Beastie Boys хамтлагийн домогт уран бүтээлч Майк Ди өөрийн хүүхдүүд болон бусад хөгжимчидтэй нэгдэн 5D нэртэй шинэ төслийг эхлүүлж, “Thank You” цомгоо танилцууллаа.
Майк Ди өөрийн бүтээлч замналын энэхүү шинэ үе шатыг эхлүүлэхдээ хуучин амжилтдаа найдалгүй, шинэ зүйлсийг эрэлхийлэх замыг сонгосон байна. Тэрээр “Beastie Boys Story” баримтат кино болон ном бүтээх явцдаа өнгөрсөн амьдралаа эргэцүүлж, COVID-19 цар тахлын үеэр хүүхдүүдтэйгээ хамтдаа хөгжим бүтээх нь түүний хувьд чухал сэдэл болжээ. Улмаар тэрээр хүүхдүүд болох Дэвис, Скайлер, гитарчин Уилл Граф болон Эдди, Мило Руша нартай хамтран 5D хамтлагийг байгуулсан байна.
“Thank You” цомогт Лиззо, Жастин Бибер, Тэйлор Свифт, Дрейк зэрэг алдартай уран бүтээлчидтэй хамтран ажилласан Картер Лэнг, Адам Кинг Фини (Ging) зэрэг нэр хүндтэй продюсерууд гар бие оролцжээ. Майк Ди өөрөө цомгийн ихэнх дууны бөмбөрийн хэсгийг тоглож, дуу бичлэг, продюсерын ажилд идэвхтэй оролцсон байна. Тэрээр өөрийн дуртай хөгжмийн зэмсэг болох бөмбөр дээрээ төвлөрч, хамтлагийнхаа дуугаралтыг шинэ түвшинд гаргахыг зорьжээ.
Энэхүү цомог нь Майк Дигийн хувьд Beastie Boys хамтлагаас хойшхи бие даасан уран бүтээлийн томоохон алхам болж байгаа бөгөөд тэрээр хүүхдүүдтэйгээ хамтран ажиллах нь уран бүтээлийн хувьд шинэ эрч хүчийг өгсөн гэдгийг онцолсон байна. Тэрээр ийнхүү хамтлагийн гишүүнээс продюсер, хөгжимчин хүртэлх олон талт үүрэгтэйгээр хөгжмийн ертөнцөд эргэн ирж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
The safest thing Mike could have done would be never making a peep again and surfing off into the sunset (on his surfboard because he is a surfer now), his bulletproof legacy as a Beastie Boy intact. The second safest thing he could have done would be giving us a record that paid fan service by approximating the sounds and styles of his former band’s most popular songs; imagine a world in which we got “No Sleep Till Malibu,” “More Brass Monkey,” and “Sabotage… Again.”
But why play it safe? Consistent with the Beastie Boys’ reputation for subverting expectation, Mike took a different path altogether towards Thank You. It happened gradually and naturally.
“It would make for a better sound bite for me to say, ‘I had a near-death experience in the back of a taxi cab in the valley,’ but that didn’t happen,” Mike D says. Amidst the media blitz surrounding his reemergence, powered by the same machine that was behind late-period Beasties (Capitol Records, Silva Artist Management, Nasty Little Man PR), Mike has honed his talking points on his origin story as a solo artist into a sharpened blade.
Working with bandmate Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) on Beastie Boys Book (which was in its conceptual stage while Yauch was alive) and the resulting Spike Jonze-directed stage production/film Beastie Boys Story helped Mike D reflect on his entire adult life and work through difficult emotions. Somewhere around this time, Mike and his wife, film and TV director Tamra Davis, separated. Then COVID hit, and their two sons became focused on creating music, forming the band Very Nice Person.
“They started taking more and more gear from my studio and appropriating it to their studio, and then I finally gave up and I was like, ‘Alright, I no longer have a studio. It’s totally disassembled. We’re just gonna go all in on one studio,’” Mike recalls. “And that was a great thing. Honestly, I don’t think I can express in words the value that that had to us, that being the family center during COVID, that we had this creative haven.”
Mike saw his kids collaborate with other musicians and producers, keeping a mental checklist of who he would work with were he to dip back into that world. Post-2020, Mike produced for a handful of artists, including Swedish garage punks The Hives, before realizing he was offering his own ideas to the works of others instead of using them for himself. Inspired by an impromptu recording session at a friend’s house and a trip to Big Sur with Very Nice Person, he found himself at a crucial moment.
“In this process, and in life in general, there’s sort of a critical point where what they always tell you when you’re a kid, ‘If you really want something, you’re going to have to ask,’ but you’re sort of insecure to ask and afraid to ask for a whole variety of reasons,” Mike admits. “Finally, I had to call up my kids and be like, ‘Alright, listen – I’m coming back. I wanna book out the studio [we share] for two weeks… I decided I definitely want to just work on music and I want you guys to be there… let’s just see where it goes.’ It was cool. There was a nervousness in that ask, and that was the real start in earnest.”
This was compounded by another concern: “There’s the insecurity of, ‘Well, maybe I don’t got it.’ Maybe I’m going to show up and have nothing to say, and nothing’s gonna come out of me, and nothing’s gonna work, and I’m not gonna have musical ideas, and not gonna have lyrical ideas… that’s always a possibility.”
Mike’s fears were eased as Davis and Skyler (now in their 20s) began making music with their dad again; it was their first time since 2011, when the children had contributed vocals to “Crazy Ass Shit” off the final Beastie album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. But this was far from a strictly Diamond Family project. Alongside Mike’s sons, his new band, 5D, features guitarist Will Graefe (Okkervil River, Star Rover), and another father/son combo of Eddie and Milo Ruscha (the elder of whom was a founding member of LA shoegaze band Medicine in the ‘90s).
And they aren’t alone on Thank You. The album credits read like a Murderers’ Row of producers, songwriters, engineers, and musicians. As just a sample: Producer/co-writer/bassist/guitarist/drum programmer Carter Lang has worked with Lizzo, Justin Bieber, Lola Young, and SZA just in the last few years. Producer/co-writer Adam King Feeney, aka Ging, has been behind the boards for Taylor Swift and Drake, and written for Eminem and Charles Bradley. Skyler and Davis both play synth, and have production credits on every track, with Davis contributing occasional background vocals. Aside from providing vocals and songwriting, Mike D himself helped produce seven tracks, and played bass synth, drum machine, Mini Korg, and Farfisa organ.
He also drummed on much of the full-length, which has always been the primary instrument inside his comfort zone: “I didn’t really want to be the singer of Beastie Boys as a hardcore band. It was kind of like I drew the short straw. I would way rather have been the drummer.”
