|
Like
a book version of the film This is Spinal Tap, Gorillaz:
Rise of the Ogre traces the origins of cartoon pop band
Gorillaz from bassist Murdoc's birth on June 6, 1966, through
Murdoc's and singer 2D's fortuitous meeting on August 15,
1997 (where Murdoc pushed 2D's eye into his skull; Murdoc
was also responsible for 2D losing his other eye), to their
last recording session in late 2006. This lavishly illustrated
book is a real treat for fans of the band.
Gorillaz,
of course, is the brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn
and Tank Girl co-creator J.C. (Jamie) Hewlett. They
hit the ground running with their smash "Clint Eastwood" in
2001 and haven't really let up since. Unlike previous cartoon
bands like The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats, Gorillaz
is a band with cartoon members who exist in the real world,
as opposed to a comic book or cartoon that features a band.
This is an important distinction, especially in terms of this
book. It mixes fiction about the cartoon characters' lives
with facts about Gorillaz as a band. What this means is that
real-life events, like pre-production on the never-made Gorillaz
movie, are tinged with extreme exaggerations and prevarications,
like when 2D spends a month with '70s sex symbol Britt Ekglund
or when diminutive guitarist Noodle discovers that she was
part of a secret military project.
As befits
a cartoon band, their misadventures are more outrageous than
anything a real-life band could hope to accomplish. Told in
documentary style, each episode is introduced with brief text
and followed by interviews with friends and family, along
with Gorillaz themselves. Readers learn that Murdoc's brother
broke the bassist's nose for playing Dio, that Murdoc was
in a New Romantic band called Patchouli Clark, that turntablist/drummer
Russel Hobbs was possessed by the ghost of his rapper friend
Del, and that Noodle arrived from Japan in a FedEx crate.
Readers also learn that 2D dated Rachel Stevens from S Club
7, but Murdoc ruined their relationship and a couple of her
T-shirts.
The book
has more of a narrative arc than most books of this kind,
which is not difficult to do since these aren't real people,
and it makes for a more interesting book. Woven into stories
about making music and hobnobbing with stars are tales about
individual band members' quests to exorcise their personal
demons. For example, the band's disappointment at not being
able to produce their movie leads to three of the characters'
going on soul-searching, transformative journeys. The fourth
member, Murdoc, ends up in a Mexican jail.
The factual
passages are as star-studded as the made-up parts. A song-by-song
commentary by the band reveals an impressive roster of musicians
that have appeared on Gorillaz albums. Tina Weymouth of Talking
Heads, Kid Koala, Shaun Ryder from Happy Mondays, Nenah Cherry,
and De La Soul are just a few.
There
is also information about their live performances, such as
the band's first show in London in 2001, where they played
behind sheets that had images projected on them. Subsequent
performances have become highly technical, using a Victorian-era
parlor trick called "Pepper's Ghost" but on a grander scale
than ever before attempted. There isn't too much detail, but
it seems as logistically nightmarish as one might imagine.
Of course, even the factual passages play with the truth,
with proclamations like, "One child apparently burst into
flames just looking at the record cover."
Like
many magazine-style books that focus on popular bands, every
page of this volume is illustrated, mixing pre-existing and
new drawings. Perhaps the most visually interesting sections
are Hewlett's story-boards for the videos and the enigmatic
"23 Skiddoo" chapter, which features thumbnails of the magazine
covers Gorillaz has appeared on, a discography, and a graphic
of their influences shown as a London tube map.
Rise
of the Ogre is, like the old Monty Python books, a perfect
mélange of humor, illustration, and design. The printing and
paper are exceptional. That said, it's clearly only for die-hard
fans of Gorillaz or of Jamie Hewlett.
(December,
2007)
|
