mike-d-99-scott
Mike D @ 99 Scott (photo: @courtgazeleh)

Mike D played NY last night with Thundercat, talks Beastie Boys, 311 & more in new interview

Mike D may not live in NYC anymore — as a new Vulture interview discusses — but he was in town last night to DJ a private party to celebrate the impending opening of members club Soho House’s new DUMBO House in Brooklyn, though the “Soho Sounds” party was neither at DUMBO House or even in DUMBO (it opens it May). It actually took place at Ridgewood event space 99 Scott and, though Mike was mainly just spinning tunes, he did have a mic and sometimes rapped his parts over a Beastie Boys song, including “So What’cha Want.” There was also a live set from Thundercat. Check out a few instagram pics and videos below.

DUMBO House will be part of the Empire Stores complex which is home to restaurants the Brooklyn Historical Society and, soon, food hall Time Out Market (brought to you by Time Out magazine), that will house 20 vendors and a performance/exhibition space.

As for that Mike D interview, it’s one of a few memorably long, freewheeling conversations lately from Vulture writer (and onetime Longwave bassist) David Marchese. (You may have read his highly quotable interviews with Quincy Jones and Julian Casablancas.) It’s a great read and Mike D talks about fatherhood, the Beastie Boys legacy, the country album they made but never released, leaving New York, and what he calls his “nomadic lifestyle” in the years since Adam Yauch died:

So your moving around is about trying to avoid cultural homogeneity?
It’s that I want my kids to experience diversity. I think it’s important to travel the world with them. And it’s also about breaking open the myth that the United States is this leading majority. We’re not. Indonesia, where we’ve been living, is going to overtake the U.S. in population within my kids’ lifetime. I want to my kids to have the opportunity to see themselves as a citizen of the world and not only America — whatever the hell America means today. At this point, in the world of Trump’s politics, there’s so much upside to be had by breaking down the whole idea of nationalism. My kids’ peers at school are from all around the world, not just the Upper West Side or Brooklyn. I really think that helps them think differently about the world in a positive way.

Not to play armchair psychologist, but don’t you think your desire to avoid mundanities, as you put it, is about filling the empty space where the Beastie Boys used to be?
I wouldn’t disagree with that. Like I said, uprooting myself or challenging myself was my normal for decades.

He also talked about best and worst case scenarios of being told about music that sounds like Beastie Boys:

Can you remember something you’ve been played that was supposed to sound like the Beastie Boys?
This is an old thing, but I remember seeing Dee Barnes at a club and she said, “You’ve gotta hear this new group, Cypress Hill.Cypress Hill’s self-titled 1991 debut shares similarities with the early Beastie Boys, notably the funky samples, manic energy, and, at times, adenoidal rapping. In 1992, Cypress Hill toured with the Beastie Boys, who were then promoting Check Your Head. There’s something about their voices that reminds me of you.” That’s kind of the best-case scenario.

What’s the worst-case scenario?
Not that it’s ever happened, but my fear would be that someone would be like, “311.Alt-reggae, rap-rock, and long T-shirts worn under short T-shirts all coalesced in this still-going band. Maybe it’s the turntables that earned the comparison? You love those guys, right?” I’m sure they’re nice people — [their music] isn’t my cup of tea.

Read the whole footnoted conversation here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg5KSD7FdM7/?taken-at=235925753533071

UPDATE: We previously posted that Empress Of and Heron Preston also played (via the flyer); they did not.