Beastie Boys’ Mike D has shared the new single ‘What We Got’ and announced that his first UK show will be an intimate gig near Newcastle.
The hip-hop veteran surprised fans when he released his debut solo single ‘Switch Up’ earlier this month, the first new music from any Beastie Boys member since their 2011 album ’Hot Sauce Committee Part Two’.
Now, he has followed it up with ‘What We Got’, a track built around heavy, clattering percussive beats and distorted guitars, matched by Mike’s distinctive aggressive, clipped vocal delivery. Check it out below.
He had already announced his first ever string of UK and European solo shows to take place in June, and now he has added a new opening night, to take place at the Kings Street Social Club in North Shields in the North East of England on June 3.
It joins the existing dates in London’s 26 Leake St on June 5 and 6, as well as dates in Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Belgium and France later in June. Check out the full details of those shows here, and find tickets for the dates here.
This new episode in Mike D’s career began when he made an appearance on stage with his sons David and Skyler, who perform as the indie-dance band Very Nice Person, in April. They played ‘So What’cha Want’ and ‘Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun’.
After that, he announced a run of rare live headline shows in the US that went down earlier this month, where he debuted some new material.
Mike D hasn’t hit the road as a Beastie Boy since his bandmate Adam “MCA” Yauch passed away in 2012.
After the surprise slot with Very Nice Person, local outlet Ojai Valley News published an interview with Ojai Playhouse owner David Berger, shedding more insight into how the collab came together.
“It came about just through befriending Mike and learning about his love for Ojai. He and I connected through his visits here and showed interest in wanting to do a show here and I was really focused on making that happen for him” Berger said.
A self-proclaimed “huge Beastie Boys fan my whole life”, Berger added that the gig was put together in “less than a week” and added that “it was a thrill to have Mike and his sons perform in Ojai. Not only do I feel that way, but I think the whole town feels that way.”
In April, meanwhile, Beastie Boys dropped a deluxe reissue of their 2004 album, ‘To The Five Boroughs’.