“ | "Always be wary of people who use quotes. I don't know who said that." | „ |
~ Murdoc, Rise Of The Ogre |
Murdoc Faust Niccals (Né Murdoc Alphonce Niccals) is the official bass player, self-proclaimed leader and founder of Gorillaz.
Characterization
Murdoc is based on The Rolling StonesW guitarist Keith RichardsW, Creeper from Scooby-DooW, Victor FrankensteinW [1] and Morgan Nicholls, a friend of Jamie Hewlett and Gorillaz real-life bassist during Phase Two. He is also loosely based on Damon Albarn himself, with many of the events that happen to Murdoc and things that Murdoc says is loosely based on that of Albarn. [2] "Damon is Murdoc, basically", Hewlett says, "When Damon has an adventure, it tends to happen to Murdoc too".
Murdoc's attire in each phase of the band draws its inspiration from Ozzy OsbourneW.[3]
Phase 7 is the first time Murdoc was completely clean shaven since Phase 4. Every phase prior to Phase 4, and in Phases 4-6, depicted Murdoc with slight facial hair.
Background
Murdoc Alphonse Niccals was born in Stoke-On-Trent on the 6th of June 1966. He was born in The Three Legged Dog (a pub) out the back by the wheelie bins, although it was rumored that his mother gave birth to him while still in residence at the Belphagor Sanatorium, a halfway house for "the sick, the needy and the incredibly bored".
As an infant, he was dumped on the doorstep of his father's house one night and was discovered by him as he was returning home from the pub.
Murdoc went on to have a very abusive childhood. It has been proposed that his many addictions and his sour attitude were a direct result of it. His father, Sebastian Jacob Niccals (or Jacob Sebastian Niccals, depending on who's asking), was a spiteful and drunk man who often verbally abused and exploited his sons. [4]
During his childhood years, Murdoc attended Sodsworth Comprehensive School where he gained a reputation for his truancy, puerile pranks, ugliness, poor personal hygiene, and generally unruly behaviour. From the first day, he would frequently be found in the corridors during lessons and propping up walls outside of the classrooms, distracting the other pupils with "endless quacking noises and pointless, malicious humour". His form teacher, Mr Gravadlax, a man described by Murdoc as "turning up stinking of poppers", described Murdoc as "an appalling student" and "a stupid imbecile who often turned up smelling of whiskey". Although, even as a child, he had charisma, had a great knack for getting his acquaintances to see things "the Murdoc Niccals way" and certainly stood out. Despite all this, he was also the target of much bullying both from the pupils and the teachers. At age nine he was raped by a school lunch lady, which he cites as the source of his 'constant bad mood'. Murdoc was also bullied at school by a big, thick, meaty skinhead lump of a boy with arms like two racks of kabob meat named Tony Chopper. Chopper would call Murdoc all kinds of names and the list went on with new ones added daily. Murdoc got back at Tony by calling him a lot of offensive and extremely harsh names, ultimately calling him "a useless, bloated backward waste of space who would probably get a job of holding up 'For Sale' signs on the corner of streets only to then get himself fired and replaced by a bucket of the soil", which resulted in Tony punching Murdoc in the nose, breaking it.
The local pub had a routine talent show called "Are You A Star?" that Murdoc was often forced to participate in so he could win his father's drinking money. The performances arranged by his father were always humiliating song and dance numbers, usually with feathered costumes and tap shoes, including one performance in which Murdoc was forcibly dressed up as Pinocchio and sang "I've Got No Strings". It was from here on out that Murdoc decided to become a musician, and he would never again take the stage under someone else's direction. He would “wreak havoc on this world of buffoons”.
Murdoc dreamt about becoming a famous musician and leaving Stoke-On-Trent. After becoming a Satanist, he began making deals with the devil and came to an arrangement with him. If Murdoc was to become a famous rock star, he would offer Satan his soul. When the deal was finalized, Murdoc acquired Satan's bass guitar, the 'El Diablo', and his middle name was changed from 'Alphonce' to 'Faust'.
Murdoc played in a number of bands before Gorillaz, though they never went anywhere. The names and instruments of the other members appear in the Gorillaz 2005 promotional booklet and are given as follows: Billy Boy (who is based on a character in A Clockwork Orange) and Tiny on guitars, Crunch on drums, Rocky on keyboards, and Munch, who appears to be listed as "Band Artist." Not much else is known about these characters including their personalities or current whereabouts, although they appear on a few pieces of official Gorillaz artwork, most notably in the previously mentioned booklet as well as in Kong Studios, where an image of Crunch, Billy Boy, and Tiny can be seen on the wall in the instrument room.
