The Good, The Bad & The Queen

The Good The Bad and The Queen was an alternative rock supergroup formed in London, England in 2006. The band consists of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong, and Tony Allen. Their first studio album was released on January 22nd, 2007 and debuted at number two in the UK Albums Chart. Within days after its release, the album would become certified gold, despite little recognition and radio play. In the US, the album entered the Billboard 200 at #49. In 2018, the band released their sophomore album Merrie Land, with the band going on tour for the album in November.

History
In 2006, there were reports by the press that Damon Albarn was working on his first solo album. However, on July 28th, 2006, NME revealed that Albarn had actually formed a new supergroup with Paul Simonon, Tony Allen, Simon Tong, with the band’s album being produced by Danger Mouse. The band then appeared in the BBC's music festival Electric Proms at The Roundhouse in Camden on October 26th, 2006. Four days later, the band released their debut album's first single ‘Herculean’.

In a November 2006 interview with Uncut, Albarn and Simonon revealed the album's track listing for the first time. The next month, on December 12th 2006, The Good The Bad and The Queen would perform at their second gig in Wilton's Music Hall in East London. It was broadcasted at the launch of Myspace’s new feature The List and watched exclusively by a specifically selected 300 fans. Kingdom of Doom would later be released on January 12 2007 and become the band’s first single to chart on the Top 20. Green Fields would later be released in April and would make its debut at No. 51. . Green Fields was originally written for the singer Marianne Faithfull, who Albarn had previously collaborated with on the song Kissin’ Time. An alternate version of the song, called "Last Song" was then recorded by Faithfull and released on Before the Poison in 2005.

On May 21st 2007, Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim would exclusively release a previously unheard acoustic version of The Good The Bad and The Queen’s The Bunting Song through the free Adult Swim compilation album Warm & Scratchy.

In 2014, at the same time Albarn revealed he had plans to record Gorillaz' fifth studio album, Albarn revealed that a he had finished writing new album by The Good The Bad & The Queen, being all but recorded. On April 10th 2014, Albarn revealed in an interview with Q Magazine that the album was still in the process of being worked on. He then revealed that the concept for the new album would be inspired by Brexit, which had "given us a wonderful starting point". Albarn would later reveal on May 3rd 2017 that recording sessions would begin during that month. In an interview with Zane Lowe promoting the release of Gorillaz' sixth studio album The Now Now, Albarn mentioned that the new The Good, the Bad & the Queen album had been finished, and that it would be released later in 2018. In an interview with Matt Wilkinson, Albarn revealed that Danger Mouse was not involved with the second The Good, the Bad and the Queen album and that the new album was produced by Tony Visconti.

On October 23rd 2018, The Good The Bad & The Queen released a music video for 'Merrie Land', the lead single for their upcoming sophomore album of the same name. That same day, more information on the album was officially revealed, including album artwork, the release date, and an official track listing, with the album being set for a release on November 16th 2018, and having a total of 10 tracks. The band also created official accounts for the band on social media websites such as Twitter and Instagram. On November 5th 2018, the band released the music video for Gun To The Head, the second single from Merrie Land. The Good, The Bad & The Queen's second studio album Merrie Land was officially released on November 16th 2018.

Impact on Gorillaz
The Good The Bad and The Queen are the band that Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach track On Melancholy Hill was originally written for. On April 24, 2007 a deluxe edition of the album that included a bonus DVD was released that featured rehearsal and recording footage. Amongst the songs played in the DVD was a song that would later become the Plastic Beach song On Melancholy Hill. On the Gorillaz version of the song, band member Paul Simonon, who played on most of Plastic Beach, plays bass on the song.

A few of the songs on Demon Days had originally came from recording sessions that The Good The Bad and The Queen had while at Fela Kuti’s studio in Nigeria, with All Alone being one of them. The back cover for The Good The Bad and The Queen’s self-titled debut album was designed by Jamie Hewlett.

On April 27th 2008, The Good The Bad and The Queen played a song called Carousel at the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival, only played once with no recorded footage. Carousel is the name of the scrapped multimedia Gorillaz project that would eventually morph into Plastic Beach.

Paul Simonon, the band’s bassist, would later go on to contribute basslines to Gorillaz’ third full-length studio album Plastic Beach, as well as become a member of Gorillaz’ live band for the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour in 2010. Tony Allen, the bands drummer, would contribute additional drums and percussion to the Snoop Dogg song Sumthin Like This Night (feat. Gorillaz), which was originally a Gorillaz song that the band had recorded for Plastic Beach. Tony Allen became a headliner for Gorillaz’ Demon Days Festival in Los Angeles, California in 2018. He would later collaborate with Gorillaz for the Song Machine track How Far?, which was released posthumously after his death in 2020. Allen also makes several cameo appearances in the 2019 Gorillaz documentary Reject False Icons.

Discography

 * The Good, The Bad, & The Queen (2006)
 * Merrie Land (2019)