Gorillaz Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Liam Gallagher has given his ruthless verdict on a resurfaced clip of his brother Noel playing a version of Gorillaz’ ‘Dare’ with Damon Albarn. The video was captured in December 2015 at a 60th birthday party for Paul Simonon, the bassist in The Clash, who is also part of the performance. Noel Gallagher is singing the vocal that was originally recorded by the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder while playing guitar, and Albarn is singing his original melody line from the 2005 song, with Simonon on bass.

Damon Albarn recently joined Thundercat on stage and performed a handful of solo tracks and a Gorillaz song.The Gorillaz frontman appeared at the third night of Thundercat’s four-night residency at London’s KOKO venue on Friday April 5 as part of his UK tour.Albarn joined the bassist towards the end of his set. Together they performed ‘Oh Sheit It’s X’, ‘Funny Thing’, ‘Them Changes’ and Gorillaz ‘Cracker Island’, the lead track from the animated band’s album of the same name in which Thundercat was originally featured on.Has this crowd been euthanised like do they know thundercat and damon albarn are in front of them playing cracker island pic.twitter.com/bJMLD0aVwX— tara (@drknesstolight) April 5, 2024Damon and Thundercat playing Funny Thing tonight in London.

Damon Albarn covered The Smiths‘ ‘Panic’ with his Africa Express collective on stage in Mexico City this weekend.The Blur frontman joined the group for the performance in Morelos, Mexico at Bahidorá Festival on Saturday (February 17).The musical collective was formed in 2006 with the aim of bringing together artists from different cultures and musical genres for collaborative events.Albarn sang and played piano for the high-energy performance, and was joined by Camilo Lara for a lively ska interpretation of The Smiths’ 1986 track.Check out footage of the showcase below.Announcing the show last month, the Gorillaz artist shared that the performance would mark Africa Express’ first visit to Mexico, bringing together musicians, singers and DJs from around the world “to collaborate on a very special, completely original show”.NME watched Africa Express live back in 2019, describing the show in a five-star review as a “symbolic display of diversity, collaboration and unity”. It added: “Africa Express rarely gets together, but when it does, it specialises in generating one-off moments through unique combinations.”The collective’s last release, ‘Egoli‘ also came out in 2019.

The 1975, David Bowie, Daft Punk, Blur, Lily Allen, Gorillaz, Elton John, Paramore and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.This year marks the 17th edition of the event, and it comes after the news that vinyl sales rose by nearly 15 per cent in the first nine months of 2023, despite the ongoing dominance of streaming services.We’re releasing a VERY limited edition Double-A Side 7” version of 'Creeping On The Dancefloor’ for Record Store Day this year.

Damon Albarn has offered his thoughts on The Beatles‘ use of AI in their new single ‘Now And Then’, sharing that he could imagine it happening to his own material one day.The Beatles released their “final” song early last month, the last track to feature all the original members of the Fab Four. The song went on to top the charts six decades after their first Number One single.‘Now And Then’ stems from a demo tape recorded by late bandmate John Lennon.

Damon Albarn joined Beck in a live cover of Gorillaz’ ‘The Valley Of The Pagans’ during Beck’s Primavera Sound set in Buenos Aires on Sunday (November 26). “This is a song we wrote together during COVID times,” said Beck, as Albarn walked onstageto thunderous applause, which gave way to a spontaneous, prolonged crowd chant.

James Blunt has recalled the time that Damon Albarn didn’t want to be photographed with him for an episode of Later… With Jools Holland.The topic arose during a discussion with actor Kathy Burke on an episode of her podcast series Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake. It heard the singer-songwriter recall the shun that he received from the Blur frontman.Recalling feeling “a little bit annoyed” about one of the passages in Blunt’s new memoir Loosely Based On A Made-Up Story, Burke asked the artist about the passage where he discussed his appearance on the Later… With Jools Holland show – namely a moment that happened off camera.“They do this sort of group photo of all the bands at the end… was it Damon Albarn who refused to be in the photograph or didn’t want you in the photograph?” she asked.“I don’t know exactly.

