Tune in July 27th to "The Henry Rollins Show" on IFC featuring an exclusive performance from Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong performing songs off their debut album, The Good, The Bad and The Queen.  These music legends collaborate to perform "Nature Springs" off their critically acclaimed record. "The Henry Rollins Show" is a weekly independent talk show hosted by Henry, featuring high integrity guests, topics and uncensored musical performances. The show airs every Friday night on IFC at 11pm Eastern, 8pm Pacific.

The band also performs "Herculean" exclusively for IFC.com, so log on to check that out as well!

Monkey : Journey To The West is a new production from bandmember Damon Albarn and his Gorillaz associate Jamie Hewlett.

You can find out more and become a friend of the Monkey myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/monkeyjourneytothewest

You can also see Jamie and Damon talk about the production in this clip, taken from the forthcoming documentary film about Monkey, to be shown on 4th July 2007 on BBC1 in the UK.

Tickets for the UK dates are onsale now HERE

A bonus Q&A with Eslam Jawaad, who of course is well known for his contributions on the track 'Mr.Whippy' in the studio and live. Check out Eslam's own myspace:- http://www.myspace.com/eslamjawaad




How did you get involved with the band?

There's a mutual friend of ours, DJ Yusef, who's a good friend of Damon's, and he called me up and told me the guys had a concept to do one track. There's a lot of depth to this album, and there's a lot of talk about the war and the times we live in. And they had a concept to have an Arabic rapper appear on one of their tracks. So they asked Yusef. Now obviously there aren't many rappers in England that speak arabic, so he called me and asked me if I wanted to meet Damon and so on. So I went down there, we had a meeting, which turned into a recording session and we went into the studio.


Had you heard Damon, Paul, Simon and Tony's older stuff before?

Yeah, of course, I knew the stuff that all of the guys had done. Their music had been there for me at different parts of my life, so it was incredible to me, it's the best thing I've done so far in my career, it's been really exciting to work with these guys.


Mr. Whippy sounds quite different in the studio to the version you do live. Do you prefer one or the other?

Because I've been touring with the band, I've gotten used to the whole live set, I mean the whole album sounds different live. Danger Mouse's touch with the mixing was amazing, don't get me wrong, but I've gotten used to listening to the tracks live. There are parts in the live set that aren't actually on the album.


Have any shows you've performed at with the band stood out?

We've done some amazing historical shows with this band. The Roundhouse, that reopening, that was amazing. This place, the Palais, closing. The London shows are always hot. Paris and Berlin were great. In fact every tour we've done so far has ended on a really good note. In general, touring with these guys is just great. I did the European leg of the Wu-Tang Killer Bees tour as well and there was a lot more egos to deal with on that tour! [laughs] These guys are just like brothers so there's a great vibe onstage, a great vibe on the bus.


Did Mr.Whippy start out as a B-side or was it intended for the album?

Originally, Damon was going to sing on Mr.Whippy, but it was always slated as a B-side because they already had the album finished. But in the end, as regards Damon singing, they thought the rap was so strong in arabic, that they just wanted to leave it as is.


What does the album say to you?

It's a very London album. It's a very here and now, about the world we live in. The world's a crazy place right now. It is a story like the guys say, so it takes you on a journey from what they remember, through how things changed, to where we are now. And even Mr.Whippy, the concept is an Arab / Muslim, walking through the streets of London and what does he see today, what can he see from that point of view, really.


What are you trying to say by the costume change from traditional dress to Hip-Hop gear that's part of the live performance of Mr.Whippy?

The whole point is that it's something unexpected, it's to do with the times we live in. People expect certain things. And it's a way of saying 'don't expect anything'. I'm a muslim, a practising muslim, but I love Hip Hop as well. I can be comfortable in the traditional dress if I'm going to the mosque or something, but I can be comfortable out of that if I'm around guys who aren't muslim or whatever. There's a oneness there. Like if you see a muslim guy sitting on a tube train with a beard, that doesn't mean he's thinking of blowing anyone up. There's still a oneness between different cultures and different peoples. We really need to get beyond what the media currently would make you think.


During the performance in Washington DC, you told the crowd that they were in the 'belly of the beast', what did you mean by that?

When I say something like 'the belly of the beast' in America, I don't mean the American people or anything like that, I'm talking about the media control that America has over the whole world. And that's mainly it. We're battling that image really.


Will you be there for the festival shows in the summer?

Yeah, definitely.


Do you have any releases coming up soon yourself?

Yeah I just finished my first album, it's called The Mammoth Tusk, and we're currently talking to different labels to see who's going to release it. But it's finished, it's in the mastering stages at the moment. There's a lot of good stuff on the album, we've got production from the RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, production from Aftermath Entertainment, and a lot of other artists and producers.

Did you work on any tracks with Damon for the album?

Damon and I have talked about it, we're going to work on a track together, but it won't be for this album maybe the next one, just because of the time schedules for the release and so on.


Will we hear some political stuff on the album?

Yeah there's a lot of political tones to the album, a lot of cultural tones, social issues. It's a album that draws on a wide range of issues, some stuff from my previous life experiences. Things I've learnt. But there's always a political tone to what I do.