Imagine waiting more than a decade to hear new music from one of the voices behind the Beastie Boys. Then, almost out of nowhere, Mike D steps back onto a stage, starts playing songs you’ve never heard before, and suddenly a whole new chapter begins.
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Now that chapter has a name.
Mike D has officially announced his debut solo album, Thank You, set for release on August 28. Along with the announcement comes a new single, True Colors, the latest preview of a record that marks his first solo album following the death of fellow Beastie Boys member Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch in 2012.
The journey to Thank You began quietly.
Last month, Mike D surprised fans when he joined his sons Davis and Skyler, members of indie-dance outfit Very Nice Person, for a live appearance at the Ojai Valley Women’s Club. Backed by his sons in a new band called 5D, he soon followed with intimate performances in unusual venues across the United States, introducing audiences to fresh material before releasing the singles Switch Up and What We Got.
A run of UK dates followed, beginning with a small club show in North Shields that signalled this wasn’t a nostalgia project. This was something entirely new.
Recorded at Mike D’s home studio and built alongside a growing circle of collaborators, the album features contributions from Carter Lang, Jared Solomon, Ging, Jason Lader, Eddie Ruscha, Tyran Donaldson and others. The record was mixed by Derek “MixedByAli” Ali and mastered by Nicolas de Porcel.
“It’s been so much fun making this music with people I love and I have grown to really appreciate in our collaboration,” Mike D said. “And I just hope it’s fun for others and not overly serious, because let’s be real, I’m releasing this music into a very strange and dark and power-fixated world that really devalues art and feelings and compassion and empathy and equality.”
The album’s artwork is said to reflect its free-flowing and intuitive spirit, created alongside visual collaborators Can Can Press, Thad Higa and Charles Deroyan.
The 13-song collection includes:
Switch Up
What We Got
True Colors
That’s Right
Secrets Pt. I
Secrets Pt. II
I Don’t Care
Make It Stop
Crypto
Here We Are
Back To Start
It’s Time
Thank You
Speaking recently about why now felt like the right time to return to making his own music, Mike D reflected on the years following Yauch’s death.
“We so much loved all three of us being in a band with each other for Beastie Boys,” he said. “When Yauch died, it was an extremely sad time for me so making music was just not on the table.”
He explained that raising his children and later working on the Beastie Boys Book alongside Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitzhelped him reconnect with his creative life.
Eventually, watching his kids make music sparked something.
“I was feeling the most about what I was producing when bands were more executing my ideas,” he said. “I was like, ‘What the fuck am I doing? Bands shouldn’t be doing my ideas, they should be making their own ideas and I should be making my own ideas.'”
As for becoming the first Beastie Boy to release a solo album?
“To be honest, there was no race to the finish line on that one,” he laughed.
One of the biggest differences this time around was finding his own voice without the built-in feedback system that came from working in Beastie Boys. Surprisingly, his toughest critics turned out to be his sons.
“They were extremely frank with me on my vocals, which was super helpful.”
That honesty helped shape an album Mike D describes as familiar in spirit, but different in perspective.
“The way I describe the record is that musically it’s still pretty immature, and lyrically it’s a little bit more mature,” he said. “I just feel like there’s more of the things I had to tap into. I had to learn how to feel all over again.”
After 14 years without a new Beastie Boys record and more than a decade since MCA’s passing, Mike D is stepping into entirely new territory.
Will Thank You open a surprising new chapter for one of hip-hop’s most influential voices?