At some point in the early 1990s, Murdoc founded a band called Murdoc's Burning Sensations. Not much is known about the band outside of being a featured headliner for a concert at the Withered Hand in Stoke-on-Trent on the 29th of November 1994. It is assumed that the band broke up at some point prior to 1997 due to unknown circumstances. Other bands Murdoc was a part of include: 'Patchouli Clark', 'Kiss ‘n’ Make Up', 'Bullworker', 'Motley Dude', 'The Stupid Name Gang', 'Durango 95', 'Two’s A Crowd', 'Crimson Backdraft' and 'This Show Has Been Cancelled'.
During his early thirties, while he was unemployed, Murdoc would spend his Job Seeker’s Allowance on seedy, underground kid fights. In one occasion, however, he caught necrotizing fasciitis in the loos, which gave him his viridian skin colour.[5] He had also dyed his hair blonde for a short period of time.
On the 15th of August 1997, Murdoc and a gang of criminals were on a crime spree in a stolen Vauxhall Astra. Their next target was Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium where Stuart Pot (AKA 2-D) was working. Murdoc launched the car through the shop window, crashing directly into Stuart's face, putting him into a coma and giving him an 8-ball fracture on his left eye. After the incident, Murdoc was arrested and sentenced to 30,000 hours of community service and spending 10 hours a week caring for Stuart.
One day while skidding his car around a car park in Nottingham, Murdoc accidentally sent Stuart flying through the windshield into a curb, giving Stuart a fracture on his right eye, yet waking him up from his coma. Impressed by Stuart's appearance, describing him as "a blue-haired, black-eyed god", Murdoc recruited him as the lead singer and keyboardist for his band and gave him the nickname 2-D for the two dents in his head.
Phase 1: 1998-2002
In September of 1998, Murdoc discovered Kong Studios being advertised on a website named 'Gigantic Disused Haunted Studios In The Middle Of No-Where', which he bought and moved in with 2-D.
Murdoc later went on to recruit Russel Hobbs as his band's drummer after kidnapping him from Big Rick Black's Record Shack in Soho. The band also hired 2-D's girlfriend at the time, Paula Cracker, as their guitarist, but was soon fired after she was caught giving Murdoc a blowjob in the studio toilets by Russel and received 5 more punches to his nose. After Noodle joined the band and the band was finally named Gorillaz, Murdoc organized a gig at the Camden Brownhouse and invited Mr Wiffy Smiffy from EMI Music to see them. He and the rest of the band were successfully signed after their first gig in November of that year.
With the success of the band's first album in 2001, the band launched a disastrous world tour. While in the United States, Murdoc established a cult of personalityW with various seedy individuals, chief of which being Little Jimmy Manson, a psychopathic midget dangerously obsessed with either killing Murdoc or falling in love with him. In a hotel room one night, Murdoc summoned a black-skinned demon boy that ended up siding with Jimmy and stalking the band ever since. After achieving fame, fortune, and several nasty hangovers, the alcoholic bassist relocated his band over to Los Angeles so they could begin production on a movie.
Post-Phase 1 to Pre-Phase 2: 2002-2004
Unfortunately, this was never to be. They were conned by a movie director (who it turns out, was just an insane man) while Murdoc attempted to star in a television program (he was too old for the part), and they ventured unsuccessfully into scriptwriting. Murdoc took off to a TijuanaW brothel after strangling 2-D (who, like the rest of the band, went their separate ways) and was eventually thrown in prison with a 30-year sentence for giving counterfeit checks to prostitutes. It was during this sentence that he was acquainted with his raven Cortez, the "jailbird with a chilling reputation". While serving his sentence Murdoc acquired some prison ink (in the form of the seven deadly sins tattooed across his back), and also took an Open University course: "Amateur Administration of Pharmaceutical Medicines" and managed to pass a medical exam, earning the title 'Dr. Niccals'. He escaped with the help of two Mexican criminals as well as a paper-mâché mannequin of himself and a taped loop of himself moaning.
After returning to the brothel to make a final point to the Mexican authorities, Murdoc loaded up on duty-free tequila and a few sombreros and made his way back to Kong, finding that Noodle had written the second album by herself (which he tried to take the credit for).
