An Interview With TPK

TPK has been part of the Beastie Boys community a long time, his Beastie Boys website BeastiePad used to be one of the greatest but has since been left as other projects have come up. It is the largest source of Beastie Boys images online (next to Google images, which sucks) and is also the only place to get all the real lyrics to every song including remixes lyrics as well. More recently TPK became an Administrator of the Beastie Boys Message Board and now along with Minton they are making sure BeastieBoys.com is once again a top Beastie Boys site.

This interview was conducted on the 1st of July.

Jimmy: When did you first get into the Beastie Boys?
TPK: When I was with my cousins in Boston in the end of 1994 I heard Ill Com in the car like everyday for two weeks.
Jimmy: When and why did you start collecting Beastie releases, official and bootlegs?
TPK: Bootlegs has always been live recordings. I was always amazed by live performances so it just felt like a natural thing for me to do. As for the official part, I think it was mainly because here in Sweden I don't see much beastie merch, and every time I went to the states I saw singles, books, videos like everywhere and went "oh I gotta get that, oh and that one" etc etc. and then I ended up with a big collection.
Jimmy: Cool, what is your favorite era for the beastie's music?
TPK: I would like to say 1989'ish but really can't. I'd have to say around Ill Com. with lollapalooza and all those awesome live performances and of course also like all the b-sides that came out around that time, remixes. Everything. And the fashion yo.
Jimmy: Now lets talk about your website. Beastiepad is one of the best Beastie Boys websites online, what inspired you to make it?
TPK: As a little kid I started making website. And since I was like this ultra bright kid, I realized that I might as well make a website of something that I care about. Which I did. And when it came to inspiration I was mainly inspired by Minton's website. Not sure what it was called back in the days but this was around 1999'ish. and after that I kept on going. hoping to be able to advance at a later stage. Which I did.
Jimmy: The coolest part of the site has to be the lyrics section. How long did it take you to copy down all those lyrics and why did you do it?
TPK: The thing that took time was to highlight each letter depending on who was on the mic. That took about 20 minutes per song. And I have like maybe 250 songs up there? I don't know. You do the math. why did I do it? I like lyrics. it's always around 50% of the song. And I saw people down the MB asking for lyrics that weren't even up online. And I asked myself why and started writing them down. I got a lot of help from others too.
Jimmy: Cool, and now your working on the lyrics section for the official site as well right?
TPK: Well you never really know what's going on behind the scenes. But yeah sure lyrics it is.
Jimmy: Ha ha ha, ok
Jimmy: How many times have you seen the beasties live?
TPK: Unfortunately only two. Mostly because of age and where I live. I was so close to seeing them in '95 though.
Jimmy: That would have been good. the 95 shows were nice!
TPK: They certainly were. I have footage from the show I was about to attend and they were noice. One of the best clips I've seen from that period
Jimmy: Cool. Pity you missed it then
TPK: Word
Jimmy: Ok, What do you like and / or hate most about the Beastie community, if anything?
TPK: Good question..hmm
TPK: Alright, what I like is that I've met a lot of interesting people. From all over the world. What I don't like is the fact that there are so many part times licensed to ill fans out there who attend their shows and scream "Brass Monkey!" and after every show end up being all pissed off about it cause they were saying all this political shit and so on stage.
Jimmy: Very true. LTI fans who haven't realized the Beasties moved on get a bit annoying :(
Jimmy: What would you like to see more and / or less of on the next LP?
TPK: What I'm hoping for is an album with strong lyrics. Anything that's not close to that hysterica rhyme on In A World Gone Mad.
Jimmy: Ha ha ha, everyone seem to be noticing that line
TPK: Yeah it's probably the most disappointing rhyme I've heard in a Beastie tune
Jimmy: Do you think IAWGM should a) be on the album as a main track. b) as a hidden track. c) not be on it at all?
TPK: I would strongly go with c
Jimmy: What if it was remixed and touched up?
TPK: Still c. If they wanna hit the public with a political song it's gotta be a real tight one. Remixing iawgm wouldn't help
Jimmy: Did you like That's It?
TPK: The beats me liked. Like everyone else are saying
Jimmy: The rhymes were good too I thought
TPK: Yeah I don't know. "and my zodiac sign is Scorpio" :)
Jimmy: Ha ha
Jimmy: What other music do you enjoy apart from Beastie Boys?
TPK: Talib Kweli. He's definitely the one I listen to the most. Other than that, Mos Def, Nas, Common, Mobb Deep, Dre..(his old stuff), Looptroop, disco music, a few r'n'b tunes :), oh and reggae like alpha blondy and ragga-muffin or dancehall, whatever you want to call it.
Jimmy: Cool, you got mad taste in music!
TPK: Word yo
Jimmy: What are you going be up to in the near future?
TPK: Well here's a great place for an announcement. I'm thinking about throwing the beastie pad in the trash bin. Cause right now I'm working on a lot of other stuff. So if anyone with the skills wanna take over it be my guest :D
Jimmy: Wow, damn :(
TPK: I made the website as a hobby. Now I've moved on and it's maybe time to finish things I've got behind me.
Jimmy: cool (Y)
TPK: I would still love to have it going though, by someone else
Jimmy: from your webspace etc.?
TPK: Yeah sure maybe that
Jimmy: Any last comments or shout outs?
TPK: I'd like to mention a few that I've met and got along with very well, ferrisbueller2000, Minton, kll, beastieangel01. other than that I don't wanna get into mentioning too many cause I'm always afraid of forgetting someone. have to thank Minton though for being on me side for all these years. peace out.

Links:
www.beastiepad.cjb.net