mike's interview with dj times

Licensed to Chill

by Jim Tremayne

Firmly Entrenched in Their L.A. Digs, The Beastie Boys Hit Their Freaky Peak on the Brilliant "Ill Communication" The Knicks had just taken a nationally televised buttstinging from the injury-and suspension-riddled Charlotte Hornets and top trash-talkin' Beastie Boy Mike D wanted to go on about the sad plight of his Knicks.

Bad idea. After taunting him with Atlanta Hawks-flavored abuse, DJ Times - much to its collective editorial chagrin - had to cut that segment loose before it really started. Otherwise a perfectly good look into the Beasties world - Who are their favor ite jocks? How do they find theirbeats? Who's the best DJ in the group? - would've turned into a debate centering on the relative merits of Mookie Blaylock and Anthony Mason (who, along with fellow Knick John Starks, get mad props on the Beasties' latest). Luckily, we got some good grit from our man Mike D anyway. Not only did he gleefully hop on the DJ tip, but one could tell he was just bursting about Ill Communication (Grand Royal/ Capitol). And why not? It's an album that's as strong as you'll hear from the Hip Hop Nation this year. Filled with freaky vibes like the murky "Sabotage" and the snakey first single "Sure Shot," cameos from the likes of Q-Tip on "Get It Together," and hardcore punk salvos like "Tough Guy" and "Heart Attack Man", Ill Communication is the sound of the Mike Diamond, Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Adam Yauch (MCA) just getting bolder, weirder and more experimental. Considering this is the group that at one time had rap's best selling album, 1986's cartoonish classic Licensed to Ill, it's a testament to their artistry-that is, mic and beat searching skills-that subsequent efforts Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head took their fans farther and farther into left field. In addition to spilling album chatter, the most industrious Beastie told DJ Times about his first flirtations with hip hop, his life-changing experience of hearing Afrika Bambaataa spin, the group's other ventures like Grand Royal the record label and Grand Royal the magazine. But first I had to bumrush him with this:

DJ Times: You guys did a gig in my home town in 1987 on that tour with the inflatable 20-foot penis onstage. It freaked everybody out so hard there that the Columbus (Ga.) City Council enacted these vague "Beastie Boys" obscenity laws that are still on the books. They arrested all these performers after that and they haven't had decent acts return to town since. You ruined it, man!

Mike D: We didn't ruin it. You're lawmakers did.

DJ Times: You're right about that.

Mike D: See, at that point it was kind of like anything involved in our show was getting blown out of proportion by the reviews. As it got further down the line, each writer would progressively elaborate on it. So by the time we got to the South, the momentum the rumors had gathered coupled with the reactionary nature of some of those towns combined for the result. I apologize to you people, but I suggest they write their congressmen.

DJ Times: It's a long time since those days for you guys and your sound and profile has changed a lot. I'm curious how much moving from New York to L.A. had to do with that.

Mike D: We still feel influenced by New York. People ask us that a lot. Sometimes I feel like the time I spend in New York I get exposed to a lot more ideas.

DJ Times: Do you think your move is reflected in your music? It seems like now the whole vibe is very stoned, very laid back, kinda L.A., y'know?

Mike D: L.A. enabled us to create our own world. The whole thing with L.A. is that we were able to build our studio, which is in this big old ball room, kind of a meeting hall, rotary club type building. We also have the magazine there By having our own little world and studio we can create whenever we want to create at the pace we want to create however we want to create. That's given us that feel - not just being in L.A. It would've been very difficult to have that feeling in New York.

DJ Times: Was early success with Licensed to Ill good for you? What perspective do you have on it now?

Mike D: It's hard to say in retrospect if it was good for us. There were a lot of fun things about it and there were a lot of alienating weird things about it.

DJ Times: What was fun? What was alienating?

Mike D: What was fun was that we had a lot of good times and, to a certain extend, the degree of infamy that we reached meant that we got all kinds of opportunities and situations that we never would have otherwise dreamed of or been allowed access to. At the same time, all the shit that we were doing that we thought was a total goof that we thought was real funny be came this real big thing to the point where they have laws in Georgia about what we were doing. All the tabloid stuff gets away from what you are and what you created. It's alienating.