The O.C. is one of the defining teen dramas of the early 2000s.Created by Josh Schwartz, the series follows troubled teen Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) who is adopted by wealthy parents Sandy (Peter Gallagher) and Kirsten Cohen (Kelly Rowan) in Orange County, California.As Ryan arrives in Newport Beach, he has to adjust to life as a high-schooler in high society, alongside adoptive brother Seth (Adam Brody), Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) and Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson).The show spanned four seasons from 2003 to 2007. Other cast members include Chris Carmack, Tate Donovan, Melinda Clarke, Alan Dale and Autumn Reeser.The O.C.’s opening theme song is ‘California’ by Phantom Planet, while the score is composed by Christopher Tyng.

Peter Hook & The Light were joined onstage by Damon Albarn for a performance of the Gorillaz song ‘Aries’ – check out footage below.The moment took place during Hook’s ongoing UK tour in which he plays both New Order’s ‘Substance’ album and Joy Division’s ‘Substance’ album in full.At the recent slot at London’s Eventim Apollo over the weekend, however, fans were in for a surprise when the Joy Division/New Order bassist brought out Albarn as a special guest.“Not long ago, I was honoured to be asked by a wonderful, very kind gentleman if I’d play with him,” Hook told the crowd on Saturday evening (October 14). “And this track is what we did, innit, Damon?”From there, the Blur and Gorillaz singer took to the stage and together they performed their 2020 track ‘Aries’.

Eddy Grant has shared that he felt “thrown under the bus” when he came out to accuse Gorillaz of copying his song ‘Time Warp’ on their track ‘Stylo’.The Equals member and solo star accused the band of plagiarising his 1982 song in 2010, telling NME at the time that he thought there were similarities with the keyboard section.In another statement he also described it as “pure piracy” and “an obvious infringement of my song”.Reflecting on the accusation in a recent interview with NME, Grant said: “I mean, everybody knows where that song came from. It’s just that there comes a time where you say, ‘Enough.

Damon Albarn has revealed he is currently in the process of working on an opera as well as new music for Gorillaz.While appearing on the Broken Record Podcast, Albarn shared he is putting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1807’s The Magic Flute Part II to music for the first time. The 1791 original was an opera in two acts to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.“I’m doing an opera at the moment, using Goethe’s fragment he wrote about The Magic Flute Part II, which is fascinating,” he said.He continued: “You’ve heard of Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’? Well, Goethe, who is a contemporary of Mozart, wrote ‘Part II’ of that — the sequel — but it never got put to music.

Gorillaz have cancelled their upcoming US tour dubbed ‘The Getaway’, with ticket providers citing “scheduling conflicts”.The tour was announced only last month and was set to see the Damon Albarn-fronted cartoon band play four shows in support of their eighth and most recent album ‘Cracker Island’.Now, the September gigs have been cancelled, with ticket providers sharing a statement. “Due to scheduling conflicts and circumstances beyond our control, the previously announced Gorillaz shows in September have been cancelled,” they said.“Refunds will be issued automatically at your point of purchase and will be processed as quickly as possible, there is nothing further for you to do at this time.

Gorillaz have announced a run of headline shows in the US for this autumn – find all the details below.The Damon Albarn-fronted cartoon band are due to head stateside this September in support of their eighth and most recent album ‘Cracker Island’, which was released in February.Kicking off at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California (September 10), the stint – dubbed ‘The Getaway – includes further stop-offs in Austin, Texas (13), Chicago, Illinois (16) and Boston, Massachusetts (19).Kaytranada, Lil Yachty and Remi Wolf will appear as the support acts on all dates.Tickets go on general sale at 10am local time this Friday (June 2) – you’ll be able to buy yours here.“Gorillaz are ON THE RUN… one band, one bus, four cities,” an announcement on social media reads.

