Beastie Boy Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz Gives Funniest Interview Ever

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Published Aug 7, 2007

Modified May 11, 2012

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Suckers may be saying they can take out Adam Horovitz, but after all these years with The Beastie Boys - it’s now two decades since License To Ill dropped! - he’s still rocking steady. Having just released The Mix-Up, a new all-instrumental album, the three are set to drive the lane like Evan Bernhard with a trio of NYC shows in as many days. Tomorrow night and Thursday they’ll do two of their more familiar rap shows at Central Park Summerstage and McCarren Pool, respectively. Then Friday night finds them at Hammerstein Ballroom for a special, all-instrumental “gala event”. We recently spoke with The King Adrock about the dress code for the gala events, his solo career and his long awaited presidential endorsement.

Hi Adam, thanks for speaking with Gothamist. Um… Thanks for speaking with me.

My pleasure. So a little over a decade ago The Beastie Boys released an all-instrumental album called The In Sound - Are you calling from space?

I’m in this really small room and I have you on speaker phone. Can you hear me okay? I can hear you but I can hear you weird. But it’s good. I was just concerned for you.

I’m okay. Okay.

So… What’s up?

Okay, so The In Sound from Way Out was released a little over a decade ago and I was wondering what brought about the idea to make another instrumental album now? That’s a very good question. And I don’t really have a good answer for it. We were starting to record a record and the last record we made was an all-rap record. So when we started recording this one we started recording with instruments just to see what happens. And we were just, I don’t know, as the kids say, “in the groove.”

How do you think this album differs from The In Sound from Way Out? It’s not that different. [Laughs.] I mean, you know, a definite difference is that The In Sound is just a compilation of songs that were already out. And this was the first record where we said, “Okay, this whole record is going to be instrumental.” So we were more focused on different instrumental sounds.

So you - But um...

I’m sorry, go ahead. I didn’t have anything that great to say after that. I will later. Trust me.

I do. You’re doing these gala events on this tour. What can people expect at these events? Oh, you know a gala event. Have you ever seen the show Willa Sands? On cable?

Willow Sands? Willa Sands. I don’t know if she’s on anymore. It was a cable show and her main thing was gala events; she would go to gala events and film them for her cable show. You know, book signings, wine and cheese events, watch parties, you know, that kind of thing.

Watch parties? You know; watch parties!

I don’t know what that is. You know, where a new expensive watch is out and they have a party and Brendan Fraser goes.

Oh. I guess I haven’t been invited to one of those. I haven’t either but I’ve seen them in magazines. That’s the audience we’re looking for with the gala event show.

Yeah, you have a very strict dress code for these, right? No one ever pays attention to our dress code. It’s kind of a bummer.

Yeah, I know. I was watching that DVD you guys put out [Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!] and I was listening to the audio commentary; you guys seemed pretty disappointed by the attire of various people. Yeah.

So you sent this email out specifying certain clothing guidelines. Yeah, we did. Who sent that email?

I got an email from you guys saying, “We’re throwing these gala events. Don’t wear cargo shorts!” Oh, yeah yeah yeah. I think Mike did that. Yeah, cargo shorts. I mean, come on! You pay money to go to a show - it’s not five dollar shows anymore, it’s not ten dollar shows anymore! You know what I mean? You spend a lot of money to go to the show, let’s go! What are you going to do, wear Tevas and cargo shorts? You know what I mean? Honestly!

I do. And then you’re doing something extra special on MCA’s 43rd birthday. What’s happening there? His - how old is he?

I think he’s 43. Okay. We’re doing something on his birthday?

Yeah, in Boston, right? Let me look in my calendar here. Oh yeah, we’re playing at the Opera House. Oh yeah, that’s big. That’s gala!

Yeah, but is that going to be even more - Where do they hold gala events? If you were going to go to a gala event where would you go?

The Met, Lincoln Center. Yeah, Lincoln Center! Lincoln Center is like Mecca for gala events. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let us play there.

Did you try? I don’t think we did.

Hammerstein’s good though. Not as good. Nothing against Hammerstein or the Hammerstein family.

