Biography
Gorillaz is a virtual musical group from the UK, which in 2018 marked the 20th anniversary. During this time, the artists have created dozens of recognizable tracks, among which "Feel Good Inc", "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", and earned references to the Guinness Book of Records as the "Successful Virtual Group". Corporate identity Gorillaz - clips, which are more short cartoons rather than video artships.The history of creation and composition
The history of the creation of Gorillaz originates 10 years before the official date of education of the group.
Damon Albarn is known in the world of music primarily as the frontman of the British Rock Group Blur, founded in 1988. Despite the gifts of the participants of the team - the Albarnian and Graham Kokson, childhood friends, did not want to come to beginner artists.
The opportunity to declare itself was the acquaintance of Albarnus with the artist comic Jamie Houlette in 1990. The musician at the request of Graham convinced the new acquaintance to interview Blur for the magazine "Deadline". The material appeared on one page with the comic "Tank Girl".
Despite the fact that Hewlett helped the team to unleash, the relationship between creative people did not take shape: the artist summoned the hatred of Kokson, starting to meet with his former Girl Jane Oliver. In 1997, the novel ended, and Hewlett came to Albarn.
Once the roommates watched MTV, and Hewlett was noticed, as far as the artists sometimes look silly. The artist in a joke suggested a friend to create a group whose characters will not have anything invented, but also drawn. Albarn agreed, and so in 1997, a team began "biography", which initially wore the name Gorilla.
The "real" composition of Gorillaz - Damon Albarn, who composes music with invited stars, and Jamie Hewlett, "Father" of four animation "participants" of the group. Before the release of the debut album, the world did not know who hidden behind the drawn characters.
The virtual history of the creation of a collective begins with a 2D sweat stewart - a mentally retarded keyboard player who works in a music store. On August 15, 1997, "scumbags" by name Merrock Nikkals decided to steal a synthesizer from this store.
He entered the shop window and accidentally asked Stewart. Outcome: Card and brain injury for one, mandatory work and the need to take care of the victim - for another.
After the recovery of Stuart, young people met with Russell Hobbs, a drummer from New York, who in his youth was obsessed with demons. He spent 4 years in a coma while there was no exorcism rite over him.
He suffered, Russell went to the Brooklyn School, where he joined the company DJs and Rapers. All his friends died in a shootout. Hobbs, the only survivor, became covered for their shower, so he is not only a skilled drummer, but also an electronics and a poet.
The fourth participant of the group was 8-year-old Japanese nuddle nuddle. She arrived in the UK in the FedEx container and replaced Paulo Cracker, the first guitarist, which was expelled from the group because of the novel with Merdock.
It is in such a composition that the virtual Gorillaz recorded the Ghost Train debut track in 1997. Authorship belongs to Damonu Albarnu, Repeer Del The Funky Homosapien and Hip-Hop-producer Dan The Automator.
Music
The Debut Mini Collection "Tomorrow Comes Today" was released in November 2000. Following him, in March 2001, "shot" one of the most recognizable tracks Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood" - the first single from the album "Gorillaz" (2001). The song received its name due to the similarity with the musical theme for the film "Good, Bad, Angry" with the Clint Eastwood in the lead role written by Ennio Morricone.
Poems for "Clint Eastwood" composed and performed Del The Funky Homosapien, Chorus sings Damon Albarn. The track reached 4th place in the UK, the 57th place in the US Billboard Hot 100. The "Rolling Stone" magazine placed a song on the 38th place in the list of the top 100 songs of the 2000s, and NME put on the 347th line In the top 500 of the greatest songs of all time. Clip on "Clint Eastwood" has two versions. The difference is in quotation from the film "Dawn Dead" (1978):
"Every corpse that was not destroyed, gets up and kills. The people he kill, get up and kill. "In some countries, this statement was considered offensive, so it is absent in the abstract version. In 2001, the cartoon received a reward at the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival.
The debut album "Gorillaz" contained 15 tracks, including the 19-2000 and Rock The House. The plate entered the top 3 in the UK, ranked 14th in the United States, became platinum and was separated by a 7 millionth edition. Thanks to the high indicators, the team entered his name in the Guinness Book as the most successful virtual group.