DJ Times: But people see a video and they think they know what you're about.

Mike D: Yeah, for sure. Only they don't.

DJ Times: What was it like to go from the ridiculous over-the-top-selling Licensed to Ill to the more experimental Paul's Boutique, which didn't sell nearly as well, but is, to me, a better record? The record industry types must've been scratching their heads.

Mike D: We prohably felt similar to how you felt. I mean, we really felt good about that record we made and we thought everybody was going to think we were nuts. And they did. We thought it was going to be the same with Check Your Head We thought: "Now they're going to really think we're nuts. They're going to think we just completely lost it. " So the fact that that record did better than anyone expected kind of changed everything. It was more unexpected to us than the fact that - even though it sold plenty of records for us - it was like something the record company was disappointed with.

DJ Times: You went from tours with big MTV support and doing shows with Run-D.M.C. to putting out, for lack of a better term, underground records. Was there any sense of satisfaction that you could get over with the new sound?

Mike D: It was more satisfying in that it was a new extension for us. It would've been a disaster for us to have to try come out and do Licensed to Ill all over again and make a video and get it on the air and tour and all this stuff. If we'd done that I can't imagine that we'd still be making records now. It was more like, for the first time, we could make a record we wanted to make and not listen to anybody and we had as much time to do it as we wanted - same with the videos and the record covers.

DJ Times: I just read a story about the Beastie Boys that paints you as these newly mature guys, with the political causes, marriage, businesses, vegan lifestyles. Sometimes the music gets lost there, doesn't it?

Mike D: That's more of what people are interested in writing about, but we're completely excited about making music and working in the studio. But it's no surprise that people are asking about it.

DJ Times: It's OK to grow up.

Mike D: Yeah, exactly. It's a little odd to me how people remark on it in a surprised way. It's kind of human nature.

DJ Times: Like, we don't pour beer on our heads anymore.

Mike D: Yeah, big surprise. We haven't done that for eight years.

DJ Times: Tell me what each member of the group contributes.

Mike D: We all get involved in the cuts. For example, Yauch (MCA) is actually the most Terminator-oriented. He's actually taken his DJing skills and applied those to his bass-playing technique. So he's got the Terminator-bass playing action. Horovitz (Ad-Rock) does a lot of cuts on the album, too. I'm just generally involved in the mad creative search for beats that all of us partake in and battle with all day long.

DJ Times: So you're competing for vinyl with the other guys?

Mike D: I might catch some flak here from the rest of the group, but I've got the most, the most primo records going on in the group. But Adam Horovitz will out-freak me some times, when it comes to looping them and sampling them and so forth. I'm more of, like, a whole bar. I use the bigger sampling-time techniques. Adam's always had the SP-1200s and he's the mastertaking little short parts and quarter and half bars and just freakin' 'em and making them work.

DJ Times: Do you care if people can identify the samples?

Mike D: No, that's not the issue as much as what you're making. I'm not afraid. There's been times when we'd make shit where we've totally changed something and taken it way beyond recognition just by taking the smallest thing. Or you can take a bar from some thing and make it the flyest loop you've ever heard.

DJ Times: What jocks influenced you to DJ when you were getting turned on to hip hop?

Mike D: The first hip hop I ever heard - really before it was ever on wax - was on the subway when I was going to school hearing kids playing battle tapes. As soon as "Rapper's De light" or "Flash It To the Beat" by Grandmaster Flash came out, we'd start to request them downtown. Actually, a DJ who was influential - and this wasn't a hip hop thing - was this woman Anita Sarko who used to play clubs like Mudd Club. We'd convince her to play stuff. She played No Wave stuff, but also New Wave dance stuff. She was the first downtown DJ we could convince to play "Birthday Party Rap" or "Spoonin' Rap." Another influential DJ was Bambaataa and that definitely changed the world for us when we heard him spin. First of all, he had this presence - not as a performer or someone onstage - but when he came into the place, him and his whole Zulu Nation crew, it was this presence. He just took over the vibe, dominated the vibe, he made the vibe. The thing that really fucked us up was that we expected him to play hip hop jams. And they did, but the whole shit was mixing in "Apache" or "Son of Scorpio" and then he'd go into the craziest pop record and make it work, like "Oh Mikki, you're so fine!" That's what I mean by freakin' it. Bam could mix the most unlikely records and make it work.

