Beastie Boys on Mark Wahlberg’s Underwear

When the Beastie Boys first announced their new album, The Mix Up, would be a full-bore instrumental affair, we hoped that the accompanying tour would not be. Because while the boys’ trippier non-rap fare has always been a tasty garnish, it’s those pass-the-mike jams, stuffed with pop-culture references, that are the sizzling steak. Last week’s shows were a mixed bag. The Beasties absolutely murdered their set at Summerstage on Wednesday — they traded off guitars and mikes, dripped sweat, and even ran a modified three-man weave — but Friday’s instrumental “gala� event at the Hammerstein Ballroom was predictably sedate. Thursday morning, they took a break to answer some of our questions at press conference. And yes, they were wearing suits.

On white rappers:
Mike D: Marky Mark: I know he’s an esteemed actor now as Mark Wahlberg, but he had a period. The underwear campaign, that was a big thing.
Ad-Rock: Did he rap? Or was it more of a singing thing?
Mike D: He rapped. It was more like C + C Music Factory rapping.
MCA: Actually, I think he’s one of the best actors out there. [And] it leaves more room for us to do the underwear ads.

On not having lyrics on The Mix Up:
MCA: Are you asking is there anything we want to say? The U.S. should get out of Iraq, we should explore alternative energy sources …
Ad-Rock: What are you gonna do? We got plenty more records coming.

On Sonic Youth playing their seminal Daydream Nation live in its entirety:
Mike D: With any of our records, if you play the whole album, then you have to play the clinkers. The clinkers being the songs that you thought were a good idea at the time, and then you get past the record, and you’re like, Why did we put that song on there? “What Comes Around,� off Paul’s Boutique, could have been left off the album.

On their suits:
Mike D: Well, this is a formal event — but we got another gig. We’re serving lunch next door.
—Amos Barshad