Mike D may have spent decades making records with Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, so telling his Beastie Boys comrade that he was making one without him wasn’t just any regular conversation.
The hip-hop and punk veteran just released his debut solo album, Thank You. In a new CONSEQUENCE cover story, he recalled waiting till he was fully committed to it before breaking the news to his longtime friend and collaborator.
“There was a point in making the record that I realized I was enough into it and really committed to not only making it but probably releasing it that I had to call Adam and tell him,” he remembered. “It’s almost like I was calling [and] telling him I was in a relationship or something. I guess I was — I was in a relationship with making a record.”
Fortunately, Ad-Rock took the news about as well as Mike D could have hoped.
“He couldn’t have been sweeter, if I’m honest,” he said. “He was just very supportive, and then we also joked around and he said, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do. I’m playing some drums.’ So it was nice. I’m glad that we had that conversation.”
Still, he never considered asking his former bandmate to make a guest appearance on Thank You. While acknowledging that a reunion would have made a lot of Beastie Boys fans happy, he felt it could have also taken away from his attempt at making a record that was distinctly his own.
“I would have felt weird about it and I think he would have felt weird about it, and why go there?” Mike D explained. “Let’s just be clear and be honest, it was very important to me that I make my own record.”
However, that didn’t mean collaborating alone. The 60-year-old initially worked with his sons Skyler and Davis before expanding the roster to include other collaborators like Carter Lang, Jason Lader, Eddie Ruscha, and Tyran Donaldson. The resulting 13-track LP arrived on August 28th via Capitol Records, marking the first full-length collection of new music from a Beastie Boy since the group released Hot Sauce Committee Part Two in 2011.
Mike D described the Beastie Boys creative process as a “democracy” in which he, Ad-Rock, and the late Adam “MCA” Yauch all had to agree on creative decisions. With Thank You, he could still solicit ideas from the people around him while retaining the final say.
“I wanted to hear everybody’s take, but I had this sort of deciding vote,” he told Consequence. “I was really happy to have that, if I’m honest.”
Ad-Rock has yet to see his new live act in the flesh. He planned to attend one of the Mike D’s earlier shows in California, although he couldn’t make it since he wasn’t feeling well.
“It was very Adam,” Mike D recalled. “He was like, ‘Mike, what the fuck? You’re playing, like, not that far from me and I found out on the internet? You don’t even call me to tell me?'”
The rap pioneer is currently taking Thank You on the road with his 5D band, which features Skyler and Davis alongside Eddie Ruscha, Milo Ruscha, and Will Graefe.
Mike D 2026 Tour Dates:
09/03 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
09/05 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
09/09 – Queens, NY @ Knockdown Center
09/20 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
09/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco Theater
09/25 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
09/26 – San Francisco, CA @ Portola Music Festival 2026
09/28 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
09/30 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
10/01 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
10/16 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
10/17 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Jack White Theatre
10/19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
10/20 – Toronto, ON @ History
10/24 – Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival at Chalk
10/26 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio
10/27 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
10/28 – London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
10/30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
10/31 – Lille, FR @ L’Aeronef
11/01 – Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk Victoria
11/03 – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks
11/04 – Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur
11/05 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
