdoc was later to clarify this with a special Facebook chat on his very own Facebook Profile. When asked about the band's current status, he replied thus: Murdoc went on to say that he is selling Kong Studios as it is apparently built on a pile of excrement, added that he is still in the middle of rescuing Noodle from hell, again confirmed that he has no sexual attraction to 2D, but refused to elaborate on any future albums or the upcoming Gorillaz movie, other than to joke about the subject so as to avoid it. Gorillaz: Band members
Gorillaz - Additional members
Gorillaz - Actual membersThere have been waves of speculation and controversy surrounding who is actually behind Gorillaz ever since Tomorrow Comes Today was first released. In the half-hour TV mockumentary Charts of Darkness it was explicitly stated that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were behind the project. However, many people work on various aspects of Gorillaz. To quote Albarn, "There could be fifty [people] here, but there's two." In short, the Gorillaz as real, singular human beings do not exist. Rather, they represent the many people working on the project. More or less, the only thing that has remained constant in every song is that Albarn performs the singing voice for 2D. 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. This list of the group's integral performers has changed drastically since the first album, with the exception of Albarn himself. For a more or less complete list of people involved in Gorillaz, see this site. In the most recent live performances (Demon Days Live), the roles of 2D (vocals and piano) are assigned to Damon Albarn as 2D, Noodle's (guitar and backing vocals) to Simon Tong and Rosie Wilson respectively, Murdoc's (bass guitar) to Morgan Nicholls, and Russel's (drums) to Cass Browne. However, there are two touring keyboardists (one on a piano and the other on a synthesizer), so one could say that both of these people also perform the role of 2D. Similarly, there is both a drummer and percussionist on the tour, both at a drum kit, so these people are essentially both Russel. The band's artwork and music videos are created by Zombie Flesh Eaters (Hewlett's own company) and Passion Pictures (animators including Pete Candeland and 2000AD artist Rufus Dayglo). |