Phase 2: 2004-2007
The new album, Demon Days, made the band into even bigger superstars. After several number-one videos, Noodle was apparently "killed" during the "El Mañana" video shoot (it can be noted that Murdoc came up with the idea of shooting down the floating island with Noodle inside, though he tried to save her in the long run).
After the El Mañana conspiracy, 2-D and Russel were frantic about Noodle's supposed death, but it turned out to be a hoax. Murdoc revealed the truth about the "El Mañana" video in the Gorillaz official autobiography book, Rise of the Ogre. Gorillaz-Unofficial released an article containing the contents of the book.
“ | There's no way on earth I'm killing Noodle. Are you mad? She's Noodle. We're Gorillaz! The greatest band on earth. I'm arrogant, ruthless even, but I'm not stupid. I'm not having some two-bit mouldy despot record company nut killing off my band. No way, José. That clown got what he deserved. . . He set himself up and burned all the evidence in the process. Instant Karma for Mr Jimmy Manson. | „ |
~ Murdoc on Rise of the Ogre |
It turns out that the entire El Mañana conspiracy was calculated specifically to get rid of an enemy of the band: Little Jimmy Manson, a psychotic hippie turned industry executive who was set on sabotaging Gorillaz. The reason why was that Jimmy had auditioned for Gorillaz a few years back, but was turned down after Noodle got the job, causing Jimmy to have a grudge against Gorillaz ever since. Murdoc saw Jimmy's plan and decided to get rid of him before it was too late. Murdoc told Jimmy that he had a plan to "help him" to kill off one of the band members so that Gorillaz would end with a bang and that Jimmy could start a new band with Murdoc. Noodle was to do the El Mañana video with Manson stowed away on the island and, while the windmill was crashing around them, Jimmy would shoot the guitarist whilst taking the parachute for himself. However, Murdoc turned the tables on Jimmy by not only "forgetting" to leave the weapon aboard the island, but by also locking him in the windmill. Jimmy supposedly died in the crash while Noodle parachuted to safety. It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days, although leaving what, the band or the country, was never answered. Though it had been planned for months, she had neglected to tell anyone of her plans (although Murdoc stated it was obvious what she was doing). Murdoc, in order to run with his plan to off Jimmy, made a deal with Noodle: she could disappear for some R&R with no fuss if she did the video.
While some may say this is one of the only occasions when it appears that Murdoc isn't as selfish as he appears, he later states that "no one was going to ruin his band", obviously meaning he would not jeopardize his fame.
However, on the 8th of November 2007, the day of the live chat on Murdoc's Facebook page, Murdoc revealed that Noodle has actually been taken to Hell in place of Russel Hobbs by the demons invading the Kong Studios building.
“ | ''Noodle has been dragged to Hell. She can look after herself, but this one's too big for her on her own. I'm helping her out of there. In fact, I only stopped by here to pick up a can of mace, when I noticed that someone had left the door open and let you gonks in...
— Murdoc Niccals on a live Facebook chat |
„ |
He later explained:
“ | Well... It’s funny. After the first album, Russel had this big mad breakdown. He had the spirit of Del exorcized out of him by the Grim Reaper. Which kind of sent him mentally. He tried to record a solo album but then he was saying that all these demons were flying out the speakers trying to eat him. Everyone thought he’d just gone loopy. ‘Living in a basement with Ike Turner’. It turns out though he was right. The Demons were real! You couldn’t really make it up. So next thing we know is after Noodle disappeared after The El Mañana video incident, we hear this voice coming out of the basement room of Kong. Out of a radio. Turns out that when these demons couldn’t get hold of Russ, they grabbed Noodle instead. Dragged her downstairs, to Hades! So, of course, it fell to muggings here (that’s me), to go on some epic Odysseus-type journey into The Underworld to try to rescue her. It’s all tied up with the contract I signed with Beelzebub that shoe-horned Gorillaz up the charts in the first place. He was cocked off about some late payment of my eternal soul, or something stupid. He as well as anyone should know that these types of payments take time to come through. I mean, well, everyone’s got their demons to battle. It's just that mine take on a more physical form and have names like ‘Alichino’, ‘Lilith’, ’Baphomet’ ‘Sidragasum’, ‘Xitragupten’ and so on... I guess that’s what you get if you’re born in a mental asylum named after a demon called Belphegor. Still, I was never bored as a child. Yup... never bored. | „ |
~ Murdoc Niccals on a live Facebook chat |
Phase 3: 2008-2012
While spending many years on an around-the-world bender, Murdoc began running low on cash, he became a gun runner and was selling faulty weapons in Mexico in order to make fast money. He took further measures by burning down Kong Studios on July 25th, 2008, and attended Jamie Hewlett's opera as an alibi. After blaming the fire on some local kids, Murdoc cashed in on the insurance money and fled the country. His reason for leaving the UK was because he was on the run from a gang of pirates called "The Black Cloud" who purchased the broken weapons from Murdoc the last time he was in Mexico. Now armed with new, working weapons, they began to hunt Murdoc down as an act of revenge for ripping them off.
