The last anyone heard of Mudoc Niccals, he was living on Plastic Beach, an island in the South Pacific formed entirely from rubbish.

All was well, until the day Murdoc's tropical ghetto was raided by pirates. (Not the eye-patch king - those modern-day ones with machine guns and no sense of flair). Murdoc decided that evacuation was the bravest option, and fled heroically in a rusty brown submarine.

With only a crate of Psycho Jerry's Rum for sustenance and Cyborg Noodle for company, Murdoc navigated his way through the slimy Octopuses Garden. Cyborg Noodle proved the perfect shipmate for Murdoc: she didn't speak, she didn't judge, and she had absolutely no sense of smell.

Finally, when the booze ran out, Murdoc made to the surface and popped the hatch, releasing the rum-soaked air of the submersible like a kraken's guff. As he emptied his dangerously enlarged bladder, a giant shadow loomed over him. Two, if you count the ever-present memory of his disappointed father. But the other shadow was a ship: the Battleship Ringo, owned by music industry giant EMI.

Before it was chopped up and sold like a prize pig, EMI had sent a fleet of ships to search the globe for Murdoc. At last, they had him. The Gorillaz star was captured, slapped about a bit, and taken to a secret prison on London.

'Dungeon Abbey', beneath Abbey Road Studios, was built to detain the label's ABCs (Artists in Breach of Contract). For three years it served as Murdoc's home, until one day, he was offered a deal by Entertainment Internal Affairs. Like an unloved goldfish, the music industry was in dire need of Murdoc's legendary song-writing prowess. In exchange for his release (and a carton of Lucky Lungs cigarettes), Murdoc agreed to write a new Gorillaz album and moved immediately to a new studio home in West London.