Taking a virtual band on tour would always be a challenge, but Damon Albarn is helping the Gorillaz do just that. Backstage's Rajesh Mirchandani met up with Damon in the tour bus at one of their gigs to talk about how it was all going.
Where would the band members be now, just before the gig?
It's quite hard to pinpoint them because they live in a different dimension. You could switch the telly on and they could be there or they could just be sitting around. You know, they flip around quite a lot. It's all very confusing. You just have to come and watch it, and accept it.
Now that whirring sound. Would that be one of them materialising or something?
It could be. You want to worry if it is though.
We never know then. They might appear anywhere, that's their charm...
The point of it is that you have to accept that this doesn't function any way another band has. Maybe there will be more bands like this, who knows?
It sounds like you've tapped into a rich vein in turn of sales and success, doesn't it?
Yeah. Good, isn't it?
So what do the band members do before a gig? How do they psyche themselves up?
I'm not the best person to ask. I just get on with my little bit of it. They have a very clear objective and if you go to gorrilaz.com you can get an idea of what they're doing.
Do Murdoch and 2D fight all the time or does Noodle have classes?
They're very much like any other band. They stay up very late and end up fighting. They're no different in that sense.
Coming back down to planet earth a minute, how does this show work... How different is this show to ones you've done before?
You don't see live musicians except in silhouette, sometimes, and the rest of the time it's a succession of animations featuring the band. But it is very much a live event. It's very, very heavy. It's based on a reggae sound system, so it's got a lot of bass. Sometimes the characters talk to the audience. It's very hard to identify who is doing what, and that's what's interesting about it. The audience constantly expects to see someone appear, but no one does appear. You just have to work on a slightly different level. From my point of view, I'd be lying if it wasn't frustrating having to be so restrained.
Because you want to get out there and feed off the audience?
That's what I've done all my life, be a frontman.
The temptation would be not to play live music but play a backing track and sit around and have a laugh while the audience is out there.
I've never made it easy for myself. I've always thought that it's such an amazing position to be in that I've got to challenge perceptions all the time.
So is it boring out there for you after what you've done in the past?
Well that's assuming that I'm actually on stage. I wouldn't want to confirm or deny.
If you were on stage do you think you'd find it boring? Hypothetically speaking.
If I was on stage I would enjoy playing with the musicians. It's a good sound they're making. It's a very strange demographic because it really does appeal from 40 year olds to 5 year olds and that's a bit odd.
So you might be up there, you might not be up there, but if you were up there would you have to stay strictly choreographed to the music to fit the images, or could it be an extended jam?
Once the animation starts it would be fairly difficult for it not to be - not choreographed - but sequenced in that sense. But within that there's a lot of room for people changing things. Things have to start and finish at the appropriate times, but they can change in between.
The one thing that was written a lot about when you performed a show at the Scala in London early this year was that... at the end of the show they were running out of animation because there wasn't enough.
We hadn't got enough together there but that was supposed to be to try it and see if it worked at all. It just happened to attract a lot of attention. It wasn't meant to be a big media event. We hadn't finished, we were just experimenting to see if it worked at all. It seemed to work so we've done a few more.
The audience has been getting it this time round?
Yeah, definitely. I played Birmingham last night and, uh, from my non-specific vantage point it seemed to go very well.
Bit of a slip there! It's all unravelling slowly.
It's not.
How surprised have you been about the success of Gorillaz?
It's got Liam upset again so it must be doing well.
Oh yeah, what did he say? '3-year-old music' he called it.
3 year old music. That's fine, I don't have a problem with that.
You're being very diplomatic with your words.
We live in very trying times and I think there should be an emphasis on understanding and multi-racial communication and transfer of ideas and emotion. There's no room for that kind of bullshit anymore, where are we going to go if people have that kind of attitude?
Leave it to Kylie and Posh...
Yeah whatever. I think we have more important things to be dealing with at the moment.
So were you surprised by the success of Gorillaz? From my point of view, we were told that Gorillaz were doing no publicity, no press interviews. And now, you are, because it's grown into such a bigger thing. Have you been surprised by that?
I can't really avoid it, you know? It's much bigger than Blur.
How do you feel about that?
Well it's sort of weird. You end up being in competition with yourself which is a bizarre scenario. I would like to just see it as progression and if we make another Blur album, it would be a progression from that.
If?
Yeah, but there are a lot of 'ifs' in life.
What do the other members of Blur think about it?
They've got their heads around it now. It's difficult to start off with, but we're definitely recording in November so there definitely is new Blur music coming out.
Presumably you will be bringing new influences to Blur with you?
Yeah, but they're not really into the music I'm into which is why the whole Gorillaz thing started. I was into- I don't know how you would class it - more eclectic, more world music. Music from - I don't know where the music we were making was from... I just don't know how to describe it. I don't see myself belonging anywhere in particular. I just love music.
Just because you're in a guitar band doesn't mean you shouldn't like hip-hop or reggae Nothing in Gorillaz seems at odd with what people think of you...
No, I don't think they are. It doesn't feel that different. The whole vibe is a very different chemistry but for me it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything too different from what I feel I'm about.
When you and Jamie Hewlitt came up with the idea, how did you come up with the characters because they're quite rounded.
