The Good, the Bad & the Queen | |
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 The Good, the Bad & the Queen in 2007. From left to right:Simon Tong,Damon Albarn,Paul Simonon,Tony Allen. | |
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The Good, the Bad & the Queen were an Englishart rocksupergroup composed of singerDamon Albarn ofBlur andGorillaz, bassistPaul Simonon ofthe Clash, guitaristSimon Tong of theVerve, and drummerTony Allen ofFela Kuti's band Africa '70. They released theirself-titled debut album in 2007. Their second album,Merrie Land, coproduced withTony Visconti, was released in 2018. They disbanded in 2019.
The Good, the Bad & the Queen began as a solo project byDamon Albarn with production byDanger Mouse. However, by July 2006, the project had become a band,[5] with bassistPaul Simonon of theClash, guitaristSimon Tong of theVerve, and drummerTony Allen ofFela Kuti's band Africa '70. Albarn met Simonon at the wedding of Clash singerJoe Strummer in 1997, and Tong had worked with Albarn onBlur's 2003Think Tank tour, filling in as guitarist following the departure ofGraham Coxon.[6] Allen contacted Albarn after hearing the 2000 Blur single "Music Is My Radar", which references him.[6]
The Good, the Bad & the Queen played their debut gig in a village pub in Devon on 20 October, followed by a performance at theLondon Roundhouse on 26 October as part of theBBC Electric Proms.[7] They released their first single, "Herculean", on 30 October.[8] On 12 December, the band performed a secret launch gig exclusive to 300 chosen fans forMyspace's new featureThe List inWilton's Music Hall, East London.[9]
The band released theirself-titled debut album on 22 January 2007.[10] It was voted by theObserver Music Magazine as the Best Album of 2007.[11] At this point, Albarn saidThe Good, the Bad & the Queen was only the album title and that the band was "nameless".[7] Simonon said "we didn't properly name the band, because a name is for a marriage".[11]
Albarn said the group had "permanently finished" in 2007; however, they reunited to perform at the 2008Love Music Hate Racism carnival.[12] Tong and Simonon appeared on Albarn's next project, theGorillaz albumPlastic Beach (2010), and participated in thePlastic Beach tour. In November 2011, the Good, the Bad & the Queen played a show at London's Coronet Theatre for the 40th anniversary ofGreenpeace, the first time they had played together in almost three years.[13] Allen and Tong appeared on Albarn's soundtrack for the operaDr Dee (2012), and Allen and Albarn collaborated on the 2012 albumRocket Juice & the Moon.[14]
In October 2014, Albarn announced that a new album had been written and was waiting to be recorded.[15] In April 2017, in a new interview withQ, it was reported that an album was still in the making but that recent events had caused the group to start afresh. Albarn toldQ thatBrexit had "given us a wonderful starting point".[16]
Their second album,Merrie Land, produced byTony Visconti, was released on 16 November, as “the right circumstances came about”, under the new label Studio 13 created by Albarn.[17][18] Albarn described the album as "a series of observations and reflections on Britishness in 2018" and "a reluctant goodbye letter" following the Brexit vote.[19]
The band performed the first gig for the album in Cullercoats on 26 November 2018, which was the start of an eight-date warm-up tour in UK. They toured Europe from March to August in 2019.[citation needed] At a performance atLowlands Festival on 16 August 2019, the last show of the tour, Albarn told the crowd it would be the band's final performance.[20] Allen died in April 2020.[21]
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