2D
2D is a nickname derived from the dent the character has in each eye socket causing them to look pitch black and by accidents with Murdoc's vehicle. His real name is Stuart Tusspot, most of the time shortened to Stu-Pot (sounds like stupid) as a joke to his typical behaviour which often tends to give the impression of a slight lack of intelligence to others. He was born in Crawley, England, yet raised in Hertfordshire, England. His father, David Pot, worked as a mechanic and owner of the Tusspot's Fairground. His mother, Rachel Pot, was a nurse who supplied Stu-Pot with headache pills. He hit his head when falling from a tree at the age of ten, which caused his hair to fall out. When it grew back it was a light 'palatinate blue'.
Stu-Pot attended St. Wilfred's school, where, despite his apparent lack of interest and ambition, he got fairly good grades. For most of his life, Stu-Pot didn't know what he wanted to do when he got older. He first wanted to become a Storm Chaser and then he wanted to paint. He developed an interest in machinery when he and his dad customised his Casio VL-1 keyboard. His musical idol is Augustus Pablo and his favourite is was The Human League.
At age 19, on 15 August 1997, Murdoc purposefully crashed his Vauxhall Astra through the wall of Uncle Norm's Keyboard Emporium, where Stu-Pot had been working, in an attempt to ram-raid it and steal the synths. Murdoc's bumper crashed into Stu-Pot's face, landing him with an eight-ball fracture in his right eye ball, and putting him into a deep catatonic state. Murdoc was arrested and sentenced to carry out 30,000 hours of community service as well as care for the vegetated Stu-Pot for 10 hours every week.
One year later, in a poor attempt to impress some women, Murdoc had tried to do a 360 in a car park, but was distracted by a woman who had decided to flash her breasts at him. This in turn sent Stuart flying through the windshield, and hitting his head on the curb. The impact woke him from his coma, but also dented his left eye to match his right one, thus giving him black/grey eyes. Murdoc said, "When he got up, he turned very slowly to look at me, like a zombie in one of those films he watches. When he did, it was a blank stare, just two holes. He was a blue-haired black-eyed god! Except the fact that half of his face was hanging off, all the chicks would dig him for his 'pretty boy' looks."
During the hiatus, 2D went to work on his father's funfair in Eastbourne. He used to collect money for a ride called 'The Switchback Ride', and there he met Shane Lynch, former member of Boyzone, and they became good friends. By the time they met, 2D adopted a teddy boy style and used to stroll the city along with Shane. Apparently, while he wasn't with Shane he was messing around with a bunch of women he didn't know. He didn't really think about Gorillaz until four years later, when he received a text message from Noodle and, with that, he decided to return to Kong with fully restored confidence after he realised he was responsible for the Gorillaz success.
After the El Mañana conspiracy, 2D and Russel were frantic about Noodle's supposed death. It was a hoax, however, and the band has once again gone separate ways but not for long (so promised Murdoc in the autobiography Rise of the Ogre; their biggest project to date is apparently being planned) and the singer was, according to Murdoc, "...poncing off somewhere. He's probably gonna try and become an actor or a model or whatever..."
According to an official mail-out from 31 October 2007, Murdoc says that "2D is away on a vacation at a Jamaican beach." On 13 November, however, the D-Sides text in the G-Shop stated that 2D was currently completing a law degree. Murdoc has revealed that he has kidnapped 2D and is holding him against his will on Plastic Beach, enlisting 2D's vocal talents for use on the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. It was revealed through various media on the trailer in which this kidnapping was revealed that 2D was in a small flat in Beirut at the time, for reasons which are currently unknown.
On the Gorillaz website, it was recently stated by 2D, in the Plastic Beach adventure game, that Murdoc "kindly" had 2D gassed and shipped to Plastic Beach, where he is currently forced to sing for his new demos. His room is located on floor B2. When you enter his room he is found trembling on his bed. When you talk to him he asks who you are, and that he didn't think anyone else was on the island. He states that Murdoc has been gassing various people and forcing them to be on the album.
Throughout a recent interview, 2D deliberately insults Murdoc just to spite him for the horrible things he has done to him and actually physically attacked him when Murdoc brought up the Paula Cracker affair, which is obviously a sore subject for 2D.
I only really joined the band to make music, and now, I'm being held captive by a bastard bass player in an underwater submarine, being attacked by sodding pirates who are trying to take over this rotten piece of broken plastic in the ocean that Gorillaz call 'home'. All this, just to make a video. It's making me want to die! During the Escape to Plastic beach World Tour, 2D wrote his Gorillaz album The Fall which, apparently Murdoc knew nothing about... Recently, a new character has appeared on Plastic Beach. His name is Big Rick, and he owns the record shop on the beach. It has been reported that the shop (previously locked) will open in time for The Fall's release.
2D has a twofold role in Gorillaz: he sings and plays keyboard. He can play guitar, as well as Murdoc, but both leave it to Noodle. He has also claimed to have played "some divvy panpipes" for "Rock the House". In most cases, 2D's singing voice is much lower than his warbly speaking voice. His vocal range is very wide, and he has sung everything from Baritone to a falsetto Soprano. All his singing voices are provided by Albarn, including the spoken verses in the 2005 hit Feel Good Inc. 2D apparently has had some influence in the lyric-writing process (as evidenced by the credits on the insert of the Gorillaz debut album, even though his intelligence is reputedly negligible). Apparently Murdoc has had Damon Albarn teach 2D from time to time to sing better than he already could, and apparently even sing in some of their songs, as stated in an NME interview with Damon. 2-D was featured on the song "Squire for Hire" by Nathan Haines.
2D's looks have changed from Phase 1 to Phase 2. In Phase 1, 2D is seen with very geometric, and almost purple hair at times, unlike in Phase 2, where his hair has seemed to gain a more realistic, lined tone and has turned to an almost teal color. Further, his shape in Phase 1 was almost ruler-straight; in Phase 2, he seemed to gain some tone and shape and wrinkles, making him look more realistic, compared to his Phase 1 appearance. In Phase 3 his appearance is much different he has a little more wrinkles texture to his face but he still looks like a teenager. From various videos, it can be assumed that 2D can see despite having two eight-ball fractures, but whether or not his vision is impaired seems to be unknown. In Stylo, On Melancholy Hill and Rhinestone Eyes video, he wore a red T-shirt and a clown mask. 2D's eyes are white every once in a while, due to him getting nervous, but they will turn black again when it has passed.
Despite missing his two front teeth, 2D can sing clearly. His speech, while still mainly clear, has a definite Cockney (or thereabouts) accent: he says "sumfink" instead of "something", and "fing" instead of "thing." As stated in Rise of the Ogre, he lost his tonsils in a food fight that started at the party held in honour of the Gorillaz label signing, when an éclair was pushed into his face. His singing voice has become deeper since the first album.
2-D has had two known relationships, both of which were ruined by Murdoc, the first of which, Paula Cracker, was ruined when Murdoc had "happenings" with her in a bathroom. The second, Rachel Stevens, Murdoc seemed to "scare off". More recently, though, 2D has developed a grudge against Murdoc, for sticking him in a room below sea level. And for (somehow) paying a whale to watch him constantly, because, according to 2D. "Murdoc knows I hate whales." 2D even seems resentful of Murdoc, particularly in the fourth Radio Pirate broadcast.
As for his actual relationships with the other band members, 2D seems to connect with each member in a different way. In Phase 1, 2D and Noodle were said to have a "Zen Bond". 2D also seemed to be very close to Murdoc. On the most recent XFM Residency Radio Show (16 May 2010), Murdoc seemed to be noticeably friendlier with 2D; he let him out of his underwater room so that he could join him in hosting the show, saying that he and the singer needed to "stick together". He showed no spite or sarcasm to 2-D throughout the session nearly at all. 2D clearly said in the interview though, "Why are you being so nice to me?" As well as Murdoc saying "he's a lovely little fella" during his MTV cribs episode. Also, in the ITunes session interviews, many times, 2D would try to stand up to Murdoc about his bass playing, his effects on him, and Paula incidents. Right after 2D would stand up to Murdoc , he would bully and beat 2D. Though Murdoc is mean and cruel to 2D sometime he seems to thinks of him as a friend most of the time.
Russel has both picked on and stood up for 2D. In a similar fashion to his referral to Murdoc as "Muds", Russel often calls 2D simply "D". As mentioned above, it is revealed by 2D in the Plastic Beach Online Game that he has a severe case of Cetaphobia, or fear of Whales. At this time, however, it is not known where he got this fear from.
(All of this is from wikipedia, mate. Sorry bout that.)
Stu-Pot attended St. Wilfred's school, where, despite his apparent lack of interest and ambition, he got fairly good grades. For most of his life, Stu-Pot didn't know what he wanted to do when he got older. He first wanted to become a Storm Chaser and then he wanted to paint. He developed an interest in machinery when he and his dad customised his Casio VL-1 keyboard. His musical idol is Augustus Pablo and his favourite is was The Human League.
At age 19, on 15 August 1997, Murdoc purposefully crashed his Vauxhall Astra through the wall of Uncle Norm's Keyboard Emporium, where Stu-Pot had been working, in an attempt to ram-raid it and steal the synths. Murdoc's bumper crashed into Stu-Pot's face, landing him with an eight-ball fracture in his right eye ball, and putting him into a deep catatonic state. Murdoc was arrested and sentenced to carry out 30,000 hours of community service as well as care for the vegetated Stu-Pot for 10 hours every week.
One year later, in a poor attempt to impress some women, Murdoc had tried to do a 360 in a car park, but was distracted by a woman who had decided to flash her breasts at him. This in turn sent Stuart flying through the windshield, and hitting his head on the curb. The impact woke him from his coma, but also dented his left eye to match his right one, thus giving him black/grey eyes. Murdoc said, "When he got up, he turned very slowly to look at me, like a zombie in one of those films he watches. When he did, it was a blank stare, just two holes. He was a blue-haired black-eyed god! Except the fact that half of his face was hanging off, all the chicks would dig him for his 'pretty boy' looks."
During the hiatus, 2D went to work on his father's funfair in Eastbourne. He used to collect money for a ride called 'The Switchback Ride', and there he met Shane Lynch, former member of Boyzone, and they became good friends. By the time they met, 2D adopted a teddy boy style and used to stroll the city along with Shane. Apparently, while he wasn't with Shane he was messing around with a bunch of women he didn't know. He didn't really think about Gorillaz until four years later, when he received a text message from Noodle and, with that, he decided to return to Kong with fully restored confidence after he realised he was responsible for the Gorillaz success.
