Everything you ever wanted to know about the Gorillaz

Nov. 1, 2006

Time to Feel Good, Gorillaz and Damon Albarn (Blur) fans - the band’s got a new pro-ject on the way out this fall, and it’s taking the shape of a Gorillaz autobiography. Written by the band themselves, the book is set to be around 300 pages long, complete with color illustrations provided by the band’s co-founder, Jamie Hewlett, who also created the “Tank Girl” comic book series. The band promises plenty of “juicy bits of Gorillaz info,” in the book, which has been titled Rise of the Ogre and which will hit stores on November 2...
 
Another member of Blur is set to make a return, this time with a band other than Blur - Blur drummer Dave Rowntree is currently involved with his new band, The Ailerons, who will release their first EP, Left Right this week exclusively on iTunes, complete with songs “Dig a Hole,” “Bonafone,” “Roll Over,” and “Walking Fever.” Rowntree is joined in The Ailerons by guitarist Dan Beattie, bassist Grog, singer Charity, and occasional Blur/Gorillaz drummer Mike Smith, and the whole Ailerons gang will play several shows in London, also this week, to break in the new group in a live setting...

XL Recordings head and White Stripes fan Richard Russell has put together a unique White Stripes project in which ten of the Stripes’ songs have been given new orchestral readings and have been interpreted by a specially-assembled U.K. orchestra.  The orchestra performed unique versions of Stripes’ tracks like “The Hardest Button to Button,”  “I’m Bound to Pack It Up,” and a number of other tracks that will be compiled into the album Alumiiinium, which is due out on November 6;  but you’d better move quickly if you want a copy, as the disc will only be sold through the project’s website (www.alumiiinium.com) in a limited run of 3,333 CDs and 999 vinyl albums (the albums will include a silkscreen print by artist Rob Jones) and will also be available in a less-cool but still, of course, listenable digital format...
 
Nirvana are set to release their first ever DVD, although that DVD is of a show that was already released on VHS and laserdisc. Many fans may not be aware of the somewhat obscure disc, which consists mostly of footage shot at the pinnacle of Nirvana’s fame, right around the time of their Nevermind release. The disc includes footage from their infamous Reading performance in 1992 (the band’s last ever British show) and their performance on Top of the Pops in 1991; some bonus material has been added and the audio was remastered, but the rest of the disc remains mostly the same.  The project, titled Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! was originally conceived by Kurt Cobain and was overseen later by fellow Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novolselic; it is set to hit stores on November 13...
 
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:  A long link this week for a short (but hilariously worthy) song - go to http://media.spin.com/features/heythisisawesome/audio/2006/10/desperado_hi.mp3 to download punkers Me First and the Gimme Gimmes doing their incongruous rendition of The Eagles’ “Desperado”...
 
MINI BUZZ:
The 2006 MusicOz Awards have announced who will be appearing at this year’s ceremony, which will be held on November 14 at Sydney’s Enmore Theater and will feature the likes of You Am I, The Whitlams, Sarah McLeod, and King Blue Brown...
Sevendust will be dusting off their tour bus in December for a short tour, and have completed recording their new CD, which is set for mastering and is due to have
a release date attached in the next couple of weeks...
The original line-up of Dinosaur Jr. are getting ready to release their first album of new material since 1989; expect to see their new, as-yet-untitled album in Spring 2007...
Modest Mouse will be playing their first gig with new “member” Johnny Marr (The Smiths) at London’s KOKO club on November 21...
Rilo Kiley are currently at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, working with producer Jason Lader to wrap up work on their fourth album, which is expected some time in the first half of 2007...
Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. will release his debut solo album, Yours to Keep, on October 9, with the first single, “101,” set to hit radio on November 27, with Hammond to embark on a solo UK tour in late November...
 
And embarking on their journeys to a CD store near you are this week’s new releases... ON CD:  Paul Westerberg’s Open Season soundtrack... David Gray’s re-issued Sell Sell Sell...Samiam’s Whatever’s Got You Down...  Honeycut’s The Day I Turned to Glass... Various Artists on American Hardcore - The History of American Punk Rock (1980-1986)... and Airpushers’ Themes for the Ordinarily Strange... ON DVD:  54.40’s This is Here, This is Now... Various Artists on Rock Relief 2005... Sarah Harmer’s Escarpment Blues... and Neko Case - Live Austin, TX... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
 
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions about this column or your fave musicians?  Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com