Matt Dike+

[Brother McDuff]

hey friends. Matt Dike, known loosely to us as the man behind the Paul's Boutique curtain, continues to intrigue. While the Dust Brothers champion the more publicized cred behind PB's production genius, it's the shadowy, mysterious lore of Matt Dike that has consistently gnawed at my conscience for the last decade and a half. Seemingly lumped together with EZ and Giz as one of the Dust Brothers himself in the PB credits, my impression has always been that he was the central figure behind the record's production. I assume I'm not the only one who ponders this engima from time to time, so I figured I would share with y'alls some nuggets of info i unearthed during a laborious internet research binge. While Dan LeRoys Paul's Boutique bible (that 33 1/3 joint) remains the most informative delve into the Matt Dike myth, these tidbits offer but a small modicum of additional info to throw into the pot. Hope they're worth your read.


note: some of the segments in these links can be buried pretty deep into the page. in those cases you can scroll down and look for the highlited search terms to find the juice.



here's a blog blurb from someone who apparently knows Matt:
What Happened to Matt Dike? (http://karinsroom22.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/what-happened-to-matt-dike/)


this is a great piece about his club Power Tools (kinda hard to read, but worth it):
Tey Owned the Night (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8Z9OaqisnCkJ:http://digital.modernluxury.com/publication/%3Fi%3D39411%26p%3D48%2B%22power+tools%22+%22matt+ dike%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&strip=1)


this one gets a little weird, you'll see what i mean (scroll down)
Speaking From the Diaphragm (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1B4DOC61OjgJ:http://blog.vaginaldavis.com/2010_03_14_archive.html%2B%22rhythm+lounge%22+%22m att+dike%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&ct=clnk)


betcha didn't know Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys made a rap song. betcha didn't know it was produced by Matt Dike either. it was never officially released.
"Smart Girls" (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fNft3DRvbZ0J:http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/brian-wilsons-l.html%2Bblog+%22matt+dike%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&ct=clnk)


a short one involving famous artist Basquiat and Def Jef kickin it at Matt's crib (small beastie inclusion too):
Basquiat in the Place to Be (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-OiSWmEF04gJ:http://www.waxpoetics.com/features/articles/basquiat-in-the-place-to-be%2Bblog+%22matt+dike%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&ct=clnk)


just a powerhouse beastie article in general: Mario going into heavy detail about his work with the bboys. a must read, really. this one definitely involves scrolling down (for the Dike info at least).
Keeping It Clean (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4bfXdnXFzbsJ:http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/mario-caldato-jr-surfing-the-meterbridge%3Ftemplate%3DRBMA_Lecture%252Ftranscri pt%2B%22power+tools%22+%22matt+dike%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&ct=clnk)



side-find:

solid paul's boutique era beastie interview. don't know how well circulated it's been, but it was certainly new to me.
Beasties Open Paul's Boutique (http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/rocks-backpages/rock-backpages-flashback-beasties-open-boutique-135621990.html)



hope you enjoy folks. peace!


Bro McD

[Micodin]

Salute!

[CatchaGroove]

that was a very noice read.

Cheers

[cj hood]

*Matt also loved the Beastie Boys during the early days, whom he invited to the apartment, were he even recorded some of ‘Paul’s Boutique’. This was before the brilliant and eccentric record producer Rick Rubin began working with the group.

They recorded with Dike before meeting Rubin???? This had to be '83...

[Brother McDuff]

*Matt also loved the Beastie Boys during the early days, whom he invited to the apartment, were he even recorded some of ‘Paul’s Boutique’. This was before the brilliant and eccentric record producer Rick Rubin began working with the group.

They recorded with Dike before meeting Rubin???? This had to be '83...

yeah, i recall catching that too. i think that writer may be mistaken.

[Laver1969]

Speaking from the diaphragm. woah...

[JohnnyChavello]

Had no idea Sabotage was tentatively titled Chris Rock. Kind of like Yesterday being referred to during recording as Scrambled Eggs. I think I prefer the working title in both cases.

[beasties#1fan]

"The beastie boys were smoking weed in the bathroom" LOL

[Micodin]

Speaking from the diaphragm. woah...

cosign.

[YoungRemy]

fascinating.

