(Credits: Henry W. Laurisch)
Mon 1 September 2025 10:25, UK
Damon Albarn has said the only reason he managed to achieve his falsetto vocals on the debut album from Gorillaz was because of drugs.
The rock frontman was speaking to Rolling Stone alongside bandmate Jamie Hewlett to celebrate the upcoming 25th anniversary of the release of Gorillaz’s self-titled debut album, which came out back in 2001.
Reminiscing on this, Albarn joked: “I can’t quite believe I can still hit the falsetto. That first record has a crazy amount of falsetto,” before adding that the main contributing factor to this was “definitely … related to the drugs I was taking.”
The singer continued: “I was a much more irresponsible human being. I was hitting some notes I really didn’t think coming back I’d be able to hit again,” noting how he gave up smoking 18 months ago, meaning now his voice stands a “little more of a chance” than it did back then.
It comes as the band are in the full swing of their 25th anniversary celebrations, having released a new video called ‘Nostalgiaz’ at the beginning of the year to mark the occasion, as well as being in the midst of an exhibition titled House of Kong at the Copper Box in London, which is set to run until September 3rd.
In addition to this, Gorillaz will close out the exhibition with a mystery show scheduled for the same day, details of which are yet to be revealed.
However, since Albarn admitted back in March that a new album from the virtual band is in the works, speculation is rising among fans that this could be the moment in which the new record is unveiled.
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