Gorillaz

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Gorillaz (left to right): Russel (back), Noodle, 2D and Murdoc
Background information
Origin	Essex, England
Genre(s)	Alternative rock Alternative hip hop Electronica
Years active	2000–present
Label(s)	Parlophone Virgin Records
Website	http://www.gorillaz.com
Members
2D (also known as Stu-Pot) Noodle Russel Hobbs Murdoc Niccals
Former members
Paula Cracker Del

Gorillaz are a virtual band created in 1999 by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. The band is composed of four fictional animated band members: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. Their style is broadly 'alternative', but with a large number of other influences.

The band's first album, 2001's Gorillaz, sold over 6 million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band.^[1] 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 Mañana". Demon Days went double platinum in the United States,^[2] five times platinum in the UK,^[3] and earned five Grammy award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.

[edit] History

[edit] Formation

Hewlett's artwork in their early career was less computerized than the artwork that would come during the band's fame. Pictured above, from left to right: Paula (the band's former guitarist), Russel, 2D, Murdoc

The people behind Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, formed the group in 1999.^[4] They 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. 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 debut album. The song can be seen as the genesis of the musical style that continued into Gorillaz' first album.^[5]

[edit] 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 Gorillaz artwork by Hewlett during Phase One was very cartoonish.

The band's official website, www.gorillaz.com, is a virtual representation of Kong Studios, the band's fictional 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 (accessible only by using the enhanced section of the Gorillaz album) contains a voodoo doll of 2D. Each member also has his or her 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 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", "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 Icebreakers commercial, as well as in EA Sports' FIFA 2002. Also the trumpets from the song "Rock the House" can be heard in various MTV shows. The video for "Tomorrow Comes Today" was only broadcast once in the United States on Toonami as 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. 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 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. The fictional Kong Studios was no longer accessible. Instead, visitors could only enter a police portacabin, 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.^[6] 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."^[7]

[edit] Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (2004 – present)

Hewlett's art for Gorillaz changed to a darker, more detailed style in Phase Two. It should also be noted that Noodle is visibly older in this phase.

On December 8, 2004, the band's website reopened with an exclusive video entitled "Rock It" and the 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 Mañana", the fourth single for the new album, as well as getting their own virtual 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 in Japan, May 23 in the United Kingdom and Australia, and on May 24 in the United States. The album debuted at #1 in the Album Charts on its 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 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.

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 UK 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 Mañana". It was released in the UK on April 10, 2006.^[8] Unlike its Top 10 predecessors, "Kids With Guns" / "El Mañana" 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 double platinum in the United States, triple platinum in Australia, five times platinum in the UK and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.^[2][3]

Gorillaz performing with Madonna at the 2006 Grammy Awards

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 Pepper's ghost technology, giving them a life-like appearance on stage. Damon Albarn would not be present for the tour, as they would be pre-recorded. A prototype version of the holograms was used at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards and again at the 2006 Grammy Awards with Madonna, where the band played a pre-recorded version of "Feel Good Inc."^[9] 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."^[10]

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 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, as well as the Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades DVD, was released on October 30 in the United Kingdom, and October 31 in the United States.

[edit] Future projects

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events. It may contain information of a tentative nature and the content may change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

In the November 2006 edition of Billboard magazine, Murdoc was asked in a Q&A about the future of the Gorillaz, he said "Ooh baby, have we got something special lined up for you. I can't say let you in on it yet, but needless to say it makes the Gorillaz Demon Days period look like a warm up act."^[11]

Issue 16 of Verbicide magazine included an interview with the Gorillaz. In the interview, the band was asked if there would be a new remix album for Demon Days like there was for the Gorillaz. The answer was that it was a possibility and that it may involve the Space Monkeyz again. Also, in the interview, they were asked if there might be another G-Sides. Their answer was that it might be possible, too.^[12] In January 2007, websites began listing a March release date for a Phase 2 B-sides album.^[13][14] One of the websites, musictap.net, later updated the information to a pushed back release date of April 3.^[15] According to Gorillaz-Unofficial, the reaction of official parties behind Gorillaz is that it's just a rumour for now.^[16] The title of the album is currently unknown.

Main article: Untitled Gorillaz project

In 2002, there were plans made for a Gorillaz movie, but it was soon abandoned due to Jamie Hewlett's dissatisfaction with many of the proposed scripts.^[6] However, Hewlett has recently stated that they will produce the film on their own. Former Miramax head Harvey Weinstein is also said to be collaborating with Albarn and Hewlett.^[17] On September 30, in an 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."^[18] 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." The script should be finished by February and animation will begin shortly afterwards but no release date has been confirmed or scheduled.^[19]

[edit] Fictional band history

The backstory of the animated band members of Gorillaz, as established by Albarn and Hewlett.

