Gorillaz is a virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. The band is composed of four animated band members: 2-D (vocals, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (guitar, vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums). These characters are fictional and are not alter-egos of real people, as is often mistakenly assumed. The autobiographical story behind these characters and the band as a whole can be found in their book Rise Of The Ogre. Their style is broadly ‘alternative rock’, but with a... (+) expand

Gorillaz is a virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. The band is composed of four animated band members: 2-D (vocals, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Noodle (guitar, vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums). These characters are fictional and are not alter-egos of real people, as is often mistakenly assumed. The autobiographical story behind these characters and the band as a whole can be found in their book Rise Of The Ogre. Their style is broadly ‘alternative rock’, but with a large number of other influences.

They have released two studio albums Gorillaz (2001) and Demon Days (2005), two b-sides collections G-Sides (2001) and D-sides (2007) and a reggae remix of the Gorillaz album called Laika Come Home (2002). They have also released three DVDs, “Phase One: Celebrity Takedown”, “Demon Days Live at Manchester Opera House” and “Phase Two: Slow Boat To Hades”.

The band’s first album, 2001’s Gorillaz, sold over 6.5 million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band’s request. 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 five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States, and earned five Grammy award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. Gorillaz also made a series of short films called Gorillabitez which can be found on the Phase One and Two DVDs.

Gorillaz collaborators on the first album included Del tha Funkee Homosapien (often mistaken as a band-member), Miho Hatori formerly of Cibo Matto, and Ibrahim Ferrer. The album was produced by Dan the Automator. Collaborators on the second album (produced by DJ Danger Mouse) include De La Soul, Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde, Shaun Ryder of Happy Mondays, Neneh Cherry, Ike Turner, MF DOOM, and Roots Manuva amongst others.

A 3D projection of the group was shown at the 2005 MTV Music Awards, and at the 2006 Grammys. They also performed at the Brits, in a different format, using screens rather than projections. Gorillaz have performed live in other occasions as well, in 2001 & 2002 they did tours where the musicians played behind screens, in 2005 & 2006, Gorillaz had 5 nights in Manchester and New York respectively. This time the screens were behind the musicians, however the setup was set so that none of the musicians (except for the guest-stars) could be visible to the audience, only as silhouettes, but Damon Albarn came to the front of the stage in full view to sing “Hong Kong” which was featured on “War Child”.

Gorillaz are currently working on a full length movie with Terry Gilliam. Very little is known about the movie so far, except that it is supposed to be a whole new story, featuring the characters as actors, rather than themselves. It is also suggested that the movie’s soundtrack will be the next Gorillaz album. Hewlett said the script should be finished by February 2008 and animation will begin shortly afterwards but no release date has been confirmed or scheduled.

Albarn and Hewlett have finished production on a Pop Opera called “Monkey” that aired in the summer of 2007 in the Manchester International Festival. A soundtrack album which will most likely accompany a DVD release of the opera was recorded in the summer, as well. (-) collapse