Gorillaz frontman and striped shirt fanatic Damon Albarn talked with New Zealand’s Stuff magazine this weekend and outlined his plans for 3 new projects. Amongst them included a new Gorillaz album, an album from a band with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea & common collaborator, Tony Allen, as well as a solo album.
After many believing Plastic Beach would be the last album from Gorillaz, Albarn has told Stuff that he is working on a follow up LP. “I’ve actually taken a mobile studio with me on this tour,” Albarn says. This new project from Gorillaz is “basically a tour diary as a record, my love-letter to America.”
Albarn continued to mention that an untitled new band with Flea and Tony Allen are about “three quarters of the way through” their first album. The album will mainly center around Allen and highlight his unique drumming talents. The album is intended to including many of his favorite African musicians as well.
Additionally, Albarn mentioned that he “promised” himself that one day that he would record a proper ballad record. “Damon Albarn Sings The Ballads,” he says.
Albarn refers to Blur more than a couple times throughout the interview. He won’t confirm or deny any new material from the band but he did shoot down any hope of a foreseeable world tour. “There won’t be another world tour for me – for anything – for five to six years; it would seem unlikely. I have a young daughter and it’s just not feasible, it’s too long away from home. This has been great, but it’s too much after a while and so, no, there won’t be any tours for me for a while, I should think.”
Basically, Damon Albarn is planning to finish the Escape to Plastic Beach Tour and then take a well deserved break from the road. Although he won’t be in your city, expect to hear plenty of new music from Albarn in the not so distant future.