[YoungRemy]

I love this thread. it's interesting to hear what intrigues and influences other fans. I admit I have been over-obsessing over the LA part of the Beastie Boys story and was a bit lacking on all of this other history...

I found this connection pretty fascinating as well.
(right there i sound redundant)

interview with Rick Ross
Delicious Vinyl Feels Mighty Fine (http://thefindmag.com/interviews/article-delicious-vinyl-feels-mighty-fine/)

this is like a connect the dots of beastie related goodness. the article mentions "perfect synchronicity"

What do you think it was about those first records that made them so special?

Well, that was Matt and Mike’s record collection and their love of music all coming out in that first creative outburst. We listened to a lot of DC Go-Go music – Trouble Funk, Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers – and American Funk records -Tom Brown’s Jamaican Funk, Lakeside, The Ohio Players and The Gap Band – and then there were Rock records that were really important to us too, like Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. So, Matt and Mike fused their love of DC live Go-Go with Jamaican and American Funk, plus 70’s era rock records to create a sound – an audio experience – that hadn’t really been heard before in hip hop, up to that point.

The Delicious Vinyl sound ended up being a melding of those three distinct sounds, with a lot of break-beats from the New York underground hip hop scene. ‘Wild Thing’, ‘Funky Cold Medina’ and ‘Bust A Move’ – all those records have an element of Rock, Funk and Go-Go in them. Not so much Go-Go in the big songs, but more on the albums – there’s a song called ‘I Got It Going On’ which is very Go-Go oriented, lots of cowbells.

And that was the labels first sound right?

Yes. ‘Bust A Move’ has all these different musical elements – a girl singing a vocal line, Flea’s playing bass on it, cool drum loops. Part of Delicious Vinyl was also a live sound, as they would bring in people to play guitar and bass to give it more of that Funk sound. Melding those guitar hits with break-beats really made for this unique Delicious Vinyl sound. Even though Run DMC used Aerosmith and Rick Rubin used some big guitar hits, they were more of a certain metal sound. Rick Rubin ended up producing heavier bands like Slayer, whereas Matt’s rock tastes were of a different tone – Van Halen, Foreigner – and that comes through on the early Delicious Vinyl songs.

So the first single Delicious Vinyl released was ‘Wild Thing’ right?

Yes, ‘Wild Thing’ in ‘88 – we shot the video for 400 dollars with friends, and Tamra Davis directed it. It was this really creative, fertile time – a lot of our friends were coming out of art school and I always describe the label at that stage as this arts and crafts hub for our friends. Tamra Davis ended up mentoring Spike Jonze, and Spike ended up doing The Pharcyde video for ‘Drop’, the Fatlip documentary and the ‘What’s Up Fatlip?’ video for us.

Tamra did a few videos for us - ‘Wild Thing’, ‘Funky Cold Medina’ and ‘Bust A Move’ – they all had this look and feel, this really fresh West Coast, fun storytelling version of hip hop, which was different to what was coming out of NWA and Ruthless at that time. Delicious was always about a more fun side of hip hop.

yeah, I haven't watched the video for Bust a Move in probably 15 years, so needless to say I definitely didn't know Tamra Davis directed it, or that was even Flea playing bass or appearing in the video.

check out Mario C. making a cameo as well as Max Perlich! it's like a post FFYR, pre Pass The Mic kind of hybrid video IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy4FXhkm6Nw

(y)

[JasonP]

Thanks!

I particularly enjoyed this...

MCA: It's like we were the big shit, right, and then like Bon Jovi and U2 and those motherf--kers got big and we rolled up to this U2 party and they wouldn't even let us in and we said: "F--k this, man, we've gotta make another record, otherwise how we gonna get into all these U2 parties?!"

[Jiberish]

Mario C was hilarious in that video.

[Brass Monk]

Had no idea Sabotage was tentatively titled Chris Rock. Kind of like Yesterday being referred to during recording as Scrambled Eggs. I think I prefer the working title in both cases.

Ironic given that the comedian Chris Rock is a big Beastie Boys fan (but this working title was not referencing him)

[JohnnyChavello]

Ironic given that the comedian Chris Rock is a big Beastie Boys fan (but this working title was not referencing him)

You sure? How could it not be a Chris Rock reference? I know they probably used the working title in 93/94/95, but he was big back then, too. He'd already done SNL (remember I'm Chillin'?), In Living Color, and CB4 - which used Stick 'em Up on the soundtrack.

