1998-Damon AlbarnVocals, guitar1998-
Jamie HewlettIllustrator1998-
Dan "The Automator" NakamuraProducer(1998-2001)
Mike SmithKeyboards1998-
Gorillaz are a virtual band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, with Albarn in charge of the music and Hewlett the visuals. Albarn is the frontman for the British rock group Blur; Hewlett draws comic books and is most famous for Tank Girl, which in 1995 was made into a movie starring rapper Ice-T and Stooges frontman Iggy Pop. Hewlett says it's best to watch the film with the volume muted.
Many highly acclaimed musicians have featured on their songs; their first album has contributions from Tom Tom Club/Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, Deltron 3030 rappers Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Kid Koala, Buena Vista Social Club singer Ibrahim Ferrer, and Cibo Matto singer Miho Hatori. Later guests include Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Beck, Bobby Womack, Stevie Nicks and Vince Staples.
There are four animated avatars, each with their own backstory, that make up the band. Here's a primer:
2-D: The melancholy lead singer, performed by Damon Albarn. Jamie Hewlett calls him "the classic stupid pretty boy singer... the fall guy, the stooge."
Murdoc: The devil-worshipping bass player. "He says a lot but he doesn't really know what he's talking about."
Noodle: A Japanese female guitarist who was 10 years old when their first album was released. Unlike most cartoon characters, she ages. Hewlett calls her "the mysterious one."
Russel: The drummer/rapper. "Dark, quiet and thoughtful. He hates Murdoc and is constantly putting him in his place."
Albarn and Hewlett were roommates. They got the idea to create the group after each ended long-term relationships (Albarn's with Justine Frischmann of Elastica). After the appropriate grieving period, they decided to make good use of their time and began work on the look and sound of their pet band. Jamie Hewlett recalled to Q magazine:
"In the late '90s I split up with (partner) Jane around the same time Damon broke up with Justine, and for some reason we decided to get a flat together. We spend hours watching MTV and wondering why everything on it was so terrible. I think Damon was tired of being the frontman for Blur, and I was just aghast at how boring most pop groups were when they were interviewed. So we said, let's make up a fake band."
How does a virtual band tour? On their first tour in 2001, the flesh-and-blood members played behind a video screen that displayed their cartoon images. This let them mix and match musicians - Albarn was the only member who played every show. On later tours they played in front of the screen, often with the musicians featured on the songs. The Clash members Paul Simonon and Mick Jones were part of the band on their 2010 tour, which featured guest appearances by De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed and many others.
Jamie Hewlett met his French wife, actress Emma de Caunes, at a Gorillaz gig. She's best known for playing Sabine in Mr. Bean's Holiday.
After Gorillaz' self-titled first album sold over 3 million copies it earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band.
Albarn's father taught new wave rocker Ian Dury at a North East London polytechnic when he was studying art.
Early on they got a lot of help from the American producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, who supplied the beats. Nakamura specializes in fantasy hip-hop, coming from the underground group Deltron 3030, which put its members into the year 3030, traveling the galaxy.
Many in the British music press dismissed Gorillaz as a lark when they emerged in 2000 with an EP called
Tomorrow Comes Today, but a year later they had hits in the UK with "
Clint Eastwood" and "
19-2000" (both from their self-titled debut album), which appealed to fans and critics. This was proof that the concept could work; the band got even bigger when they released their second album,
Demon Days, in 2001, with "
Feel Good Inc.," which became their most popular song.
When they formed, they planned to keep the real musicians in the band a secret, but it was quite obvious from the go that Damon Albarn was their main singer, so they abandoned that plan.
Cartoon bands were nothing new - the animated group The Archies had the biggest hit of 1969 with "
Sugar, Sugar" - but Gorillaz were much more musically and visually adventurous than their predecessors. Early on, many of their fans were kids, but they evolved with concepts that are aimed squarely at adults. Their 2026 album
The Mountain, for example, has themes of dystopian authoritarianism ("
The Happy Dictator") and coping with loss ("
The Hardest Thing").
They benefited from the internet, which was coming of age when they started putting out music in 2000.
gorillaz.com was a pretty cool site, with stories and animations created by Jamie Hewlett.
Blur were still active when Gorillaz released their first album in 2001, which didn't sit well with Damon Albarn's bandmates. By the time Gorillaz put out their next album in 2005, Blur was on hiatus. Blur returned to action in 2009.
