Gorillaz: Last News

Beck teamed up with Gorillaz on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night (April 19).The singer-songwriter joined Damon Albarn for a rendition of their ‘Cracker Island’ collaboration ‘Possession Island’.The live take, which you can view below, saw Albarn singing the opening on piano before Beck joined him on vocals for the remainder of the song.They performed the track for the first time at a gig at Los Angeles’ Forum last September. Beck also previously appeared on ‘The Valley Of The Pagans’ on Gorillaz’s 2020 album ‘Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez’ .‘Cracker Island’ arrived back in February as Gorillaz’ eighth studio album, with a deluxe edition following just a week later.

Gorillaz had no shortage of special guests for their first set at Coachella 2023, bringing out collaborators like Slowthai, Thundercat and De La Soul.Thundercat was the first to join Damon Albarn and co. on the titular Coachella Stage, performing the title track from Gorillaz’ just-released ‘Cracker Island’ album.

De La Soul – who appeared on Gorillaz’s ‘Feel Good Inc.’ – were originally meant to guest on a completely different song.The hip-hop group have worked closely with Gorillaz for nearly two decades – dating back to their iconic appearance on the band’s hit single, ‘Feel Good Inc.’, released as part of the 2005 ‘Demon Days’ album. However, in a new interview, co-founder Maseo revealed that Damon Albarn originally suggested that they feature on a different single: ‘Kids With Guns’.“When we went to do ‘Feel Good Inc.’, the initial song was ‘Kids with Guns,’” he said in a recent episode of Kyle Meredith With….

Damon Albarn has reacted to Noel Gallagher‘s offer to “sprinkle” some “northern magic” on Gorillaz.While the pair were famously Britpop rivals throughout the ’90s, they have since become friends and Gallagher contributed backing vocals to Gorillaz’ 2017 track ‘We Got The Power’ featuring Jehnny Beth.Last month, the former the Oasis singer-songwriter then suggested that he could see them working together again during an interview with Radio X.“Yeah, me and him get on great. I love his band.

Last Friday, Gorillaz shared their eighth studio album Cracker Island. An album written as the animated band's co-founders continued production on a now-shelved animated film, Cracker Island saw Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett enlist a range of legends and modern stars like Stevie Nicks, Bad Bunny, Thundercat, and Beck.

Gorillaz have released a deluxe edition of new album ‘Cracker Island’ featuring an additional five tracks – listen below.The band’s star-studded new album came out last week (February 24), and Sunday (February 27) saw the band expand the record with a number of bonus tracks.Included in the extra songs are all-new tracks ‘Captain Chicken’ (featuring Del The Funky Homosapien), ‘Controllah’ (featuring MC Bin Laden) and ‘Crockadillaz’ (featuring De La Soul and Dawn Penn), along with a ‘2D Piano Version’ of ‘Silent Running’ (featuring Adeleye Omotayo), and a Dom Dolla remix of Tame Impala and Bootie Brown collaboration ‘New Gold’.‘Cracker Island’ is 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 more.Listen to the expanded version of ‘Cracker Island’ below.Reviewing ‘Cracker Island’, NME wrote: “Albarn and his team appear unburdened by living up to a concept, and instead turn in a consistently enjoyable record that shows why they remain relevant so far into their career.“A band that was once considered mucking about on the periphery of pop are now very much defining the present and inspiring the future.

Damon Albarn has revealed that after Gorillaz’ divisive Glastonbury headline set in 2010, Kate Bush phoned to tell him it was “one of the best shows she’d ever seen”.Last night (February 23), Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett sat down for a Q+A session with comedian Alan Carr for Banquet Records, attended by NME.Taking to the stage at former-cinema-turned-nightclub Pryzm in Kingston, Albarn explained that “Glastonbury was very memorable because it was so different to any other performance that had been before us”.“We wanted to just be, and not do the normal schtick of ‘hello Glastonbury, how are you all feeling?’ We wanted to just do our thing,” he continued.Gorillaz were last-minute replacements for U2 who had to postpone their appearance after Bono injured his back. Albarn returned to the iconic festival with Gorillaz one year after topping the bill with Blur.“I realised halfway through the Gorillaz set that the audience had no idea who some of the guests that we were bring onstage were, because I wasn’t introducing them,” he said of the set that included the likes of Bobby Womack, Bootie Brown, De La Soul, Lou Reed, Happy Mondays‘ Shaun Ryder, The Fall‘s Mark E.