The second album in the discography Gorillaz, "Demon Days" (2005), gave the world a non-suit composition "Feel Good Inc.", "Kids with Guns" and "Dare". The plate took the lead line in the UK, 6 times became platinum in this country, 2 times - in the USA, 3 times - in Australia. Common circulation sold copies - more than 8 million.
Despite the fact that the band is virtual, Hewlett and Albarn found a way to give concerts: Holographic musicians with the help of Musion Eyeliner technology on the stage looked like real. For the first time, this technique was used on MTV Europe Music Awards in 2005, then on the Grammy Prize in 2006 - Gorillaz performed "Feel Good Inc." And played up Madonne during the execution of the song "Hung Up".
In October 2006, the autobiographical book of Gorillaz called "Formation of the Monsters", and 3 years later, the long-standing idea of the "fathers" of the team was embodied - the documentary film "Bananaz" came out. Now it is available on the Babelgum website. After the premiere, Hewlett and Albarn announced the cessation of the group's musical activity, but the cases were separated with the words - in 2010 the light saw the third album "Plastic Beach".
The plate climbed on the 2nd place in the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200. The track list includes 16 songs, including 5 singles. Their video utilities have become more realistic, and in the video on the song "Stylo" was shot by Bruce Willis. According to the plot Gorillaz trying to break away from the star Hollywood in the fleet, but losing.
In the same year, after 7 months, the Album "The Fall" was released as a New Year's gift for fans. The plate was available only for premium subscribers of the official website of the group, and the broad audience heard new songs only in April 2011.
In April 2012, Albarn spoke in an interview with "The Guardian", which they quarreled with Houlette, and now the future of Gorillaz in question. The reason for the tightness was the thoughts of the artist that his contribution to the development of the group decreased: he did not write music, but only covers for albums accounted for music.
The conflict managed to settle, and in October 2015, Rolling Stone reported that Albarn and Hewlett would continue to create a history of Gorillaz. A year later, the group began to publish multimedia stories about the life of the characters: "Book Nudle", "Book of Russell", "Book of Murodok" and "Book 2D". At the same time, Nudle "started" his page in "Instagram".
On June 10, 2017, the Gorillaz festival was held - Demon Dayz Festival. He was held in the Reserve "Dreamland Margate" in the British city of Margate. The owners of the event became chadliners. At the same time, the Group announced the premiere of the fifth album "Humanz" (2017), which included 20 tracks, including "Saturnz Barz", "StroBelite" and "Charger". The collection debuted at 1st place in the United States, Austria, Belgium, Scotland and Switzerland.
The official release of the album "The Now Now" took place on May 26, 2018. It includes 11 tracks, including singles "Humility", "Hollywood" and "Tranz". The release was preceded by the adventure 2-week game FREE MURDOC, in which the fans helped to rescue the Merrock prison in conclusion for incomprehensible reasons. On September 20, 2018, the bassist joined his colleagues in The Now Now Tour.
Gorillaz now
On October 25, 2018, Gorillaz announced cooperation with the G-Shock brand. In support of your own clock line on the YouTube-channel group, the episode of the web series "Mission M101" comes out.
As for further musical creativity, while Albarn and Hewlett do not apply to plans for 2019. As part of The Now Now Tour, the group gave 95 concerts, and it is possible that the British will need time to collect a new material. So far, neither interviews nor photos on social networks allow you to answer the question - what will happen next with Gorillaz.
Discography
- 2001 - "Gorillaz"
- 2005 - "Demon Days"
- 2010 - "Plastic Beach"
- 2010 - "The Fall"
- 2017 - "Humanz"
- 2018 - "The Now Now"
Clips
- "19-2000"
- "KIDS WITH GUNS"
- "Rockit"
- "CLINT EASTWOOD"
- "DONGAMATIC"
- "DIRTY HARRY"
- Rock The House
- Tomorrow Comes Today
- "Stylo"
- "Dare"
- "Feel Good Inc."
- "Garage Palace"
- "Humility"
- "TRANZ"