Yeah, well it took a while. I think the whole point of it was to create something that existed in the form of animation but could grow organically and react to anything that was happening. Like all these things, when we started it we would joke, 'Oh there'll come a point where Liam will slag us off' or whatever and then we would react to it. But when you arrive at that point you're already beyond reacting. You've got other things that are more important. It's really interesting, especially having a website that's approaching a million hits a week. You're in a position where you can use it in a different way. I think we're just realising that. If we're going to carry it on we've got to start using it in a different way. When you do something new you're not prepared for what happens which is part of the excitement, but also what makes it such hard work.
The popularity of it has put you in a position of responsibility to use it for something else?
It's strange because we didn't target it at anyone in particular. We have six and seven year olds who are really into it and the music and humour are really adult. We're in a bizarre position where everything is coded for a more adult audience. It's like Ant & Dec, they work on the same kind of levels. We have something in common with them in that sense.
Younger audience take it on one level. They go for the animation...
We didn't mean it to work on that level, that just happened. It's a testament to Jamie's cartoons, they have a resonant effect.
It's the same appeal with Tank Girl that he created as well. That could be taken on different levels...
I think that was a proto-type of this in many ways. This is far more sophisticated character-wise.
What's also interesting is that the fans send the fan-mail to the characters...
That's what it's designed for. I'm not really interested putting my face on the cover or really talking. Although sometimes I do feel like there aren't enough people out there who can articulate any objective opinion. But essentially I am tired of celebrity and I really just love being a musician.
Would you be as enthusiastic about Gorillaz if people didn't know you were behind it?
We didn't want people to know we were behind it, it just became impossible [to keep it secret]. In America, no one really knows... It works there, and in Russia its big as well.
What are the Russian Gorillaz fans like.
It's the biggest record in Russia at the moment. It's sold, unofficially, half a million albums which for Russia is unheard of. I think it's because they're really into the internet there, so this is perfect for them.
And we also have to congratulate you for getting six nominations for this year's MTVE Awards...
I've been told about that today. It's quite a lot, isn't it?... We might win something this time.
You might get to use that video acceptance speech...
Exactly. I hate seeing things go to waste.
Was that a bit embarrassing?
It wasn't embarrassing it was just irritating. I'm not going to go into the politics of it all but I don't mind if I don't get nominated and sometimes I'm of the mind that it's best not to be involved in any of that stuff. Especially with the Mercury Awards; I felt very sorry for everyone in the end, what happened on that day didn't help, but the combination really screwed it up for everyone. But my point, if anyone was interested, is that I don't think it's progressing the cause of opening music to people. I think it's actually doing the opposite, because for the average man it's upmarket and inaccessible. There's a big difference between that, the Mercury, and the MTV Awards. I don't like ninety percent of the stuff on MTV but at least it is accessible to everybody.
I think the problem with the Mercury Awards is that they try to compare different types of music you can't really compare...
Yeah, and what happens is that the select few get treated as a reference for six months that I don't think is very healthy.
Now you're up for six MTV Awards including Best Dance Act. Would you say Gorillaz are a dance act?... Some would say that's been a result of the remixes that made the hits...
The guys at Middle Row have had a studio next to mine for about five years. We've built our studios up together and been really good friends for a long time... As a prelude to carnival we wanted to do some dub plates of some stuff that we'd just finished off the record. That was one of many that we did. It just happened. It wasn't premeditated at all.
Would you not preferred people to have got to know Gorillaz through the album version of 'Clint Eastwood', which was great...
At the end of the day it didn't make any difference.
'Rock the House', the new single, is not being remixed , it's in its original form. Are you pleased about that?
There is a remix of it actually, but it's called the Sounder, which features Vie Life and Cipher, who are about the best British hip hop artists around. They've just done an amazing track of their own which I'm sure everyone is going to hear soon. You should check that song out, Sounder, it's good.
Have you had a lot of people approach you to work with you, because I read you were doing something with D12...
We've done something with D12... We're finishing it off tomorrow. Hopefully get Terry Hall to sing on it as well. Daft Punk want to do something. Talked to Dr. Dre. You know, Pavarotti, Queen Mum. Everyone... I'd do something with Bob the Builder definitely.
What do you see as the future now?
Apart from the characterisation and the whole pop circus that we've found ourselves in again, inadvertently, it's a vehicle for like minded artists to get together and create new ideas without the stress of celebrity. I think things are going to change after what's happened in America, but before that very defining point in all our lives it was becoming so excessive. The emphasis on celebrity, on people's empty, vacuous lives as a substitute for our lives. I found it depressing and I hope it open up peoples lives a bit more.
Do you think it will change how musicians write or do you think it will change the whole culture of celebrity?
I think it will just make people realise that the nature of celebrity is quite sinister in itself... Do we all want to live in an empty world, I don't think so. I want to live in a rich, understanding world... I know this sounds really flippant, but before this all happened I was planning to go to the Middle East to record. It's more relevant now. I think everyone in Britain should at least read the Koran once. But that's diverging, but still very important.
It's nice to meet a pop star who believes and understands and cares...
...I'm not a pop star, I'm just an artist. The Gorillaz are pop-stars. I was a pop star.
Finally then, sum up for us, what experience are people going to have when seeing Gorillaz on tour?
...I'll be interested to find out. As I said, I really don't know. I'm a voyeur on the whole thing.
Just advise them to bring some ear plugs...
Yeah, but it's good for the soul, heavy bass. The guy who plays the bass is called Junior Dan and he is Reggae. He doesn't play Reggae, he is Reggae. He's played for Bob Marley, Burning Spear... You will be hearing the sound of Reggae bass.
