The Adam Yauch Interview
How'd you first get involved with the Tibetan cause?
How'd the idea for the first Tibetan Freedom Concert
germinate?
The idea of doing a concert for Tibet is one that's been
floating around for a long time. And it was just
something that we were close enough to the music
business and to other bands to actually pull together.
How difficult was it to make the first show happen?
We mainly asked a lot of bands that we already knew
from touring. Basically all the bands that are on there
are bands that we know from around or that we've
toured with. Then more and more, as it started getting
more of a positive reputation as a good event, other
bands were interested in being a part of it that we
didn't know as well.
From the outside looking in, it seems like the music community,
starting with the other Beastie Boys and extending outward,
really embraced the Tibetan cause pretty quickly. But when you
first got interested and started telling people the idea for the
Concert, was there a certain amount of resistance to it?
Well, I mean I've had a lot of resistance, myself, to
causes and to people touting causes, so I've tried to
handle putting it forward in as subtle a way as possible.
I think that I've found good documentaries about it and
shown people documentaries if they were interested
and tried to kind of pass it on like that.
You said that you've been resistant to causes and touting causes
in the past, what broke down your resistance in this case?
They were talking about not going back home until Tibet
was free and I think the idea of just leaving home
struck me really strongly. Then the more I learned about
it, the more I learned about the nonviolence, that's
what probably kept me interested and working on it,
because I think that the lesson of nonviolence is
something the rest of the world needs so badly. We're
all in desperate need of that. By working on this and
getting more people to work on it we're really working
on things that are going to help our own society and the
rest of the world.
At one point did you guys decide that you were going to make a
feature film about that first concert and about the cause in
general?
I guess as the concert started coming together it just
seemed really exciting and it seemed like something
that should be documented. Also [it was] a way that we
could spread the work we were trying to do a bit further.
We could document it and then it could be used for
educational purposes, either theatrically or in schools or
whatever. It just seemed like a good idea.
The film, in addition to showing the activism it inspired, also
showed examples of the apathy and cynicism that was
undoubtedly present as well. Was this a conscious decision?
Yeah, definitely.
What was the motivation behind it?
We were kind of trying to be honest about it. Just to
kind of give a feel of what the day was like. And that
was definitely a part of it so we wanted to show that.
Does the apathy and the cynicism discourage you?
That kind of leads into my next question. What do you think the
Tibetan Freedom Concerts have accomplished thus far?
Umm, I don't know exactly. I don't know how
to....(Silence)
Do you feel they have accomplished something tangible?
Yeah. I think they've definitely helped to start to
connect these two worlds for young people--to start to
learn about Tibet and for a lot of young people to get
involved in helping them. I think that through helping
we're learning a lot of lessons that we're in desperate
need of. I think that if we continue the path that we're
on -- if we continue to fire missiles at people and to
produce things that don't biodegrade and on and on -- if
we continue on the path of selfishness that we're on
then we're bound to really to do some serious
destruction to ourselves. If we keep stockpiling
weapons and keep thinking of violence as a means to
resolve conflict than I think we're headed for some real
problems.
So I think a lot of people are starting to learn about
nonviolence and are starting to see that violence isn't
really a feasible alternative to change. This example is
perfect of what's going on right now. We think that we
are retaliating, that we're teaching the Middle East a
lesson by firing missiles at them and there's no way
One of the more interesting things that I've thought about the
most recent missile strikes is that no one, not government
officials, not the media, no one, has suggested that these missile
strikes will be the end of it. They know that it is only going to
spur on more attacks.
It's completely insane. The only thing that it can
possibly do is make people more angry and lead to
more violence. It definitely makes the film even more
relevant.
I was reading the New York Times today and they had a review
of your show in New York over the weekend and it mentioned
that the audience had booed when you had made an apology to
Muslims in light of the attacks. Was that accurate and if so, was
it discouraging?