While sailing the world for somewhere to hide, Murdoc discovered an island made entirely out of a floating landfill which he would call Plastic Beach. He would also use the insurance money to erect a new Gorillaz HQ on top of the island and began working on demos for the Plastic Beach album. Murdoc has since revealed various disturbing truths about Gorillaz's history via his "Pirate Radio" broadcasts on Gorillaz.com. Among them include the revelation that Noodle was never rescued; upon entering Hell and searching wildly for her, he discovered that she was not there and that she had disappeared on her own. Returning to Earth, he created a clone-cyborg version of her from DNA that he collected around the wreckage on the site of El Mañana and used the new Noodle clone as his bodyguard against the Black Cloud, who were pirates and mercenaries that Murdoc had been selling bad weapons to since at least his time in Mexico. At a radio interview, Murdoc confirmed that he burned down Kong Studios and used the insurance money in order to create his hideaway/recording studio on a tiny island named the "Plastic Beach", located at Point Nemo. It was an island made entirely of social and cultural garbage. He is presently located on Plastic Beach, where he's kidnapped 2-D and began production of the Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. During the interview, Murdoc also hinted at a possible fourth album for Gorillaz.
It appears from the music videos of Stylo and On Melancholy Hill, an evil force known as the Boogieman is chasing Murdoc and is after him to claim his soul. The Boogieman also appears in several other pieces of Gorillaz artwork and is also seen in the 2-D ident, though the motives of the character are still unknown. However, on the Gorillaz website, it was noted that the Boogieman is a physical manifestation of Murdoc's evil side, with the Evangelist being a lighter side, though all we know of the Evangelist is that it was created for the sole purpose of saving Murdoc from himself. As it turns out, the devil was getting impatient, waiting nearly forever to get Murdoc's soul. He sent the Boogieman to collect it, but of course, he was unsuccessful.
Murdoc attempted and failed to appear at live shows around the world such as Coachella and The Roundhouse, but many things have stopped him, such as being deported from America. He said in an iTunes interview that he "wasn't 100% sure he really exists..." and that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have been trying and failing to stick him back on a piece of paper. The ever-so pesky "Gorillaz Tribute Band" has been blocking his way and preventing him from taking the stage (See the Murdoc Dressing Room video shorts where, when preparing for a concert, Murdoc, 2-D, and Cyborg Noodle get trapped inside.) Murdoc had said that the "Gorillaz Tribute Band" was actually a group of people made by Lucifer, in punishment for not allowing him to take his soul.
Murdoc got together a group of collaborators in 2010 and went out to look for Noodle, and although they still haven't found her, she is now confirmed to be alive after the "El Mañana" incident, as she appears in the "On Melancholy Hill" video. This relates to Murdoc and the collaborators looking for Noodle, as they are in submarines in the ocean at the same time as Noodle, although the video also shows the arrival of the gang to the island of Plastic Beach.
On December 25, 2010, to cap off the end of 2010, Gorillaz unveiled (via the Gorillaz Advent Calendar) their newest album, The Fall. It was made on the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour using Damon Albarn's iPad.
In a 2011 XFM Broadcast, Murdoc stated he left his pirate-infested Plastic Beach to live in Hawaii. It is evident by his detailed "story" that he is there alone, though, some fans are convinced he is lying about 2-D's "sudden death" (which didn't happen in an uncut version until he said it again was true) and the appearance of Russel and Noodle, as well as the destruction of the Cyborg Noodle. He also revealed that he faked his death by putting a Murdoc look-a-like in his place and killed him to fool the Boogieman. He finally escaped Plastic Beach via rowboat, until he got caught up in a typhoon and was blown thousands of miles across the ocean and ended up in Hawaii.
