Video Music Awards (29/8)

Congrats are in order for Gorillaz who swooped to do the double at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. Nominated in 2 categories, the band won both the Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects awards.

The band could not be on hand to collect the awards on the night, no doubt preparing for the release of new single DARE (out now), but Noodle did film a thank you video which was aired at the ceremony.

Want to help Gorillaz win even more awards? Fans.gorillaz.com is again nominated for the People's Choice Award at this year's BT Yahoo DMAs. Click here to vote!

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Noodle Link/Discography/DARE (26/8)

A few quick notes...

Check out this interview with Noodle on ireallylovemusic.co.uk!

The new discography is more or less online, there are some problems with the "artwork" bits of the pages as you'll see. That will be changing once it gets sorted out. Look for those to update on the fly over the next couple of weeks in a very exciting way.

Finally, Gorillaz are still #1 on the Modern Rock chart in the states with Feel Good Inc (the album slips to #14 overall this week) and for everyone in the UK and Europe, do remember to pick up a copy of DARE on Monday!

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Platinum/Habbo/Contests (22/8)

Good news for Gorillaz in that the Demon Days album has this week gone platinum in the USA (1 million copies) in addition to its already platinum status in the UK!

Update at Habbo Hotel: The German Habbo date has now been switched to 30 August at 2pm, following the Dutch date.

In other news, check out this new Gorillaz contest from The Fader, where you can win a custom Gorillaz skate deck!

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SFAS/Habbo Update (19/8)

Here's an image of what Gorillaz will look like in their Habbo-tat (ha ha):

For more info on Gorillaz at Habbo Hotel, see below.

In other news, here's what the Search For A Star winner Carlos has to say about his recent triumph!

Carlos: "It feels really surreal to win something like this - it's been a bolt from the blue. My entry was quite "low fi", and I find it inspiring that something like that can also be popular. To get to actually work with the Gorillaz will be a priceless experience, I'm a great admirer of the band's visual style and animation - I'm really excited... so a HUGE thanks to anyone who voted."

Finally, Feel Good Inc has charted new highs for Gorillaz. It has reached #1 in America this week on the Modern Rock chart, beating the previous best of #3 from 2001's Clint Eastwood release. The parent album Demon Days has also shot back up the Billboard albums chart to #8 this week.

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Gorillaz Live At Habbo Hotel (17/8)

New press release from Gorillaz & Habbo:

Habbo Hotel, one of the world’s largest and hottest on-line destinations for teenagers, will host a special VIP visit in August and September 2005. The two-dimensional super group Gorillaz will visit Habbo Hotels in 11 countries between August 22 and September 2. Gorillaz fans around the world will get an exclusive opportunity to meet their favorite band in an exciting live session or in an exclusive private interview.

Habbo Hotel is a virtual meeting place for teenagers and young adults. The attraction of Habbo Hotel is based on an active community and the opportunity for self-expression and creativity. Teens join by creating a fully customized online character persona called a Habbo. From there, users explore the vast hotel where they can hang around and make friends with other Habbos, play a wide range of games, party and dance, create and decorate their own room, meet their real life favorite celebrities – the interactivity and options are virtually limitless. Habbo Hotel is operating at the moment in 16 countries and more than 4 million unique visitors check in to the hotel each month. Habbo Hotel is owned and operated by Sulake, an interactive entertainment company.

The world's most successful virtual band, Gorillaz are the perfect candidates for visiting the virtual Habbo Hotel "in person." The band is invited to Sulake’s office to host the sessions, which will last for an hour per each country. The band members are given computers from which they log into Habbo Hotel and the specific theatre where the visit is organized. The room is cleared by the moderators every 10 minutes, so that as many Habbos as possible can meet the band and ask questions. After this massive live event, a private interview with a limited amount of lucky fans will take place in specially furnished guest rooms, decorated in the honor of Gorillaz.

Dates and territories for Gorillaz at Habbo:

GORILLAZ IN HABBO HOTEL - 22 Aug / 02 Sept

MONDAY 22 AUGUST
Japan - 5 PM Tokyo time

TUESDAY 23 AUGUST
Australia - 6 PM Sydney time
Singapore - 6 PM Singapore time

WEDNESDAY 24 AUGUST
USA - 1 PM Los Angeles, 4 PM New York

THURSDAY 25 AUGUST
Finland - 2 PM Helsinki time

FRIDAY 26 AUGUST
Canada - 4 PM Toronto time, 1 PM Vancouver

TUESDAY 30 AUGUST
Holland - 2 PM Amsterdam time
Germany - 2 PM Frankfurt time

WEDNESDAY 31 AUGUST
Italy - 2 PM Rome time
Spain - 6 PM Madrid time

THURSDAY 1 SEPTEMBER
France - 2 PM Paris time

FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER
UK - 2 PM London time

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Murdoc Off Ebay (15/8)