After the El Mañana conspiracy, 2D and Russel were frantic about Noodle's supposed death. It was a hoax, however, and the band has once again gone separate ways but not for long (so promised Murdoc in the autobiography Rise of the Ogre; their biggest project to date is apparently being planned) and the singer was, according to Murdoc, "...poncing off somewhere. He's probably gonna try and become an actor or a model or whatever..."
According to an official mail-out from 31 October 2007, Murdoc says that "2D is away on a vacation at a Jamaican beach." On 13 November, however, the D-Sides text in the G-Shop stated that 2D was currently completing a law degree. Murdoc has revealed that he has kidnapped 2D and is holding him against his will on Plastic Beach, enlisting 2D's vocal talents for use on the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. It was revealed through various media on the trailer in which this kidnapping was revealed that 2D was in a small flat in Beirut at the time, for reasons which are currently unknown.
On the Gorillaz website, it was recently stated by 2D, in the Plastic Beach adventure game, that Murdoc "kindly" had 2D gassed and shipped to Plastic Beach, where he is currently forced to sing for his new demos. His room is located on floor B2. When you enter his room he is found trembling on his bed. When you talk to him he asks who you are, and that he didn't think anyone else was on the island. He states that Murdoc has been gassing various people and forcing them to be on the album.
Throughout a recent interview, 2D deliberately insults Murdoc just to spite him for the horrible things he has done to him and actually physically attacked him when Murdoc brought up the Paula Cracker affair, which is obviously a sore subject for 2D.
I only really joined the band to make music, and now, I'm being held captive by a bastard bass player in an underwater submarine, being attacked by sodding pirates who are trying to take over this rotten piece of broken plastic in the ocean that Gorillaz call 'home'. All this, just to make a video. It's making me want to die! During the Escape to Plastic beach World Tour, 2D wrote his Gorillaz album The Fall which, apparently Murdoc knew nothing about... Recently, a new character has appeared on Plastic Beach. His name is Big Rick, and he owns the record shop on the beach. It has been reported that the shop (previously locked) will open in time for The Fall's release.
2D has a twofold role in Gorillaz: he sings and plays keyboard. He can play guitar, as well as Murdoc, but both leave it to Noodle. He has also claimed to have played "some divvy panpipes" for "Rock the House". In most cases, 2D's singing voice is much lower than his warbly speaking voice. His vocal range is very wide, and he has sung everything from Baritone to a falsetto Soprano. All his singing voices are provided by Albarn, including the spoken verses in the 2005 hit Feel Good Inc. 2D apparently has had some influence in the lyric-writing process (as evidenced by the credits on the insert of the Gorillaz debut album, even though his intelligence is reputedly negligible). Apparently Murdoc has had Damon Albarn teach 2D from time to time to sing better than he already could, and apparently even sing in some of their songs, as stated in an NME interview with Damon. 2-D was featured on the song "Squire for Hire" by Nathan Haines.
2D's looks have changed from Phase 1 to Phase 2. In Phase 1, 2D is seen with very geometric, and almost purple hair at times, unlike in Phase 2, where his hair has seemed to gain a more realistic, lined tone and has turned to an almost teal color. Further, his shape in Phase 1 was almost ruler-straight; in Phase 2, he seemed to gain some tone and shape and wrinkles, making him look more realistic, compared to his Phase 1 appearance. In Phase 3 his appearance is much different he has a little more wrinkles texture to his face but he still looks like a teenager. From various videos, it can be assumed that 2D can see despite having two eight-ball fractures, but whether or not his vision is impaired seems to be unknown. In Stylo, On Melancholy Hill and Rhinestone Eyes video, he wore a red T-shirt and a clown mask. 2D's eyes are white every once in a while, due to him getting nervous, but they will turn black again when it has passed.
Despite missing his two front teeth, 2D can sing clearly. His speech, while still mainly clear, has a definite Cockney (or thereabouts) accent: he says "sumfink" instead of "something", and "fing" instead of "thing." As stated in Rise of the Ogre, he lost his tonsils in a food fight that started at the party held in honour of the Gorillaz label signing, when an éclair was pushed into his face. His singing voice has become deeper since the first album.
2-D has had two known relationships, both of which were ruined by Murdoc, the first of which, Paula Cracker, was ruined when Murdoc had "happenings" with her in a bathroom. The second, Rachel Stevens, Murdoc seemed to "scare off". More recently, though, 2D has developed a grudge against Murdoc, for sticking him in a room below sea level. And for (somehow) paying a whale to watch him constantly, because, according to 2D. "Murdoc knows I hate whales." 2D even seems resentful of Murdoc, particularly in the fourth Radio Pirate broadcast.
As for his actual relationships with the other band members, 2D seems to connect with each member in a different way. In Phase 1, 2D and Noodle were said to have a "Zen Bond". 2D also seemed to be very close to Murdoc. On the most recent XFM Residency Radio Show (16 May 2010), Murdoc seemed to be noticeably friendlier with 2D; he let him out of his underwater room so that he could join him in hosting the show, saying that he and the singer needed to "stick together". He showed no spite or sarcasm to 2-D throughout the session nearly at all. 2D clearly said in the interview though, "Why are you being so nice to me?" As well as Murdoc saying "he's a lovely little fella" during his MTV cribs episode. Also, in the ITunes session interviews, many times, 2D would try to stand up to Murdoc about his bass playing, his effects on him, and Paula incidents. Right after 2D would stand up to Murdoc , he would bully and beat 2D. Though Murdoc is mean and cruel to 2D sometime he seems to thinks of him as a friend most of the time.
Russel has both picked on and stood up for 2D. In a similar fashion to his referral to Murdoc as "Muds", Russel often calls 2D simply "D". As mentioned above, it is revealed by 2D in the Plastic Beach Online Game that he has a severe case of Cetaphobia, or fear of Whales. At this time, however, it is not known where he got this fear from.
(All of this is from wikipedia, mate. Sorry bout that.)
Murdoc
In Rise of the Ogre it is revealed that Murdoc was dumped on his father's doorstep in infancy and went on to a very abusive childhood. It has been proposed that his many addictions and his sour attitude were due to his abusive and very bad childhood. Murdoc stated in Rise of the Ogre that everybody knew who his father was but nobody quite knew who his mother was and there are so many stories about who she is. Sebastian Jacob Niccals ("or Jacob Sebastian Niccals, depending on who's asking") was a spiteful drunk of a man who often verbally abused and exploited his sons. The local pub had a routine talent show that Murdoc was often forced to participate in so he could win his father drinking money (Murdoc once played Pinocchio, singing "I've Got No Strings"). Though he and his older sibling Hannibal never got along (he was responsible for two of the eight separate times Murdoc's nose was broken), it was through his older brother that Murdoc was introduced to his favourite bands, such as The Clash (though Murdoc found Black Sabbath on his own). Murdoc played in a number of bands before Gorillaz; they never went anywhere. One of these was an unnamed metal band which consisted of six people, including Murdoc on bass. The names and instruments of the other members appear in the Gorillaz 2005 promotional booklet and are given as follows: Billy Boy and Tiny on guitars, Crunch on drums, Rocky on keyboards and Munch who appears to be listed as "Band Artist." Not much else is known about these characters including their personalities or current whereabouts, although they appear on a few pieces of official Gorillaz artwork, most notably in the previously mentioned booklet as well as in Kong Studios where an image of Crunch, Billy Boy and Tiny can be seen on the wall in the instrument room.
Eventually after recruiting 2D through a series of accidents and not-so-accidents and kidnapping Russel from Big Rick Black's Music Shack, he pieced together the band that would become Gorillaz. He purchased Kong Studios and was delivered a small Japanese girl who could play a wicked guitar solo; Noodle replaced Paula Cracker (presently an overmedicatedpsychopath with a personal vendetta against the thirteen-year-old who helped lead the band to success) as Gorillaz's axe bandier. Murdoc wrote the self-titled debut album with help from 2D and Russel. With the album's success, the band launched a disastrous world tour: While in the United States, Murdoc established a cult of personality with various seedy individuals, chief of which being Little Jimmy Manson, a psychopathic midget dangerously obsessed with either killing Murdoc, or falling in love with him. In a hotel room one night, Manson and his cronies summoned a black-skinned demon boy that has stalked the band ever since. After achieving fame, fortune, and several nasty hangovers, the alcoholic bassist relocated his band over to Los Angeles so they could begin production on a movie.
Unfortunately, this was never to be. They were conned by a movie director (who it turns out, was just an insane man) while Murdoc attempted starring in a television program (he was too old for the part), and they ventured unsuccessfully into scriptwriting. Murdoc took off to a Tijuana brothel after strangling 2D (who, like the rest of the band, went their separate ways) and was eventually thrown in prison with a 30-year sentence for giving counterfeit checks to the prostitutes. It was during this sentence that he was acquainted with his raven Cortez, the "jailbird with a chilling reputation". While serving his sentence Murdoc acquired some prison ink (in the form of the seven deadly sins tattooed across his back), and also took an open University course: "Amateur Administration of Pharmaceutical Medicines" and managed to pass a medical exam, earning the title 'Dr. Niccals'. He escaped with the help of two Mexican criminals, a paper-mache mannequin of himself and a taped loop of himself moaning.
After returning to the brothel to make a final point to the Mexican authorities, Murdoc loaded up on duty-free tequila and a few sombreros and made his way back to Kong, finding that Noodle had written the second album by herself (which he tried to take the credit for). The new album, Demon Days, made the band into even bigger superstars. After several number one videos, Noodle (close compadre to Murdoc) was apparently "killed" during the "El Mañana" video shoot (it can be noted that Murdoc came up with the idea of shooting down the floating island with Noodle inside, though to try and save her in the long run).
After the El Mañana conspiracy, 2D and Russel were frantic about Noodle's supposed death. But it turned out to be a hoax. Murdoc revealed the truth about the El Mañana video in the Gorillaz official autobiography book, Rise of the Ogre. Gorillaz-Unofficial released an article containing the contents of the book.
“ I guess you've waited long enough. Noodle's safe, she was just acting as planned… Jamie Hewlett gave Noodle the command, and she parachuted safely off the island.
