Gorillaz Biography
The following biography
is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Gorillaz is an animated
hip-hop/trip-hop collective or supergroup and virtual band, comprising
four animated band members: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. The band was
created by Damon Albarn (of Blur) and Jamie Hewlett, the creator of Tank
Girl.
Gorillaz have earned the Guinness
World Record for being the Most Successful Virtual Band.
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History
Early career (1998-2000)
Gorillaz formed as a band in April
1998. The first song they recorded was "Ghost Train" (2000), later released as a
B-side on their single "Rock the House". The band's first release was the EP
Tomorrow Comes Today, which was very well received in the UK underground music
scene, generating 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. A promotional booklet was sold at record stores to
promote the backstory behind the band. The band's official website,
www.gorillaz.com, was a virtual representation of Kong Studios, the band's
fictional studio and home, in the fullest sense of the word: inside, you could
browse through each member's bedroom, 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 message
board on the wall and Murdoc's Winnebago (accessible only by using the enhanced
section of the first album) 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, fans.gorillaz.com, was created to hold the standard band website
information, including news, a discography and the band's touring schedules.
Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (2001-2002)
The band's first single, "Clint
Eastwood", was released on March 5, 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 fictional 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", "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today". 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" 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 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 (sans 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 and quickly followed with
international releases in early 2002. The new year also saw a spectacular
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".
Along with the November 2002
release of the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down the band's website closed
almost completely down, with the fictional Kong Studio no longer accessible. 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. The DVD's menu was designed
much like the bands website and depicts an abandoned Kong Studios (only eight
rooms, including the lobby, are accessible.)
Rumors 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), Kuroda stated that Jamie Hewlett rejected many
scripts before giving up on the movie.
At the end of 2002, due to the
closing of the Gorillaz website, there were also rumors circulating that
Gorillaz had disbanded. Actually, the band had gone on a two-year hiatus, not
releasing another album until 2005's Demon Days.
Phase Two: Demon Days (2004-now)
On December 8, 2004, the website
reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It" (which has not been released
anywhere else as of August 2005) and the announcement of a new album on the way,
including production by DJ Danger Mouse and a guest appearance 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 virtual room on the newly rebuilt Kong Studios website.
Soon 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
modern pop figures. The 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
originally reported to be We Are Happy Landfill, but has been changed to Demon
Days. The first release off the album was a white label 12" promotional single
of the song "Dirty Harry" featuring Bootie Brown and the San Fernandez Youth
Chorus. "Dirty Harry" was ineligible for the charts due to its status as a
promotional single.
The first proper single off 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, because the single was 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, if there is a physical
equivalent. "Feel Good Inc." managed to reach #2 in the UK Singles Chart the
week it was released, being the bands highest ever positioned single. The single
stayed in the top ten for eight consecutive weeks.
The Album, Demon Days, was #1 in
the Album Charts on it's first week 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 September 7. As of September 13, 2005, DARE is not scheduled for a
release in the United States.
The third single off Demon Days has
been confirmed as Dirty Harry. It features vocals by Bootie Brown and the San
Fernandez Youth Chorus, as did the January 2005 promotional single of the same
name. It has been scheduled for a November or December 2005 release. (This time,
however, it will be eligible to chart.) A fourth single off Demon Days has been
confirmed for release in early 2006, although the title of the record has not
yet been revealed.
There are currently no plans at the
moment to completing work on the failed Gorillaz movie, despite the entirely
incorrect information on IMDB.
Fictional band history
The storyline of the Gorillaz, as
established by Albarn and Hewlett.
Stu-Pot (his full name is rumored
to be "Stuart Tusspot" but it cannot be confirmed as it has never once been
mentioned in any interview or article), was a mentally deficient keyboard
enthusiast and star employee at Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium, until a chance
encounter with Satanist hoodlum Murdoc Niccals. Murdoc had 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 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 an accident in Nottingham's Tesco parking lot, permanently damaging Stu-Pot's
right eye, but reviving him from his coma. Murdoc then recruited the newly
recovered (albeit still mentally defective) Stu-Pot as the keyboardist and
vocalist for his group, re-dubbing him 2D for the matching pair of dents in his
head from the accidents.
Murdoc then found a drummer for the
group in a Soho rap record store, African-American expatriate Russel Hobbs.