After nearly a year underground (or lurking in the dark corners of who-knows-where), Gorillaz’s Murdoc Niccals has resurfaced and is again wreaking havoc — this time over the airwaves. It seems in fact that, following a dramatic exit from Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach HQ, the miserable despot Murdoc Niccals has created yet another pirate radio station and is now sending transmissions from a brand new mystery location. It's all about Gorillaz Converse single will be called "DoYaThing" and will feature collaborators André 3000 (of Outkast) and James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem). The single was released on 23 February.[2 It turns out that Murdoc wasn't in Hawaii at all, but was living in a ransacked house in England; 212 Wobble Street, London to be exact. It is unknown what happened after the rest of the band finally caught up with Murdoc, but in the DoYaThing video, it is revealed that they are all living together. However, they have been threatened with an eviction notice.
Phase 4: 2016-2017
Murdoc escaped the Plastic Beach ruins in his submarine, taking Cyborg Noodle along with him (her destruction by Noodle is implied to be a lie on Murdoc's part). The two were captured by the EMI Battleship Ringo, and imprisoned in "Dungeon Abbey", underneath Abbey Road Studios. Soon after, Murdoc was approached by an Entertainment Internal Affairs representative, who releases him with orders to write songs for the next Gorillaz album.
Phase 5: 2018-2019
During the Strobelite music video shoot, Murdoc met a man at the bar, who turned out to be El Mierda, a shadow demon and kingpin of a crime dynasty. Murdoc thought the man wanted a selfie but since El Mierda reminded him of his Geography teacher they took it anyway and Murdoc sent it to his school WhatsApp thread. El Mierda later had Murdoc framed for smuggling, sending him to the HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs prison.
“ | Smashing. Alright, El Mierda… is a shadow, a demon, a direct descendent to Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte herself. That’s foreign for ‘Our Lady of Holy Death’. A total [fuckwit], basically. And Muggins here had the misfortune of meeting him during the ‘Strobelite’ video shoot. 2D was making a tit of himself on the dancefloor, so I went to the bar and banged down some mezcals. El Mierda piped up; I presumed he wanted a selfie. How was I to know he was the kingpin of the bloodiest crime dynasty in modern history? Reminded me a lot of my old Geography teacher, actually, so we did a selfie anyway for my school WhatsApp thread. | „ |
~ Murdoc Niccals on a Noisey interview |
On 4 June 2018, Murdoc's Twitter account became active once again, sending out a link that has instructions to contact Murdoc through Skype, Facebook, Kik, and Amazon Alexa. Through this chat, fans can hack into Wormwood Scrub's PA system and send a message over the loudspeaker. Murdoc needs the PA system hacked so he can pick a fight with Big Balls McGuinness, the toughest prisoner. Through this fight, he can gain respect so he can ask prisoners for info on El Mierda.
He finally escaped on August 31 but his whereabouts were unknown for some time. Two weeks later, Noodle managed to track down El Mierda to Patagonia. However, she was angered to discover the "El Mierda" in the Strobelite video was actually a leather goods salesman named Juan and the real El Mierda was actually the very old owner of a spa who had never even heard of Gorillaz: the truth was Murdoc had been imprisoned for parking fines and he "escaped" on the exact day he was supposed to be released. Just as she was venting her frustrations, she was startled to encounter a yak with Murdoc tied to its back. Murdoc quickly rejoined the band shortly afterwards.
Phase 6: 2019-2021
On the 14th of September 2019, Murdoc sent a postcard from his annual drunken holiday in Ibiza. The post-card arrived at Studio 13 on the 26th of September.[6]
On the 28th of January, Murdoc activated the "Song Machine", and announced the band's next project Song Machine, a multimedia series of songs/music videos released episodically through 2020, as a continuously updating playlist via streaming services.
In Momentary Bliss, Murdoc interacts with slowthai and Slaves and tries drugging Damon by pulling out a tiny green bottle filled with either poison or hard liquor and pouring some of it into his drink; after Murdoc notices there were no ill effects, Murdoc drinks the rest of the bottle's contents; he is later seen vomiting outside the recording studio.
Murdoc later appears in the video for the second single of Song Machine, Désolé. He pops out of a trunk mailed to the new Kong Studios. After wandering around for a bit, he sees a door closing in the distance; Murdoc follows it and just misses 2-D walking through a door leading somewhere else. After wandering around some more, Murdoc realizes he is the only one at the studio and everyone else is gone; after going back to the door 2-D went through, Murdoc starts to cry as he goes back upstairs, curling up on a sofa. He then returns back to the trunk and blankly stares ahead as he closes it.
