It’s odd to think now that when Damon Albarn launched Gorillaz at the beginning of the ‘00s, the Blur frontman wasn’t even considered the most adventurous member of his own group. That title fell upon the freewheeling art-rock guitar exploits of his bandmate Graham Coxon, despite the fact that Albarn was instrumental in the explorative sounds at the heart of Blur’s most recent album 13, released in 1999.
But in 2001, Albarn set out a follow-your-muse, do-what-you-want stall that has guided his buccaneering approach to making music ever since. Blur had almost broken up during 13 (they only managed to put it off for one more record) and the singer and songwriter, coming off the back of a relationship split with Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, had moved in with his pal Jamie Hewlett, the artist co-responsible for the iconic comic book Tank Girl. This is where the pair had the idea – odd at the time and still pretty odd now – to come up with the world’s first virtual band.
