togetherBecause of what happened in India and what India is.

I got a phone call from my wife, who was in India with her mother, who had a stroke and went into a coma.

And I fast-tracked a visa.

I went to Jaipur for...

Ooh, I think we were there for 12 weeks trying to get her mother home in a coma, which we did eventually, and then she didn't make it, unfortunately.

You know, it should have been that I never wanted to go back to India ever again after having that experience.

But in fact, it was the opposite.

Yeah, raga's very important to me.

There's some very interesting things that Drew us closer together because of what happened in India and what India is.

I got a phone call from my wife, who was in India with her mother, who had a stroke and went into a coma.

And I fast-tracked a visa and went to Jaipur for, ooh, I think we were there for 12 weeks, trying to get her mother home in a coma, which we did eventually, and then she didn't make it, unfortunately.

You know, it should have been that I never wanted to go back to India ever again after having that experience.

But in fact, it was the opposite.

I felt I had to go back, and I wanted to go with Damon to see what w- we might discover together.

Yeah, raga's very important to me.

We'd already been once to India and traveled around, and we came back with plans to do a second trip and started working on ideas.

Mm-hmm.

And my wife was in Jaipur with her mother.

They'd been there for a month, and they were about to jump in taxis to the airport and come home when my mother-in-law, Ammo is her name, had a massive stroke and was rushed to hospital and went into a coma.

So four days later, I was on a plane to Jaipur.

Uh, I was there from the 4th of December until, I don't know, 15th of January, dealing with that, trying to get her home in a coma, which was not easy.

Should've been having the most traumatic experience of my entire life, which I was, but at the same time, I kind of really fell in love with Jaipur and the people, and there was a lot of warmth and kindness and support, and I just, we would go off and have adventures in Jaipur, and it was just incredible.

So when we finally got back to England, I saw Damon and said, "We have to go to India to do something because it's incredible." And then a year later, we were in India having our first trip, which we traveled around, and we explored, and we worked with musicians and had a fantastic experience.

It just sort of seems to be so obvious.

Yeah

... and quite traumatic.

But at the same time, I just had an amazing experience in India.

You know, people were very warm, and it really helped the situation.

So when I came back, I was very excited to talk to Damon about the prospect of us going together.

No great plan at that point, but just to go to India together to have an experience and, and to see whether we could make an alb- a Gorillaz record in India.

Yeah.

They don't even write anymore, and they say, "Well, it's easier." But you're gonna forget how to write at some point, and then you're gonna become illiterate.