What makes you laugh?
Sarah McKenzie, via email
Peter Kay – he’s a genius. He comes from Bolton and I come from Wigan, 15 minutes down the road, so it’s so close to home. He’s got an amazing future, without a doubt. He was hilarious at Live8. I was trying to find a drink somewhere and I walked into this massive tent full of food, and Peter Kay was like, “Ooh, they’re not going to like this in Africa are they, eh?” and we had a laugh. I’d love to have a good night out with him.
How do you feel about rock charity?
Johnny, Carnforth
It’s easy to be cynical. I rang Bob Geldof up about nine months ago and said, “Look Bob, I’ve not heard anything back since we did that day – what did we achieve?” And the next day I got this pile of A4 and it was astonishing. Billions written off. Now if you can be cynical about that then… your name’s Damon Albarn.
What is your current view of God and spirituality? There seems to be some disparity between songs like “God In The Numbers” and “Why Not Nothing”?
Gil Bento, via email
I believe that someone in the next century will get God through a number code that unites the whole universe. And it will be so incredible, we won’t be able to get around the fact that there is some kind of creator involved. And “Why not nothing?” – that line came from my wife’s father. The more I pondered on it, the more explosive it became in my head. It’s more about what we fill the void with. We fill the void with a lot of well-written stories. I love Jesus Christ, there’s no getting around it, but what’s been done in his name, or Mohammed’s name – I don’t believe those things. My last album was laughed at for trying to tackle this idea. I was saying religious feelings were coming to our streets. This idea that we’re this multicultural country, it’s completely wrong. I was brought up in the North; I saw communities isolate themselves from each other 15 years ago. It’s not a new thing.