Beastie Boys‘ Mike D has shared his debut solo single ‘Switch Up’. Check it out below.
The release from the hip-hop pioneer marks the first new music from any Beastie Boys member since their 2011 album ‘Hot Sauce Committee Part Two’.
It comes after he made a surprise appearance on stage with his sons Davis and Skyler, who perform as the indie-dance band Very Nice Person, last month, and shortly afterwards announced a series of live solo shows. You can visit here for tickets.
During one of these shows last night (May 7) at Los Angeles’ Plaza Nightclub & Dance Hall, Mike released ‘Switch Up’, an eclectic track built around an infectious drum beat.
It came to be after a series of “carefree, low-pressure” experiments at his home studio with his sons, as per a press release.
You can check it out below.
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.”
Before then, Beastie Boys dropped a deluxe reissue of their 2004 album, ‘To The Five Boroughs’.