And you’re working with this environmental group Reverb on this tour, what does that entail? I… I don’t know about that.

There’s something about a chance for people to bring their old cellphones to every show. Oh, really?

And people can recycle them. That’s just because I need a new phone! [Laughs.] That’s not funny. Um, I know that we were trying to do some stuff with different environmental groups and that Mike was more involved with finding those people. And I guess he’s found those people. Look at him go!

So - You know what I mean. There’s a lot of technology; you can use technology to do stuff for the environment in little ways. Not just recycling but recycling is definitely something we can do. And shows are not usually something you think of. But I guess, cell phone drops at a gig, why not? You know, everybody’s got a cell phone they want to get rid of.

Yeah. Shit, you know I love the world.

Me too. So your group's name: Beastie Boys. Is that an homage to Bad Brains? Is Beastie Boys an homage to Bad Brains?

That’s what someone was saying in the documentary American Hardcore. That I don’t believe to be true. I wasn’t there when they came up with the name so I can’t necessarily comment on it. From what Yauch was saying, with Beastie Boys they were trying to come up with the goofiest kind of name at the time. You know, when hardcore bands were coming out with names like Urban Waste and The Mob, you know, a lot of kind of tough names. So Beastie Boys was the stupidest name we could come up with. And unfortunately it stuck.

Are any of you guys still following The Bad Brains because they just played on this boat - Yeah, Adam Yauch just produced their new album.

Oh, right! Right. So yes, we are.

I was introduced to Lee Perry’s music by way of Grand Royal. Right.

I’m just curious how that collaboration came about and what it was like working with him. I actually wasn’t there the night he came to the studio, though I’ve met him a few times. It was on my birthday which is on Halloween and I guess somehow we got hooked up with him through our manager because we were recording our record Hello Nasty. And we recorded a bunch of music for it and we had kind of a dope kind of reggae track sort of. And we wanted him to do vocals on it just to mess around with it just to see what he would do with it. And it just so happened that he was in New York on Halloween. So Adam Yauch and Mario Caldato went to wherever he was staying and picked him up and took the train from Brooklyn, I think, back into Manhattan on Halloween.

On the subway? On the subway on Halloween. And he, you know, looked the wildest out of everybody even on Halloween.

Yeah, I bet! And he just came into the studio and did his thing.

Have you ever seen him live? Yeah, and we’ve actually played with him a couple times.

You know he’s doing one of those boat tours I want to check out. Boat tour? Yeah, this Rocks Off concert boat. They sail around Manhattan. The Bad Brains recently did that too. That sounds very gala!

Maybe it’s something you guys should keep in mind. We should get money for that?

Yeah, why not? I think there could be money involved. I think so. The idea is out there in the stratosphere.

So I think MCA does meditation, and I’m under the impression Mike D does yoga. Do you do anything like that to cultivate your inner peace? Yeah, I smoke a lot of weed. You know. [Laughs.] I watch 24. I don’t know. Yeah, I can’t comment on what Adam and others do. What do I do to find my inner child?... Is that what you’re asking?

No, inner peace. You know - Because my inner child just wants pizza. My inner child is down at the deli trying to get someone to buy me beer. I’m on a roll now, I’m on a roll. Are you writing all this down?

I’m recording all this and not missing a single word. Um… Is it true that a long time ago Rick Rubin was encouraging you to go solo? You know, a lot of people are trying to get me to go solo. It's just a thing I have to deal with a lot. Record labels are always trying to get me to go solo. Management, a lot of big names like Beyonce, Madonna, they try to call me to get me to go solo.

Yeah, I wonder how you deal with being pulled in so many directions. It’s not easy. My dog wrote the word SOLO in her food in the bowl. I didn’t know what it meant!

And the acting career too! You know what I mean? A lot of offers coming in right now.

Something’s always puzzled me. I don’t think this was your lyric but maybe you can shed some light on it because it haunts me: “Ride around town like Raymond Burr.” Yeah, ride around like Raymond Burr! Remember, he was in a wheelchair, when he played a cop. [Ironside]

All right thank you! Yeah, funny right.

