Damon Albarn: Last News

Gorillaz’ huge London show at The O2 last summer for NHS workers.Now, on October 20, it will go under the hammer as part of the Bonhams Pop X Culture auction at New Bond Street in London, where it’s expected to raise between £5-7,000 for Brian Eno’s climate change charity EarthPercent.Claire Tole-Moir of Bonhams said in a statement: “Both Robert Smith and Gorillaz are true innovators and pioneers of new music, and we are thrilled to be able to work with them by offering this unique customised guitar in aid of Brian Eno’s charity EarthPercent. To be able to own a one-of-a-kind guitar that is both a piece of art and a piece of music memorabilia is already a rare opportunity, but to be able to support EarthPercent’s ongoing campaign of tackling climate change at the same time, is very special and exciting for collectors and fans alike.”EarthPercent added: “We are thrilled to offer this gorgeous, signed guitar so kindly donated by Gorillaz and Robert Smith to EarthPercent.

Blur‘s Graham Coxon says he’d be up for trying to get Oasis back together.Speaking in a new interview in The Evening Standard, the guitarist was asked about a potential reunion with his own band and a tour next year.He said: “No, I don’t know what’s going on with Blur, we haven’t really talked about anything. I don’t really know what it is.

Damon Albarn has revealed that Gorillaz‘ forthcoming collaboration with Stevie Nicks was originally meant to sung by Julian Casablancas.The animated band enlisted the Fleetwood Mac star for the song ‘Oil’, which will appear on their forthcoming eighth album ‘Cracker Island’.Nicks recently spoke in an interview about her experience of becoming “an honorary Gorilla” on the Greg Kurstin-produced track.“I can’t wait till it comes out because I’m so proud of it,” she said.During a new conversation on Apple Music 1, Albarn explained that ‘Oil’ came together “very quickly” as he had previously recorded a demo version in London. However, he’d initially set his sights on The Strokes‘ frontman as a guest vocalist.“At first I was thinking of Casablancas for the voice, but that didn’t work out,” Albarn said.

Flume has announced his show at Brooklyn Mirage in New York this Friday night (September 30) will be streamed globally.The livestream will be available to watch here via Amazon Music/Twitch on Friday at 8:30PM PT and 11:30PM ET. Globally, the stream will be available to watch Saturday (October 1) at 4:30AM BST and 1:30PM AEST.

Damon Albarn has spoken about the possibility of working with Billie Eilish in the future.The Blur and Gorillaz frontman joined the pop star onstage during her headline set at Coachella 2022 in April to perform joint renditions of ‘Feel Good Inc’ and ‘Happier Than Ever’.“This man changed my life in a lot of ways and changed my complete view of what music could be, and what art could be, and what creation could be,” Eilish told the audience.“My first favourite band ever was The Good, The Bad and the Queen when I was six and Blur changed the world and Gorillaz changed the world, and this man is literally a genius, and that’s that.”Prior to that team-up, Albarn hailed Eilish and her brother/collaborator Finneas as “really interesting songwriter[s]” in an interview with the LA Times. He praised the singer’s “minor and odd” sound, adding: “I think she’s exceptional.”Speaking to Apple Music 1 today (September 27), Albarn was asked whether a studio-based project with Eilish could happen at some point.“Yeah, it will.

Stevie Nicks has spoken about the experience of working with Gorillaz on their forthcoming new album ‘Cracker Island’.The Damon Albarn-led cartoon band are due to release the record on February 24, 2023 via Parlophone (pre-order here). It’ll feature their recent Tame Impala collaboration ‘New Gold’, as well as guest spots from the likes of Bad Bunny, Beck and Thundercat.Nicks will appear on a song called ‘Oil’, and recalled becoming “an honorary Gorilla” during a new interview on Apple Music 1.“Well, I have to tell you, it was really great,” she told Zane Lowe. “Because [‘Cracker Island’ co-producer] Greg Kurstin sent [the song] to me.

Lily Moayeri Gorillaz used their tour stop in Los Angeles not only to play a packed show at the city’s Kia Forum but also to hold a special advance listening session for their new album, the provocatively titled “Cracker Island,” set for release on February 24, 2023. Gorillaz albums are always filled with guests, and the Damon Albarn-helmed group reeled in a grip of musical stars to join them on stage at the Forum on Friday night: Namely Beck, Tame Impala and Thundercat, who are among the features on “Cracker Island” — along with Stevie Nicks and Bad Bunny, both of whom were on tour elsewhere (more about the latter shortly). Beck, dressed like the best man at a wedding circa 1977, turned up once for “The Valley of the Pagans” from his 2020 collaboration with the group, and again for the first-ever unveiling of his song from “Cracker Island,”  “Possession Island.” Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker sang alongside Albarn on the already-released single, “New Gold,” accompanied by Bootie Brown, and Thundercat smoothly slid on stage for their rendition of the album’s title track.