The story of Gorillaz begins in 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. Satanist 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 matching pair of dents in his head from the accidents.

Murdoc then found a drummer for the group in a SoHo rap record store: black expatriate Russel Hobbs. Russel was a middle-class New York native and 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 said that "hip-hop saved [his] soul."

This was 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. 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 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. Their first choice was 2D's ex-girlfriend, Paula Cracker. However she was later to drop out of the band after Russel discovered that she had sex with Murdoc in one of the studio's toilets. As a result Russel broke Murdoc's nose in seven or eight places. So, 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. 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, 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 his 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-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.

[edit] Band members

[edit] Main cartoon members

• Stuart "2D" Pot - (born in Crawley, United Kingdom) - vocals, keyboards
• Murdoc Niccals - (born in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom) - bass guitar
• Russel Hobbs - (born in New York, United States) - drums
• Noodle - (born in Osaka, Japan) - guitar, backing vocals

[edit] Additional cartoon members

• Del - The blue phantom in the "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House" music videos and the Gorilla Bite "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, meant that Russel took an entire year to recover.
• Paula Cracker - 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 a sexual affair with Murdoc in the studio restroom. Later, Paula Cracker is one 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).

Note that the establishment of Murdoc's birthday and the celebration of it numerous times on the official fansite proves that the cartoon band members do age. The music video for "DARE" has also seen physical change in Noodle over 4 years. In 2000, when the Tomorrow Comes Today EP was released, the accompanying promotional booklet stated that their ages were 23, 34, 10 and 25. These are not their current ages.

[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).

[edit] Discography

For a more detailed discography, including chart positions, promotional CDs, mixtapes and compilation tracks, see Gorillaz discography.

[edit] Albums

Gorillaz (March 26, 2001) #3 UK, #14 US

G-Sides (March 11, 2002) #9 UK

Laika Come Home (July 1, 2002)

Demon Days (May 23, 2005) #1 UK, #6 US

[edit] Singles

• "Clint Eastwood" (featuring Del tha Funkee Homosapien) (2001)
• "19-2000" (2001)
• "Rock the House" (featuring Del tha Funkee Homosapien) (2001)
• "911" (Gorillaz & D12 featuring Terry Hall) (2001)
• "Tomorrow Comes Today" (2002)
• "Lil' Dub Chefin'" (2002)
• "Feel Good Inc." (featuring De La Soul) (2005)
• "DARE" (featuring Shaun Ryder from Happy Mondays) (2005)
• "Dirty Harry" (featuring Bootie Brown from Pharcyde & The Children's Choir Of San Fernandez) (2005)
• "Kids With Guns" / "El Mañana" (2006)

[edit] EPs

• Tomorrow Comes Today (2000)

Several of the singles listed above have also been released as EPs in certain regions. iTunes in the United States also released digital EPs of the four singles from Demon Days in late 2006.^[11]

[edit] DVDs

• Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (2002)
• Demon Days Live (2006)
• Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (2006)

[edit] Live performances

[edit] Phase One live shows

For the tours affiliated with the debut album, the physical band played behind a specially designed screen which covered 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.

[edit] Demon Detour 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.

[edit] Demon Days Live

De La Soul performing at the Demon Days Live concert in Manchester.

Gorillaz Apollo Theater marquee, c. 2006

Between November 1 and November 5, 2005, there was a Gorillaz "festival" billed as Demon Days Live with collaborators from Demon Days (Neneh Cherry, Bootie Brown, De La Soul, Ike Turner, Roots Manuva, Martina Topley-Bird and Shaun Ryder all appeared live; for other collaborators such as Dennis Hopper and Ibrahim Ferrer, recordings were used) and Damon Albarn performing songs from the album live on those five nights at the Manchester Opera House. The visual element of the evenings was provided by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett and displayed on screens on the stage, and the artists performed in front of the screens, with Damon Albarn in silhouette form for most of the concert (unlike previous concerts, where the musicians were behind the screens, with only silhouettes visible). The event was filmed by an EMI film crew for a DVD release, Demon Days Live, in late March 2006. It was later announced that an American version of the event would take place from April 2 to April 6, 2006 at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. Within under an hour of release tickets for the shows sold out.^[20] The April 6 show was filmed for a live webcast at MSN Video.^[21] MHD also broadcasted an Apollo Theater show in HDTV on December 31, 2006.^[22]

[edit] Phase Two live performances

For the band's live performances at the 2005/2006 award shows, a different visual effects technique was used to project the virtual band onto the stage: similar to the Pepper's ghost trick, 3D animations of the band are projected on transparent film placed on stage, creating the appearance that the band members were actually present on the stage. The first such performance by the band was made on November 3, 2005, the third night of the Demon Days Live performances, when the band simultaneously appeared at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, Portugal and performed their song "Feel Good Inc.".