—Murdoc Niccals on the video for El Mañana ” It turns out that the entire El Mañana conspiracy was calculated specifically to get rid of an enemy of the band: Little Jimmy Manson, a psychotic hippie turned industry executive who was set on sabotaging Gorillaz. The reason was that Jimmy auditioned for Gorillaz a few years back, but was turned down after Noodle got the job. He has had a grudge with Gorillaz ever since. Murdoc saw Jimmy's plan and decided to get rid of Jimmy before it was too late. Murdoc told Jimmy that he had a plan to "help him" to kill off one of the band members so that 1) Gorillaz would end with a bang and 2) Jimmy could start a new band with Murdoc (However he didn't much care for Jimmy.). Noodle was to do the El Mañana video with Manson stowed away on the island and then, while the windmill was crashing around them, Jimmy would shoot the guitarist whilst taking the parachute for himself. However, Murdoc turned the tables on Jimmy by not only "forgetting" to leave the weapon aboard the island but by also locking him in the windmill; Jimmy supposedly died within the crash while Noodle parachuted to safety. His statement has followed:
“ There's no way on earth I'm killing Noodle. Are you mad? She's Noodle. We're Gorillaz! The greatest band on earth. I'm arrogant, ruthless even, but I'm not stupid. I'm not having some two-bit mouldy despot record company nut killing off my band. No way, José. That clown got what he deserved. . . He set himself up and burned all the evidence in the process. Instant Karma for Mr. Jimmy Manson.
—Murdoc Niccals, Rise of the Ogre ” It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days, although leaving what, the band or the country, was never answered. Though it had been planned for months, she had neglected to tell anyone of her plans (although Murdoc stated it was obvious what she was doing). Murdoc, in order to run with his plan to off Jimmy, made a deal with Noodle: she could disappear for some R&R with no fuss if she did the video.
While some may say this is one of the only occasions when it appears that Murdoc isn't as selfish as he appears, he later states that no one was going to ruin his band, obviously meaning he would not jeopardise his fame.
However on 8 November 2007, the day of the live chat on fellow bandmate Murdoc's Facebook page, Murdoc revealed that Noodle has actually been taken in place of Russel Hobbs, to Hell by the demons invading the Kong Studios building. Murdoc is currently attempting to rescue her.
“ Noodle has been dragged to Hell. She can look after her self, but this one's too big for her on her own. I'm helping her out of there. In fact I only stopped by here to pick up a can of mace, when I noticed that someone had left the door open and let you gonks in....
--Murdoc Niccals on a live Facebook chat ” He later explained:
“ Well... It’s funny. After the first album Russel had this big mad breakdown. He had the spirit of Del exorcised out of him by the Grim Reaper. Which kind of sent him mental. He tried to record a solo album but then he was saying that all these demons were flying out the speakers trying to eat him. Everyone thought he’d just gone loopy. “Living in a basement with Ike Turner”. Turns out though he was right. The Demons were real! You couldn’t really make it up. So next thing we know is after Noodle disappeared after The El Manana video incident, we hear this voice coming out of the basin basement room of Kong. Out of a radio. Turns out that when these demons couldn’t get hold of Russ, they grabbed Noodle instead. Dragged her downstairs, to Hades! So of course it fell to muggings here, (that’s me), to go on some epic Odysseus type journey into The Underworld to try and rescue her. It’s all tied up with contract I signed with Beelzebub that shoe-horned Gorillaz up the charts in the first place. He was cocked off about some late payment of my eternal soul, or something stupid. He as well as anyone should know that these type of payments take time to come through. I mean, well, everyone’s got their demons to battle. It's just that mine take on a more physical form and have names like “Alichino”, “Lilith”, “Baphomet” “Sidragasum”, “Xitragupten” and so on... I guess that’s what you get if you’re born in a mental asylum named after a demon called Belphegor. Still I was never bored as a child. Yup... never bored.
--Murdoc Niccals on a live Facebook chat ” But on 13 September 2008, on the Gorillaz official fansite, Murdoc gave the fans his personal review of Monkey: Journey to the West. During the beginning of his review he stated that he went to Hades and successfully rescued Noodle from the demons. However, Murdoc's epic story to hades was unknown. Although Noodle still hasn't returned to her room in Kong (Gorillaz website) it was also said that Kong was burnt down. No one knows for sure.
“ I've only just got back from this whole 'tracking Noodle down in the Underworld, and rescuing her from an eternal existence in the jaws of a 50ft soul-eating demon from Hades' epic-type-jaunt, as what was posted in my last Bookface geek-fest thing... That was pretty hairy, but it's all safe now, all good. I'd love to tell you lot about it but, as usual I've got myself all tangled up with some turgid movie dudes who say, “Y'know keep schtum, we'll sell the whole story to Schpeilburg”. Probably all rubbish again but let's see.
--Murdoc Niccals on the Gorillaz Official fansite ” Murdoc has since revealed various disturbing truths about Gorillaz' history, via his "Pirate Radio" broadcasts on Gorillaz.com. Among them include the revelation that Noodle was never rescued; upon entering hell and searching wildly for her, he discovered that she was not there and had disappeared on her own. Returning to Earth, he created a clone-cyborg version of her from DNA that he collected around the wreckage on the site of El Mañana, and used the new Noodle as his bodyguard against the Black Cloud, pirates and mercenaries that Murdoc had been selling bad weapons to since at least his time in Mexico. At a recent radio interview, Murdoc confirmed that he burned down Kong Studios and used the insurance money in order to create his hideaway/recording studio on a tiny island called Point Nemo. Also known as "Plastic Beach", it is an island made entirely of social and cultural garbage. He is presently located on Plastic Beach, where he's kidnapped 2D and began production of the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach. During the interview, Murdoc also hinted at a possible fourth album for Gorillaz.
Murdoc has most recently been trying and failing to appear at live shows around the world such as Coachella and the roundhouse but many things have stopped him such as being deported from America. He said in an iTunes interview that he "Wasn't 100% sure he really exists..." and that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have been trying and failing to stick him back on a piece of paper. The ever-so pesky "Gorillaz Tribute Band" has been blocking his way and preventing him from taking the stage (See the Murdoc Dressing Room video shorts where, when preparing for a concert, Murdoc, 2D, and Cyborg Noodle get trapped inside.).
It appears from the music videos of Stylo and On Melancholy Hill, an evil force known as the Boogieman is chasing Murdoc, and is after him to claim his soul. The Boogieman also appears in several other pieces of Gorillaz artwork and is also seen in the 2D ident, though the motives of the character are still unknown. On the Gorillaz website however, it was noted that the Boogieman is a physical manifestation of Murdoc's evil side, the Evangelist being a lighter side, though all we know of the Evangelist is that it was created for the sole purpose of saving Murdoc from himself.
Murdoc got together a group of collaborators in 2010 and went out to look for Noodle, although they still haven't found her, she is now confirmed to be alive after the "El Mañana" incident, as she appears in the On Melancholy Hill video, which relates to Murdoc and the collaborators looking for Noodle, as they are in submarines in the ocean at the same time as Noodle, although the video also shows the arrival of the gang to the island of Plastic Beach.
On December 25th, 2010 to cap off the end of 2010, the Gorillaz unveiled (via the Gorillaz Advent Calendar) their newest album, The Fall. It was made on the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour using Damon Albarn's iPad.
There is another character called "The Evangelist" that's now being mentioned, and apparently he or she is either to save Murdoc from himself or is the remaining good of his damaged psyche made into flesh. The Gorillaz website is holding a competition for people to draw what they think this mysterious person looks like and on 6 January 2011 the winner of the competition will have his or her drawing redone by Jamie Hewlett and be revealed on the website. According to some eye witnesses who have actually seen the Evangelist, they say he/she is dressed in white leather covered in rhinestones and rides a white unicorn. Others say he/she is a knackered cowboy/girl. Nobody knows for sure. It was announced on January 6, 2011 that the winner was a gorillaz user named jirouta designed the Evangelist. It looks like a thin, tall girl(or boy)with bleeding limbs, denim shorts, a shirt with the letter E on it, A fishbowl with an octopus with eyes and teeth, and 2 octopuses on its arms. After completeing Mission 2 on the Plastic Beach game, Murdoc is seemingly kidnapped and replaced by "imposter Murdoc"...
He is the self-proclaimed 'leader' of the band and often makes attempts to bully the other members into doing things his way, especially 2D. He's also something of a womaniser. Despite these grave personality flaws, he also manages to be highly amusing through his use of creative insults and misanthropic rants. He is an alcoholic and a former speed addict, who also has problems with personal hygiene.
His main influences are the likes of Black Sabbath, The Clash, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones; however, he is also fond of AC/DC, Syd Barrett and The Ramones. Other influences for Murdoc, as well as the other characters of the band, are stated in the Charts of Darkness mockumentary about Gorillaz, which can be found on the Phase 1 DVD. In Phase 3, his personality appears to be much more sinister and evil than in other phases (Kidnapping and somewhat mentally abusing 2-D and kidnapping contributors to the Phase 3 album as examples.) As mentioned on Gorillaz World Tour Diary 4 in his profile page, he has a severe case of Anablephobia, a fear of looking up. However, it is not known where he got this fear from. Murdoc is a Satanist and sometimes says "Hail Satan!"
Character appearance Murdoc can often be seen with his shirt off, at times even appearing in nothing but his underwear (usually briefs but sometimes a thong). During the period of the first Gorillaz album, he was generally seen wearing a grey sweater and jeans, although in the music video for "Rock the House" he wore briefs and what appeared to be the protective padding used in cricket. The electric bass which he is seen playing the most is a rare red 1981 Gibson Flying V bass, which he calls "El Diablo". It is one of only 375 ever made, and in reality is actually owned by Albarn himself. A large feature of him is his 6" long tongue. Murdoc has stated that his height is 5'10".
During the Demon Dayss era, his wardrobe seemed to grow much more diverse, appearing in a variety of different outfits. For example, in the music video for "Dirty Harry", he wore a military uniform reminiscent of a Nazi outfit.He had also acquired a so-called 'designer label' cape with a skull woggle, seen in much of the album art for Demon Days, and seemed to wear it more often than his inverted cross. He also seems to have a pair of mismatched eyes, having his right eye colour being black, and his left eye being of a salmon colour. His nose is permanently crooked as a result of it being broken 8 times. His tongue is abnormally long, which may be a reference to Gene Simmons's famously long tongue (although Murdoc maintains that his tongue is longer than Mr Simmons'). Murdoc sports a number of tattoos, including a black inverted cross on his right upper arm, an Iron Cross on his upper left arm, a black skull and crossed roses bearing the inscription "Born to Die", the word "Helios" tattooed in black on his lower back with an arrow pointed downwards, and a red octopus on the inside of his right forearm. During his stint in a Mexican prison during the band's hiatus, Murdoc was said to have gotten some more ink in the form of the seven deadly sins emblazoned across his back (he maintains that "Lust", "Pride" and "Gluttony" are his favourites). During interviews, he has been 'voice-coached' by Phil Cornwell. Murdoc's hair, originally completely black changed to a shade of dark grey, possibly a sign of ageing. As well as the darker hair Murdoc also has wrinkles under his eyes, whether a sign of ageing or lack of sleep is unknown. He says they're laughter lines though. His skin has also turned to a shade of green, According to Murdoc, he tans green. He is also seen in some videos with one pinkie nail a bright red, possibly a reference to the character "Jesus" in the Coen Brothers' film The Big Lebowski who sports the same.