In Aries, 2-D takes Murdoc on a motorcycle ride to make up for leaving him out of Désolé. Noodle, reasonably concerned, recruits Russel to chase after them. Noodle fails to warn 2-D, however, and the video ends with Murdoc brandishing a large syringe with truth serum inside. In a photo of the aftermath of Aries, it is revealed that Noodle & Russel caught up with 2-D after Murdoc injected him with the truth serum. Russel then attacks Murdoc and Noodle attempts to pull Russel off of him to de-escalate the situation. In the Machine Bitez preceding Aries, 2-D explains the portals in the new Kong to a confused and curious Murdoc after teasing him about crying because he was left behind. Russel theorizes that 2-D was injected because Murdoc wanted control of the portals in Kong and believed 2-D was keeping secrets from him about them.[7] After the events of the Aries video, Murdoc apparently went missing, with Russel and Noodle unable to find him.[8] It was later revealed through Debunked and Get Lost with Gorillaz that Murdoc was socially distancing himself in the basement of Kong Studios and was in the process of building a portal of his own for Kong.[9]
In Friday 13th, the injuries that Murdoc and all of the others suffered as a result of the fight after Aries are shown throughout the video, filmed while all four band members were in quarantine. PAC-MAN depicts Murdoc in the basement of Kong as he builds a portal just for himself and uses a Pac-Man arcade machine to distract 2-D as he builds it. In Strange Timez, Murdoc and the rest of the band explore outer space together with his Winnebago. During their adventure, Murdoc enters a portal on the moon that leads him into a colourful void that lands him right back to Kong Studios, with the rest of the band then proceeding to fly back to Earth. In The Pink Phantom, Murdoc attempts to catch a ghost that's been haunting Kong Studios called The Pink Phantom, a being with unknown origins that feeds off negative energy. In The Valley of the Pagans, the band brings The Pink Phantom that Murdoc captured with them on a trip to Los Angeles through a portal. In The Lost Chord, The Pink Phantom comes along as Gorillaz suddenly land back in time to Plastic Beach and it's destroyed by a giant Kaiju monster (played by Leee John). Murdoc almost sinks along with the island after 2-D, Russel and Noodle escape to safety, but is saved at the last minute by 2-D, who comes back and reaches his hand out from the portal to catch him.
As part of the promotion for Song Machine Live, Murdoc DJ'd an hour-long set for Apple Music Radio. During his hour he interviewed Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, neither of whom he was very pleased to be talking to: he accused Damon of stealing his work and misspoke Jamie's name several times. At one point Jamie highlighted Murdoc's famous grunts that hadn't been heard in some time, to which Murdoc quickly broke out into them while explaining he was in the process of washing a chicken.
Phase 7: 2022- Present
In July 2022, the band moved to Silver Lake, Los Angeles while Kong Studios was undergoing restorations. At that time Murdoc founded a cult, dubbed The Last Cult. During the production of the new album, Cracker Island, Murdoc became attracted to their neighbour, a lady known as Moon Flower, who is the high priestess of her own cult, the Forever Cult. However, she seems to like 2-D more than him.
Shortly after the cult was made, he wrote a book focusing on auras and how to crack them. He seems to be primarily focused on meditating, it could be to impress his neighbour. Throughout this phase, Murdoc has become one with peace and taking care of himself more often, rather than chasing girls. This, however, was not entirely accurate, as he quickly became jealous of the bond 2-D and Moon Flower were developing.
On the 13th of November, 2022, Murdoc gave an acceptance speech at the MTV Europe Music Awards after Gorillaz won in the "Best Alternative" category for the song Cracker Island.
Around this time, Murdoc also created his own perfume, named 'Essence Of Murdoc', composed of his own distilled bath water with added herbs, vegetables, wine, citrus, rum, ash and cheese. It was initially scheduled to be released in time for Christmas 2022, but the product had to be recalled due to incidents of skin shedding on its testers.
2-D's increasing involvement with The Forever Cult, led by Moon Flower, made Murdoc believe he was betraying The Last Cult, who started calling him a non-believer. Eventually, 2-D got kidnapped by the Forever Cult, who intended to sacrifice them to a monster beneath Hollywood in order to remain young. The band members became aware of this and went on to the Forever Cult's lair to rescue Stuart.