The following email was received by Murdoc Niccals late last week:

"We regret to inform you that your eBay auction: 8211223657 Kids Pencils. Currently owned by singer of Gorillaz has been removed from the site by eBay Customer Support. All fees associated with this auction have been credited to your account. The item you have listed does not appear to be consistent with eBay guidelines. The sale of stolen property is strictly forbidden on eBay, and violates state, federal and international law. eBay strongly supports law enforcement efforts to recover stolen property that is listed on the site, and urges the prosecution of those responsible for knowingly attempting to sell such items on eBay. Stolen property includes items taken from private individuals, as well as property taken without authorization from companies or governments."

Murdoc so far seems relentless in his quest to keep nicking 2-D's items, and had the following to say on the matter...

Murdoc: "Unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances (it got pulled by ebay due to some long forgotten law about property / theft or something), there will be a slight delay before you have the opportunity to purchase 2D's fantastic limited edition pencil set. Mean while 2D's stupid little pot is still available. So get your bids in early kids!"

In other Murdoc news, while you are waiting for the release of the new single on the 29th, Murdoc encourages you to take advantage of a new game the gonks have banged up on gorillaz.com and put all of his stuff in an attache case. Sounds easy? Not quite. Click here to play!

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Murdoc On Ebay/Russel Statement (9/8)

Murdoc has nicked more of 2-D's belongings and put them on eBay! This time he's stolen 2-D's pen pot. If you want to encourage this activity and own 2-D's stuff, you can bid on this item by clicking here.

Murdoc's description of the pot:

"Stupid little pot. Owned by 2D from Gorillaz! Up for auction, some kind of. ..'pot'. It belongs to the blue-haired singer of Gorillaz, 2D. I originally found this item... er... in his room. It's got a badly drawn wolf's head on the front and you can keep stuff like pencils in it. Or you can keep it by your bed at night, if you want. Whatever, it's up to you. It looks like it's about 3 inches high, it's got no lid and the pencils aren't included. It's made out of pottery, probably. But it's definitely a collector's item. Would suit person who likes collecting pots. I don't know when it was made, or why, but if you want it start bidding now. Fantastic opportunity for all 'container' enthusiasts!"

Click here to see a picture and click here to bid!

Also, I had a chat with Russel and he had this to say about the passing of music legend and Gorillaz collaborator Ibrahim Ferrer:

Russel: On behalf of Gorillaz, I'd like to express our great sadness at the passing of Ibrahim Ferrer. He was a wonderful warm soul, whose purity could be heard in the elegant expressive quality of that incredible voice. He generously lent his voice to the Gorillaz track Latin Simone, and it was a fantastic honour to work with him and an experience none of us will forget. The world has lost a magical soul and he will be greatly missed.

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Ibrahim Ferrer (8/8)

It is with great sadness that we must inform Gorillaz fans that music legend and Gorillaz collaborator Ibrahim Ferrer has passed away. The Cuban musician was recently most noted for his work with Buena Vista Social Club, and appeared on the Gorillaz track "Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo)" from the band's debut album in 2001.

Ibrahim Ferrer RIP.

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SFAS Winner/New Competition (3/8)

A STAR IS BORN

It's taken 30+ weeks, 3000 entries, 4 discriminating referees and more than a million visitors to www.gorillaz.com but at last the moment has arrived. The winner of Gorillaz Olympian talent contest, Search For A Star is Carl Sowerby from Carlisle with his animation Table Manners: A slice of life in doodles.

Gorillaz guitarist Noodle elaborates:
"This was an ingenious but incredibly simple and original idea that was executed with style. Mr. Carlos had created some very expressive doodle characters, that looked like they had been er... drawn casually on a notepad to the side of a telephone. As the telephone messages were heard playing back, the various characters would then come to life and begin speaking. This was a great and simple idea that obviously captured the imagination of the voting audiences."

Carlos wins the once in a lifetime opportunity to put his outstanding talents to use working with the Gorillaz animation team, Zombie Flesh Eaters.

2 MORE WEEKS TO GO...

But it doesn't end there. Overwhelmed by the onslaught of extraordinary talent revealed by Search For A Star Gorillaz have decided to extend the competition by a further two weeks in order to identify another two winners.

Beginning Monday 15th August, these two winners will be voted for from the pool of graphic design and musical entries already received and with Carlos's winning animated entry will represent every area of creative endeavour covered by Search For A Star. The winners will be announced Monday 29th August.