Damon Albarn has confirmed that a feature-length Gorillaz film that was in the works at Netflix, has been cancelled.The frontman first announced the film in October 2020 before confirming the band were working with Netflix on it just over a year later.“I’m at Netflix because we’re making a full-length Gorillaz film with Netflix,” he said at the time. “Yeah, we’re having a writing session in Malibu this afternoon. It’s really exciting to do that.

For about a year and some change, just prior to the release of Gorillaz‘s second album Demon Days, I was a frequent lurker on unofficial Gorillaz fansites and forums. The band’s self-titled 2001 debut had got its hooks in me years prior, and after buying just about every comic by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett, I needed more. My anticipation for a new album was matched by a desire for a full-length animated movie — the Gorillaz skits “G Bites,” contained on the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, expanded on the absurdist humor and the neo-occult, ’70s horror-indebted style of the band — confirmed for me that a movie simply had to happen.

Synth Riders has announced a new Gorillaz music pack to accompany the debut of the upcoming PlayStation VR2 headset.Players will be able to immerse themselves in the virtual reality rhythm game by taking to a Gorillaz-themed stage called ‘Psycho Road’.The expansion is set to feature tracks from the cartoon band’s upcoming album ‘Cracker Island’, as well as classic tunes including ‘Clint Eastwood’ and ‘Feel Good Inc’.This new music pack will join an already extensive library of more than 100 songs available through Synth Riders.The full tracklist for the new Gorillaz pack is as follows:‘Feel Good Inc’‘Clint Eastwood’‘New Gold’ (feat. Tame Impala and Bootie Brown) ‘Dare’ ‘On Melancholy Hill’‘Cracker Island’ (feat. Thundercat)‘Sleeping Powder’Abraham Aguero, Creative Director of Synth Riders, said: “We’re thrilled to be pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in virtual reality gaming with the launch of our new Gorillaz music pack, the debut of the Synth Riders Remastered Edition for PS VR2, and the introduction of multiplayer features.“We can’t wait for players to experience the game in a whole new way and join the community of Synth Riders fans from around the world.”The Synth Riders Remastered Edition for PS VR2 and PS VR is due to launch on February 22.

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.

Gorillaz and Del the Funky Homosapien performed ‘Rock The House’ live for first time at a gig this week – see footage below.The track appears on Gorillaz’ self-titled debut album from 2001, one of two collaborations between the pair on the record – the other being hit single ‘Clint Eastwood’.In 21 years, they had never played ‘Rock The House’ live together until this week in San Francisco, when they gave the track its first airing at a show at the Chase Center on Wednesday (September 21).After Damon Albarn teased to the crowd that they were set to “play a song we’ve never played before with Del,” they shared the live debut of ‘Rock The House’.See footage of the performance below.Last month, Gorillaz shared details of their new album ‘Cracker Island’ alongside the release of latest single ‘New Gold’ featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown.‘Cracker Island’ will be 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 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.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. Reports from the Golden State indicate that Murdoc is in love with the lady next door.

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 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 formed, saying that he had hoped to launch his own “cartoon band”.The reclusive singer-songwriter was the only constant member of Felt, who released 10 studio albums between 1982 and 1989. However, he doesn’t appear on the group’s penultimate LP ‘Train Above The City’ (1988).Lawrence went on to launch glam-rock-inspired outfit Denim (they dropped two albums in the 1990s) before forming Mozart Estate (fka Go-Kart Mozart) in ’99.Despite having never achieved commercial success, Lawrence counts Jarvis Cocker and Charlie Brooker as some of his famous fans (Demin bagged a support slot with Pulp in the mid-’90s).During a new interview with The Guardian, Lawrence spoke about Denim’s initial decision to not play gigs as he believed “live music was over” at that time.

Part of what keeps Gorillaz exciting as a pop project is the often surprising roster of collaborators that the animated group bring to play in their world. Funk impresario Thundercat, who plays on the new, hauntingly-titled "Cracker Island," is not exactly a left-turn in the context of Gorillaz team-ups, but it is an exciting one.

