MTV's Kurt Loder interviews The Beasties, long, funny and worth it.

peace.

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BEASTIE BOYS - Big Fat Liars


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?

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.

Yauch: I don't think we do reference him.

Loder: You sure?

Yauch: In fact I know we don't.

Diamond: I mean, if we did, we would say so. Because he's a talented MC.

Loder: He's risen up and really blown up in the six years you guys have been away ...

Horovitz: Well, three ...

Loder: The three lost years when you guys were away. And you were one of the first white rap groups, I think we can say. Well, I just said it. And then Eminem came along and he's very successful, and ... how do you look upon that?

Horovitz: He's done good for himself.

Loder: He's done really well. How do you look upon his work?

Horovitz: He's a good-looking kid. Good-looking guy.

Diamond: Good hygiene. Keeps it clean.

Horovitz: He wears clean clothes. Looks like he's got a lot of clothes. He's got his own clothing line!

Diamond: Yup. So you know his clothes are going to be clean, because he's got them available.

Horovitz: He can get all the clothes he wants.

Loder: There's no Beastie Boys clothing line, is there?

Yauch: We sell a couple of T-shirts.

Loder: There's a track on the album called "Crawlspace," and judging by the liner notes, I gather not everybody agreed about including it. I can't imagine why. It seems like an adequate track.

Horovitz: It's a hit! It's a hit record.

Loder: I notice it's not the first single, but ...

Horovitz: We're saving it.

Loder: Ah. Later, in the summer. One of those driving-around kind of things ...

Yauch: Big record for the group.

Loder: You mention Lorne Greene on the album, the late actor.

Horovitz: He actually appears in the video.

Diamond: Lorne Greene is the man. I mean, "Battlestar Galactica," "Bonanza." Alpo. I mean, Alpo alone ...

Loder: He is an icon.

Yauch: In the dog-food world he's big-time.

Loder: And DeForest Kelley ...

Horovitz: He's in the video also.

Loder: Aren't they both dead?

Yauch: That didn't stop them.

Diamond: That's not an obstacle for us, being deceased. We make it happen.

Loder: Anybody else?

Diamond: Doctor Spock!

Yauch: Mister Spock. Leonard Nimoy.

Diamond: Because there's no child care in the video at all. That happens off-camera.

Loder: What do you think of the FCC's current "decency" campaign, sparked by the Janet Jackson semi-breast-baring at the Super Bowl?

Horovitz: You know what I say? Finally. Finally somebody is watching out for this stuff.

Diamond: Spend some more money where it's needed. Forget about education. Forget about safety. Let's focus on "exposure." The scariest aspect, to me, is the idea that to speak our minds against the government is now anti-patriotic. And that trickles down to, you know, certain songs not getting on the radio, because certain conglomerates want to please the administration and all.

Loder: Obviously, you guys have changed a lot since you did your first album.

Horovitz: Just a bit.

Loder: But do you still have fun? You're not all just sobersides now, are you? Sit around reading Balzac ...

Yauch: Balls who?

Diamond: Balls ... wait, wait ...

Horovitz: Still funny. Always funny.

Loder: Let's talk about the tour. When will it start? What will the show be like?

Horovitz: We haven't really thought that far ahead.

Diamond: But there's an added element, which ... okay, this is an exclusive: We made an arrangement with Sasquatch, and he's going to join us for parts of the tour. Not for the whole thing, obviously. There's certain places he can't travel.

Loder: This sounded better on the six-year thing.

Horovitz: Yeah, it's not working for this one.

Loder: I'm trying to be serious here and promote your tour.

Diamond: We're gonna play some shows here in June, and then the real U.S. tour starts in August.

Loder: Who'll be opening up? Who are you listening to, who's cool?

Yauch: Balzac.

Diamond: I don't think he's living, is he?

Loder: No, he's dead. He died. So how's it feel coming back? Was it hard working together again? Do you guys still hang out?

Horovitz: I don't like to hang out with them. At all.

Diamond: A lot of people don't realize, but we fight a lot.

Yauch: Physical fights, he means.

Diamond: We like our beats fresh, so we beat up each other. So I have to spend a lot of time in the studio giving these guys time-outs. They have to go stand in the corner.

Horovitz: It's lonely in the corner, too.

Loder: Not if you both get sent there.

Diamond: Well, it would be different corners.

Loder: Speaking of coming back, Prince is back, you know? Are you Prince fans?

Horovitz: I'm not up on new Prince. I'm up on Prince and the Revolution, but I don't know about the new Prince. He didn't go away or anything, did he?

Loder: Well, he was in Minneapolis. That's sort of like going away.

Horovitz: Oh, come on ...

Diamond: He just did his own thing, you know? He was selling his stuff directly through the Internet. It's not like he went anywhere. He was still making records.

Horovitz: The weird thing is that Sasquatch is actually in Minnesota. I mean, Prince, Sasquatch — big connection happening.

Diamond: Prince probably knows about the Sasquatch thing.

Loder: He knows about lost years, I think.