"As a musician usually music is your way out."

"When you're doing a deal with someone in the southern Sahara, it's a very different way of doing business than in London. You can't sign them in the usual way because they'd end up getting ripped off, which would defeat the object of setting up a label like this."

"You know, there are many alter egos and Gorillaz is a collective of alter egos, really. I think anyone who gets involved in it has to sort of accept that nothing is really as it seems."

"Being in Blur has allowed me to travel and hear the music that's being made all over the world."

"The things that make me happy most are my family and working."

"The Gorillaz cartoons seem more real to me than the actual people on TV. Because at least you know that there's some intelligence behind the cartoons, and there's a lot of work that's gone into it, so it can't all be just a lie."

"More and more, cultural groups are cross-pollinating, and we're getting much more interesting art as a result."

"The cartoon is a metaphor really for the fact that it's almost impossible in our celebrity obsessed culture to move around genres and sort of change you ideas, change your face, you know?"

"I can't be bothered anymore about giving songs titles."

"It's not like my old self - I'm not in character anymore, I'm me. I'm not hiding behind that anymore."

"The whole period has taught me that I enjoy being part of an ensemble rather than just a front man. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy that too, but I get more enjoyment out of really listening to everyone."

"I'm not really one of those people who believes that if you're a musician you can just leave that behind and start getting into politics."

"I hope we can keep doing it this way - making music and art that are pure products of our influences while not really having to let the whole celebrity side of it get in the way. Then maybe more virtual bands will come out and do the same thing."

"As soon as it sounds fine, I'm on to the next thing, man."

"And there are no stars and that you're never really sure who's doing what and what voice is what and, you know what I mean? It's supposed to be quite elusive."

"No, every album is something like a snapshot. It only shows one moment in time. It shows what we feel and think right at that point in time, nothing more and nothing less."