Is that why the band got back together?

No. That decision was made at the end of 2014. We agreed we were interested in doing another album, and then Damon [Albarn] was working on Blur, so he was already playing around with stuff, and then he started making the Gorillaz music in 2015. So it’s only been two years since we started putting it together. It’s a slow process, and I wasn’t in a hurry. It needs to be right and follow its organic path. The ideas are always around, but picking the right ones at the right time, and putting them together in the right order… it took a while to get there.



You’ve been busy. Even just a 360 music video alone sounds like a lot of work.

No one told me making a 360 video would be so hard. When you direct something, you show people what you want to see, and you cut what you want to, but with 360, the viewer has free will to look at whatever they want, so you have to build a complete universe, and you have to hope they’re looking in the right direction at the right time. You’re using sound and lighting effects, but it still doesn’t mean that people are looking at what you want them to, which is fine. It often means people watch the video three or four times to catch everything, so that’s not a bad thing. It wasn’t easy, but it was fun. I learned something new.



And you broke a new YouTube record.

Apparently it was the most watched 360 music video on YouTube, but I don’t know how many 360 videos there are on YouTube. I think there’s probably five, so I’m happy. But at the same time, it’s not like it’s the biggest watched video on YouTube ever. That would be something to celebrate [laughs].



There’s still time.

It’s just the beginning. There’s been a lot of work, but there’s a lot more to come. This entire year is gonna be Gorillaz stuff. Obviously, when I make a video, I work with animators, but everything else is done by me. That’s why I’m working on my birthday. Can’t get a break!



How come you decided Murdoc would be naked in the first video?

Well, because he takes a bath. And no one takes a bath with their clothes on, do they? The intention was to cover his penis, like you would never actually see it, but then we spoke with the legal department, who said, “No, it’s fine.” And then YouTube said, “It’s fine!” It’s just a penis. Every man has one. So we’re like, great, and off we went. And, of course, when the video was finished, they said, “Maybe not.” It was too big or detailed! I think they were imagining it might look like Mickey Mouse’s penis, but it was the real deal, and it was a bit too much. I thought that would be a first as well, the first animated penis on YouTube, but no. Just as it was about to go live, some poor guy at the animation company had to spend an entire day pixelating Murdoc’s penis. He came to work and they said, “Guess what you’re doing today?” Not really a fun job. We’re scared of penises, we’re scared of nudity, but we’re happy to watch people killing and beating each other. Show a penis or vagina, and people get upset. Why is that? What’s wrong with us?