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-- by Kurt Loder
Apart from their classic music, the most entertaining thing about the Beastie Boys — well, entertaining to them, I guess — is that they're always yanking your chain. They never give you a straight answer. They lie, actually. I mean, here's a group that pointed whole new directions for pop music in 1986 with their hip-hop-meets-hardcore-meets-beer debut album, Licensed to Ill. Then they made three more albums, each one fascinating in a different way. Then, in 1998, they released Hello Nasty. And they toured. And then they disappeared.
Now, to demonstrate that they're not dead or anything, they're back with To the 5 Boroughs, a slamming hip-hop record that really rocks. They recorded it in their own studio down on Canal Street in New York. It'll be out on June 15. We wanted to know more about it, so ... well, we made the mistake of asking them. And what did we get? We got lots of talk about you've-gotta-be-kidding mythical creatures; and an ancient Rolling Stones concert movie; and Ian Anderson, the prancing, minstrel-bootied frontman of the old art-rock band Jethro Tull; and past-tense B-actors like Lorne Greene and onetime "Star Trek" star DeForest Kelley (not to mention the elven-eared Mr. Spock). Got a couple nuggets of actual information, too, probably by accident. It wasn't easy, but, as I say, it was entertaining. For them, anyway.
Kurt Loder: It's been six years since your last record. Where have you guys been?
Mike Diamond: You know, I'm shocked to be asked that question.
Loder: It has been a long time.
Diamond: Yes.
Adam Yauch: Six years, actually.
Diamond: Do you want the short answer or the long answer?
Loder: I want the long answer.
Diamond: Do you want the true answer or the fake answer?
Loder: The true answer.
Diamond: Sure. The true answer is ...
Yauch: The group was kidnapped by Sasquatch!
Diamond: Bigfoot. I don't know if people who watch this network are familiar, because it's been a while since Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, as he is known ...
Loder (interrupting): Where have you guys been the past six years?
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Licensed To Ill, 1986
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Paul's Boutique, 1989
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Check Your Head, 1992
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Ill Communication, 1994
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Hello Nasty, 1998 |
 Bands A-Z: Beastie Boys |
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Diamond: So you're not buying it?
Adam Horovitz: He's got really big feet, you know.
Loder: Now, you've had this studio for two years, and I guess you've been recording tracks there, right?
Diamond: Yeah.
Loder: So that accounts for two of the six years.
Horovitz: Did we say two? We meant six.
Diamond: No, you're right. Two. Then we got one year touring on the Hello Nasty album — boom! Three years, right? Come on, legitimately, three years ...
Yauch: Unaccounted for.
Diamond: Yeah, it's a sad thing.
Horovitz: It happens.
Diamond: We don't know about the three years. I have no good answer for that one.
Loder: Okay, so this album is very old-school. You're not playing instruments, are you? I mean, I think I heard drums once, maybe ...
Diamond: Well, there were things we played for a little bit, like bass lines or guitars or whatever, but those things would then get chopped up on the computer and put through a sequencer and arranged. It's a more full-on hip-hop album than we've made since Paul's Boutique, in 1989.
Yauch: We just started off working on some hip-hop tracks. Usually when we work on an album, maybe we'll work on hardcore for a bit, then jump to playing instrumental stuff, then get into some hip-hop or something. This one, we kind of started off working on hip-hop tracks and kept going with it. And, like, at some point, we're just like, "Let's finish the album."
Diamond: We also did that New Yorkers against Violence benefit right after 9-11. We had to get that together really quick, so it had to be a hip-hop show. And it was a lot of fun, just the three of us going up there and miking it. It felt right. So starting the record was a continuation of that, in a way.
Also, for myself, a pivotal moment was when I watched the Rolling Stones' "Rock and Roll Circus," and ... you know the scene with Jethro Tull, where he's got the minstrel boots?
Loder: Yeah, and the flute?
Diamond: Yeah, where he's twirling around? And I just thought, okay, you play live instruments, you wear the minstrel boots. But hip-hop, like Run-DMC, you've got the shell-toes, you know? It's like a fork in the road: minstrel boots? Shell-toes. Minstrel boots? Shell-toes.
Loder: It was like a message coming to you ...
Horovitz: I heard that Jethro Tull guy has a big fish company.
Loder: He does, it's true. He owns a big salmon farm in Scotland.
Horovitz: Which is interesting ...
Loder: Well, it's interesting for a moment, but ...
Horovitz: Hey, man, he's got, you know, alternate fields ...
Diamond: He's probably like a salmon magnate.
Loder: I think he is.
Diamond: Actually, instead of wearing minstrel boots now, he's probably wearing sewer boots.
Loder: Possibly, possibly. Um ... is it fair to say you reference Eminem on this album? I thought I detected an Eminem reference.
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