His current appearance is different. In the 'On Melancholy Hill' music video, he is wearing black jeans, a white turtleneck sweater, a captain's hat that has a skull and crossbones, boots, and he was also smoking a pipe. In the 'STYLO' music video, he was wearing all black with a red bandana tied around his neck. His eyes aren't mismatched any more and seem to be either brown as seen in 'STYLO' or a gold/hazel color as seen in the 'Dressing Room' clips that have been shown during the Gorillaz Escape to Plastic Beach Tour. Murdoc's skin has changed as well. In the 'On Melancholy Hill' music video, when Murdoc emerges from the submarine, his skin is green.
Eventually after recruiting 2D through a series of accidents and not-so-accidents and kidnapping Russel from Big Rick Black's Music Shack, he pieced together the band that would become Gorillaz. He purchased Kong Studios and was delivered a small Japanese girl who could play a wicked guitar solo; Noodle replaced Paula Cracker (presently an overmedicatedpsychopath with a personal vendetta against the thirteen-year-old who helped lead the band to success) as Gorillaz's axe bandier. Murdoc wrote the self-titled debut album with help from 2D and Russel. With the album's success, the band launched a disastrous world tour: While in the United States, Murdoc established a cult of personality with various seedy individuals, chief of which being Little Jimmy Manson, a psychopathic midget dangerously obsessed with either killing Murdoc, or falling in love with him. In a hotel room one night, Manson and his cronies summoned a black-skinned demon boy that has stalked the band ever since. After achieving fame, fortune, and several nasty hangovers, the alcoholic bassist relocated his band over to Los Angeles so they could begin production on a movie.
Unfortunately, this was never to be. They were conned by a movie director (who it turns out, was just an insane man) while Murdoc attempted starring in a television program (he was too old for the part), and they ventured unsuccessfully into scriptwriting. Murdoc took off to a Tijuana brothel after strangling 2D (who, like the rest of the band, went their separate ways) and was eventually thrown in prison with a 30-year sentence for giving counterfeit checks to the prostitutes. It was during this sentence that he was acquainted with his raven Cortez, the "jailbird with a chilling reputation". While serving his sentence Murdoc acquired some prison ink (in the form of the seven deadly sins tattooed across his back), and also took an open University course: "Amateur Administration of Pharmaceutical Medicines" and managed to pass a medical exam, earning the title 'Dr. Niccals'. He escaped with the help of two Mexican criminals, a paper-mache mannequin of himself and a taped loop of himself moaning.
After returning to the brothel to make a final point to the Mexican authorities, Murdoc loaded up on duty-free tequila and a few sombreros and made his way back to Kong, finding that Noodle had written the second album by herself (which he tried to take the credit for). The new album, Demon Days, made the band into even bigger superstars. After several number one videos, Noodle (close compadre to Murdoc) was apparently "killed" during the "El Mañana" video shoot (it can be noted that Murdoc came up with the idea of shooting down the floating island with Noodle inside, though to try and save her in the long run).
After the El Mañana conspiracy, 2D and Russel were frantic about Noodle's supposed death. But it turned out to be a hoax. Murdoc revealed the truth about the El Mañana video in the Gorillaz official autobiography book, Rise of the Ogre. Gorillaz-Unofficial released an article containing the contents of the book.
“ I guess you've waited long enough. Noodle's safe, she was just acting as planned… Jamie Hewlett gave Noodle the command, and she parachuted safely off the island.
—Murdoc Niccals on the video for El Mañana ” It turns out that the entire El Mañana conspiracy was calculated specifically to get rid of an enemy of the band: Little Jimmy Manson, a psychotic hippie turned industry executive who was set on sabotaging Gorillaz. The reason was that Jimmy auditioned for Gorillaz a few years back, but was turned down after Noodle got the job. He has had a grudge with Gorillaz ever since. Murdoc saw Jimmy's plan and decided to get rid of Jimmy before it was too late. Murdoc told Jimmy that he had a plan to "help him" to kill off one of the band members so that 1) Gorillaz would end with a bang and 2) Jimmy could start a new band with Murdoc (However he didn't much care for Jimmy.). Noodle was to do the El Mañana video with Manson stowed away on the island and then, while the windmill was crashing around them, Jimmy would shoot the guitarist whilst taking the parachute for himself. However, Murdoc turned the tables on Jimmy by not only "forgetting" to leave the weapon aboard the island but by also locking him in the windmill; Jimmy supposedly died within the crash while Noodle parachuted to safety. His statement has followed:
“ There's no way on earth I'm killing Noodle. Are you mad? She's Noodle. We're Gorillaz! The greatest band on earth. I'm arrogant, ruthless even, but I'm not stupid. I'm not having some two-bit mouldy despot record company nut killing off my band. No way, José. That clown got what he deserved. . . He set himself up and burned all the evidence in the process. Instant Karma for Mr. Jimmy Manson.
—Murdoc Niccals, Rise of the Ogre ” It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days, although leaving what, the band or the country, was never answered. Though it had been planned for months, she had neglected to tell anyone of her plans (although Murdoc stated it was obvious what she was doing). Murdoc, in order to run with his plan to off Jimmy, made a deal with Noodle: she could disappear for some R&R with no fuss if she did the video.
While some may say this is one of the only occasions when it appears that Murdoc isn't as selfish as he appears, he later states that no one was going to ruin his band, obviously meaning he would not jeopardise his fame.
However on 8 November 2007, the day of the live chat on fellow bandmate Murdoc's Facebook page, Murdoc revealed that Noodle has actually been taken in place of Russel Hobbs, to Hell by the demons invading the Kong Studios building. Murdoc is currently attempting to rescue her.
“ Noodle has been dragged to Hell. She can look after her self, but this one's too big for her on her own. I'm helping her out of there. In fact I only stopped by here to pick up a can of mace, when I noticed that someone had left the door open and let you gonks in....
--Murdoc Niccals on a live Facebook chat ” He later explained:
“ Well... It’s funny. After the first album Russel had this big mad breakdown. He had the spirit of Del exorcised out of him by the Grim Reaper. Which kind of sent him mental. He tried to record a solo album but then he was saying that all these demons were flying out the speakers trying to eat him. Everyone thought he’d just gone loopy. “Living in a basement with Ike Turner”. Turns out though he was right. The Demons were real! You couldn’t really make it up. So next thing we know is after Noodle disappeared after The El Manana video incident, we hear this voice coming out of the basin basement room of Kong. Out of a radio. Turns out that when these demons couldn’t get hold of Russ, they grabbed Noodle instead. Dragged her downstairs, to Hades! So of course it fell to muggings here, (that’s me), to go on some epic Odysseus type journey into The Underworld to try and rescue her. It’s all tied up with contract I signed with Beelzebub that shoe-horned Gorillaz up the charts in the first place. He was cocked off about some late payment of my eternal soul, or something stupid. He as well as anyone should know that these type of payments take time to come through. I mean, well, everyone’s got their demons to battle. It's just that mine take on a more physical form and have names like “Alichino”, “Lilith”, “Baphomet” “Sidragasum”, “Xitragupten” and so on... I guess that’s what you get if you’re born in a mental asylum named after a demon called Belphegor. Still I was never bored as a child. Yup... never bored.
--Murdoc Niccals on a live Facebook chat ” But on 13 September 2008, on the Gorillaz official fansite, Murdoc gave the fans his personal review of Monkey: Journey to the West. During the beginning of his review he stated that he went to Hades and successfully rescued Noodle from the demons. However, Murdoc's epic story to hades was unknown. Although Noodle still hasn't returned to her room in Kong (Gorillaz website) it was also said that Kong was burnt down. No one knows for sure.
“ I've only just got back from this whole 'tracking Noodle down in the Underworld, and rescuing her from an eternal existence in the jaws of a 50ft soul-eating demon from Hades' epic-type-jaunt, as what was posted in my last Bookface geek-fest thing... That was pretty hairy, but it's all safe now, all good. I'd love to tell you lot about it but, as usual I've got myself all tangled up with some turgid movie dudes who say, “Y'know keep schtum, we'll sell the whole story to Schpeilburg”. Probably all rubbish again but let's see.
--Murdoc Niccals on the Gorillaz Official fansite ” Murdoc has since revealed various disturbing truths about Gorillaz' history, via his "Pirate Radio" broadcasts on Gorillaz.com. Among them include the revelation that Noodle was never rescued; upon entering hell and searching wildly for her, he discovered that she was not there and had disappeared on her own. Returning to Earth, he created a clone-cyborg version of her from DNA that he collected around the wreckage on the site of El Mañana, and used the new Noodle as his bodyguard against the Black Cloud, pirates and mercenaries that Murdoc had been selling bad weapons to since at least his time in Mexico. At a recent radio interview, Murdoc confirmed that he burned down Kong Studios and used the insurance money in order to create his hideaway/recording studio on a tiny island called Point Nemo. Also known as "Plastic Beach", it is an island made entirely of social and cultural garbage. He is presently located on Plastic Beach, where he's kidnapped 2D and began production of the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach. During the interview, Murdoc also hinted at a possible fourth album for Gorillaz.
Murdoc has most recently been trying and failing to appear at live shows around the world such as Coachella and the roundhouse but many things have stopped him such as being deported from America. He said in an iTunes interview that he "Wasn't 100% sure he really exists..." and that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have been trying and failing to stick him back on a piece of paper. The ever-so pesky "Gorillaz Tribute Band" has been blocking his way and preventing him from taking the stage (See the Murdoc Dressing Room video shorts where, when preparing for a concert, Murdoc, 2D, and Cyborg Noodle get trapped inside.).
It appears from the music videos of Stylo and On Melancholy Hill, an evil force known as the Boogieman is chasing Murdoc, and is after him to claim his soul. The Boogieman also appears in several other pieces of Gorillaz artwork and is also seen in the 2D ident, though the motives of the character are still unknown. On the Gorillaz website however, it was noted that the Boogieman is a physical manifestation of Murdoc's evil side, the Evangelist being a lighter side, though all we know of the Evangelist is that it was created for the sole purpose of saving Murdoc from himself.
