Gorillaz' Damon Albarn drew me a portrait. Imagine my surprise to learn this. After all, this is an audio medium and he's half a world away in London while I'm chilling at the World Cafe studios in Philadelphia.
Hopefully, this gives you an idea of the conversation you're about to hear. Damon's in rare form, talking about North Korean chimes, Bruce Willis' house and why he's doing interviews when he and co-creator Jamie Hewlett made up an animated band specifically so he didn't have to do interviews in the first place.
Bad news, Damon, you're doing interviews.
Good news, the world is better for it. It's not all laughs and conspiracy theories, though. On the sixth studio album The Now Now the band explores a more reflective sound. There's an excellent secret Damon reveals about how this record fits in relation to the last, Humanz and he'll talk about living in a post-ruth world. Yeah, post-ruth.
There's a reason why so many musicians love and want to work with Damon Alban. Beyond being intelligent, thoughtful and perceptive, he's incredibly gregarious, infectious and fun, not to mention a personal musical hero. We do our best to keep it professional on the Cafe, but Damon was in a laughing mood from his studio in London offering up a cackle so good, I dare you not smile along with this interview. Let's get started with "Trans," recorded from Japan. Listen in the player.
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