The Beastie Boys’ Mike D discussed 311 in a new Vulture interview.
Mike D said he cringes “when somebody says, ‘You gotta hear this. They’re like you guys.’ That usually doesn’t end well.” He added that being shown Cypress Hill by Dee Barnes was “the best-case scenario,” but he hopes never to have Beastie Boys and 311 mentioned in the same breath: “Not that it’s ever happened, but my fear would be that someone would be like, ‘311. You love those guys, right?’ I’m sure they’re nice people — [their music] isn’t my cup of tea.”
He also discussed moving on from Adam “MCA” Yauch’s death.
“It took a while. Yauch dying was so tragic, on so many levels, that it took a profound period of grieving to then be able to start figuring out what I wanted to do.
I like doing the radio show because it replaces the process we had as a band of generating ideas by playing music for each other. Now I do that with guests on the show. Actually, when I produce other people’s records, asking ‘What have you been listening to?’ is always my starting point. So those are things that would take place in the band that still take place now. I guess what I’ve also realized is that I like it when people approach me about something that feels outside my comfort zone. Whether it’s curating a music-and-visual art show with Jeffrey Deitch or working on a wine list for a restaurant. I’m interested in trying to do things that I feel like I have no business doing. Because that was part of what we did as a band. We weren’t afraid to try shit.”
He discussed music his children listen to.
“I find myself interested in the different phases of music my kids have been into, from commercial rap like Kanye and Drake to the hard core that I grew up on like Black Flag and Bad Brains. And then there’s getting into Slayer, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin — the emergent testosterone classics… I kept asking myself why that music hasn’t been totally replaced. It was weird to me that I wasn’t hearing things that my kids related to that I couldn’t embrace. When they did hit on something, I was like, Finally!
When they started listening to $uicideboy$. I was like, ‘That’s it. That checks the boxes.’ It’s really loud, I can’t really relate, I don’t really want to listen to it. I understand exactly why it’s good and I see exactly the music it’s combining, but I don’t need to participate and I’m good with that.”