Noel Gallagher has explained that his younger self wouldn’t be too happy about his collaboration with Blur frontman and former Britpop rival Damon Albarn.The former Oasis member reflected on his time working with Albarn in 2017 in a new interview with The Big Issue (via Music-News.COM).The team-up in question was when Gallagher contributed backing vocals to Gorillaz‘s track ‘We Got The Power’, which appears on the band’s 2017 album ‘Humanz’. “What would my younger self think of me working with Damon Albarn,” he pondered.“It would depend entirely on what side of the bed I got out of on that day,” he added.

Noel Gallagher has explained that his younger self wouldn’t be too happy about his collaboration with Blur frontman and former Britpop rival Damon Albarn.The former Oasis member reflected on his time working with Albarn in 2017 in a new interview with The Big Issue (via Music-News.COM).The team-up in question was when Gallagher contributed backing vocals to Gorillaz‘s track ‘We Got The Power’, which appears on the band’s 2017 album ‘Humanz’. “What would my younger self think of me working with Damon Albarn,” he pondered.“It would depend entirely on what side of the bed I got out of on that day,” he added.

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has said that Brexit has been a “travesty” in a new interview.Speaking to Channel 4, Albarn explained that Brexit has been a “disaster” for younger musicians.“In the old days, pre-Brexit, you could be a young band and go over to Europe and play bottom of the bill at festivals. You wouldn’t be paid hardly anything but the experience was life-changing, whether you went on to do bigger and better things in the future [or not]. That’s a solid foundation for the rest of your life,” Albarn said.“That kind of creativity has very much been curtailed for people on this island, because it’s expensive to go over there now.

Little Simz has opened up about her experience working with Damon Albarn, saying she will “always have so much love and respect” for the Blur and Gorillaz legend.The rapper linked up with Albarn in 2017, delivering a guest spot on the 2017 Gorillaz single ‘Garage Palace’ (which later appeared on the “super deluxe” edition of the ‘Humanz’ album). In a new interview with Apple Music 1, she told Zane Lowe (via Music News): “I remember first getting into the studio with [Albarn] for the first time, and my anxiety just being through the roof like, ‘This is mad…’“I felt myself trying to mold myself into what their thing was, and I remember Damon peeping it and being like, ‘No, that’s not why I called you in here.

Gorillaz‘ set at Coachella 2023’s second weekend, the band brought out a star-studded list of guests that included appearances from Bad Bunny, Little Simz and more.The band brought out the Puerto Rican reggaeton star – who will close out this weekend’s first night with a headline set – to perform ‘Tormenta’. Bad Bunny features on the studio version of the song, which is from Gorillaz’ latest album, ‘Cracker Island’.

Coachella 2023 Weekend 2 kicks off today (April 21), with Bad Bunny headlining and many more FADER favorites filling out the undercard: Gorillaz, Burna Boy, Kaytranada, Pusha T, Metro Boomin, Karol G, and others. Where last Friday’s schedule featured a short-notice set from a newly reunited Blink-182, Weekend 2 will see them taking the headlining role on Sunday, replacing Frank Ocean after he bowed out of Coachella 2023’s closing set following leg injuries he sustained on festival grounds before Weekend 1 (per his publicist).

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.

Trying to keep up with this week’s new music? Every Friday, we collect new albums available on streaming services on one page. This week, check out Yeat's Aftërlyfe, Gorillaz's Cracker Island, Miss Grit's Follow The Cyborg, and more.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Damon Albarn has shared a musical tribute to De La Soul‘s David “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicoeur.The founding member of the hip-hop trio died at the age of 54 yesterday (February 12).  Details about the cause of his death have not yet been released, however the rapper had been suffering from several health issues in recent years.Tributes were paid by the likes Cypress Hill‘s B-Real, Public Enemy‘s Chuck D, JPEGMAFIA and Kaytranada following his death.Now Albarn, who collaborated with the trio on Gorillaz‘s 2005 single ‘Feel Good Inc.’, has shared a short solo piano instrumental in tribute to Trugoy. “A loop for Dave.

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.

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 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.