Monkey Business

Damon Albarn is shaking things up – again. Coming off last year’s Blur reunion, the one-time Britpop icon is now leading a 20-piece Gorillaz on a tour of Europe, with legends such as Bobby Womack, The Clash’s Paul Simonon and Mick Jones in the line-up.

It’s quite a change for a group originally conceived of, by Albarn and comic book writer Jamie Hewlett, as a ‘virtual’ band in which the ‘musicians’ were goggle-eyed cartoons with weird overbites. The singer has also gone where few musicians of his generation would dare venture, by using Gorillaz’ latest album, Plastic Beach, as a platform for his environmental views.
Quite what is going on in Albarn’s head hasn’t always been clear, largely because he’s been rather media shy in latter years. Recently, though, Dave Fanning persuaded him to sit down for one of his longest recent interviews. In a long, sometimes rambling, discourse, he talks about his future plans for Gorillaz, the possibility of Blur recording together again and his future ambitions. These include an intimate collection of piano ballads and, starting next year, writing a follow to his acclaimed Monkey opera, this time set in the Elizabethan era and chroncling the life of royal alchemist John Dee, for which he will collaborate with comic book legend Alan Moore.

Dave Fanning: When you think of Gorillaz from a bunch of years ago, animation was to the fore. To me animation was what it was all about. How important is that now?
Damon Albarn: It is very important and when you see it from beginning to end there is this sort of storyline. The whole thing starts with the characters talking to the audience. You’re sucked into this strange world where you’ve got these 50-foot cartoons and these little human beings and it’s the perspective where you don’t know where to look all the time. I know for a fact that sometimes we’re giving it all on the stage and everyone’s just looking up. But that works for us, you know. I don’t know exactly what it is because I’ve never seen it. I’m told it works.
Okay, but there was a time when those characters on the screen were the gig. They were front and centre of stage, with the band peforming behind a screen.
Yeah, the first little tour we did, we did that. But do you really think people would be prepared to come and watch Paul Simonon and Lou Reed and Bobby Womack behind a screen?
Okay, point taken. Having said that, how about amalgamating the whole thing? What chance is there of having both? Could we have Bobby Womack, Paul Simonon and so forth on stage – alongside holograms of the cartoon band?
Well, we will when it’s possible.
Really?
Yeah. Of course, of course. I’d love to put my arm around Murdoch in the middle of the song. I’d love to do that. It’s not possible yet.
So you’re a bit like James Cameron with Avatar. You’ve got to wait a bunch of years.
Yes (laughs).
But you have the concept.
Of course. If anyone’s going to do it, we’re going to do it. And if anyone does it before us, we’ll be mightily pissed off!
Often bands become caricatures of themselves. Pardon the pun, but could Gorillaz ever become a caricature of themselves or are they already that in some ways? Because that’s the whole point in the first place…
Well, yeah, obviously they are. It changes every time we set sail with it, really. It’s totally different… the way we presented it with Demon Days and obviously totally different to the way we presented it with the first album. And if we ever did another album it might be completely different again.
What are we looking at here now Damon? What is Gorillaz to you at the moment? Because it’s been around for a good while, for three full albums. Is it a band, a ‘collective’, an ongoing experiment?
Well a band is a collective, so it’s both. It’s a big band, it’s an orchestra. It’s got 60 members.
And is there a possibility that you could have called it Not In It For The Money like a Frank Zappa album . Let’s face it, you can’t be making a bundle out of this.
No.
Are you losing a lot?
Well thankfully we’re playing big enough places to not lose any money. But no, I’m definitely not making a fortune.
No, I’m sure you’re not. Tell me about the whole idea of the guests. Do the Mark E. Smiths and the Bobby Womacks bring new music to the whole thing?
Well Mark, this [Dublin] is only his second gig. But Bobby et. al. have just done five weeks in America, so our relationship is very different. Mark is still a bit of an outsider but hopefully after this stint in the UK and Ireland he’ll feel really part of it. That’s always the hope. When Bobby first started working with us he felt slightly, sort of, disoriented and you know, uncomfortable. It’s not like that anymore. I’m on my second date with Mark as far as performing is concerned. The first one went fairly well, or good enough to do another one anyway…
If I’m to believe anything I’ve ever read about Mark E. Smith, good luck with the future...
Oh well, you know... There are so many of us that there is no room for a lot of the more sort of theatrical aspects of rock and roll. We’re all pretty down to earth people.
The Plastic Beach album... was it made knowing you were going to do it in a different way from anything you’d ever previously attempted?
No, I just think that when Paul [Simonon] told me he was up for going on tour I sort of thought, “well great, we’ll build a band, we’ll make this really a live experience.” If you’re gonna do it you need a great bass-player, you know...
Is the great bass-player the one person that would get in the way of putting it in a ‘hologrammatic way’?
Well, with the technology we used for the Grammys we had to play very quietly because the existing technology for stage holograms is a piece of clean film essentially stretched right across the stage with smoke pumped behind it. You get this illusion of a freaky image. But you can’t put any bass frequencies on it. Otherwise it starts to wobble a bit like C3PO in Star Wars.
