NME: You have so many projects on the go, are you the hardest-working man in indie?


Damon: "(Laughs) I've been writing music every day since 1991, that's what I do. It's my passion in life. What it is, is that I go in the studio in the morning - not every day - have a spliff and then my mind wanders and I just have to follow it through."

NME: How have you found people's reaction to GBQ?


Damon: "I was so proud of the record and I've really enjoyed playing the gigs. It's good now. When we did the Camden Roundhouse [last October as part of the BBC Electric Proms season] it was like a very public rehearsal, but everyone is really happy in their space onstage and it's nice. I really enjoyed the tour."

NME: What was life on the road like again?


Damon: "(Laughs) It's not like it used to be! We've been going on the tourbus every night, which I suppose is what it was like in the very early days. We haven't been playing particularly big places and the riders have just had cold meats and some crisps. So it's different, but it's nice. Everyone gets on really well. It's enjoyable but not crazy."

NME: What have GBQ got planned next?


Damon: "We're going to play one of the last gigs at Hammersmith Palais [March 31]. It's one for Paul [Simonon] because he and Hammersmith Palais go back a long way. Then we're going to play a few festivals and do another whole recording session in early September. It will be totally different, more funky. We'll try to get it out early autumn."

NME: You're doing the musical score to an opera, Monkey: A Journey To The West, in Manchester in June, too.


Damon: "I hope people come and see it because it might change their idea of what an opera is all about. When I was a kid I used to write for orchestral instruments. In fact, Graham Coxon and I entered a composing competition when we were 15."

NME: Who won?


Damon: "There weren't many entries, so it's not important (laughs). But with the opera I had to remember a lot of stuff, and I've been learning about the form and structure of operatic music. I've been making it up as I've been going along. I had to take it to operatic companies in Paris and Germany. It's a very different world... Very traditional and very contained, but fascinating nonetheless. I think Jamie [Hewlett, Gorillaz collaborator] and I have done a really good job so far. It's like Gorillaz, but with more dancers. The opera is the story of Monkey. NME readers of this generation probably don't know it like my generation, when the cartoon was on TV every week. It's the original Chinese adventure story that's around 2,000 years old, about the Monkey King journeying to the west."

NME: You and a few others launched a new website last week, No-Bomb.com, so people can artistically oppose the government buying more nuclear weapons. Why?


Damon: "I'm trying to get something together quickly to put more pressure on the Trident issue, and I was talking to some people last night. It's frightening how unengaged young musicians are. They don't want to touch it with their music. I would have thought everyone would want to write about the war. I find it really odd. We live in a culture of complete distraction and I don't think people meditate on things like that any more. I think that's wrong because it's still going on."

NME: We collared Graham last week and he says he's in a collaborative mood. What about you?


Damon: "(Giggles like a little girl) Yes, so am I. If he's in a collaborative mood then he should collaborate with his oldest mate! Simple as that."

Next week will see part two of the NME's interview with Damon, including his reaction to Oasis at the Brits and a special invitation for Noel.

Elsewhere in this week's NME, Noel Gallagher lists "The Good, The Bad & The Queen" at Number Three in his Top 5 playlist for the week!

The Good, The Bad & The Queen release new single 'Green Fields' on the 2nd of April. In this week's NME Damon explained the song's 'bizarre conception': "I've had it for years. I'm putting the original demo that I ended up writing the song about - in 1998 - on the B-side. The single will explain the little crackly demo which will be on there. That demo is so precious to me because it was one of those rare occasions when you pick up a guitar and it takes as long to write it as it does to sing it. That doesn't happen very often."