‘We’re separated into cults’: Gorillaz cartoonist on what inspired the band’s new album, and why Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards told them where to go
- Cracker Island, the new album by Gorillaz in which the cartoon band form a cult, is inspired by the ‘segregated’ world we live in, says illustrator Jamie Hewlett
- He reveals how Keith Richards and, once, Lou Reed refused vehemently to collaborate on his and Damon Albarn’s project, and why he respects Banksy and Daft Punk
The animated band Gorillaz, the brainchild of British musician Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, is back with an eighth album, Cracker Island.
It sees the characters Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2-D heading for Los Angeles, in the United States, and starting their own ridiculous cult. Just don’t ask Keith Richards to join.
The idea came from conversations between Albarn and Hewlett about our increasingly tribal world, as well as the need to flee London “because of Brexit and [ex-UK prime minister] Boris Johnson and the fact the country is on its knees”.
“All of us are living in a world where we’re being separated from one another into cults,” says Hewlett.
“There are cults we don’t even think of as cults. You take something like [American TV news channel] Fox News – it’s a cult.