'Damon Albarn was tired of Blur'

Jamie Hewlett, who collaborated with ex-Blur frontman Damon Albarn to create animated band Gorillaz and the opera 'Monkey: Journey To The West', has spoken about why the duo decided to work together in the first place.

The visual artist told the Observer that one of the reasons Albarn wanted to work with Hewlett was because he was "tired" of life in Blur.

The duo met through Jane Olliver, Hewlett's ex-partner, in the mid-1990s. "Me and Damon hated each other at first," Hewlett said.

"Then in the late '90s I split up with Jane around the same time Damon broke up with Justine [Frischmann, former Elastica frontwoman]", he continued, "and for some reason we decided to get a flat together.

"We'd spend hours watching MTV and wondering why everything was so terrible. I think Damon was tired of being the frontman for Blur, and I was aghast at how boring most pop groups are when they’re interviewed.

"[We thought:] 'Look at them, on television, all sat on the couch with nothing to say'. So we said, 'Let's make up a fake band'."

Hewlett went on to reveal that he and Damon Albarn's next project will be a film/stage project named 'Carousel'. Albarn has written around 70 songs for the project so far.