On the music video for Silent Running, Murdoc, Russel and Noodle break into the cult's lair in order to rescue 2-D from the Forever Cult's sacrifice. Moon Flower decides to join their side, and starts pulling back 2-D from the pit. Murdoc, however, becomes attracted to Moon Flower once he sees her and joins in to help. Murdoc flirts with Moon Flower, the surprise of which (combined with the bad smell of Murdoc's Essence), however, cause her to flinch and let go of the rope holding 2-D, with Murdoc being pulled straight into one of the pulley's wooden pillars and his essence bottle thrown directly into the monster's mouth, who accidentally swallows it before exploding. This saves 2-D and disintegrates the members of the Forever Cult while causing Moon Flower to faint. The police then appears at their location, taking the unconscious Moon Flower and the three other band members to the Los Angeles County Hospital while Murdoc runs away.
In the Cracker Island music video, Murdoc arrives at the LA County Hospital after the rest of the band. There, he meets Moon Flower once again, covered by a sheet and looking like a ghost. She then uncovers her face, but starts aging very quickly due to the miracle wearing off. Despite this, however, Murdoc lays his hand in her face and kisses her, while all the others watch it in disbelief.
Murdoc kept messaging her afterwards, despite everything that had previously happened. Moon Flower eventually replied to him with an email (which he accidentally forwarded to the entire Last Cult mailing list) explaining the history of the Forever Cult and agreeing to go out with him on a 'date', to watch The Hills Are Hungry before she eventually passed away.
A few days after the events of the video, Moon Flower also crumbled to dust. Murdoc put her ashes in an urn, which he kept with him to remember her.
Quotes
“ | Hello, America, I'm Murdoc and we're-we're Gorillaz. | „ |
“ | Always be wary of people who use quotes. I don't know who said that. | „ |
“ | As Russel says, we’re happy to help sell their soles. | „ |
“ | Kids, eh? Little treasures. I love them. Couldn’t eat a whole one, though. | „ |
“ | He’s like a young Keith Richards - a rock ‘n’ roll hardman with a bit of a mouth on him. He says a lot, but he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. Damon thought he was a bit too rock, so I toned him down a bit, but in the future, he’ll get into Satanism. Murdoc is a death metal bass player who wants to be the singer but isn’t pretty enough. | „ |
~ Jamie Hewlett, Q Magazine |
“ | It's real Egyptian silk. Mmmmmmmm... | „ |
“ | Any contract I made with the devil was null and void, cos I didn't actually write it in my blood. I used a pouch of pig's blood I keep taped under my balls. Smart, eh? | „ |
“ | Gorillaz are my family. Little sister Noodle, big bro Russ, and faithful house cat 2D. Which reminds me, I must get him neutered. | „ |
“ | Some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. | „ |
“ | Can’t recall exactly who was on our case that day. Black Clouds? FBI? EMI? DMC? Should have probably kept a spreadsheet. | „ |
“ | We’re all cogs in the great machine, you know... | „ |
Trivia
- According to The Book Of M.A.N., Murdoc is an immortal being who has been reincarnating himself for many years, thus he has seen all of history. Though this possibly isn't canon anymore since the Book of M.A.N was scrapped due to budget reasons and in favour of a storyline that redeems Murdoc instead of making him a villain, though whether or not he has been reincarnated is up for debate.
- Murdoc has his own Twitter account, which he has used to spread misinformation such as Noodle killing Cyborg.
- Murdoc's wonky nose has been broken from being punched in the face eight times. The first punch was from Tony Chopper, the second and third punches came from his brother, Hannibal Niccals, and the last five punches came from Russel Hobbs after he caught Paula Cracker cheating on 2-D with Murdoc in the toilets of Kong Studios.
- The most likely reason for Murdoc's coloring is that he is immortal due to his deal with Satan and his skin is slowly rotting, but other reasons given for Murdoc's skin being green are that it is a strange kind of tan, or that it is caused by his alcohol consumption.
- Plastic Beach’s storyline was originally going to end with the discovery that Murdoc is actually an immortalist, has existed since the beginning of the universe, and has been constantly reincarnated throughout time since the beginning of life itself, being present for all of the world's worst tragedies throughout history and that he would eventually slowly become the cause of the end of the world. He would be the 'villian' and everyone would have died because of him. This would have been revealed towards the end of Plastic Beach's storyline in a book called the Book of M.A.N (Murdoc Alphonce Niccals). Cass Browne revealed this in his interview with the Gorillaz fan podcast Hallelujah Monkeyz.
