The Beastie Boys’ Adam Horovitz, aka Ad-Rock, will appear in the upcoming Noah Baumbach film While We’re Young, and gave an extensive interview to GQ in advance of the move. The interview was particularly revealing, as Horovitz talks about life after the passing of bandmate MCA’s (Adam Yauch’s) death.
Right off the bat, Horovitz is asked if the Beastie Boys are done. He replies, “We’re done. Oh yeah. Adam Yauch started the band. It’s not like a thing where we could continue without him.”
He continues, talking about the implications of being “done” with the Beastie Boys: “It’s a huge deal. And so, you know, it’s probably just taken me time to sit and think and try to figure out what I do next or who I am now or, you know, all of that stuff. Because since high school, I was in this band. And you know, it’s one thing when you’re in a band in high school, but then to have it last for so long—that’s who I am and what I did forever. And so now I’m just trying to figure it out.” He elaborates further, saying that the process of losing ones main identity is depressing, and he’s still figuring out what to do with his time.
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However, the band does have a lot of unreleased music stashed away. It’s mostly instrumental, “like, hours and hours of, like, really bad jamming. Which is awful to think about, but some of it’s really funny,” and “then there’s a lot of stuff of us talking in the middle of it, which is priceless. We were just really stoned, talking about, like, where we should get food, or Cirque du Soleil or some shit.”
There are several eye-opening moments in the interview, including Horovitz’s thoughts on death, the progress of his Beastie Boys memoir with Mike D, his withdrawals from the attention of the band, and this particularly great story that summarizes the “weird shit” that’s happened in Horovitz’s life:
“I first went to L.A. in ’88 to be in a movie, and I met this guy, Donovan, who turned out to be one of my best friends, lifelong friends. And one of the first nights I got there, he was like,’Oh, there’s this crazy Hollywood party; I want you to come.’ So a bunch of us went to this crazy Hollywood party, and all these — like, the most random celebrities. It was the best way you could be introduced into, like, a Hollywood party. And you know, we’re drinkin’ — it’s this huge house up in the hills somewhere — and everybody’s there, and I’m gettin’ drunk, and it’s like, next thing I know, I turn, I’m on the dance floor, and George Michael’s just standing next to me. I’m like,’This is awesome.’ And then Axl Rose came — like, stepped to me at the party and told me to stop ripping off Led Zeppelin. I’m like,’How am I even — how is this even happening?’ You know, this thing happens to all of us, I would assume: Like, there’s a moment in your life — and I would assume it happens for a lot of different reasons in a lot of different ways, like how you dress and your state of mind or whatever — but there’s this fun time in your life that you’re at, and you kind of always picture yourself that age. So like, I’m 48, but I still kind of think that I’m 22.”
Read the interview in full here, via GQ.