That would be cool by me. But did it work at the awards? I mean Madonna came on later…
It worked on telly, but not in the arena. We were incredibly quiet, and then they flipped to the other side of the stage and this almighty sound came out, and for the people in the arena in Los Angeles, that’s when the Grammys started. They didn’t even really notice us because they couldn’t hear it. On television it looked great. It was a bit depressing for us because it was our moment, and we felt that, usually, Madonna would not be able to ‘outblast’ us.
I believe you went wagging the finger at Madonna but didn’t get past the first security man?
Oh well, let’s let bygones be bygones, you know…
What about the Coachella festival – wasn’t that a great gig for you?
I loved it, yeah. You know, I never thought I’d say this, but America’s been unbelievable. The last five weeks have been the best touring experience of my life. The reaction we’ve received is just, to a man and woman, everyone would say it’s been extraordinary, really euphoric.
Turning to Blur – was Glastonbury special?
Well for me, personally, that was the best gig I’ve ever done. But as a collective, these were the best gigs I’ve ever been collectively involved in.
So if there was an exam question that started off by saying, “Damon Albarn, the last ten years, trying to get away from Parklife. Discuss.” Is it something to do with that in some ways? Are you always trying to put that behind you?
It wasn’t that difficult really. I just sort of walked away from it. I don’t reject it, you know. When we played ‘Parklife’ in Hyde Park last summer we got a pretty amazing reaction.
I thought you might have been putting it to bed or something.
Well, I’ve got no plans to play it again. But, you know, I didn’t have any plans to play it that time. So you can’t say that that’s the end.
And what about the future of Gorillaz?
Well I think the next album will probably just be me and a piano.
Piano pieces from Damon Albarn?
(laughs) It’ll be even bigger than Gorillaz. Maybe 60 musicians won’t satisfy me by the end of this year. It’ll have to be 120!
Tell us about that album you made in Fela Kuti’s studio. Is it true you binned the whole thing except for some drum loops?
Yes, that’s true. Well it’s not in the bin, I just haven’t done anything with it.
So it’s still there?
Oh, yeah.
And what about a second opera? Sixteenth century this time?
Yes, I start doing that in January.
And what do you mean you start doing that?
Well, I’ve been thinking about it for maybe 12 months now. I have to really commit my ideas to paper, which is quite daunting really because it’s set in the sixteenth century. It doesn’t necessarily come to mind when you think of modern pop musicians.
Will you be working with other people?
Yeah I’m trying to. I have to say it’ll be the most esoteric thing that I’ve been involved with.
And that’s saying something…
I really mean it this time. I don’t necessarily think it will be populist at all.
And that doesn’t concern you. In fact that never really has concerned you.
No, no.
I mean, do you follow ‘the muse’ if that’s the right way to put it? Or do you always go, “I have to reinvent, have to reinvent, have to reinvent”?
It’s just panned out that way – things have changed quite naturally. I write songs essentially in the same way, I sit down with a guitar or a piano and muck about until something comes.
Does the decline in record sales worry you?
It’s definitely changed, and it will continue to change. I think the secret to that really is to accept that you can’t always have it the way you’ve become comfortable with it. As long as you accept that, the process of making music does not actually change, it’s just the way that it disseminates that is so radical.
But what gives you the most pleasure: making the music and seeing how well it turns out with all these musicians and the collaborative efforts. Or the fact that critically, it’s a huge success and, commercially, it does well even when a lot of albums are flopping?
Um, well it’s important that we do have some kind of commercial success especially with such a big idea, trying to get such a big idea across.
The big idea being an environmental message?
Yeah, well. I got a beautiful letter in the dressing room today from a 10-year-old, saying can you sign my blahblahblah, and also I use the blue bins. That’s perfect for me. There aren’t that many people that get asked to sign things and then get a P.S. about recycling, so it must be working.
And how loose does it work then with the collaborations. Do you say “there you go Jamie, I’m down to the pub now, there’s the music, throw some visuals there man”?
Well, I’m usually in the pub there with him.
Is that the way it all started – you were watching a big screen, playing games, and watching crap television and all the rest?
Well, I think we wanted to work together. It was one of those sort of ridiculous moments where it was like, “how are we going to work together where you’re a cartoonist and an animator and I’m a musician?” So that’s what we do.
To what extent were you reacting against corporate pop culture, as exemplified by X Factor?
I understand the need to have a big populous sort of showdown on a weekly basis that is a discussion point in playgrounds and stuff. On the other hand, what was wrong with Top Of The Pops? The wonderful thing about that is that anything could get on there and it’s so eclectic… things would just appear from nowhere because people would go around the country and build up a loyal fanbase without it being on any radar. Then, one day, you’d go into school after watching Top Of The Pops and go “oh my God did you see The Specials?” Bang.
My point is, have the Simon Cowells of this world sucked everything into their orbit to the point that there is none of that anymore.
Well I really, genuinely think it’s a case for the Monopolies Commission. Let’s just be honest about this: it’s an incredibly brilliant, slightly malefficious, plan to conquer the world and ruin music.

