When you do an "interview" with the Gorillaz, you soon discover that -- aside from being animated and completely fictitious -- they're a lot like any other platinum-plus rock group: They've got ego, swagger and a whole lot of in-jokes.

But get them discussing the video for their new single, "Dirty Harry," and another thing becomes clear: These dudes (and girl) have an unmitigated love for on-set catering.

"On the set of the video, the catering truck was positioned about half a mile away, to keep everything out of the sun. But [drummer] Russel, the fat sod, fancied a sandwich or something halfway through filming," bassist Murdoc said via e-mail. "So one of the runners offered to take him over there on the back of a quad bike. Russel gets onto the back and they're just going up the first hill when the whole bike flips over, 'cause it can't take the weight of this enormous drumming lump on the back. Both of them and the bike were stuck in the sand upside-down for maybe two hours. I just watched and laughed at them the whole time."

OK, so maybe some sort of explanation is in order. Back in September, Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn told MTV Europe that "Dirty Harry" was going to be the third single off the group's Demon Days album. While he stopped short of revealing the details of the video for the song, he did admit that it was quickly becoming "a nightmare to storyboard" (see [article id="1509081"]"Gorillaz Target 'Dirty Harry' As Third Single; World Tour Begins To Jell"[/article]). And he wasn't kidding.

The "Harry" video was the first Gorillaz clip to be shot on location, in the desert outskirts of Swakopmund, Namibia. In addition to the animated members of the group, it also features a cameo by Booty Brown of influential West Coast rap crew the Pharcyde, and an honest-to-goodness armored personnel carrier, on loan (supposedly) from the Namibian government, though Murdoc claims he procured the vehicle under slightly different terms.

"I'd drunk too much of this 'snake beer,' and I thought I was going to die. That's when I saw this vehicle parked up. So I crawled into the front seat of this vehicle thinking it was a Red Cross truck. I was gonna demand that whoever was in it, that they take me to a hospital immediately," he wrote. "Suddenly, right, there's all this banging on the side of the truck. I'm surrounded by all these army geezers! So I lock the door, bend down, hotwire the truck and get the hell out of there. The soldiers were shooting bullets at me, trying to get me to stop, but I thought, 'F--- It.' I just drove off."

The clip also features Gorillaz frontman 2D stripping down to nothing more than an army helmet and a pair of tight jeans, in a move that's sure to please his burgeoning female fanbase. But with typical humility, he downplayed the whole incident.

"Well, I took my shirt off because I was hot. But seeing as Murdoc turned up with the army surplus truck, I made sure I used loads of sun cream. I was using a factor 83. Anyway, I don't burn, I just kind of bronze, really," 2D wrote. "I also thought, seeing as Murdoc was topless in the 'Feel Good Inc.' video, I'd give it a go. My body's way better than his anyway. And I don't have the paunch."

"Mate, you got bright pink. Like an embarrassed lobster," Murdoc countered. "And you do have the torso of an 8-year-old girl with rickets. I'd keep that figure under wraps if I was you. You'll blow your whole cover."