NEWS ARCHIVE 2001 | BACK(1)

20 DECEMBER 2001 News courtesy of nme.com: "Queens of the Stone Age, Lambchop, Jonathan Richman and Damon Albarn are amongst the artists to cover Kinks songs on, a tribute album. The album, 'This Is Where I Belong-The Songs of Ray Davies & The Kinks', is due for release on April 1 through Rykodisc Worldwide, also features Davies himself. The Kinks lynchpin teams up with long-time admirer Albarn on 'Waterloo Sunset'." for full tracklisting, go here. 10 DECEMBER 2001 Visit gorillaz.com or go here to listen to the Gorillaz/D12 track called, "911". It also features vocals by Terry Hall. It will not be released as single. The Gorillaz site also includes a promo clip. I think the song is an interesting mix. It's definitely different. Um... is anyone going to be recording channel 4 tomorrow night in the UK? The documentary on Gorillaz is going to air. Please let me know! Thanks! 07 DECEMBER 2001 Umm... not exactly Damon news, but Blur are back in the studio. Their "record company have confirmed to Radio 1 that they have started writing their first album since '13'." Damon has kept busy with Gorillaz, Alex presented his own TV show ('24 Hours in Soho') about the secrets of Soho (he lives nearby) and Graham released his third solo album earlier this year. No release date has been confirmed. [ radio 1 direct ] Blur have also collaborated with Marianne Faithfull on her new album. The track 'Kissin' Time' was co-written by Faithfull and Damon Albarn. The song was recorded with Blur and will be released on March 4 via Virgin. [ nme direct ] 02 DECEMBER 2001 For Canadian fans... Muchmusic will be airing the 2001 MTV Europe Music Awards on December 13. It will be repeated on December 16. Check local listings for showtimes. Don't miss it! 29 NOVEMBER 2001 NME has currently reported that Blur have been writing new material at Damon's home studio in Ladbroke Grove. 26 NOVEMBER 2001 Sorry! Lack of news... but I was surfin' about bbc.co.uk/radio1/ earlier and I found some interesting news links. I'm a bit behind... then again, what else is new? ;) "Gorillaz, Massive Attack and Death in Vegas are some of the artists taking part in two charity dance events to raise money for the Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan. They will appear at the Bristol Academy on December 15 and on the 17 they will be at Fabric in London joined by Daft Punk and Pulp." [ radio1 direct ] + A recent interview with Dan the Automator: [ radio1 direct ] + An interview with Steve Lamacq and Damon from March 2001: [ radio1 direct ] I also read on their site that "a documentary about Gorillaz will be shown on December 11 on channel 4. The TV company confirmed to radio 1 that it will be about the phenomena of the band and will feature interviews with Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett." [ radio1 direct ] Hmmm.... will anyone be recording that? Or watching it perhaps? I wouldn't mind seeing it... I'd like to know how it goes or what was said. Please let me know if you're going to be recording it! Thanks! Lastly, here is a pic of Damon wearing that CND t-shirt at the MTV Europe Awards awhile back. It's taken from one of the news link from above. 18 NOVEMBER 2001 Here's an interview link about Damon on Gorillaz. It's from September 30, but hey, I never noticed it! Thanks Greg! You can read parts of the interview or listen to the whole thing. It's your choice, but I think you'll need real player. [ interview link_bbc1 ] 10 NOVEMBER 2001 "Damon Albarn had a big bust-up with Atomic Kitten Jenny Frost. The, er, emotional Gorillaz star blasted: 'You’re f-----g s--t. f--- off.' Jenny’s fella, DJ Dom T, stepped in and she had to separate the lads as they traded insults. Jenny told me: 'Damon was out of order and it all got a bit silly.' Dom added: 'I had to defend her honour.' " Huh. Well, I'm not a big fan of Atomic Kitten anyways. I hardly know who they are. [ the sun direct ] According to nme.com, Gorillaz picked up 2 MTV Europe Awards. 'Clint Eastwood' won for Best Single and they also walked away with Best Dance Act. I also read that the next Gorillaz album will be the soundtrack to their own debut movie in 2002 (which currently has no set release dates). "Jamie Hewlett told Q magazine: 'We'll start working on a second Gorillaz album in the new year. There's going to be a film as well. The second album will be the soundtrack. Blur will have to make their album between Gorillaz stuff.' " Damon has said that, "They've got to get used to it. We're recording the new Blur album now. It'll be good. We wouldn't put it out if it wasn't." [ nme direct ] Oh, and here's a bit of info from dotmusic.com about the awards: "On receiving one of the awards, Albarn, wearing a CND t-shirt, commented: 'See this symbol - It's the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Bombing one of the poorest countries in the world is wrong. You've got the voice, use it." [ dotmusic direct ] 30 OCTOBER 2001 "Damon Albarn has ended his long-running feud with Liam Gallagher and has admitted he respects the Oasis frontman. The pair were spotted hugging each other backstage during the awards ceremony at London's Park Lane hotel. Speaking to a UK tabloid, Damon claimed it was 'a beautiful moment'. 'It's fine between us now. I really respect him.' 