The Beastie Boys recently released a new anti-war song via their official website (beastieboys.com). “In A World Gone Mad…” represents the first new music from the group in three years, and it is free to download. The veteran rap trio-which comprises Ad-Rock, MCA, and Mike D-is currently in New York working on material for a new album. Mike D told MTV what motivated the group to record the new song, “We all got to a point where we felt like, we’re in this room in New York, we’re looking at each other every day, and we felt compelled to speak… Read more »
Intergalactic rappers the Beastie Boys are making a planetary return. Mix Master Mike, the trio’s DJ since 1998’s Hello Nasty, said the group has prepared some sci-fi beats for its venture back to the studio this spring. “We’re in our space suits right now, flying around in our pods, checking all the incubators,” Mike said during a break in his DJ set Wednesday at E!’s Sizzlin’ 16 Party in Hollywood. “All the beats we’ve designed are all eggs right now, so we’re waiting for the fetuses to hatch. All I can say is we have beats that are premature right… Read more »
The Beastie Boys passed the mic on Sunday for the first time in two years while also passing along a message of worldwide peace and justice to their fans. Before a sold-out Hammerstein Ballroom crowd that had been jonesing for a B-Boys fix since 1999’s Tibetan Freedom Concert, their last public performance, MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D performed tunes mostly from their last two albums – Hello Nasty (1998) and Ill Communication (1994) – at the first of two benefit shows raising money for those affected by September’s World Trade Center disaster. The aim of the New Yorkers Against Violence… Read more »
The Beastie Boys, making their first onstage appearance in more than two years, will headline a benefit concert October 28 in New York for charities helping those affected by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The show, titled New Yorkers Against Violence, will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom and will also feature the Strokes, Cibo Matto, poet Saul Williams and DJ Stretch Armstrong, Beastie Boys MCA and Ad-Rock told MTV News on Tuesday (October 16). The B-52’s, whose singer Fred Schneider was born in New Jersey, round out the primarily New York-area lineup. The inspiration for the… Read more »
The Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal record label shut down Friday, citing “mounting debts, decreasing assets and exceedingly harsh industry conditions.” Home to highly praised rockers At the Drive-In and Luscious Jackson – both of whom have broken up – Grand Royal was one of the most popular artist-owned labels of the last decade. “This is one of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make,” Beastie Boy Mike D, who took over operations as his bandmates got involved in other projects, said in a statement. “Over the years the Grand Royal family had grown to include some of the… Read more »
The Beastie Boys, Bjork, the Arcade Fire, Spoon and Interpol lead the lineup for the sixth Sasquatch! Festival, to be held May 26-27 at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash. Manu Chao, the Hold Steady, M.I.A., Bad Brains, the Dandy Warhols and Neko Case are also on the bill. Tickets go on sale March 3. As usual, the Yeti Stage will be devoted to acts from the Pacific Northwest, including the Thermals, Jesse Sykes, Viva Voce, the Helio Sequence and Smoosh. In addition, organizers have teamed with Esurance and Sustainable Energy Partners to deliver a carbon-neutral event in 2007. Here… Read more »
The Beastie Boys, Alanis Morissette, the Dave Matthews Band and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio are among the artists banding together in the “New Power Project,” an effort to fight President George W. Bush’s energy plan. The members of the coalition – which also includes Tom Petty, Jackson Browne and Blues Traveler – hope to use their Web sites, online fan mailing lists and tours to get their fans to petition Congress and the Bush administration to alter federal energy policy. “President Bush’s energy plan recommends drilling for oil in the biological heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, bringing back… Read more »
Creatively speaking, rock and roll is in a box: guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. A box. Sure, artists have introduced foreign elements: samples, loops, turntables, theremins, various techno effects. But it’s still a box limited by the traditional tools of the trade. Is this a bad thing? To some it’s the worst thing, like tape over your mouth, like handcuffs. To others, like Lucky Boys Confusion, it’s a challenge. What can you do in this box that hasn’t been done before? Not much, according to those artists who can’t help but step outside of the box (and hooray for them,… Read more »
Four Year Strong has officially dropped a pop-punk cover of Stone Temple Pilots‘ beloved track “Vasoline.” The cover is set to appear on Pabst Blue Ribbon and Pure Noise Records‘ compilation cover album, Dead Formats: Vol. 3. The record is officially set for release on October 18. You can pre-order your copy here. Alongside Four Year Strong‘s release, Pure Noise Records also revealed Spanish Love Songs‘ “Don’t Change” INXS cover and Grumpster‘s reimagining of Lit‘s “My Own Worst Enemy.” Previous cover releases set to appear on Dead Formats: Vol. 3 include ‘68’s rework of Beastie Boys‘ “Intergalactic,” Bloom‘s cover of… Read more »
On the brink of the release of their upcoming album Five Dice, All Threes, Bright Eyes have dropped their latest single from the full-length “Rainbow Overpass” featuring Alex Orange Drink of The So So Glos. Known to go big, it makes sense for the band to also announce an extensive North American Tour. The track follows their June release of “Bells And Whistles.” Where that song utilized easy-going instrumentations, “Rainbow Overpass” features gritty hits and fast-moving rhythms. Though they’ve collaborated before, vocalist Conor Oberst says this is the first time Alex has sung on one of their tracks. “He’s kinda… Read more »
