ENTERTAINMENT
From Issue #21
GORILLAZ
By Maya Chendke
Producer Danger Mouse is the elusive blender behind the Gorillaz latest album, Demon Days. Danger has a lot
more than you’d suspect under his belt — don’t let his
stellar hip hop past blind you — and it’s his mish-mash
of influences that helped shape this new Gorillaz sound.
“I think this record is very ‘pop’ because the melodies
are so great, but it’s definitely dark. It was definitely a
more somber, moodier record to make,” says Danger.
Growing up, Danger’s musical influences included
listening to his sister’s hip hop albums, and his parents’
soul records collection, before moving to an indie rock
city and experiencing all that spaghetti Westerns and
psychedelic music had to offer. Danger is also the secret
agent mastermind behind remixing Jay-Z’s Black Album
in to the highly downloaded Grey Album.
In spite of the variety of Danger Mouse and the Gorillaz, it doesn’t make Demon Days an overproduced
array of ‘must haves’ meant to cater to all types of sales demographics. “It’s not forced
at all…not like ‘ok this is the rap, this is the rock song,” he says of their final cuts.
Though no one really knows much about him (much like his inked friends 2D, Murdoc Nicalls, Noodle,
and Russel Hobbs), his secret identity is maintained on purpose. Grinning shyly before disappearing,
he adds, “If you know somebody, they’re not a mystery to you anymore.”
Gorillaz photo courtesy of EMI Music Image by Jamie Hewlett
