Band:	Gorillaz
Album:	Bananaz

Gorillaz was one of the most ambitious projects in modern musical history. Not only did they have to write catchy tunes but they also created an entire parallel universe around themselves, complete with heroes, villains, and a mad amount of undead apes.

“Bananaz” tells the story from the project’s inception right up to their breakout performance series at the Apollo Theatre in the Bronx. It documents from the highs of having your album break into the US to the lows of losing members or dealing with a press corps that has absolutely no idea who you are. I guess when you perform behind a screen and don’t answer direct questions about who’s in the band, a clueless press corp is something you would have to deal with.

The two creative forces behind “Gorillaz” are Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn, who are both famous in their respective fields; Hewlett is the co-creator of the “Tank Girl” series of comics and Albarn is the lead singer/songwriter for British band Blur, among other projects. The two have an interesting relationship, with Hewlett pushing the story and the idea of characters very hard, while Albarn is definitely more concerned with the music and the fact that they have a real chance of penetrating the American market.

In a particularly telling part of the documentary when a Much Music VJ is interviewing Hewlett and Dan the Automater, a producer who helped put the album together; the two are presented with the interviewer’s preconceived notion that Gorillaz is “Damon’s project.” Hewlett responds by asking the interviewer if she knows of any good lingerie shops in Toronto. It’s made apparent quite a few times throughout the documentary that Americans, and Canadians, don’t “get” what Gorillaz is about.

With everything from cultural differences to incorrect lyrics getting in the way of the Gorillaz bandwagon, it seems like it would’ve been easy for them to give up. The fact that they persevered and became one of the most highly sought after acts of the early-mid 2000s speaks volumes to the idea of reinventing the wheel when it comes to popular music. Albarn and Hewitt, with their band in tow, opened up new worlds for concept musicians and allowed for a true fusion of story and music.

Also, if you can get Dennis Hopper, De La Soul, Pharcyde, Del tha funkee Homosapien, Dan the Automater, and Danger Mouse interested in a project, you’re probably doing something right.

Watch the full Gorillaz Documentary - “Bananaz” at babelgum.com
“Bananaz” Film Official Site

Release Date: April 20th, 2009

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