Murdoc got together a group of collaborators in 2010 and went out to look for Noodle, although they still haven't found her, she is now confirmed to be alive after the "El Mañana" incident, as she appears in the On Melancholy Hill video, which relates to Murdoc and the collaborators looking for Noodle, as they are in submarines in the ocean at the same time as Noodle, although the video also shows the arrival of the gang to the island of Plastic Beach.
On December 25th, 2010 to cap off the end of 2010, the Gorillaz unveiled (via the Gorillaz Advent Calendar) their newest album, The Fall. It was made on the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour using Damon Albarn's iPad.
There is another character called "The Evangelist" that's now being mentioned, and apparently he or she is either to save Murdoc from himself or is the remaining good of his damaged psyche made into flesh. The Gorillaz website is holding a competition for people to draw what they think this mysterious person looks like and on 6 January 2011 the winner of the competition will have his or her drawing redone by Jamie Hewlett and be revealed on the website. According to some eye witnesses who have actually seen the Evangelist, they say he/she is dressed in white leather covered in rhinestones and rides a white unicorn. Others say he/she is a knackered cowboy/girl. Nobody knows for sure. It was announced on January 6, 2011 that the winner was a gorillaz user named jirouta designed the Evangelist. It looks like a thin, tall girl(or boy)with bleeding limbs, denim shorts, a shirt with the letter E on it, A fishbowl with an octopus with eyes and teeth, and 2 octopuses on its arms. After completeing Mission 2 on the Plastic Beach game, Murdoc is seemingly kidnapped and replaced by "imposter Murdoc"...
He is the self-proclaimed 'leader' of the band and often makes attempts to bully the other members into doing things his way, especially 2D. He's also something of a womaniser. Despite these grave personality flaws, he also manages to be highly amusing through his use of creative insults and misanthropic rants. He is an alcoholic and a former speed addict, who also has problems with personal hygiene.
His main influences are the likes of Black Sabbath, The Clash, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones; however, he is also fond of AC/DC, Syd Barrett and The Ramones. Other influences for Murdoc, as well as the other characters of the band, are stated in the Charts of Darkness mockumentary about Gorillaz, which can be found on the Phase 1 DVD. In Phase 3, his personality appears to be much more sinister and evil than in other phases (Kidnapping and somewhat mentally abusing 2-D and kidnapping contributors to the Phase 3 album as examples.) As mentioned on Gorillaz World Tour Diary 4 in his profile page, he has a severe case of Anablephobia, a fear of looking up. However, it is not known where he got this fear from. Murdoc is a Satanist and sometimes says "Hail Satan!"
Character appearance Murdoc can often be seen with his shirt off, at times even appearing in nothing but his underwear (usually briefs but sometimes a thong). During the period of the first Gorillaz album, he was generally seen wearing a grey sweater and jeans, although in the music video for "Rock the House" he wore briefs and what appeared to be the protective padding used in cricket. The electric bass which he is seen playing the most is a rare red 1981 Gibson Flying V bass, which he calls "El Diablo". It is one of only 375 ever made, and in reality is actually owned by Albarn himself. A large feature of him is his 6" long tongue. Murdoc has stated that his height is 5'10".
During the Demon Dayss era, his wardrobe seemed to grow much more diverse, appearing in a variety of different outfits. For example, in the music video for "Dirty Harry", he wore a military uniform reminiscent of a Nazi outfit.He had also acquired a so-called 'designer label' cape with a skull woggle, seen in much of the album art for Demon Days, and seemed to wear it more often than his inverted cross. He also seems to have a pair of mismatched eyes, having his right eye colour being black, and his left eye being of a salmon colour. His nose is permanently crooked as a result of it being broken 8 times. His tongue is abnormally long, which may be a reference to Gene Simmons's famously long tongue (although Murdoc maintains that his tongue is longer than Mr Simmons'). Murdoc sports a number of tattoos, including a black inverted cross on his right upper arm, an Iron Cross on his upper left arm, a black skull and crossed roses bearing the inscription "Born to Die", the word "Helios" tattooed in black on his lower back with an arrow pointed downwards, and a red octopus on the inside of his right forearm. During his stint in a Mexican prison during the band's hiatus, Murdoc was said to have gotten some more ink in the form of the seven deadly sins emblazoned across his back (he maintains that "Lust", "Pride" and "Gluttony" are his favourites). During interviews, he has been 'voice-coached' by Phil Cornwell. Murdoc's hair, originally completely black changed to a shade of dark grey, possibly a sign of ageing. As well as the darker hair Murdoc also has wrinkles under his eyes, whether a sign of ageing or lack of sleep is unknown. He says they're laughter lines though. His skin has also turned to a shade of green, According to Murdoc, he tans green. He is also seen in some videos with one pinkie nail a bright red, possibly a reference to the character "Jesus" in the Coen Brothers' film The Big Lebowski who sports the same.
His current appearance is different. In the 'On Melancholy Hill' music video, he is wearing black jeans, a white turtleneck sweater, a captain's hat that has a skull and crossbones, boots, and he was also smoking a pipe. In the 'STYLO' music video, he was wearing all black with a red bandana tied around his neck. His eyes aren't mismatched any more and seem to be either brown as seen in 'STYLO' or a gold/hazel color as seen in the 'Dressing Room' clips that have been shown during the Gorillaz Escape to Plastic Beach Tour. Murdoc's skin has changed as well. In the 'On Melancholy Hill' music video, when Murdoc emerges from the submarine, his skin is green.
Noodle
At the age of ten, Noodle arrived on Murdoc's doorstep in a FedEx crate, in immediate response to the ad they placed for a guitarist in NME. She could not speak any English beyond the word "Noodle", thus earning her the alias. She quickly got settled in England with the Gorillaz, and was accepted as the fourth member of the band.
In Rise of the Ogre, it is revealed that during the band's hiatus in November 2003, Noodle went back to Japan to find out the truth about her past after being haunted by strange nightmares while on tour. Upon her return to Japan, Noodle regained her memory after hearing the code-phrase "ocean bacon" at a restaurant. There she coincidentally met with her creator/mentor, Mr. Kyuzo, who was working as the head chef in the restaurant. Kyuzo helped her make sense of her lost memories: Noodle is, in fact, part of a secret government super soldier project, trained specially as a musician. As a result, she is a master of many weapons, languages, and musical instruments, with a speciality in the guitar, both as a musical instrument, and a weapon. Out of the 23 children created for the project, Noodle was the only one to survive; the others were all destroyed by the government when the project was scrapped. It is widely believed that Max DeVeaux the Squid was behind the project's demise. Mr. Kyuzo had smuggled her to safety in England after reading the aforementioned ad placed by the other three Gorillaz members in NME.
Noodle regained the ability to speak English, along with her memories, and was the first member of Gorillaz to return to Kong Studios after their failed international tour. She was alone at Kong Studios for nearly six months; during that time she composed the majority of the Demon Days album as a response to the chaotic cultural climate at the time. Her composition of the album crafted a specific message, as opposed to the debut which was composed by Murdoc and 2D, which had a grimier, more spontaneous sound. Despite her quiet nature, she became the most vocal of the band when it came to describing the album.
"El Mañana" In March 2006, the Gorillaz video "El Mañana" was released. In the days preceding the release of the video, cardboard boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby. The boxes soon moved to Noodle's room, and each day, her room was shown to be more and more packed away until the room was entirely barren. At the same time, the Slowboat (AKA Windmill Island) from the "Feel Good Inc." music video appeared outside of Kong Studios on the website's splash page. Shortly before the release of "El Mañana", the windmill was seen flying away.
The video is a continuation of the "Feel Good Inc." video, once again depicting Noodle on the Slowboat, although she appears to be much older in the "El Mañana" video than when she is shown in the "Feel Good Inc" video. The video concludes with the helicopters bombing the crashed windmill. Two days after the video's release, cracks appeared on the walls of Noodle's room on the website (which spread to the ground floor lobby) and the clock on her wall labelled "Armageddon" (the only piece of furniture left behind) gained a fourth hand, and fell to the floor. The cracks grew to the point that part of the roof collapsed, exposing the outdoor sky. Near the end of the month, more boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby, one of which was labelled "DedEx". They disappeared after the lobby was destroyed.
In the book Rise of the Ogre, Murdoc reveals that the "El Mañana" video was indeed "staged" and that Noodle is still "alive". It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days. According to Murdoc, Noodle is in the Maldives "chilling out", though that was the interview before receiving a transmission from Noodle.
Trapped in Hell When the Gorillaz web site still allowed visitors to tour Kong Studios, a radio could be heard in the basement, broadcasting a distress call from Noodle. The message was printed as an epilogue in the Gorillaz book, Rise of the Ogre:
“ 'Murdoc! Russel... Is anybody there?! It's me, Noodle... Is there anybody there! You need to reply... Helllloooo! Come In... It's Noodle ... I've found the missing code... They're coming!... (quieter) The reception here is really terrible ... (Back to normal volume) MURDOC! ... Murdoc, you got to get the combin...! Come in! They know where you... Mur ...You must get out! ... It's coming from BENEATH the building! You have to get out! ... Murdoc, hurry before it's too late. MAYDAY ...MAYDAY ... Murdoc! COME IN GORILLAZ!'
—Transmission from Noodle (In the epilogue of Rise of the Ogrre) ” According to a interview with Q magazine, Murdoc found that Noodle had fallen foul of another attempt to take his soul, this time a group of spirits who had taken advantage of Russel's spirit-channelling capabilities. Armed with an ancient spellbook, he set off into the underworld, but failed to find her.
Plastic Beach On 22 January 2010, Murdoc hijacked the online NME Radioo and Yahoo! radio broadcasts to promote the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach . The bassist claimed that Noodle was never rescued after the "El Mañana" video, and that his supposed rescue attempt was a drunken delusion. With Russel's whereabouts still unknown, he and 2D have been working on the third album with the help of a Noodle cyborg constructed from Noodle's DNA from the windmill wreckage. However, due to the improbability of anything Murdoc says and the fact that only DNA was gathered, the status of the real Noodle was in question. It has since been confirmed that the real Noodle is alive. Recently, Murdoc has called Noodle his greatest asset.
Noodle is confirmed to be alive in an exclusive new Gorillaz video for the single "On Melancholy Hill". In the video, a luxury cruise ship (called the "M. Harriet") is being bombarded by torpedoes coming from pirate WWII Corsairs flying overhead. A crew member rushes over to cabin 13 to warn Noodle (who is sitting, wearing an oni mask) that the ship is under attack by pirates and to take her to the lifeboats. Noodle walks over to her briefcase and opens it, revealing a Thompson submachine gun. She then passes the confused crew member and heads out to face the pirates. She kills one of the pirates, but the other drops a bomb on the ship, sinking it. Noodle is seen floating out to sea in a lifeboat which is later picked up by the now-giant Russel. Murdoc has since posted on his Twitter page that he was surprised to see the real Noodle alive and is claiming to be on his way to retrieve her. In one of the visuals for the live show, Noodle is seen playing a melodica to the track "Broken".
