Gorillaz deelt ‘The Book of Murdoc’

Het fictive collectief Gorillaz werkt hard aan een comeback. Onderdeel hiervan is een update over wat de leden in de afgelopen jaren bezig heeft gehouden. Zo weten we inmiddels dat Noodle op jacht is geweest naar een shape-shifter en lazen we in “The Book of Russel” dat de drummer in Pyongyang tentoon is gesteld. Nu volgt het derde deel: “The Book of Murdoc”.

Net als diens voorgangers, is “The Book of Murdoc” op de officiële Gorillaz Twitter en Instagram voorzien van artwork en kleine geluidsfragmentjes. Het verhaal is hieronder samengevat en onderaan de pagina volledig te lezen.

SPOILERS- In het kort: Bassist Murdoc is in een onderzeeër gevlucht van de aanval op Plastic Beach. Na enige tijd ondergedoken te hebben wordt Murdoc gevangen genomen door muziekgigant EMI. In ruil voor zijn vrijheid belooft de bassist een nieuw Gorillaz album te schrijven.

Het laatste album van Gorillaz, The Fall, verscheen in 2011, gevolgd door een losse single “Do Ya Thing”. Wanneer het vijfde album van deze fictieve formatie uitgebracht wordt is nog niet bekend.

“The last anyone heard of Murdoc Niccals, he was living on Plastic Beach, an island in the South Pacific formed entirely from rubbish.

“All was well, until the day Murdoc’s tropical ghetto was raided by pirates. (Not the eye-patch kind- those modern day ones with machine guns and no sense of flair.) Murdoc decided that evacuation was the braves option, and fled heroically in a rusty brown submarine.

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“With only a crate of Psycho Jerry’s Rum for sustenance and Cyborg Noodle for company, Murdoc navigated his way through the slimy Octopuses Garden. Cyborg Noodle proved the perfect shipmate fir Murdoc: she didn’t speak, she didn’t judge, and she had absolutely no sense of smell.

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“Finally, when the booze ran out, Murdoc made to the surface and popped the hatch, releasing the rum soaked air of the submarine like a krakens guff. As he emptied his dangerously enlarged bladder, a giant shadow loomed over him. Two, if you count the ever-present memory of his disappointed father. But the other shadow was a ship: the Battleship Ringo, owned by music industry giant EMI.

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“Before it was chopped up and sold off like a prize pig, EMI had sent a fleet of ships to search the globe for Murdoc. At last they had him. The Gorillaz star was captured, slapped about a bit, and taken to a secret prison in London.

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” ‘Dungeon Abbey’, beneath Abby Road Studios, was built to detain the label’s ABCs (Artists in Breach of Contract). For three years it served as Murdoc’s home, until one day, he was offered a deal by Entertainment Internal Affairs. Like an unloved goldfish, the music industry was going down the toilet, and in dire need of Murdoc’s legendary song-writing prowess. In exchange for his release (and a carton of Lucky Lungs cigarettes), Murdic agreed to write a new Gorillaz album, and moved immediately to a new studio home in West London.”