FIFA songs of all time with John Newman, Billie Eilish and Imagine Dragons also securing sports in the top 10. A by-product of the best-selling sporting games franchise has been their ever popular soundtracks which have introduced up-and-coming music as well as given a new lease of life to tried and tested anthems.

Robbie Williams has compared his musical and songwriting approach to that of Morrissey and Elton John in a new interview.The pop star is set to release his latest album ‘XXV’ on Friday (September 9), which contains re-recorded and orchestrated versions of songs from across his career.Speaking to NME, Williams spoke about the lack of credit he receives as a songwriter despite penning numerous hits over the last three decades. “If you break down the maths of what I’m doing musically on a song, I do the same thing that Morrissey does,” he said.“I’m not saying in any way, shape or form that I’m as good as or better than Morrissey, I’m just saying: I do the same thing.

Robbie Williams has hit out at Damon Albarn over his inaccurate past claim that Taylor Swift “doesn’t write her own songs”.Back in January, the Blur and Gorillaz frontman said that Swift’s “co-writing” approach to making music was at odds with his “traditionalist” view of songwriting during an interview with the LA Times.The journalist then put it to Albarn that Swift is “an excellent songwriter”, to which he responded: “She doesn’t write her own songs.” Albarn said he believed co-writing “doesn’t count”.Swift subsequently hit back, tweeting: “I write ALL my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.

Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall have announced details of their debut album as The WAEVE – check out new single ‘Can I Call You’ below, and watch our video interview with the duo above.The former Blur guitarist-turned-solo star and the former Pipettes member-turned-Mark Ronson collaborator and singer-songwriter first emerged as a new project back in April with the track ‘Something Pretty‘, before playing a debut London show and appearing at The Great Escape.They’ve now revealed full details of their self-titled debut album, which has been produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine, Foals) and is due for release in February 2023 via Transgressive Records.To mark the launch of the album Coxon invited NME into his house to interview The WAEVE, where they told us about their collaborative journey since they started work on the record over a year and a half ago.Asked if they’d consider themselves to be a “supergroup”, Dougall replied: “Don’t you need more than two people to be a supergroup? It’s a very strong line-up!”Coxon agreed: “I’m not sure! Those kinds of bands are put together in a different situation. The way we came together was very different.

READ MORE: The Courteeners announce huge Heaton Park 2023 gig as band celebrate milestoneAlthough many sets at APE were dogged by sound issues there were no such issues with Gorillaz headline set which played out in full to a swarming crowd of raucous fans.An impossibly sweaty and musically dexterous Damon Albarn held court over his ridiculously talented ensemble - and treated the crowd to the length and breadth of his cartoon band's back catalogue.Highlights were spacey track Saturnz Bars and the ridiculously catchy Clint Eastwood which closed out the show, sending John on his way among the swathes of revellers exiting the arid ground for the Central Line.The terrain a week later however, was admittedly a concern of mine when it came to selecting footwear given the bucket loads of rain the south east was soaked in the previous night.As it was I needn't have worried on Thursday, August 25, with just the two blokes in sight playing it safe in wellies while the risk of wearing trainers paid off for the rest of us.All Points East is far more than one massive stage (the East Stage) backed by a massive Luno VIP section on one side and Guest Area on the other.At the opposite end of what really is a massive park in the capital, was the Ray-Ban West Stage where Caribou brought summer evening vibes in abundance.In between them both was the North Stage where Fred Again really did bring out Mike Skinner of The Streets fame — still not over it — the futuristic 6 Music Stage and the smaller attraction the Firestone Stage.Montell Fish at the BMW Play Next stage was first to stop me in my tracks thanks to his chilled out hip-hop sound which juxtaposed his almost aggressive and energy on stage which he made his own half naked.Hanging

In August, Gorillaz premiered a brand new song called "New Gold" at London’s All Points East Festival. The track features Bootie Brown of The Pharcyde and Australian psychedelic rock stars Tame Impala, and quickly got fans of the virtual band very hyped.

