Gorillaz

While some bands are content to simply sound cartoon-ish, Gorillaz are animated ideas brought to life by comic-book creator Jamie Hewlett ("Tank Girl") and Blur frontman Damon Albarn, who lends his vocals to most of the songs on the group's self-titled debut album. Other "real-life" musicians who assisted the group in the studio include rapper Del The Funky Homosapien, former Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, who produced the album.

Living vicariously through the fictitious four-piece allowed Albarn the luxury of adopting an "anything goes" policy when it came to recording Gorillaz's debut, evidenced by tracks that range from hip-hop and punk rock to reggae and jazz. Joe D'Angelo chatted with Albarn and Hewlett and discovered why, unlike real people, cartoons never let you down.

MTV: The album is very eclectic. Did you have any boundaries when you were working on it?

Damon Albarn: None whatsoever. I think the idea of it not having a human face immediately freed up the process. I just went in the studio and had a different idea every day. Sometimes, I'd spend a couple of hours on one track, and then completely lose my train of thought and go off on another tangent. There was some sort of serendipity going on in there.

"Clint Eastwood" [RealVideo]

MTV: Talk about the characters and the characteristics that they have. Did you enjoy the anonymity? They almost seem like an amalgam of band stereotypes: the good-looking but vapid lead singer, the brooding bass player. Is that what you were going after?

Jamie Hewlett: Well, yeah. They're all sort of characters that people recognize immediately. But I think that the good thing about these characters is that we can take it further, and they can be more and more screwed up and outrageous. Murdoc is based on a young Keith Richards, I suppose, from the Out of Our Heads era. We can totally abuse these characters without actually getting any injuries ourselves. Murdoc can have his head knocked off and sewn back on. 2-D can die and come back as a zombie, and he'd probably come back more interesting than he was when he was alive. I think that's the plan, that they will become more and more wretched.

Albarn: They can just go all the way and they're never gonna let you down. As a musician, it's the best thing in the world. It doesn't matter how young or old the musicians are that are on the album, it sounds right. There's an 80-year-old on the record. There's two [performers] over 60 years old. Which I think is quite cool.

MTV: The first single, "Clint Eastwood," has sort of a spaghetti western vibe to it. What's the story behind that song?

Albarn: It has something to do with the melodica that I play all over the record. It sounds a bit like [the Clint Eastwood western] "A Fistful of Dollars." Clint Eastwood was [the name of] a famous reggae star as well. And when we [were] in Jamaica [recording the album] I think we can't escape reggae.

"Rock The House" [RealAudio]

MTV: The Web site [www.gorillaz.com] is huge. I don't think I've gotten through an eighth of it in the two hours I spent there.

Hewlett: We wanted to create an environment where, instead of just downloading pages of information, we'd have a building that you could go to. That you could hang out in, so you could be a part of it. Hang out with the characters, listen to the music, watch videos. We get 12-year-old kids who don't care who's behind it. All they care about is the characters and the music and the Web site, and they're getting the most fun out of it. Fans of "The Simpsons" don't go on about [creator] Matt Groening, now, do they?

MTV: Is there anybody you'd like to work with on the next Gorillaz project?

Albarn: I want to make a Gorillaz album in Iraq. In Baghdad. That's my dream. Because no one else would ever go there. I think that to just create a pariah out of an entire country is not very cool. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be difficult, but in principle, you know?

MTV: You said earlier that real bands can let you down, but cartoons can't. Can you elaborate on that?

Hewlett: Well, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny have been around for 50 years, and every time they come on TV, I feel like I'm watching an old friend. There's something about animated characters. They can be as outrageous and as rude as they want, but you always love 'em, and the same thing doesn't apply to real people.

Albarn: There's definitely a degree more censorship [for real people], though, isn't there? I mean, the violence that the early Warner Bros. cartoons had is not really acceptable anymore, is it?

Hewlett: I think it's becoming acceptable again. You can get away with smashing someone in the face with a frying pan until their face turns into the shape of a frying pan.

Albarn: Yeah, but not until the face disintegrates.

MTV: Do you think other bands could follow in the Gorillaz' footsteps? Not necessarily ripping them off, but creating some sort of alter ego?

Albarn: But this isn't an alter ego, you know? To most people who get into Gorillaz in America, they won't even know who we are. People don't slag Gorillaz off, they slag me off, which is quite funny in England. No one feels quite sure what the etiquette is with a cartoon band.

Hewlett: And if they slag a cartoon band off, there's a very good chance that cartoon band will get them back. We had some guy slag us off in the paper and we actually e-mailed him as Murdoc and threatened him. He e-mailed back and said, "I'm terribly sorry. I've never been threatened by a two-dimensional character." Then we sent him another e-mail threatening him a bit more. You can't do that as a real person, 'cause people will say, "Oh, leave it [alone]." But, you know, Murdoc is out of control.