- Murdoc's voice changed drastically during the transition from Phase 1 and onward. Initially, Murdoc's voice was higher-pitched and nasally. In later phases, his voice lowered in octaves and became a mix between nasally and raspy.
- Murdoc has at least one half-brother named Hannibal. Not much is known about Hannibal except that he is older than Murdoc.
- His favourite colour is ‘blue mixed with green’, because it creates turquoise.[10]
- In his Murdoc Niccals Mixology Masterclass And Q&A, he says ‘Puce’ is his favorite colour and scent.
- Murdoc’s favourite alcoholic beverage is “Vodka Umbungo.”[11]
- Murdoc has once said to be a feminist.[12]
- When he was nine years old, he was raped by a dinner lady, and "he's been in a bad mood ever since".
- Murdoc's prisoner number, 24602, is a possible and likely reference to the novel and musical Les MisérablesW, with the main character Jean Valjean’s prison number being 24601.
- When he was asked on Twitter by a user named 'Gorillazfan-102' why 2-D had behaved unusually during his absence, Murdoc responded by saying "Cos there was an imbalance in the force. But I'm back now so all's tip-bloody-top again."
- Murdoc was originally going to be a Christian Latino character named Sal, who himself was originally named Louie. Apparently, even Noodle's creation predates Murdoc's, with one sketch of Sal with Gorillaz including Noodle in it.
- Although he is primarily a bassist, Murdoc has been shown to have the ability to play other instruments as well. For example, in Plastic Beach, the drum machine programming is provided by Murdoc, replacing Russel, who was absent from the album. He was playing the piano in the Motorola phone G-Bite. In Rise of The Ogre artwork of Murdoc's Burning Sensations, he is shown holding an electric guitar. In some Humanz pictures, he can again be seen in the studio with a drum machine. In the Song Machine theme tune, he's the one who switches on the 'machine' (a synthesizer) that plays the theme song, and in the second Song Machine print, he is depicted playing an electric guitar.
- Murdoc has frequently shown himself to be an inventor and a mad scientist in his own right over the years, with his most famous creation being Cyborg Noodle, as well as being responsible for creating Plastic Beach. This aspect of Murdoc is further expanded upon in Song Machine in PAC-MAN, where Murdoc attempts to build his own portal for the new Kong Studios and creates a Pac-Man arcade machine to distract 2-D while doing so. His version of the portal turns out to be nothing more than a wooden box that does not work.
- Murdoc has been shown as being either bi or pansexual since 2004, with Noodle saying in a Q&A session, "Murdoc says that he can pick up boys with chopsticks but he has used his dictaphone. I do not understand this."[13] The music video for DARE ends with a nightmare sequence where Murdoc is sleeping in the same bed as Shaun Ryder.[14] In the first of Murdoc's Pirate Radio broadcasts from 2010, he mentions having sexual desires for comedian Ronnie Corbett.[15] In the Free Murdoc campaign, he responds with "my sexual preferences are more complex and terrifying than you can ever imagine" when questioned about his sexuality.
- Murdoc's favourite movies are The Golden GloveW, GoodfellasW, Straw DogsW, MetropolisW, Dawn of the DeadW, The WickermanW, IrréversibleW, The Last House on the LeftW, The Devil Rides OutW, Masque of the Red DeathW, The Omega ManW, The Driller KillerW, Gangs of New YorkW, The Texas Chain Saw MassacreW, Apocalypse NowW and Planet of the ApesW.
- Murdoc's favourite TV show of all time is The Young OnesW.
- Murdoc's main hobbies aside from music include playing tennis, rowing, clocking, and badminton.
- In Phase Two, Murdoc began playing bass with two fingers instead of one. During Phase One, Murdoc was a one-finger bassist.
- In Murdoc's room in the Spirit House (of the Gorillaz T-Mobile app), there is a link to a playlist called "MurdocTube". The playlist consists of one video called, "Anton lavey-His Deathbed Confession-begs god for mercy as he slips away into Hell", which may imply that Murdoc may be questioning his faith in Satan. [16]
Gallery
The full image gallery for Murdoc may be viewed at Murdoc/Gallery. |