In the storyboard for the potential video for "Rhinestone Eyes", Noodle is seen to be carried on the top of the giant Russels head as he swims towards Plastic Beach. Once the fighting stops near the end of the storyboard, she is seen to step out of Russels mouth, and removes her cat mask, revealing some scarring to her face and eye.
Character appearance For the Demon Days album, Noodle was seen with a notably different look, no longer sporting her trademark radio helmet as well as having a noticeably more feminine fashion style and lighter skin tone. She was also noticeably taller with thinner legs, and occasionally seen sporting a monkey named Mike. In the video for "El Mañana" she has green eyes, which contradicts the previous videos where her eyes are seen: "19-2000", "Rock the House", and "Dare". In these videos she is depicted as having black eyes with no irises or pupils, unlike 2-D whose eyes were fractured by Murdoc's stolen Vauxhall Astra, but this difference is likely because the pan of the video was zoomed entirely on her eye, making the green noticeable. Most of the time, though, Noodle's eyes are covered by her hair. In a recent Q&A, Jamie Hewlett stated that Noodle's eye color varies depending on distance; when far away, they're black. When up close, they're green.
In Phase One, her hair was completely black, and she was always wearing her helmet (as seen on Brit Awards Show 2002), except for select live performances. During Phase Two, Noodle's hair became purple and blue tinted and somewhat longer, covering her eyes.
According to the original promotional booklet, Noodle was sixteen as of January 2006. It was confirmed by a Gorillaz e-mail sent out on Halloween that she was born on that day, 31 October, in 1990.
In "On Melancholy Hill", Noodle is seen wearing red lipstick and her body is noticeably more matured with her height and body structure, since she should be 19 years old in this video. (That is, if the Gorillaz have been paying attention to dates.) She is also seen wearing a white and green cat mask. Underneath the cat mask is a large, dark bruise on the right side of her face.
Noodle is the only member of Gorillaz, besides 2D, who demonstrated any type of vocal talent.
During Phase One of Gorillaz, Noodle could only speak Japanese, with the exceptions of her bandmates' names and small words such as "duh" or "yeah", and Russel had translated for her; but she had done vocals in English: the chorus for "19-2000" and backup in several tracks in the first album. She also did an alternately Japanese and English vocal narration for the track "Left Hand Suzuki Method", originally from theG-sides album.
It was not until Phase Two with the Demon Days album that anyone actually heard her fluently speak English conversationally.
Noodle is a fan of Miyazaki's films. She enjoyed Spirited Away and got inspiration for the "Feel Good Inc." video from Circle in the sky, According to the bio presented during Gorillaz' appearance on MTV Cribs, her listed interests are Johnny Thunders and Richie Sambora.
Also, on her computer in Kong, it is shown in the file '23_facts' that she is interested in that number. This file also features a reference to Prince. In Rise of the Ogre, many pictures of Noodle include her holding a guitar in her left hand, showing that she is right-handed. However, in pictures for the Gorillaz bite "Search for a Star", she can be seen holding a pencil in her left hand, perhaps implying that she, like 2D, is ambidextrous. This is further supported in the "On Melancholy Hill" music video, where in which both she and her cyborg clone are shown firing their guns in a left-handed fashion.
Voice actors There are several people who make up the identity of Noodle, they include former Cibo Matto vocalist Miho Hatori and Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth, who both had provided singing vocals for Noodle on the first album; Haruka Kuroda, an actress who provides Noodle's speaking voice (i.e. in interviews, etc.); and Rosie Wilson, who performs Noodle's lead vocal in "DARE".
In Plastic Beach, it's been a matter of debate for fans as to who is "Noodle". While some argue that Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon provides Noodle's voice in "Empire Ants" and "To Binge" and that her guitar portions were provided by whoever plays guitar on a given song, including Simon Katz, Simon Tong, and Damon Albarn, some argue she is not at all on the album. The question is where the video of "On Melancholy Hill" takes place chronologically: if the video is all the collaborators on their way to Plastic Beach, then that means Noodle may have arrived in time to play a role. But during production of the album this was never implied and obviously the twitter posts by Murdoc came out after the album was released. Phase 3 has no named "voice coach" as of yet for Noodle or Cyborg. Her voice does appear in the demo "Electric Shock" and "Rhinestone Eyes" but again, no one has yet been confirmed.
Guitars Noodle is most often seen with either a yellow Fender Telecaster, a Gibson Les Paul or a fictional, generic red guitar. She also has an acoustic guitar which is seen in "Feel Good Inc.", "El Mañana" and "On Melancholy Hill".
In Rise of the Ogre, it is revealed that during the band's hiatus in November 2003, Noodle went back to Japan to find out the truth about her past after being haunted by strange nightmares while on tour. Upon her return to Japan, Noodle regained her memory after hearing the code-phrase "ocean bacon" at a restaurant. There she coincidentally met with her creator/mentor, Mr. Kyuzo, who was working as the head chef in the restaurant. Kyuzo helped her make sense of her lost memories: Noodle is, in fact, part of a secret government super soldier project, trained specially as a musician. As a result, she is a master of many weapons, languages, and musical instruments, with a speciality in the guitar, both as a musical instrument, and a weapon. Out of the 23 children created for the project, Noodle was the only one to survive; the others were all destroyed by the government when the project was scrapped. It is widely believed that Max DeVeaux the Squid was behind the project's demise. Mr. Kyuzo had smuggled her to safety in England after reading the aforementioned ad placed by the other three Gorillaz members in NME.
Noodle regained the ability to speak English, along with her memories, and was the first member of Gorillaz to return to Kong Studios after their failed international tour. She was alone at Kong Studios for nearly six months; during that time she composed the majority of the Demon Days album as a response to the chaotic cultural climate at the time. Her composition of the album crafted a specific message, as opposed to the debut which was composed by Murdoc and 2D, which had a grimier, more spontaneous sound. Despite her quiet nature, she became the most vocal of the band when it came to describing the album.
"El Mañana" In March 2006, the Gorillaz video "El Mañana" was released. In the days preceding the release of the video, cardboard boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby. The boxes soon moved to Noodle's room, and each day, her room was shown to be more and more packed away until the room was entirely barren. At the same time, the Slowboat (AKA Windmill Island) from the "Feel Good Inc." music video appeared outside of Kong Studios on the website's splash page. Shortly before the release of "El Mañana", the windmill was seen flying away.
The video is a continuation of the "Feel Good Inc." video, once again depicting Noodle on the Slowboat, although she appears to be much older in the "El Mañana" video than when she is shown in the "Feel Good Inc" video. The video concludes with the helicopters bombing the crashed windmill. Two days after the video's release, cracks appeared on the walls of Noodle's room on the website (which spread to the ground floor lobby) and the clock on her wall labelled "Armageddon" (the only piece of furniture left behind) gained a fourth hand, and fell to the floor. The cracks grew to the point that part of the roof collapsed, exposing the outdoor sky. Near the end of the month, more boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby, one of which was labelled "DedEx". They disappeared after the lobby was destroyed.
In the book Rise of the Ogre, Murdoc reveals that the "El Mañana" video was indeed "staged" and that Noodle is still "alive". It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days. According to Murdoc, Noodle is in the Maldives "chilling out", though that was the interview before receiving a transmission from Noodle.
Trapped in Hell When the Gorillaz web site still allowed visitors to tour Kong Studios, a radio could be heard in the basement, broadcasting a distress call from Noodle. The message was printed as an epilogue in the Gorillaz book, Rise of the Ogre:
“ 'Murdoc! Russel... Is anybody there?! It's me, Noodle... Is there anybody there! You need to reply... Helllloooo! Come In... It's Noodle ... I've found the missing code... They're coming!... (quieter) The reception here is really terrible ... (Back to normal volume) MURDOC! ... Murdoc, you got to get the combin...! Come in! They know where you... Mur ...You must get out! ... It's coming from BENEATH the building! You have to get out! ... Murdoc, hurry before it's too late. MAYDAY ...MAYDAY ... Murdoc! COME IN GORILLAZ!'
—Transmission from Noodle (In the epilogue of Rise of the Ogrre) ” According to a interview with Q magazine, Murdoc found that Noodle had fallen foul of another attempt to take his soul, this time a group of spirits who had taken advantage of Russel's spirit-channelling capabilities. Armed with an ancient spellbook, he set off into the underworld, but failed to find her.
Plastic Beach On 22 January 2010, Murdoc hijacked the online NME Radioo and Yahoo! radio broadcasts to promote the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach . The bassist claimed that Noodle was never rescued after the "El Mañana" video, and that his supposed rescue attempt was a drunken delusion. With Russel's whereabouts still unknown, he and 2D have been working on the third album with the help of a Noodle cyborg constructed from Noodle's DNA from the windmill wreckage. However, due to the improbability of anything Murdoc says and the fact that only DNA was gathered, the status of the real Noodle was in question. It has since been confirmed that the real Noodle is alive. Recently, Murdoc has called Noodle his greatest asset.
Noodle is confirmed to be alive in an exclusive new Gorillaz video for the single "On Melancholy Hill". In the video, a luxury cruise ship (called the "M. Harriet") is being bombarded by torpedoes coming from pirate WWII Corsairs flying overhead. A crew member rushes over to cabin 13 to warn Noodle (who is sitting, wearing an oni mask) that the ship is under attack by pirates and to take her to the lifeboats. Noodle walks over to her briefcase and opens it, revealing a Thompson submachine gun. She then passes the confused crew member and heads out to face the pirates. She kills one of the pirates, but the other drops a bomb on the ship, sinking it. Noodle is seen floating out to sea in a lifeboat which is later picked up by the now-giant Russel. Murdoc has since posted on his Twitter page that he was surprised to see the real Noodle alive and is claiming to be on his way to retrieve her. In one of the visuals for the live show, Noodle is seen playing a melodica to the track "Broken".
In the storyboard for the potential video for "Rhinestone Eyes", Noodle is seen to be carried on the top of the giant Russels head as he swims towards Plastic Beach. Once the fighting stops near the end of the storyboard, she is seen to step out of Russels mouth, and removes her cat mask, revealing some scarring to her face and eye.
