NEW YORK (AP) Damon Albarn, the key creative force behind the Gorillaz, isnt a big fan of the way record labels treated music videos in the past.

They never really got it together to commercialise video production in the way that they got it together with (songs and CDs), Albarn said. I think that was a bad precedent that the musicians just gave away visuals endlessly for nothing.

Today, music videos arent just played on channels like MTV and BET, theyre being sold on iTunes, and have a much larger presence on the Internet. But Albarn says the lack of those kinds of methods in the past is part of the reason why the cartoon-based Gorillaz are around now.

Our reason for existing was primarily to try and put some new energy into that whole idea of what music and visuals can do together, he said.

Albarn and his virtual band just wrapped up an arena tour this month, which saw them promoting their latest critically acclaimed disc, Plastic Beach.

The 42-year-old English musician whose musical credits include Blur and The Good, the Bad & the Queen talked about the bands success in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

AP: Youve collaborated with acts like De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Lou Reed and Ike Turner. How are these unions coming about?

Albarn: Its quite a lateral process. It just sort of, people arrive in my head. I dont know. I do my best to contact them.

But I dont write with them in mind ever. I think that would be a disaster.

AP: Who else would you like to work with?

Albarn: Lots of people. I mean, probably most notably Barry Gibb, who I tried to get on Plastic Beach but it didnt work out in the end.

AP: When you were creating Gorillaz, did you think it would become a success?

Albarn: I dont think we imagined wed be playing Madison Square Garden. It was a kind of one-off, fun idea when we started.

And then we thought, Well thats the end of it anyway. And then we sort of a few years later just kind of started again and then we thought that was the end of it.

AP: What is it about your music that resonates with listeners?

Albarn: Its got so much more than conventional pop music because it has this entire multimedia, visual narrative aspect, which is almost impossible to have something like that if youre just four guys onstage.

AP: Do you listen to music on the radio?

Albarn: No.

AP: Popular music has taken on an electronic, dance sound recently. Why do you think thats happened?

Albarn: Its cyclical, you know. It will take a guitar sound probably next spring. And you wont be arrested if youre playing keyboards and youve got an 80s haircut.

Im really hoping that the next revival is the kind of Brit-pop revival (laughs). No, Im joking.

AP: What inspires the music you create?

Albarn: Its everything. Its kind of an ongoing search for inspiration. A few days ago I was inspired by a revolving door in a hotel. I was.

AP: So its the little things?

Albarn: Definitely little things. Its when a little thing touches you emotionally that (snap hands), that little glimpse, that little insight into what all the (expletive) all this is about. Those are the moments I find most exciting.

Huge, great, big themes are very difficult to encapsulate in pop music.

http://www.gorillaz.com