'He's a great singer. He says what he thinks and so do I. It was great to see him and I like him. Publicly we fight it out but privately we get on fine.'" Damon also confirmed rumors about collaborating on a track with D12 and stated that Blur are working on the new album. Yay! [ dotmusic direct ] Enter to win exclusive Gorillaz "Rock The House" t-shirts! Courtesy of nme.com. To enter, just answer the dreadfully easy question and type in your vitals. Linked below. [ nme direct ] 04 OCTOBER 2001 Yesterday I was browsing around and looking at magazines and I found a one page article on Gorillaz in the new Teen People. 'Nsync are on the cover. It's really not worth buying the mag for the article... unless you collect Gorillaz pics. Oh and what's with all these bands breaking up these days? Like, Elastica & Catatonia? I'm a fan of both those bands and I just couldn't believe it. I hope Blur don't break up anytime soon. I'm not ready yet ;) 01 OCTOBER 2001 Here's what Damon had to say about the whole Liam hates Gorillaz thingy... "It's got Liam upset again so it must be doing well... There's no room for that kind of bullshit anymore, where are we going to go if people have that kind of attitude?... You end up being in competition with yourself which is a bizarre scenario. I would like to just see it as progression and if we make another Blur album, it would be a progression from that." It also stated that in november, Blur will go into the studio to begin work on their new album with Fat Boy Slim in tow. [ nme direct ] 29 SEPTEMBER 2001 Sorry! A bit late here... "Gorillaz have spoken exclusively to dotmusic after sweeping the board at the online music awards in london last night." They picked up awards for: Best Alternative Rock Act, Best Online Design, Best Website and Artist of the Year. [ dotmusic direct ] Play a Gorillaz racing game! I haven't played it yet myself. Just click on Game of the Week. [ thesun direct ] 26 SEPTEMBER 2001 "Gorillaz have 6 nominations for the MTV Europe Music Awards, which takes place in Frankfurt on November 8." The categories include: "Best Group, Best Dance Act, Best New Act, Best Song, Best Video for 'Clint Eastwood' and the Web Award - a new award for artist websites voted by fans." I am hopeful that they'll walk away with something this time 'round. [ nme.com ] 24 SEPTEMBER 2001 It's about 8pm my time and here's more news direct from nme.com about that lovely band Oasis: "The brothers re-ignite their old feud with Blur frontman Damon Albarn. Of his new Gorillaz project, Liam asks: "What's that nonsense that's on the radio? It's like three-year-olds' music, worse than Steps. Whatever happened to his beloved Blur?" Liam promised to "slap" the "bald" Albarn the next time he sees him." Good God. [ nme.com ] Well it's been a while since we heard something new. I've changed the site around a bit... trying my best to make it better. I hope to try out new ideas soon. But for news on Gorillaz, there's quite a bit actually. It's been confirmed that Gorillaz are teaming up with Eminem & rappers D12 (shock?!?). The track is still currently being polished and will be recorded at Kong Studios. No release date has been stated yet, but there is also talk of a joint tour of Europe & US in the near future. The next single release for Gorillaz will be "Rock the House" on 22 October and it will feature 3 new tracks, "The Sounder," "Faust" and "Ghost Train." The single will be enhanced with their new animated video, of course. hmmm... I wonder if it will be available in Canada? For further news, check out dotmusic.com. Blur appears live for the first time since Meltdown 2000 at a "special industry bash to honour their manager, dotmusic can reveal." Damon "made a short speech honouring Chris Morisson, who has managed the band for the past ten years. He said: 'This is a very brutal business we're in and anyone who has lasted deserves credit. Chris has definitely got us through a lot of weird things.'" [ dotmusic.com ] 07 SEPTEMBER 2001 More info on last night's awards... Gorillaz were nominated in the following 3 categories: Breakthrough Video, Best Art Direction and the MTV2 Award. It's a disappointment, nonetheless... but what can you expect from America? It's all mainstream. 06 SEPTEMBER 2001 Alright... did everyone watch the MTV Music Awards tonight? I think Gorillaz had like, 3 nominations or something. I'm not sure of the categories, but I know that they lost to Mudvayne (whoever they are) for the MTV2 Award... which was voted by the fans online. I'll be back in the morning with more news I guess. But for now, just visit mtv.com. [ mtv.com ] 03 SEPTEMBER 2001 Searching through my mail, I just found this bit of info on Blur while reading through a Graham Coxon update "...Coxon released his third solo album, 'Crow Sit On Blood Tree', earlier this summer. Blur are expected to regroup shortly. They are tipped to go into the studio with Fatboy Slim once frontman Damon Albarn has completed touring duties with Gorillaz..." To read the full article, check out nme.com's website (direct link is below). [ nme direct ] 01 SEPTEMBER 2001 In search of the Blur 2002 calendar by Oliver Books? Well... I'm not exactly sure if they have released a 2002 version YET. I just visited their site earlier this morning and only found last year's available. I will try to call them up or something to see if they have next year's. To check out more calendars by Oliver Books, visit their site. [ 365 calendars ] 10 AUGUST 2001 Gorillaz on the big screen? Gorillaz, who have already sold 300,000 albums in the States, are planning to team up with Steven Spielberg to make a full-length animated feature film. A spokesman confirmed that Damon Albarn and Dan the Automator are in talks with Spielberg - who owns the Dreamworks company - and they hope to set up a meeting with him soon. [ bbc.co.uk ]

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