Gorillaz have shared details of their new album ‘Cracker Island’ alongside the release of latest single ‘New Gold’ featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown.‘Cracker Island’ is released on February 24, 2023 via Parlophone (pre-order here) and marks the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Song Machine, Season One – Strange Timez‘.The virtual band, headed up by Damon Albarn, has a host of collaborators on their eighth studio album including Stevie Nicks, Bad Bunny, Beck, Thundercat, Adeleye Omotayond and the aforementioned Tame Impala and Bootie Brown.It’s produced by eight-time Grammy Award-winning producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Greg Kurstin along with Gorillaz and Remi Kabaka Jr.Today (August 31) the band have also shared ‘New Gold’, which follows on from first single ‘Cracker Island‘. Gorillaz debuted the track live at their headline All Points East show in London on August 19 with both Kevin Parker of Tame Impala and Bootie Brown joining the band onstage.“It’s kind of a mad song, to be honest with you,” Albarn told the crowd at the time.Press material about Gorillaz’s new album states: “Originally based at Kong Studios in West London, the group of musical misfits – Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2D – have relocated to Silverlake, California as they recruit new members to join The Last Cult in search of the one truth to fix the world.

Slaves’ Isaac Holman has shared an emotional post about mental health online.Holman shared a picture of him mid-gig at a festival smiling and seemingly happy.However, he revealed in the post that behind the scenes, he was “unwell” and had to get taken to perform at gigs by his parents due to the debilitating nature of his illness.“This is what mental illness can look like,” Holman wrote. “At this point in my life I was so unwell I couldn’t be without my parents.

Gorillaz were the headline act at London festival All Points East on Friday (August 19). They topped a line-up that included appearances from Idles, Pusha-T, Yves Tumor, and Turnstile, all of whom you can imagine working with Damon Albarn in some capacity (if they haven't already).

Gorillaz headlined London’s All Points East last night (August 19) and debuted a new collaboration with Tame Impala and Bootie Brown – watch them play ‘New Gold’ below.The band played the Victoria Park festival to kick off the second part of their 2022 European tour, and were supported by IDLES, Turnstile, Yves Tumor, Self Esteem, Femi Kuti, Obongjayar, NewDad, Remi Wolf, Gabriels, Ibeyi, Nia Archives and Willow Kayne.During their headline set, they brought out a bounty of special guests including De La Soul, Happy Mondays‘ Shaun Ryder, Popcaan, Moonchild Sanelly and Mos Def.Half way through the set, they then debuted a brand new song called ‘New Gold’, featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown.

Gorillaz at All Points East festival this weekend have been unveiled.The animated band will play All Points East at this year’s Victoria Park on August 19 alongside the likes of IDLES, Yves Tumor, Self Esteem, Femi Kuti, Obongjayar, NewDad, Remi Wolf, Gabriels, Turnstile, Ibeyi, Nia Archives and Willow Kayne. You can buy your tickets here.Also joining Gorillaz and the other acts are Kills Birds, Knucks and Ibibio Sound Machine.Gorillaz will appear on the East Stage at 8:55pm, following Turnstile (6.45pm), Pusha T (5.30pm), Femi Kuti (4.25pm), Obongjayar (3.20pm) and Ibibio Sound Machine (2.15pm).The headline set by Gorillaz will most likely hear the virtual band, fronted by Blur‘s Damon Albarn, play their classic hits.

Gorillaz co-creator and animator Jamie Hewlett has announced a new art book called Phoo Action: Silver Jubilee.Hewlett, who founded the cartoon band along with Damon Albarn in 1998, will release the 368-page hardcover title in late November via Z2 Comics. It’s priced at £41.56, and is available to pre-order here.The book contains an oral history of Phoo Action, the TV pilot that was created by Hewlett and Mat Wakeham.

Gorillaz have shared the official video for their latest single ‘Cracker Island’.Released last month, the Thundercat-featuring track marked the experimental cartoon band’s first new music since last summer’s ‘Meanwhile’ EP. It’s said to signal “a new dawn” for the Damon Albarn-led project.Yesterday (July 28) Gorillaz dropped a psychedelic visual for ‘Cracker Island’ that begins with 2-D – Albarn’s animated alter-ego – being carted off to hospital in the back of a police car.Handcuffed to a chair in the A&E waiting room, the worse for wear character has an hallucinatory vision of a hologram-style Thundercat who sings and plays guitar on the seat beside him.The LA artist later takes over a hospital ward before a ghostly figure stalks the hallways.

Foals have shared the new video for their latest single ‘Life Is Yours’ – check it out below.The song appears on the Oxford band’s acclaimed seventh album of the same name, which came out last month.Arriving today (July 28), the official visuals for the title track – which see the group perform in a circular configuration – is described as “quite unlike any Foals live experience you have witnessed before”.The core trio – comprising Yannis Philippakis, Jack Bevan and Jimmy Smith – are joined in the studio space by their touring band members (Kit Monteith, Jack Freeman and Joe Price) as different coloured lights cast their silhouettes onto the walls.As ‘Life Is Yours’ breaks down, the camera cuts and lighting effects become more intense. A final, birds eye view of Foals in their unique set up concludes the video.