Damon Albarn

The Gorillaz and Blur singer on cartoon fame, partying with his former rival Noel Gallagher, and getting stoned.

- Simon Vozick-Levinson

Last fall, Gorillaz singer Damon Albarn was feeling bored on tour — so he did what he knows best and started sketching ideas for a new album on his iPad. The result is The Now Now, Gorillaz’s excellent new full-length LP. With its breezy melodies and comparatively lean cast of characters — Snoop Dogg, 75-year-old smooth-jazz guitarist George Benson and Chicago house veteran Jamie Principle are the only credited guests — The Now Now is a refreshing change of pace from Humanz, the overstuffed set Gorillaz released just last year. “It’s a record within a record, a dream within a dream — sort of like Inception,” says the English singer-songwriter, 50, who’s bringing his cartoon band to the U.S. in October for a string of arena dates, leading up to his second annual Demon Dayz L.A. festival on October 20th.

You and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett came up with the idea for Gorillaz 20 years ago. Does it surprise you that something that started as more or less a joke has become such an enduring phenomenon?