Yeah, it's accurate. I don't know how many of the
people in the audience booed because most of my
friends all came up to me afterwards and said they were
really moved by what I had to say, and I think a lot of
the people were, but there were a handful of people --
at least a good ten percent -- in there were booing
because you could hear it. (Laughs) But I think maybe
people misunderstood what I was saying, and maybe it
was my choice of words but what I was trying to put
across was that there's a lot of racism that comes from
Americans towards Muslim people and Middle Eastern
people.
We've kind of painted them, at
this point, into the enemy, in a
very generalized way, just as we
used to do with the Russians a
few years ago. And there's just
this kind of general racism
coming from America and I was
trying to bring up that point and
apologize for that to people of
that ethnicity and people from
that part of the world. And maybe
it was a poor choice of words on
my part but that was the
sentiment. The reason that I'm
saying it might have been a poor
choice of words is because I did
say almost the same thing the
night before at another concert
and almost the same thing the
night after, and neither time did
people boo. It was just at the
Garden. I might have just kind of
timed what I said a little bit weird and I think it came
across like I was somehow pro-terrorism or something.
(Laughs)
Do you think your spiritual beliefs and your political activism has changed your relationship with Adam and Mike?
Well, that's a little bit of an oversimplification in the
premise of the question because I think the way that I
would look at it is that everybody is evolving all the
time as people, constantly. So I think that anything
that anyone comes in contact with, probably effects all
of their relations, and all their relationships with
everyone they know. But yeah, I definitely think so. But
I don't think negatively at all.
I guess what I'm getting at is it seemed in the days of Licensed to Ill, that you were all always on the same page. There seemed to be a lot of similar sentiments coming from all of you.
Undoubtedly now, you've all carved out more individual
identities and personalities. Do you think the way that you guys
have evolved has affected the band and the music that you make
now?
Well, I think the individuality thing, that's something
that the media has been focusing on more, which has
actually been a little bit strange to me because the
three of us are really close friends and have been for a
long time. And it's kind of like we've been out of the
light of the media for the last few years and have spent
a lot of time just hanging out together working on
music and then all of a sudden to be thrown back into
the middle of it and to have all these people writing all
these things is definitely a little bit bizarre. Because I
don't think we're as different or as one-sided as those
three different caricatures are kind of portrayed. But I
think we've all learned a tremendous amount since
Licensed to Ill and are all kind of more aware of what
we're saying and what we're doing. You might take note
of the song on this last record, "Song For The Man," in
which Adam [Horovitz] is going out of his way to talk
about men being disrespectful of women.
Kind of. I would say yes to cringe but not so much
wishing that it hadn't have happened because I think
that we all learned from that. So you can't wish that
you didn't go through it because then you wouldn't have
learned whatever you learned. So yeah, cringe, but so
be it.
Well, do you guys have a hard time performing a lot of that stuff? I mean, obviously a lot of those cringe-worthy songs are still fan favorites.
There's only a couple of songs from that first album that
we still even perform.
But do you find it tough to perform the old stuff you do play? I
mean even some of the stuff on Paul's Boutique like, "Shake
Your Rump," might fall into that same category?
Do you feel like the tenets of Buddhism, in any way, contradict
your role in the Beastie Boys or your role as a pop music figure, in general?
No, because I think it's been evolving. The band has
evolved into whatever it is the three of us are
interested in, so it's kind of a natural thing.
I guess I'm asking because it sounds on the new album,
particularly on a couple of the tracks, like "I Don't Know," and
"Flowin' Prose," that you're having a hard time reconciling your
spirituality and your political beliefs with your position as a pop culture icon, and just with sort of playing hip-hop in general. Do you think that that's a fair assessment?
No, not at all. I would think that it's the other way
around. The way that I feel about it is that if I'm on the
air, if I'm getting that kind of attention, it's something
that can be used towards a positive end. So I haven't
felt strange about that at all. I'm surprised to hear you
say that it comes across in the songs.
Part of it is that it seems....
Actually I have to go. We're on stage in a few minutes.
Oh. Do you have time for one more question?
Maybe if it's quick. Is there anything you want to know
about the film?
Uhh. Not, well, uhh, ok. How was putting together a film different from putting together an album?
Umm. I mean it's actually pretty similar in a lot of ways
because you just go in day after day and work on stuff.
and just keep chipping away at it until forms into what
you want it to be.