THE EXTRAORDINARY PRIZE

The talented triumvirate will all get the chance to work with Gorillaz according to their individual skills. In an unprecedented move, the results will be showcased on the 4th single to be taken from the album Demon Days, released early in 2006. Carlos will work on the animated content for the DVD single, the musical winner will contribute to the B-side and the graphic designer will work on an element of the cover art.

Back to Noodle on the conclusion of Search For A Star:
"This talent competition has uncovered an absolutely breath-taking body of work, from animation, sketches, music and beyond. The entrants have shown an amazing amount of ingenuity and dedication. The original purpose of ‘Search for A Star’ was very simply to provide a creative alternative to the limited and basic parameters set by the more mainstream talent shows. These were usually just ‘singing competitions’ or a demeaning exercise in basic public humiliation. Not really very helpful to anyone. So I think that the original aim of ‘Search for a Star’, of allowing people to set the parameters of ‘talent’ themselves, has been achieved and much, much more. Gorillaz wish each and every entrant all the success and fortune for any of their future ambitions."

Cast your vote in the last 2 weeks of the competition at www.gorillaz.com/s4as.php

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SFAS Concludes/VMAs/Charts/Updates (2/8)

The Search For A Star winner is being announced tomorrow on www.gorillaz.com. Not only is the winner announced tomorrow but Gorillaz will be announcing a new very special contest to go along with the winner for Search For A Star. The winners could be from anywhere in the world in what has been and will be a truly global contest.

The two finalists:

Marianne "Nietje" Eijgandaal from the Netherlands with "Waking Up," a fantastic hand drawn animation of Murdoc using good old-fashioned paper and pencil.

Carl "Carlos" Sowerby from Carlisle, England with "Tablemanners," doodles scattered around someones desk which come to life when mixed with sound recorded from random phone calls and conversations.

In other news, Gorillaz have scored 2 nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards. The awards will be broadcast live from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida on the 28th of August. Gorillaz have been nominated in the Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects categories for the fantastic video Feel Good Inc. Here's what Murdoc had to say:

Murdoc: "The video was all my idea, the whole floating island thing, the windmills, everything! So I'm glad my genius is finally being recognised by the VMA, er... again. Oh yeah, I'd also like to say that Jamie Hewlett, Pete Candleland and Passion Pictures are all just tools in my box."

In other news, current album Demon Days has rocketed back up the charts both in the UK and the US. It sits at number 9 this week in America and number 8 in the UK. Feel Good Inc holds steady after well over 3 months in the UK singles chart at number 17, and in the states it has rebounded back up the chart to beat its previous high placing and set a new peak at number 16.

Finally, the DARE video is live on the fansite in the Multimedia and videos sections and you can expect more features to continue to be added.

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It's Coming Up (21/7)

Gorillaz' new single DARE is released 29th August 2005 on the following formats:

CD1: DARE / Clint Eastwood (Live featuring De La Soul & Bootie Brown)
CD2: DARE / Highway (Under Construction) / DARE (Soulwax Remix)
DVD: DARE (Video) / DARE (Animatic) / People / Samba At 13

Fans will be interested to know that People is the original version of DARE with 2-D on vocals, and is a much different song to the one we have come to know and love! The live version of Clint Eastwood is taken from the Demon Detour across America which took place back in June.

Here's what the press have to say about the video:

"The accompanying video features a starring performance from the track's guest vocalist, Shaun Ryder. Set in Noodle's bedroom, deep within the bowels of the band's lair Kong Studios, the promo sees Shaun and Gorillaz' guitarist Noodle lost in a world of their own. It's a an extraordinary glimpse into the home life of the band. The video also features the Noodle dance routine, coming soon to a dancefloor near you."

Check back to the fan site for more breaking news very soon.

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PreRL (15/7)

A short message for those of you who get MTV in the US: Feel Good Inc will make its debut on MTV's TRL on Tuesday the 19th at 2pm. Don't forget to watch!

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DARE Screening & Prints (14/7)

On Sunday 17th July at 14:35 (GMT) the Gorillaz website will be broadcasting the world web exclusive of the new video for D.A.R.E. This 48 hour exclusive is available only to Gorillaz fans!

This is the very first opportunity to see this fantastic new video for the incredible new Gorillaz single, featuring Shaun Ryder.

2D says: ‘Yeah. It’s really good. Wicked'

To view the video for D.A.R.E. you will need to follow this link and type in the passcode, which you can get from signing up on the site.

Please note we have been advised that the video that has leaked to other sources has been the unfinished video, this video premiere is the official worldwide premiere.

In other news, Gorillaz fans are getting the opportunity to pre-order one of the limited edition ‘Feel Good Inc.’ video-storyboard prints, designed by director Jamie Hewlett.