The Olympics in London are coming up in 2012. Were you asked or approached…?
I was approached, yes.
Did you do something for the Beijing Olympics?
Well we did. They asked us if we would take a bit of the Monkey story and it was quite fun… But the idea of actually helping design and stage the opening of the Olympics was a) Terrifying and b) Something I have no interest in.
A step too far, even for Damon Albarn?
Definitely a step too far (laughs).
As opposed to something easy, like a sixteenth century opera!
Well, the expectations are not as great. I think I’d be in a miserable state of mind if I’d agreed to do that. It’s like 600 and whatever days to go and I’m like, “what am I gonna do?’ It’s sport, it’s not music. It’s great but it’s not music.”
What are your thoughts on the state of the modern music industry?
It’s changed, it’s certainly changed. X-Factor, what happens to those people? They don’t last very long do they? There’s some filing cabinet in some girl’s office with a very specific sell-by date for a lot of them. It’s not about developing music, it’s not for the future. It’s just to line people’s pockets and it’s blatantly abusing young innocent naïve people. And that does anger me somewhat.
You were involved in protests against the Iraq war. But does that sort of action ever actually achieve anything?
Well yeah, if we had managed to sort of keep that going for a month, there would have been no British involvement in the Iraq War. Remember there were two million people mobilised that day. But taking on a government is a lot harder than you think.
Certainly more than an afternoon of protest.
Well exactly. But they knew that. Tony Blair knew that, because it’s a lot of sacrifice for people to every weekend organise buses for people from all over the country. It’s money and time. And ultimately people don’t care enough to make those kind of changes and the governments know that.
Do you feel let down by Tony Blair?
I met him. I didn’t particularly like him. He’s pretty much the same as the rest of them unfortunately. You know, he’s a politician. Generally power corrupts people and really twists their perspective.
Lots of great bands are spoiled by success. Will you be spoiled by success or will the sixteenth century operas keep you alive?
(Laughs) Well, it’s definitely a really interesting subject. I’d much rather keep life interesting than anything else to be honest with you. Because it’s not going to last forever.

Plastic Beach is out now.