Russel was a middle-class New York native and a deeply troubled youth, having
been 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, where he quickly cultivated
friendships with a group of rappers, DJs, and street musicians. Some would say
that "hip-hop saved his soul." This was a short-lived respite, however, as all
of Russel's newfound friends would be gunned-down in a drive-by shooting. Being
that he was the sole survivor, he became the unwilling receptacle for the
spirits of all of his slain compatriots, most notable of whom was the rhyme
dropping blue phantom of his late friend Del. With their 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 now glow 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. Like so many british bands before them, the trio
placed an advertisement in NME. The very day the ad ran, a FedEx freight
container from Japan was delivered to their doorstep and out jumped a mysterious
amnesiac 10-year-old wielding a Gibson Les Paul and an MP3 player helmet. The
tiny girl made an incomprehensible introduction and tore into a "riff to end all
riffs" which ended with an impressive ninjutsu kick to the air, she then spoke a
single word to the stunned boys in english, which became her moniker, "Noodle".
In the later part of 1998, the Gorillaz played their first show at the Camden
Brownhouse which ended prematurely due to a riot during their song "Punk". EMI
A&R man Whiffy Smiffy discharged several rounds from shotgun to disperse the
crowd enough to make his way to the stage and quickly signed them to the label.
Ten months later they 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-date 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 checks in the
process, and enjoying little company in his Mexican jail cell aside from his
raven, Cortez. 2D went back home to work with his father at a 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. Eventually, after shambling around Los Angeles for long enough,
he was taken in by Ike Turner and helped to recover, while recording his own
album which was shelved due to Russel's fears of "cosmic disruption". Noodle
shipped herself off to Japan, where she uncovered the secrets of her own past
that included not only the revelation that she was a test subject in a secret
government super soldier project, but that she also spoke 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.
Members
2D (alias: Stu-Pot) - vocals,
keyboards
Murdoc Niccals - bass
Noodle - guitars, vocals
Russel Hobbs - drums, percussion
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; 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 of the first album (including Cibo Matto vocalist
Miho Hatori, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and producer Dan "The Automator"
Nakamura) complete the band. In fact, the only permanent member behind the music
happens to be Albarn, while all artwork and music videos are created by Zombie
Flesh Eaters (Hewlett's own company) and Passion Pictures.
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 Albarn himself.
For a more or less complete list of
people involved in Gorillaz, see this site.
Live performances
For the tours affiliated with the
debut album, the physical band played behind a specially designed screen which
covers the stage area. Videos, animatics and image collages were projected onto
the audience side of the screen, while choreographed lights behind the screen
lit 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.
2005 radio tour
Following the release of their
Demon Days album, Gorillaz began an American radio tour. In keeping with the
style of the band the 'Demon Detour' featured a set of pre-recorded songs played
on select radio stations, along with comments by the four band members.
Future live tours
Gorillaz have hinted and confirmed
the intention to tour again since before Demon Days was released, but no
official dates or locations have been announced yet. It would appear from
numerous interviews of both Albarn and Hewlett and Gorillaz themselves that they
are having a hard time deciding how to structure and conduct this second tour -
they intend on having it more elaborate, or at least somewhat different, from
the 2003 tour. From where it stands now, any live shows or tour will be during
the winter of 2005/2006.
A seven day festival in Manchester,
England has been announced, and a number of the guest artists that appeared on
both the first and second album are expected to attend. No official, definitive
dates have been confirmed as of yet.
Horror references
The band's art is deeply rooted in
horror film imagery and ideals. Here are a few of the films they refer to in
their photos, videos and songs:
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28 Days Later
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The Amityville Horror
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Dawn of the Dead
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Day of the Dead
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Dracula
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Faust
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Friday The 13th
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The Head that Wouldn't Die
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The Exorcist
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Night of the Living Dead
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Nosferatu
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Psycho
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Resident Evil
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The Shining
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
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Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
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The Wicker Man
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Zombi II
Gorilla Bites
There is a series of animated
shorts, called Gorilla Bites, starring the Gorillaz. They are available at
various places, some on the enhanced CD, DVD versions of the records or as bonus
content available upon buying the "Feel Good Inc." single (as an album) on
iTunes, others on the band's official homepage. Most of them were released on
the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down.
Discography
Albums
Gorillaz (26 March 2001) first
studio album - #3 UK, #14 US
G-Sides (11 March 2002) b-sides
collection - #65 UK, #84 US
Laika Come Home (1 July 2002) dub
remix of Gorillaz - #156 US
Demon Days (23 May 2005) second
studio album - #1 UK, #6 US
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Date Article Copied:
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