To get to this special webshop, click on one of the two links below. These fabulous prints are priced at £19.99 each, and are not available anywhere else.

Print 1: click here.
Print 2: click here.

Also, here's the latest round of contests for you to enter. Check out these websites, they've all got special Gorillaz prizes to give away!

Ultimate Guitar
Tastes Like Chicken
The Music Edge

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Bio (10/7)

Another quickie - the biography page is up with the 2005 flipbook. Fear not however, as a fully featured bio will eventually be forthcoming. In the meantime, this bio requires Flash.

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DARE Animatics (8/7)

Right, so essentially we broke into Gorillaz' video director Jamie Hewlett's personal studio today and stole these early drawings from the new video for DARE:

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Looking For A Star (7/7)

Some major news today, starting with this press release from the band...

It’s official: Noodle, Murdoc, 2D and Russel have been busy wading through an epic tidal wave of new artists and potential collaborators, in their quest to unearth brave new stars. Now it’s time for the verdict. The future is bright, the future is Kong-sized.

Search For A Star has seen more than 100 entries per week whittled down to around 10 to be put forward for the public vote. The 200+ entries displayed so far have been viewed over a million times.

Submissions have included pictures, music and videos; artists, musicians, circus acts, directors, special effects dons and weirdos have produced everything from cinematic genius to oddball homebrew fun. Hundreds of talented animators have put forward entries using a wide range of techniques, from stop frame to hand drawn to computer animation. With over 1000 image entries submitted alone the site will be opening a gallery room after the competition to display even more of the talent that SFAS has uncovered.

23 PRELIMINARY ROUNDS
Over the 20 weeks since kick-off, Search For A Star has shone a light on a startling array of impressive entries, creaming off the best via weekly public votes. There are just 2 more weekly public rounds to go - the 23rd round is a wild card round and is reserved for the entries from previous weeks that Gorillaz think deserve another chance. Entries have already closed for the final round so if you've got through, now is the time to start chewing those finger nails in anticipation.

LUCKY 13
On 18th July the daily public vote begins. All 23 leading entries will be displayed on TV screens in the Search For A Star room. Visitors can vote on their least favourite entry, with the 2 finalists with the least votes booted off at the end of the day. By Saturday 23rd only the lucky 13 finalists will be left, as the competition hurtles on to its explosive conclusion.

AND THEN THERE WERE 3...
The competition intensifies on the 25th - 2 more entries per day will be voted off every day until only 3 remain. From the 1st August the voting takes a different tack - visitors will be asked to nominate their favourite to win.

THE WINNER!
The glorious winning entry (and the winner's fabulous prize) will be announced on Wednesday 3rd August. The winner will be invited to collaborate with Gorillaz in a manner suitable to their unique talent.

Time Line
18th July - 22nd July: Public vote begins, eliminating 2 a day till the Lucky 13 remain.
25th July – 29th July: The Lucky 13 are put to the Public Vote, eliminating 2 a day till 3 remain.
1st August: The final 3 are put to the Public Vote
3rd August: Winner announced

Next, there will be an auction by Waxploitation kicking off at eBay.com/the_wax_trust to bid for signed memorabilia from several bands in order to support victims of ethnic cleansing in Sudan. Gorillaz have also contributed to that auction so be sure to bid in order to raise money for this very important cause.

"We've learned a lot since our auction earlier this year," says Jeff Antebi, founder and creative director of Waxploitation. "This time, we are working towards not just raising money for relief organizations, but also putting together a nationwide petition demanding that the Senate and White House take definitive action against the Sudanese government. It seems like every time there's a moment for this horror to finally be addressed, something overshadows it in the news media. So we're going to shake the trees ourselves and create a way for people to take real action."

Earlier this year, Waxploitation released a CD titled Genocide in Sudan with featured artists including Gorillaz and others. Proceeds from the sales of CD and the first Sudan auction raised over $10,000 which was donated towards relief efforts in Sudan and Chad.

Finally, if you're looking to get your hands on those elusive Gorillaz toys, head on over to www.sneakerfreaker.com and scroll down as they've got a competition on their site to win a set.

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Getting Wired (5/7)

A quick update to let you know that Gorillaz are this month's cover stars of Wired magazine! Go pick up a copy for an exclusive interview. We'll be posting that on the site very soon.

Also, all you out there who are interested in emulating your hero Murdoc Niccals might be interested to see that Bassmasta.net has posted their interpretation to the bass tablature for Feel Good Inc - click here to check that out.

In other news look for the news archive now located under Murdoc's feet there on the left. In the future we'll be looking to fill in archive news from the past 5 years in addition to this year's news which is already archived.