Were there things that came up that you couldn't have
anticipated because it was you first time doing a film?
Well, I worked a bit on films in college and on videos.
It's interesting when you combine music and dialogue
and imagery you create a whole new kind of realm
that's definitely kind of different from all of the
elements individually. But I do think documentary film
is one of the best ways to put things across in this
time. It's just a really powerful way to put forward
ideas.
by David Peisner
The Beastie Boys are a cultural force.
Ever since the release of Licensed to Ill
back in 1986, they have been changing
the landscape of hip-hop, rock and pop
culture in general with nearly every move
they make. Though they began as three
Jewish kids from Long Island, Adam
"MCA" Yauch's embrace of Tibetan
Buddhism led to their spearheading of
the Tibetan Freedom Festivals, which
began in 1996, and have run each
summer since then. It's also spawned
Free Tibet, a feature-length movie which documents the
first concert and the cause. Their latest album, Hello
Nasty, finds Yauch and his partners-in-rhyme Adam
"Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Mike "D" Diamond, incorporating
their newfound spiritual beliefs into their pollywog stew
of hip-hop, funk, rock, and pop. Yauch took a few
minutes before going on stage recently to talk about
the Tibetan cause, their new album, and how the two
are effecting each other.
I met some Tibetan refugees that had just escaped
from Tibet and they told me a bit about what was going
on there and I was pretty moved by it and it stayed
with me. And I took the time to continue learning about
it and after that just learned more and more about it.
It's probably meeting those people
first hand. Actually being in Nepal and
meeting these refugees that had just
escaped. A lot of them were like
young people, teenagers and young
kids who were in their twenties or
thirties. Some were old people. There
were about 30 people travelling
together who had just come over the
Himalayas wearing sneakers and
wearing like four pairs of pants on top
of each other and a bunch of shirts
and windbreakers, and kind of keeping
their hands inside their jackets and
climbing these snow covered passes. I think I was just
really moved by meeting them. 
When we were on the Lollapalooza tour in `93, we
helped to bring the [Tibetan] monks out there. [We'd]
bring nine monks out on the tour who would go up and
do opening prayers for Lollapalooza and then kind of
walk around and give out pamphlets. And one day,
people were being pretty disrespectful to the monks,
throwing stuff on stage at them, and somebody asked
one of the monks, "Is this worth it? Wouldn't you rather
be at home in Dharamsala [the town in Northern India
that is the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile]?
What do you think about being out here on tour?" And
the monk said, "If one person gains something from us
being on this entire tour than it's all totally worth it."
And that's kind of always stayed in my head. Not
everybody's gonna gain something out of it but certainly
some people are.
that that's going to lead to
anything but more violence. It's
clear to me that if we think that
we're resolving something by
retaliating, that chances are,
there are people in the Middle
East that are going to think that
they're resolving something by retaliating. And it's just
going to continue to escalate for years. I mean what do
we do if somebody decides to blow up a nuclear weapon
in the middle of New York City? How do we retaliate to
that? There's no solution. In this modern age that we
live in, with the weapons that exist now, there's no
useful progress through retaliation. I mean, perhaps
through economic sanctions or some sort of retaliatory
action like that, but it has to be nonviolent because
hatred just breeds more hatred and compassion is the
only thing that resolves hatred. So hopefully some of
those messages are coming across through the film.
Well, that's another thing worth bringing up. The three of you
have made such a radical change in your world views from the
Licensed to Ill days of writing songs like "Girls." Do you guys
look back on those Licensed to Ill days and sort of cringe a little bit?
Yeah, well, most of the songs
that we do from Paul's Boutique
and Licensed to Ill are ones that we
feel comfortable with the lyrics or
ones where we've changed the
lyrics that we didn't feel that
comfortable with. It's not perfect,
but we try to adjust the stuff to where we feel
comfortable with it. And there's actually only a couple of
songs from Paul's Boutique that we've been doing and
only a couple from Licensed to Ill.
Go to MCA's biography
See some MCA pics
Interested in learining about Tibet?