Do you have a favorite lyric? Do I have a favorite lyric? Wow. Um. No. I mean, shit. There’s so many great lyrics.

Yeah. I think one of my favorites is, “I’m so rope they call me Mr. Roper.” That’s funny. I like that Nas song when he’s talking about pissing in the elevator.

Hm. Sorry.

No, that’s cool. No, I mean, you know, lyrics are important. There are amazing lyricists out there.

How many times a day do you get recognized by a fan who wants to stop and chat? I can’t leave my house. You know what I mean? It’s mainly because people want to battle me. You know?

Like hand-to-hand? Well, wrestling. Because I did have a minor wrestling career, too.

Oh right, there’s that too. I don’t even know if we’re going to have time to get into that. I can literally walk around at our own shows and nobody recognizes me.

Have you ever had a really strange encounter with a fan? Too many. Yeah. None I feel like talking about.

Is there one that comes to mind that you could share with our readers? One of my favorites was one in the early 90s when a guy with long blonde hair and a purple goatee was backstage - this was in Toronto - and he was saying, “Right after you guys play I’m having a party in my loft and if you guys want to come I’ve just made a bong out of Homer Simpson.” And he put the pipe in his forehead and you’d take a hit out of his ass. And I just liked that this was his invite. This was the bait to get me to come to the party.

So how was it? It was pretty good, actually. It was good weed. But the draw wasn’t so good. Yeah.

So let’s see. Adrock do you still know the fly spot where they got the champagne? And if so can you tell us where it is? I got secret spots. You know, I just go to the store to get my champagne these days.

I feel like you’re holding out on us on that but that’s okay. This is a New York interview; I’m not going to give out my spot. I’ve got a lot of spots for a lot of things.

Is there a particular restaurant you favor? I’m not going to say where I go to eat because that’s weird. I’ll tell you where I used to go to eat a lot that’s Taza de Oro. It’s on Eighth avenue between 14th and 15th.

What kind of restaurant is it? Cuban. They have good Café con Leche there, though. I used to go there all the time, back in the day. Now it’s probably not even open anymore.

Speaking of back in the day, do you feel nostalgic sometimes for the way New York was in the eighties? Yeah, you know, it’s definitely very “nice” now. It’s like Boston, or something. You know what I mean? It’s cool, but I definitely miss the chaos from the seventies and early eighties. But I love New York. As I speak I see the old lady across the street staring out her window. So the people are still, you know, staring out their windows. Oh, she just lowered her blinds!

She’s probably thinking, “There’s that guy who’s always staring at me from his window.” Yeah, so there you go. But I love New York, I’ll always be there.

Okay, one or two more questions. Oh, a truck! Here’s a thing that’s going to drive me absolutely crazy. The trucks! They can put people on the moon but they can’t make a quiet truck! You know what I’m saying?

Absolutely. They wake me up at night. It’s ridiculous! They can’t make a quiet engine? Jiminy Christmas already!

[At this point the publicist comes on the line and tells us time’s up.]

Okay, last question. With John McCain’s campaign faltering many see Rudy Giuliani as the man to beat in 2008. What do you think about President Giuliani? What do I think about President Giuliani?

Yeah, how would you feel about that? How do I think about him in relationship to McCain?

No, just how do you feel about him as President? I got to say Giuliani… I don’t like Giuliani but something happened to him right toward the end. I remember hearing that toward the end when he was going through his separation and he was crashing on a friend’s couch with two guys, a gay couple, and he went through some transformation. Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about Giuliani as president. I know I hated his guts for a long time.

Okay, so you’re holding out on the endorsement. I am not giving Giuliani my endorsement. I’m down with Hillary.

Really? That’s right. You heard it here.

Okay. I’m sure my endorsement’s going to be the best thing for the campaign.

Yeah, I’m sure you’ll be contacted by them tomorrow. [Laughs] I just want Knicks tickets.

You have a problem getting Knicks tickets? You know what I mean: I just want ‘em.

Photo via Mike Morel's Flickr.