Gorillaz

Gorillaz are a virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn of alternative rock 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 musical contributor. Their style is broadly alternative rock, but with a large number of other influences including hip hop, electronica, dub and pop.[1][2]

The band's first album, 2001's Gorillaz, sold over seven million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band.[3] It was nominated for the Mercury Prize 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band's request.[4] Their second studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005 and included the singles "Feel Good Inc.", "DARE", "Dirty Harry" and "Kids With Guns / El Mañana". Demon Days went five times platinum in the UK,[5] dublu platinum in the United States[6] and earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006[7] and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.[8] Gorillaz have also released two B-sides compilations and a remix album. The combined sales of Gorillaz and Demon Days had, by 2007, exceeded 15 million albums.[9]
In the November 2007 issue of Q magazine, when asked what his top priority for 2008 was, Damon Albarn replied "Well, I'm doing the next Gorillaz thing, but it won't be called Gorillaz.[31] In the February 2008 Gorillaz-Unofficial interview, Hewlett elaborated on this saying "I think the idea behind it is that it's like how The Who presented their movies – Tommy and Quadrophenia and so on. Those were presented as by 'The Who' even though none of the members of the band were in the movies. I don't think anyone from The Who was in Quadrophenia. But it's the same people working on it, that's the principle."[30] In a July 2008 interview with The Observer he also said, "Gorillaz now to us is not like four animated characters any more - it's more like an organisation of people doing new projects. [...] That's my ideal model - Gorillaz is a group of people who gave you this, and now want to give you new stuff."[32]

In the Observer interview, Hewlett said that there is "a new project which Damon and I are working on now, called Carousel, which is even bigger and more difficult than Monkey, and it isn't going to fit anywhere and no one's going to like it, ha ha ha! We've started work - I've done a lot of visuals and Damon's done a lot of music but we haven't figured out how they're going to fit together. I can't say much about it yet but it's sort of like a film, but not with one narrative story. There's many stories, told around a bigger story, set to music, and done in live action, animation, all different styles, well ... originally it was a film but now we think it's a film and it's a stage thing as well and... look, it's basically us doing what the fuck we want without worrying about whether it's for a record company or a film company or whatever. So I'm not sure how it'll pan out, or even if it will happen. But Damon's written around 70 songs for it, and I've got great plans for the visuals, but right now, at this moment, it's still just a really good idea."[32]
Additional members

* Del - vocals: A ghostly depiction of Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and the blue phantom in the "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House" music videos and the Gorillazbite "Jump The Gut" was, one could say, another band member. In 2003, he was finally separated from Russel when the Grim Reaper turned up to claim him; he appeared as a mass of living ectoplasm and said his final goodbye to his old friend before leaving. The shock of losing the friend who had hidden inside his body all that time, coupled with Russel's continuing belief that the Reaper was stalking him, lead to a trauma that took Russel an entire year to recuperate.
* Paula Cracker - guitar: 2D's ex-girlfriend and the band's original guitarist. In the Gorillaz storyline, she was ultimately dropped and replaced with Noodle after Paula was caught having sex with Murdoc in the studio toilet. Later, Paula Cracker is one of several people hired by Jimmy Manson to eliminate Gorillaz. Her status post-Jimmy Manson is unknown. It was stated in Rise of the Ogre that Paula was sick in the head, on strong medication, and has a personal vendetta against current guitarist Noodle. During her brief time in Gorillaz, she was described as "the weak link" by the rest of the band; Murdoc called her "depressingly ugly" and 2D never disagreed, only saying that it was the principle (of Murdoc stealing his girlfriend).

[edit] Actual members

There 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).

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