Albarn 'worried Gorillaz would look too gay'

Damon Albarn has said that he was worried Gorillaz's new stage costumes would look "a bit gay".

The frontman confessed that he was concerned the nautical theme employed on the band's 'Escape to Plastic Beach' tour would carry connotations that Albarn had not intended, according to Contact Music.

He said: "I actually woke up panicking in the middle of the night and thought, 'Bloody hell, what have I done?'

"It might look a bit, well, gay. Not that there's anything wrong in that but I didn't want us being like something from a Jean-Paul Gaultier advert."

Albarn - who added that he knew he was taking his concerns too seriously when he began worrying about the width of the stripes on the band's sailor tops - said that the breakthrough came when he saw a photo of a German submarine crew.

"They had beards, their clothes were grubby - that was the key," he explained. "As long as I could carry it off, then I knew the others would follow me.

"I set the template then everyone arranges it to suit themselves. It's not like putting on a costume. When we tour, we wear the gear all the time."