Character appearance For the Demon Days album, Noodle was seen with a notably different look, no longer sporting her trademark radio helmet as well as having a noticeably more feminine fashion style and lighter skin tone. She was also noticeably taller with thinner legs, and occasionally seen sporting a monkey named Mike. In the video for "El Mañana" she has green eyes, which contradicts the previous videos where her eyes are seen: "19-2000", "Rock the House", and "Dare". In these videos she is depicted as having black eyes with no irises or pupils, unlike 2-D whose eyes were fractured by Murdoc's stolen Vauxhall Astra, but this difference is likely because the pan of the video was zoomed entirely on her eye, making the green noticeable. Most of the time, though, Noodle's eyes are covered by her hair. In a recent Q&A, Jamie Hewlett stated that Noodle's eye color varies depending on distance; when far away, they're black. When up close, they're green.
In Phase One, her hair was completely black, and she was always wearing her helmet (as seen on Brit Awards Show 2002), except for select live performances. During Phase Two, Noodle's hair became purple and blue tinted and somewhat longer, covering her eyes.
According to the original promotional booklet, Noodle was sixteen as of January 2006. It was confirmed by a Gorillaz e-mail sent out on Halloween that she was born on that day, 31 October, in 1990.
In "On Melancholy Hill", Noodle is seen wearing red lipstick and her body is noticeably more matured with her height and body structure, since she should be 19 years old in this video. (That is, if the Gorillaz have been paying attention to dates.) She is also seen wearing a white and green cat mask. Underneath the cat mask is a large, dark bruise on the right side of her face.
Noodle is the only member of Gorillaz, besides 2D, who demonstrated any type of vocal talent.
During Phase One of Gorillaz, Noodle could only speak Japanese, with the exceptions of her bandmates' names and small words such as "duh" or "yeah", and Russel had translated for her; but she had done vocals in English: the chorus for "19-2000" and backup in several tracks in the first album. She also did an alternately Japanese and English vocal narration for the track "Left Hand Suzuki Method", originally from theG-sides album.
It was not until Phase Two with the Demon Days album that anyone actually heard her fluently speak English conversationally.
Noodle is a fan of Miyazaki's films. She enjoyed Spirited Away and got inspiration for the "Feel Good Inc." video from Circle in the sky, According to the bio presented during Gorillaz' appearance on MTV Cribs, her listed interests are Johnny Thunders and Richie Sambora.
Also, on her computer in Kong, it is shown in the file '23_facts' that she is interested in that number. This file also features a reference to Prince. In Rise of the Ogre, many pictures of Noodle include her holding a guitar in her left hand, showing that she is right-handed. However, in pictures for the Gorillaz bite "Search for a Star", she can be seen holding a pencil in her left hand, perhaps implying that she, like 2D, is ambidextrous. This is further supported in the "On Melancholy Hill" music video, where in which both she and her cyborg clone are shown firing their guns in a left-handed fashion.
Voice actors There are several people who make up the identity of Noodle, they include former Cibo Matto vocalist Miho Hatori and Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth, who both had provided singing vocals for Noodle on the first album; Haruka Kuroda, an actress who provides Noodle's speaking voice (i.e. in interviews, etc.); and Rosie Wilson, who performs Noodle's lead vocal in "DARE".
In Plastic Beach, it's been a matter of debate for fans as to who is "Noodle". While some argue that Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon provides Noodle's voice in "Empire Ants" and "To Binge" and that her guitar portions were provided by whoever plays guitar on a given song, including Simon Katz, Simon Tong, and Damon Albarn, some argue she is not at all on the album. The question is where the video of "On Melancholy Hill" takes place chronologically: if the video is all the collaborators on their way to Plastic Beach, then that means Noodle may have arrived in time to play a role. But during production of the album this was never implied and obviously the twitter posts by Murdoc came out after the album was released. Phase 3 has no named "voice coach" as of yet for Noodle or Cyborg. Her voice does appear in the demo "Electric Shock" and "Rhinestone Eyes" but again, no one has yet been confirmed.
Guitars Noodle is most often seen with either a yellow Fender Telecaster, a Gibson Les Paul or a fictional, generic red guitar. She also has an acoustic guitar which is seen in "Feel Good Inc.", "El Mañana" and "On Melancholy Hill".
Russel
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on 3 June 1975, Russel Hobbs was a well-spoken, considerate and respectful child. However, trouble seemed to linger around him. Originally, Russel attended The Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters, but was forcibly removed when he mauled several other students as a result of demonic possession. After being expelled, the possession and the anxiety sent young Russel into a coma. He would not wake for another four years, at which time a man called Father Merrin exorcised the demon inhabiting Russel's body.
Unable to return to the Xavier School, Russel was sent to a school in Brooklyn, in which many students were practised in the numerous fields of hip hop. Much of his hip hop prowess comes from a bizarre but violent incident involving a drive-by shooting that killed all of his friends from the fictional Brooklyn High School in New York City. Following the shooting, the spirits of all of Russel's friends took residence in Russel's body and have possessed him at unpredictable moments ever since. The most prominent of these spirits was Russel's best friend, Del, who was based on and voiced by Del tha Funkee Homosapien. Del appears as a blue, rapping ghost in such videos as "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House." Russel believes the reason for his frequent spiritual inhabitations is because he "vibrates at that frequency."
During the tours after the release of Gorillaz' debut album, Russel was the first and only band member to notice that Noodle was acting strangely because she was having strange dreams involving her mysterious past.
During the band hiatus, Russel went through a terrible trauma in late 2003. Del's soul was ripped out of Russel by the Grim Reaper in late 2003 and Russel, a mere shell of his former self, took a year to recover. Shortly after the exorcism Russel took refuge in Ike Turner's basement where he began making an album called: "The Seventh Heaven Hip Hop and Harmony Album." It was cancelled due to paranormal activities around the songs themselves. He was the last to return to Kong Studios. When he did return, the band was startled at the fact that his already large proportions had doubled or even tripled.
After the El Mañana conspiracy, 2-D and Russel were frantic about their guitarist Noodle's supposed death. It was a hoax, however, and the band has once again gone separate ways. It would not last too long, as it was promised by Murdoc in the autobiography Rise of the Ogre that their biggest project to date is apparently being planned. Russel was, according to Murdoc, "all good, too. He's still stitching together his taxidermy army of undead animals and practising his drums, but I think he's getting into production. It's a great role for him because his knowledge of music's just too big for him to be stuck behind a drum kit."
On 31 October 2007, in an official mail-out, Murdoc said that, "Russel is exploring his inner demons somewhere in Brooklyn.”
Russel has not made many photo appearances since the initiation of Phase 3 and the announcement of Plastic Beach. However, what these photos do show is that Russel appears to have grown to literally giant proportions, and has lost the hats he usually wore during Phase 2, but has otherwise not changed very much. Jamie Hewlett explained in the Making of Plastic Beach DVD that his gigantic size was a result of eating massive amounts of polluted material while swimming to Plastic Beach, causing him to swell up into his giant state. A Phase 3 character ident was released before the release of Plastic Beach, depicting Russel stomping across a pier in rage and diving into the ocean, headed towards Plastic Beach . It appears, from his remarkable absence in videos and pictures, that Murdoc did not intend to invite Russel back to Gorillaz for Plastic Beach. It was later revealed in a scrawled note by Russell that he believes demons (whether they are real or in his head is unknown) convinced him to jump into the sea.
In the music video On Melancholy Hill, Russel has grown extremely large (to the size of a whale) because of the pollution in the water, that he reportedly ate along the way to Plastic Beach. And is shown lifting Noodle's life boat with her in it on his head.Also he is seen bringing Noodle to Plastic Beach in the storyboard for the music video of Rhinestone Eyes.
On 9 March 2010, he was voted the third most sexy cartoon musician of all-time by Nerve.com.
Personality As a calm and wise member, he is known as a Mountain of madness which means he is easily angered. This may be a result of his frequent trauma from numerous possessions. His mental state has deteriorated noticeably since Del's exorcism. Despite his mental status, Russel is known to be a very eloquent speaker, largely due to the private schooling he received in his youth. Russel has also seen the Grim Reaper twice. He is on medication for his depression, psychosis, and traumatism, most likely Xanax; Murdoc (unsuccessfully) tries to calm down Russel during an interview in We Are the Dury by telling him to "Pop another Xanax" and later in the same interview, Russel talks about how his medication was wearing off during the recording of "White Light" on the album 'Demon Days', resulting in the erratic and violent drumming heard during the track. Similar odd or funny stories are tied to other tracks on the two Gorillaz albums: for example, the "El Mañana" track's rhythm was apparently born from Russel sitting on a drum machine.
He is laid-back for the most part, almost melancholy most of the time, but has very little patience for Murdoc's antics and 2D's idiocy. He is often the one who has to solve discrepancies between his bandmates, and has often been forced to stick up for his ridiculed and abused bandmate 2D (despite bullying 2D himself, on several occasions). When Russel discovered Murdoc having sex with 2D's then girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend), Paula Cracker, he punched Murdoc in the face and fractured his nose. He also claims that he will do anything to protect Noodle and the two have a close bond with each other. He is sensitive about his admittedly massive weight, which is apparently the result of a wheat allergy. Russel often calls Murdoc "Mudz" and 2D "D".
Russel's hobbies include food, eating, cooking, taxidermy and athletic shoe. Russel is a noted expert on music, not just Hip Hop. He recently put his taxidermy skills to good use by creating "Animal Kwackers", in which the user creates his or her own hybrid animal using an assortment of body parts (the legs section includes wheels) and, if they desire, name it and add it to a worldwide gallery. The reason for this is explained in the last two thirds of the Intro, which mention helping Russel to create an army of beasts. Also, when Gorillaz was featured on MTV Cribs Russel was seen hammering something onto the "hot rod warthog" seen in the Animal Kwackers Intro.
Character Appearance
Russel seems to be Murdoc's height (5'10') but is larger than him and 2D due to his weight. His eyes are a milky white which has resulted from his numerous possessions from demons and Del.
Russel became angry at Murdoc for not inviting him to help make the Plastic Beach album. In his furious state he wrote what seemed to be a suicide note stating that the demons have chased him down and had forced his heavy hip-hop hand, and that he needed to get to the calm of the brimy deep of the ocean. He even wrote down the code word 'Ocean Bacon' which was how Noodle got her memory back.
"This is it. The time has come. The demons have chased me down and now forced my heavyweight hip hop hand. I need to get there. The expanse, the calm of the eternal briny deep. The Ocean. . The ..Ocean..b.bacon. So this is it...... Throw myself into the sea. X Russel Hobbs...."