At the 2006 Grammy Awards, held on February 8, 2006, Gorillaz opened the show using the same technique, sharing the stage with a virtual Madonna.^[9] Their performance was a mash-up of the Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc." and Madonna's "Hung Up".

However, there was a slight problem concerning the projections. The music on all of these occasions was rather low in volume, which Hewlett and Albarn revealed to be a flaw with the Pepper's ghost technique: if the music was too loud, the screens reflecting the band on stage would vibrate, making their images blurry. This happened with the mash-up performance with Madonna's "Hung Up".

A week later, on February 15, 2006, Gorillaz performed their song "Dirty Harry" at the 2006 Brit Awards, with Bootie Brown and the Children's Choir San Fernandez. This concert had giant versions of the animations on large screens, with Bootie Brown and the Children's Choir San Fernandez to either side of the screens. A similar, but not completely identical, version of this performance was shown on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and the video was projected at the 2006 Designer of the Year Award exhibiton for which Hewlett was nominated for and later won.^[23]

A world tour was planned using the hologram technology described above. However, due to extreme costs and fine technical difficulties, the tour was canceled.^[10]

[edit] Related projects

[edit] Reject False Icons

The phrase 'Reject False Icons' was first mentioned on November 24, 2004 on a Gorillaz mail out to fans.^[24] On December 8, the Gorillaz website was re-opened with a brand new music video, "Rock It", which has the saying "Reject False Icons" at the end.^[25] On December 19 the 'Reject False Icons' campaign kicked off with the launch of rejectfalseicons.com. Fans could submit their photos of ways to spread the message by using graffiti or by sticking 'Reject False Icons' stickers that were available for a limited period from the site and from selected record shops in the UK. It was first Respect False Icons, but Albarn changed it to Reject False Icons. Noodle said it is both 'Respect' and 'Reject'.

Originally, 'Reject False Icons' was going to be the name of the second Gorillaz LP, but this was later told to be false by Noodle, and the second album was released under the name 'Demon Days'.

[edit] Search for a Star

In December 2004, the Gorillaz launched their own talent contest, Search for a Star, to find an artist to collaborate with.^[26] There were on average over 100 entries per week whittled down to around 10 to be put forward for the public vote. The 200+ entries were viewed over a million times. A gallery room was added to Kong Studios which displayed all of the entries.

Originally, Gorillaz' competition, was initially run to pick just one winner from entries submitted to Gorillaz.com. However, at the end of the competition, it was announced that two further entries—one from the submitted images, and one from the submitted audio files—would be chosen by online vote.

The winners for each entries are as followed:

• Video: "Table Manners" by Carlos "Sourbee" Sowerby
• Audio: "Indian Dance" by Danny "Asidus" Gonzalez
• Image: "2D and Paula" by Irina Bolshakova (also known as Schneeflocke)

All three collaborated on the fourth single release of Phase Two, "Kids With Guns" / "El Mañana". Sourbee provided his animated incarnation of the "Don't Get Lost In Heaven (Original Demo Version)" B-side, featured on the DVD version of the single. Asidus made a "Dirty Harry" remix called "Uno Quatro" featured on the Gorillaz website. Schneeflocke created her own artistic interpretation of "El Mañana", featured on an insert included on the DVD version of the single.

[edit] Murdoc DNA testing

Murdoc has created an account on the 'Who's The Daddy?' DNA testing agency website, and is requesting that members of the public who think they may bear a resemblance to him, upload a photo for testing, which will appear on the site gallery.[1]

[edit] Gorillaz Entertainment System

A Gorillaz mobile phone game called Gorillaz Entertainment System (GES) was published by Gorillaz Partnership under license to RealNetworks in the spring of 2006 in Europe, and summer of 2006 in the United States. The game was developed by Gorillaz Partnership in association with Zombie Flesh Eaters and Mr. Goodliving Ltd.^[27] Gorillaz Entertainment System (GES) features four character-based games, each with their own individual gameplay and style. The games are a unique combination of classic arcade style games and contemporary Gorillaz artwork.^[28]

[edit] Kidrobot vinyl figures

In 2005 a set of Gorillaz figures were released by Kidrobot to coincide with the release of Demon Days. Two variations of the set were released, known as the Red and Black editions, and a limited edition Noodle from the music video for "DARE" was also released. Two new sets of Gorillaz vinyl figure were released in 2006. The CMYK set was released on October 26, 2006 on Kidrobot and the White edition set were released on November 2 on Gorillaz.com and Play.com. These sets were far less expensive than their predecessors, although being made by the same company and having the same limited release.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gorillaz.com (Official website)
• Fans.Gorillaz.com (Official fansite)
• Reject False Icons (Official website)
• Gorillaz-Unofficial (Unofficial fansite)
• Gorillaz at Last.fm
• Audio interview with Jamie Hewlett