DJ Times: That must've changed the way you listen to music.

Mike D: Definitely. Also, Rick Rubin introduced us to Jazzy Jay, who was Soulsonic Force's DJ. He was the guy who had the crazy skills as far as cutting records. He was the young kid and Bam was an amazing DJ in terms of playing records in a way that very few people never could, but Jay was the one who had the skills as far as cutting, like, Michael Jackson the way nobody could.

DJ Times: Are you wary of hip hop's direction today?

Mike D: There are certain aspects of it, but that doesn't mean that someone's not going to flip it and do something with it. Maybe this year it might be Nas. His album's real good.

DJ Times: How did you approach this album?

Mike D: I think we did a lot more hip hop on this album then we did on Check Your Head, just getting on the mic and freaking beats.

DJ Tlmes: Yeah, what's the deal with the vocals? Are you using weirdo harmonizers or what?

Mike D: Nah, we just use bullshit mics.

DJ Times: Yeah, there's that one song that you're going on about John Starks and I can't understand what's going on.

Mike D: Starks is definitely in the mix.

DJ Times: Anthony Mason, too.

Mike D: Yeah, Mase has stepped it up the last few games. At least he's not getting thrown out.

DJ Times: You're talkin' to a lifelong Hawks fan so . . .

Mike D: Hey, wait a second. Tomorrow? But I don't know, man. We played wack against Charlotte.

DJ Times: We play in Chicago to night, so you should beat us tomorrow. And if you don't, then . . . (Editor's Note -Atlanta 87, New York 84.)

Mike D: I don't know. As much a Knick fan that I am and as much as I want to win tomorrow, I gotta say that they didn't look too good against Charlotte. It's like the Knicks are my team and to see them suck . . . it's the worst thing ever.

DJ Tlmes: How do you keep up with 'em living in L.A.?

Mike D: The Knicks? Hey, man, that's our thing. It's like keeping up with hip hop.

DJ Times: Man, we can't talk about this stuff anymore. So, you've got all these other ventures happening you've got the X-Large clothing stores, the Grand Royal label, the Grand Royal magazine. When's the next one out?

Mike D: We're just finishing up issue two. It's ongoing and it's supposed to be quarterly, but it's a little bit dictated by our own pace. I think the next one will kind of coincide with the release of the album.

DJ Times: I loved that interview with Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] about that movie he made with Bruce Lee.

Mike D: Yeah, I was real nervous. I mean, it was fucking Kareem.

DJ Times: So what's up with the Grand Royal label? New Luscious Jackson record?

Mike D: Yeah, Luscious is finishing their album and our DJ Hurricane has one, too. MC Breed and Cypress Hill do some cuts on that.

DJ Times: You've got a couple more hardcore songs on this album. Are you still into punk rock?

Mike D: That's an influence that'll always stay with us. We always enjoy ourselves messing around with some of that stuff. I wouldn't say I buy as many 7-inches as I do hip hop 12 inches, but I still make the trip.

DJ Times: A lot of your fans sort of see you as one of their own, but I also think part of the appeal is that they see you as the world's coolest white guys - you know, the guys who can make a punk record and hang out with Q-Tip.

Mike D: It's kind of just what we do and what we enjoy doing. If anything, I kind of hope that it gets to the point where the audience appreciates what we do, but to understand where it comes from and then they're inspired to express themselves. The shit I'm more into is when a kid comes up to us and says, "You know, after I heard Paul's Boutique I bought myself a sampler and began mixing records" or they started a band. That's more inspiring than, [ultra bogus B-Boy accent "Yo, man! I'm just like you dudes!"