Russel's note on his profile page
In the 'On Melancholy Hill' music video he is shown rising up from the water with Noodle ending up on top of his head facing Point Nemo. In the 'Rhinestone Eyes' music video, he and Noodle reach Plastic Beach where there's a battle going on. At the end of it, Russel is shown leaning against the island looking down at everyone and he opens his mouth to reveal Noodle who steps out and lifts her mask up showing her face.
Unable to return to the Xavier School, Russel was sent to a school in Brooklyn, in which many students were practised in the numerous fields of hip hop. Much of his hip hop prowess comes from a bizarre but violent incident involving a drive-by shooting that killed all of his friends from the fictional Brooklyn High School in New York City. Following the shooting, the spirits of all of Russel's friends took residence in Russel's body and have possessed him at unpredictable moments ever since. The most prominent of these spirits was Russel's best friend, Del, who was based on and voiced by Del tha Funkee Homosapien. Del appears as a blue, rapping ghost in such videos as "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House." Russel believes the reason for his frequent spiritual inhabitations is because he "vibrates at that frequency."
During the tours after the release of Gorillaz' debut album, Russel was the first and only band member to notice that Noodle was acting strangely because she was having strange dreams involving her mysterious past.
During the band hiatus, Russel went through a terrible trauma in late 2003. Del's soul was ripped out of Russel by the Grim Reaper in late 2003 and Russel, a mere shell of his former self, took a year to recover. Shortly after the exorcism Russel took refuge in Ike Turner's basement where he began making an album called: "The Seventh Heaven Hip Hop and Harmony Album." It was cancelled due to paranormal activities around the songs themselves. He was the last to return to Kong Studios. When he did return, the band was startled at the fact that his already large proportions had doubled or even tripled.
After the El Mañana conspiracy, 2-D and Russel were frantic about their guitarist Noodle's supposed death. It was a hoax, however, and the band has once again gone separate ways. It would not last too long, as it was promised by Murdoc in the autobiography Rise of the Ogre that their biggest project to date is apparently being planned. Russel was, according to Murdoc, "all good, too. He's still stitching together his taxidermy army of undead animals and practising his drums, but I think he's getting into production. It's a great role for him because his knowledge of music's just too big for him to be stuck behind a drum kit."
On 31 October 2007, in an official mail-out, Murdoc said that, "Russel is exploring his inner demons somewhere in Brooklyn.”
Russel has not made many photo appearances since the initiation of Phase 3 and the announcement of Plastic Beach. However, what these photos do show is that Russel appears to have grown to literally giant proportions, and has lost the hats he usually wore during Phase 2, but has otherwise not changed very much. Jamie Hewlett explained in the Making of Plastic Beach DVD that his gigantic size was a result of eating massive amounts of polluted material while swimming to Plastic Beach, causing him to swell up into his giant state. A Phase 3 character ident was released before the release of Plastic Beach, depicting Russel stomping across a pier in rage and diving into the ocean, headed towards Plastic Beach . It appears, from his remarkable absence in videos and pictures, that Murdoc did not intend to invite Russel back to Gorillaz for Plastic Beach. It was later revealed in a scrawled note by Russell that he believes demons (whether they are real or in his head is unknown) convinced him to jump into the sea.
In the music video On Melancholy Hill, Russel has grown extremely large (to the size of a whale) because of the pollution in the water, that he reportedly ate along the way to Plastic Beach. And is shown lifting Noodle's life boat with her in it on his head.Also he is seen bringing Noodle to Plastic Beach in the storyboard for the music video of Rhinestone Eyes.
On 9 March 2010, he was voted the third most sexy cartoon musician of all-time by Nerve.com.
Personality As a calm and wise member, he is known as a Mountain of madness which means he is easily angered. This may be a result of his frequent trauma from numerous possessions. His mental state has deteriorated noticeably since Del's exorcism. Despite his mental status, Russel is known to be a very eloquent speaker, largely due to the private schooling he received in his youth. Russel has also seen the Grim Reaper twice. He is on medication for his depression, psychosis, and traumatism, most likely Xanax; Murdoc (unsuccessfully) tries to calm down Russel during an interview in We Are the Dury by telling him to "Pop another Xanax" and later in the same interview, Russel talks about how his medication was wearing off during the recording of "White Light" on the album 'Demon Days', resulting in the erratic and violent drumming heard during the track. Similar odd or funny stories are tied to other tracks on the two Gorillaz albums: for example, the "El Mañana" track's rhythm was apparently born from Russel sitting on a drum machine.
He is laid-back for the most part, almost melancholy most of the time, but has very little patience for Murdoc's antics and 2D's idiocy. He is often the one who has to solve discrepancies between his bandmates, and has often been forced to stick up for his ridiculed and abused bandmate 2D (despite bullying 2D himself, on several occasions). When Russel discovered Murdoc having sex with 2D's then girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend), Paula Cracker, he punched Murdoc in the face and fractured his nose. He also claims that he will do anything to protect Noodle and the two have a close bond with each other. He is sensitive about his admittedly massive weight, which is apparently the result of a wheat allergy. Russel often calls Murdoc "Mudz" and 2D "D".
Russel's hobbies include food, eating, cooking, taxidermy and athletic shoe. Russel is a noted expert on music, not just Hip Hop. He recently put his taxidermy skills to good use by creating "Animal Kwackers", in which the user creates his or her own hybrid animal using an assortment of body parts (the legs section includes wheels) and, if they desire, name it and add it to a worldwide gallery. The reason for this is explained in the last two thirds of the Intro, which mention helping Russel to create an army of beasts. Also, when Gorillaz was featured on MTV Cribs Russel was seen hammering something onto the "hot rod warthog" seen in the Animal Kwackers Intro.
Character Appearance
Russel seems to be Murdoc's height (5'10') but is larger than him and 2D due to his weight. His eyes are a milky white which has resulted from his numerous possessions from demons and Del.
Russel became angry at Murdoc for not inviting him to help make the Plastic Beach album. In his furious state he wrote what seemed to be a suicide note stating that the demons have chased him down and had forced his heavy hip-hop hand, and that he needed to get to the calm of the brimy deep of the ocean. He even wrote down the code word 'Ocean Bacon' which was how Noodle got her memory back.
"This is it. The time has come. The demons have chased me down and now forced my heavyweight hip hop hand. I need to get there. The expanse, the calm of the eternal briny deep. The Ocean. . The ..Ocean..b.bacon. So this is it...... Throw myself into the sea. X Russel Hobbs...."
Russel's note on his profile page
In the 'On Melancholy Hill' music video he is shown rising up from the water with Noodle ending up on top of his head facing Point Nemo. In the 'Rhinestone Eyes' music video, he and Noodle reach Plastic Beach where there's a battle going on. At the end of it, Russel is shown leaning against the island looking down at everyone and he opens his mouth to reveal Noodle who steps out and lifts her mask up showing her face.
Cyborg Noodle
she was created by the band leader, Murdoc, as a replacement for the band's original guitarist, Noodle, whose whereabouts were allegedly unknown. She was created through the use of cybernetic prosthetics as well as some DNA samples of Noodle that were salvaged from the wreckage of the flying windmill island which was destroyed in the "El Mañana" music video. She serves as both a guitarist and a "gun-slinging bodyguard" for Murdoc. Aside from her built-in knowledge of musical instruments and theory, Cyborg Noodle also has a vast knowledge of weapons and fighting techniques, as well as basic skills, much like Noodle. Unlike the original Noodle's reserved and calm nature, Cyborg Noodle was programmed by Murdoc to take on even the riskiest tasks without hesitation by any means necessary, making her in some ways a robotic mercenary. She seems to malfunction in "Stylo" due to a thunderstorm halfway through the video and having been previously shot in the head, but later repairs herself, as seen in "On Melancholy Hill".
Appearance and personality The cyborg replica retains all of Noodle's physical characteristics and mannerisms but not her memories or tastes. It is also trained to obey Murdoc's every command. The cyborg gave an interview for the tabloid magazine Us Weekly, in which it revealed that it prefers pop music, unlike the original Noodle's "rock-chick" style. It also claims to enjoy the Twilight films and their starring actor, Robert Pattinson. This further tells of the incomplete nature of the cyborg, as the real Noodle would have rejected both as "False Icons", in accordance with the ideals she spoke of in Rise of the Ogre. Cyborg Noodle first appears in the music video for the Plastic Beach track "Stylo", where it has been shot multiple times, and shuts down shortly after firing upon a police car. The cyborg survives, and Murdoc explains in the Plastic Beach Experience video that she is in constant need of charging whenever not being used. In the documentary that comes with the Experience edition of the album, Jamie Hewlett refers to the cyborg as "Evil Noodle".
In the "Rhinestone Eyes" music video, she is shown hiding behind some palm trees clutching two Uzis as the island is being attacked by the Boogieman and pirates. A small group of collaborators, who seem to be Snoop Dogg and De La Soul, are hiding against a wall. Cyborg Noodle locks eyes with one of the De La Soul members and she is seen smiling in an almost maniacal fashion like she's enjoying what's going on. Fluid is seen leaking out of her eye, nose, and mouth. We don't know if she's partically malfunctioning or is showing some sort of human emotion.
Appearance and personality The cyborg replica retains all of Noodle's physical characteristics and mannerisms but not her memories or tastes. It is also trained to obey Murdoc's every command. The cyborg gave an interview for the tabloid magazine Us Weekly, in which it revealed that it prefers pop music, unlike the original Noodle's "rock-chick" style. It also claims to enjoy the Twilight films and their starring actor, Robert Pattinson. This further tells of the incomplete nature of the cyborg, as the real Noodle would have rejected both as "False Icons", in accordance with the ideals she spoke of in Rise of the Ogre. Cyborg Noodle first appears in the music video for the Plastic Beach track "Stylo", where it has been shot multiple times, and shuts down shortly after firing upon a police car. The cyborg survives, and Murdoc explains in the Plastic Beach Experience video that she is in constant need of charging whenever not being used. In the documentary that comes with the Experience edition of the album, Jamie Hewlett refers to the cyborg as "Evil Noodle".
In the "Rhinestone Eyes" music video, she is shown hiding behind some palm trees clutching two Uzis as the island is being attacked by the Boogieman and pirates. A small group of collaborators, who seem to be Snoop Dogg and De La Soul, are hiding against a wall. Cyborg Noodle locks eyes with one of the De La Soul members and she is seen smiling in an almost maniacal fashion like she's enjoying what's going on. Fluid is seen leaking out of her eye, nose, and mouth. We don't know if she's partically malfunctioning or is showing some sort of human emotion.