GORRILLAZ (also stylized as ɢoʀiʟʟaᴢ or GoRiLLaZ) is a virtual band created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett that consist of four fictional animated band members: 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle. 

The band was created by Damon Albarn, frontman of the Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the comic book series Tank Girl. Their style is known for its variety and genre-blending, with influences from many different types of music, but most notably from hip-hop, dub-reggae, electro, and pop. More recently, they have also obtained influences from R&B, soul, and Chicago house music.

Gorillaz, unlike other fictional bands, were not created as a parody of a particular genre (GWAR, Dethklok), marketed to young children (Alvin and The Chipmunks), depictions of the people behind the band (Prozzak), or created for television (The Archies, Josie and The Pussycats, Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem). Instead, Gorillaz were originally created to be explored through the internet (a new medium at the time), and were intended for an older audience than the cartoon bands before them, while the quality of their actual musical output was usually more of an attraction to their fans than their existence as cartoon characters. The bands that influence their music range from Massive Attack and The Specials, to De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, to Daft Punk and Beck, while they are visually inspired by Hanna Barbera, Looney Tunes, Mad Magazine, Heavy Metal, 2000 AD, and many classic horror and cyberpunk movies. They have said that The Simpsons was a big influence on Gorillaz for “the way that they invade popular culture and comment on it in a pretty organic way”. Today, Albarn says that Gorillaz was developed out of “a very morbid obsession with the end of the world”.

The band started their career with their debut extended play Tomorrow Comes Today on November 2000, followed by their debut single Clint Eastwood and the self-titled album Gorillaz a few months later in March 2001, where the other singles - 19-2000, Rock the House and Tomorrow Comes Today - performing fairly well, with every one of them reaching the Top 35 in the UK. Clint Eastwood, released a few weeks before the self-titled album's release (05/03/01), spawned their first hit in the US reaching #57 on their Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The self-titled debut album reached #3 in the UK and 14 in the US, going 3x platinum in the UK and Platinum in the US, selling 7 million copies worldwide. Gorillaz' debut brought them the title of "The Biggest Virtual Band" by The Guinness World Record. Gorillaz then returned with the song Rockit in 2004 as part of the Reject False Icons campaing and their second studio album, Demon Days, in May 2005, spawning the singles Feel Good Inc., DARE, Dirty Harry, Kids With Guns and El Mañana, which all charted in the top 30 position in the UK, with the first three singles reaching the top 10 position as well. Demon Days' debut single, Feel Good Inc., also released a few days prior to the album (09/05/05), reached an all-time best in the US, with #14 spot, outperforming its predecessors Clint Eastwood and 19-2000. Demon Days reached #1 in the UK and #6 in the US, going 6x Platinum in the UK and 2x Platinum in the US, selling 8 million copies worldwide. Gorillaz then returned with the (relatively unsuccessful) album Plastic Beach (2010), which reached #2 in the UK and the US and went Platinum in the UK, selling 1.4 million copies globally. Plastic Beach was then followed up with The Fall (2010), which reached #12 in the UK and 24 in the US, selling 180k copies. Gorillaz then took a hiatus, running from 2012 to late 2016, which began after the release of the single DoYaThing.

After their longest hiatus yet, due to a falling out with Albarn and Hewlett in 2010, Gorillaz returned with Humanz (2017), reaching #2 in the UK and US, selling 650k copies., and immediately followed it up the next year with The Now Now (2018), which reached #5 in the UK and #4 in the US, selling 330k copies. Humanz marked the inclusion of Russel Hobbs’ voice actor Remi Kabaka Jr. as the third member of Gorillaz after becoming the band’s real-life drummer and producer. Gorillaz then started Song Machine, a web series releasing music videos, singles and short spoken word sections known as the Machine Bitez every month, with their seventh studio album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, reaching #2 in the UK and #12 in the US charts, selling 200k copies. In August of 2021, the band released their first extended play in over a decade, the Meanwhile EP, as a homage to the Notting Hill Carnival, an event that takes place annually in London, where the band made their debut performance in August of 2000, which didn't take place in that year as a result of the Covid-19 global pandemic. In June 2022, the band released Cracker Island, the lead single from their eighth studio album with the same name, Cracker Island (2023), which managed to reach the #1 spot on the UK albums chart for the first time for a Gorillaz record since the release of Demon Days.

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SUPERPLASTIC - Created by artist Paul Budnitz (Kidrobot, Ello, Budnitz Bicycles), Superplastic is the owner and creator of the world’s first massively popular animated character universe launched on social media. With over 22 million followers on TikTok, YouTube & Instagram, the company’s top synthetic superstars Janky, Guggimon, Dayzee, and Ghost Kidz appear in animated entertainment, music, gaming, high-end vinyl collectible toys, high fashion, and live experiences. The brand sells tens of millions of dollars in real and virtual products annually and has collaborated with Gucci, Fortnite, Post Malone, Mercedes-Benz, Tommy Hilfiger, Christie’s Auction House, J. Balvin, Kidsuper, Pusha-T, Paris Hilton, The Weeknd, Vince Staples, Rico Nasty, and many more. Stay tuned to see what's next.