Spacemonkeyz

Formed as a sister group to Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz shortly after the release of their eponymous 2001 debut album, British dub outfit Spacemonkeyz came to the life as the brainchild of DJ/producer and Jamiroquai affiliate Darren Galea, who was initially called upon by the band to provide a dubwise spin on their 2002 single “Tomorrow Comes Today”. Galea brought Richie “Dubversive” Stevens and Gavin Dodds on board for the resultant production, “Tomorrow Dub”, which impressed Albarn so much that he commissioned a full remix album from the trio. Depicted as a virtual band of cosmonautical apes in keeping with Gorillaz’ branding, the group returned in July of the same year with a full LP entitled Laika Come Home, consisting entirely of reggae and dub interpretations of tracks from Gorillaz’ self-titled album. Complete with additional instrumentation from session musicians and guest vocals from Jamaican deejays U Brown and Earl Sixteen and The Specials’ frontman, Terry Hall, the album peaked at number 108 on the UK Albums Chart and number 156 on the US Billboard 200. It included a revisited version of “Tomorrow Dub” entitled “Bañana Baby”, and also spawned a single in “Lil’ Dub Chefin’”, a reimagining of “M1 A1” which proved relatively popular and reached number 73 on the UK Singles Chart. As the premise of the group predominantly rests on its relationship with Gorillaz, it has since become dormant; however, in 2017, Stevens announced the group’s intention to reunite on the Gorillaz fan podcast Hallelujah Monkeyz.

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