[YoungRemy]

"Sabotage' was one of the first songs recorded and the very last one to be finished on Ill Communication. While we were recording at Tin Pan Alley, we would play these like jazzy hippie jams for hours. Some of them came out kind of funky, and a bunch of them remained bad jazzy hippie jams. This guy named Chris ran the place. He was cool, but he never really hung out -- maybe 'cause he was a little bored with the noodling..."

"Yauch came in one day with this idea for a song where the fuzz bass keeps playing and we would all do these hits and stops to bring like suspense and drama. As we were recording it, Chris runs in the room and starts freaking out. He's all, 'This is the shit! This shit rocks!' for really feeling it. We didn't know what to do with it, so we called it 'Chris Rock,' and for like a year it was just an instrumental. We knew it should have vocals, so after a couple ideas and things, two weeks before we handed in the record, I went to Mario's house and did the vocals on his 8-track. So Chris, I hope you're happy." - Adam Horovitz, 1999

[JohnnyChavello]

"Sabotage' was one of the first songs recorded and the very last one to be finished on Ill Communication. While we were recording at Tin Pan Alley, we would play these like jazzy hippie jams for hours. Some of them came out kind of funky, and a bunch of them remained bad jazzy hippie jams. This guy named Chris ran the place. He was cool, but he never really hung out -- maybe 'cause he was a little bored with the noodling..."

"Yauch came in one day with this idea for a song where the fuzz bass keeps playing and we would all do these hits and stops to bring like suspense and drama. As we were recording it, Chris runs in the room and starts freaking out. He's all, 'This is the shit! This shit rocks!' for really feeling it. We didn't know what to do with it, so we called it 'Chris Rock,' and for like a year it was just an instrumental. We knew it should have vocals, so after a couple ideas and things, two weeks before we handed in the record, I went to Mario's house and did the vocals on his 8-track. So Chris, I hope you're happy." - Adam Horovitz, 1999

Yeah, I read the article. It sounds to me like they ended up naming it Chris Rock as a play on both this guy's name and the famous comedian who happens to have the exact same name. If some guy named Bob ran into the room screaming "This rocks," do you think they would have named it Bob Rocks?

It is important that we come to a consensus on this.

[Brass Monk]

Yeah, I read the article. It sounds to me like they ended up naming it Chris Rock as a play on both this guy's name and the famous comedian who happens to have the exact same name. If some guy named Bob ran into the room screaming "This rocks," do you think they would have named it Bob Rocks?


Then we would be wondering if they were referencing the producer of "Slippery when wet" and "the Black Album" :)

[YoungRemy]

Yeah, I read the article. It sounds to me like they ended up naming it Chris Rock as a play on both this guy's name and the famous comedian who happens to have the exact same name. If some guy named Bob ran into the room screaming "This rocks," do you think they would have named it Bob Rocks?

It is important that we come to a consensus on this.

furthermore and on the same connecting the dot train, CB4 was directed by Tamra Davis. could have easily been a nod.

[SpacemanSpliff]

just a powerhouse beastie article in general: Mario going into heavy detail about his work with the bboys. a must read, really. this one definitely involves scrolling down (for the Dike info at least).
Keeping It Clean (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4bfXdnXFzbsJ:http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/mario-caldato-jr-surfing-the-meterbridge%3Ftemplate%3DRBMA_Lecture%252Ftranscri pt%2B%22power+tools%22+%22matt+dike%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&ct=clnk)



excellent read, thx for sharing ... Mario C. is the man!

[cj hood]

I'd love to hear Yauch's 'Jimmy James' demos...

[Bernard Goetz]

Wow, that Mario C. interview is excellent. Thanks for finding the cached version, Brother McDuff.

[Brother McDuff]

right on fam, happy you found it intriguing (y)

[Mr. Juice]

check out Mario C. making a cameo as well as Max Perlich! it's like a post FFYR, pre Pass The Mic kind of hybrid video IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy4FXhkm6Nw

(y)

Doesn't "Bust A Move" look like it was filmed on the stairs of G-Son? (Though it pre-dated it.)

[Kid Presentable]

Ugh so many good reads. (y)