Gorillaz have alerted fans to an incoming new single, ‘Cracker Island’, taking to social media to make the announcement.The experimental animated outfit – featuring Blur legend Damon Albarn – shared the news today (June 8), posting a short clip that featured each cartoon “member” of Gorillaz – 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel – alongside the caption “Cracker Island is coming…” and the hashtag #thelastcult.Later, they posted two images – one of 2D and one of the group together – with the caption: “2D is the chosen one…”Though it’s not yet known when ‘Cracker Island’ will drop, a pre-save link for the single can be found here. The track has been performed live during Gorillaz’ current world tour, notably with the inclusion of guest vocals from Thundercat.

Gorillaz have announced details of a North American tour in September and October.These gigs will be the Damon Albarn-led group’s first US and Canadian live dates since 2018 and extends their ongoing world tour, which is currently in South America.Albarn and his 14-piece live band – who will be “aided and abetted by a varying cast of guest performers” – will bring Gorillaz to life across 21 arena shows in the US and Canada, kicking off in Vancouver on September 11.The run will visit such cities as Seattle, Salt Lake City, LA, Austin, Chicago and Boston before wrapping up in Miami on October 23. EARTHGANG will support Gorillaz on all dates except Orlando and Miami, where Jungle will be special guests.Tickets for Gorillaz’s North American tour will go on general sale at 10am local time on Friday (May 20), and you’ll be able to buy tickets here.

Gorillaz and Massive Attack have been announced as two of the headliners of We Love Green Festival 2022.Billed as “the world’s leading sustainable festival”, We Love Green will return after a two-year absence to Bois de Vincennes in Paris on June 2 and 4-5. This year’s festival will also be its 10th anniversary event.Gorillaz will headline We Love Green’s opening night on June 2, before Massive Attack top the bill two days later (June 4).The likes of Phoenix, Mac DeMarco, Amaarae, Disclosure, Bicep, Central Cee, Arlo Parks, Slowthai, Girl In Red and Grimes (DJ set) will also perform – you can see We Love Green’s 2022 line-up so far below.“As much a laboratory pioneering new solutions in sustainable development as a music festival, We Love Green will once again prove its environmental credentials, setting a new gold-standard benchmark for the events industry globally,” the festival stated in a press release.“One of the first major festivals in the world to use 100 per cent renewable energy, We Love Green will be using hydrogen generators at a scale never before seen, in addition to reusable oils such as cooking oil, and will be continuing with its policy of zero single-use plastics.”Tickets for We Love Green 2022, as well as more information about this year’s festival, can be found here.

Loup GarouX have shared their new single, ‘The Illusionist’, as well as details of a new limited edition beer.The group features past Mercury nominee, producer and Libertines collaborator Ed Harcourt, Gorillaz and Senseless Things’ drummer Cass Browne and The Feeling bassist Richard Jones, who formed to create “a visceral and vivid sonic landscape” inspired by the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age and the sound of desert stoner rock.To celebrate the release of their new single, the trio have collaborated with the London-based brewery Signature Brew to produce the ‘Strangerlands’ Wolf Moon Blood Orange IPA.The beer is named after the band’s debut album ‘Strangerlands’, which was released last October. Its name also reflects the fact that it was brewed on the ‘Wolf Moon’, January’s first full moon which is so-called because wolves were more likely to be heard howling at that time.Coincidentally, the ‘Strangerlands’ album was recorded at Harcourt’s home studio, which is known as The Wolf Cabin.The launch will be celebrated with an exclusive show at Signature Brew’s HQ in Blackhorse Road, north London this Friday (February 4) with support from Tom Bright.

Damon Albarn has revealed that he once considered pursuing a political career but was put off after a meeting with Tony Blair.The Blur and Gorillaz frontman recalled a conversation he had with the politician – which took place “before he became Prime Minister” in 1997 – and it left him “terrified”.“Politics is such a murky business. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it when I was younger,” he told the Metro newspaper’s Guilty Pleasures column (via Contact Music).“I even went and had a strategic meeting with Tony Blair before he became Prime Minister, but that terrified me so much.