"Kids with Guns" is a song from the British virtual band

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guit ...

' second

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, ''

Demon Days ''Demon Days'' is the second studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. It was first released on 11 May 2005 in Japan and on 23 May 2005 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Virgin Records. Produced by the band, ...

''. It was released on 10 April 2006 in the United Kingdom as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

as the fourth and final

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

from the album. "Kids with Guns" and its other A-side " El Mañana", reached number 27 upon its release in the United Kingdom, a significantly lower position than its predecessors. "Kids with Guns" features

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk an ...

on guest vocals. A remix by

Hot Chip Hot Chip are an English synthpop band formed in London in 1995. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former member Rob Smoughton for ...

was included on the release of ''

The Inbetweeners Soundtrack ''The Inbetweeners Soundtrack'' is a compilation album released as the soundtrack album for the British comedy series '' The Inbetweeners''. It was released in November 2009 by EMI Records. It is a double album containing 48 tracks, featuring v ...

'' in 2009.

Overview

"Kids with Guns" was inspired by a child at

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtua ...

's daughter's school, who had arrived one day with a knife. Albarn said, "A nice boy just decided to pick up a knife and show it to his friends at lunchtime. It's a very real problem, but I'm not treating it as a problem. It's part of the brutalization of a generation that's going on at the moment."

Music video

Although "Kids with Guns" does not have an official promo video, live visuals were shown during the Demon Days Live show at

Manchester Opera House The Opera House in Quay Street, Manchester, England, is a 1,920-seater commercial touring theatre that plays host to touring musicals, ballet, concerts and a Christmas pantomime. It is a Grade II listed building. The Opera House is one of the mai ...

in November 2005. The visuals are a slideshow of guns, appearing in red, white and black. Sometimes a "23 mm" sign or a slide of the guns is positioned to make a windmill, representing Noodle's floating island. On ''The Singles Collection'' DVD, the video used for the song was the live performance from ''Demon Days Live'' at the Manchester Opera House.

Track listings

UK CD single # "Kids with Guns" – 3:45 # " El Mañana" – 3:50 # "Stop the Dams" – 5:39 UK DVD single # "El Mañana" (music video) – 3:54 # "Kids with Guns" (music video) – 3:46 # "Don't Get Lost in Heaven" (Original Demo Version) – 2:29 # "El Mañana" (animatic) – 3:57 UK 7-inch single # "Kids with Guns" – 3:45 # "El Mañana" – 3:50 European CD single # "Kids with Guns" – 3:45 # "El Mañana" – 3:50 # "Stop the Dams" – 5:39 # "El Mañana" (music video) – 3:54 Japanese CD single # "El Mañana" – 3:50 # "Kids with Guns" – 3:45 # "Stop the Dams" – 5:39 # "Don't Get Lost in Heaven" (Original Demo Version) – 2:29 # "El Mañana" (music video) – 3:54 US digital single # "El Mañana" – 3:50 # "Hong Kong" (Live in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

) – 6:36 US digital E.P. # "El Mañana" – 3:50 # "Stop the Dams" – 5:39 # "Hong Kong" (Live in Manchester) – 6:36 # "Kids with Guns" (music video) – 3:46 # "El Mañana" (Live in Harlem video) – 3:59

Personnel

– vocals, guitars, keyboards *

– additional vocals * Danger Mouse – drum programming, mixing *

Morgan Nicholls Morgan Daniel Nicholls (born 18 March 1971) is an English musician, member of English pop band Senseless Things and best known for performing with Muse, Gorillaz, The Streets and Lily Allen. He has released one solo album under the mononym Morg ...

- bass guitar * James Dring – drums, drum programming * Jason Cox – mixing, engineering * Steve Sedgwick – mixing assistance *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album '' Future Shock''. Other ...

– mastering

Charts

Release history

References

External links

Release - Kids with Guns
Toshiba EMI (Archived) - Japanese release page {{Authority control 2006 singles Gorillaz songs British new wave songs Song recordings produced by Danger Mouse (musician) Songs written by Damon Albarn 2005 songs Parlophone singles