While clearing some space off of my desktop today I found a certain WAV file I was sure I lost forever.  Perhaps it was a sign of sorts that I found it today so I thought what better thing to do but share the WAV file with the world. The WAV file I speak of is actually a recorded interview with yours truly and NYC’s finest, the Beastie Boys.

The year was 2007 and I was just a freshman at this whole online blogging thing.  I was just getting comfortable with reviewing CDs and live shows for the wonderful Blogcritics.Org.  I was having a good time doing this and decided to try something a little more challenging, review a 2 day festival.

Somehow, some way I scored a press pass to the 2007 Virgin Mobile Festival and successfully covered the 2 days for Blogcritics.Org.  The experience was a positive one and made me want to review more festivals from my perspective because I had so much fun doing so.  You can read the review HERE but I never really got into full detail about the behind the scenes portion of my experience.

Just days before we (Matt, Rad-am, and myself) were to leave for Baltimore I received an email asking me if I wanted to interview the Beastie Boys as they were supporting their latest release The Mix Up by doing select tours and one of the stops was at the Virgin Mobile Festival.  Having never interviewed anyone in person before I was quick to the accepting reply for the opportunity and was told I would receive further instruction.

Day one of the festival once I got situated I received a text message telling me to meet at the press tent to interview the Beastie Boys.  I remember the girl and the guy coordinating it were super cool people and as we made out way through the VIP area I actually passed Virgin owner Richard Branson and gave a “what’s up” nod to the lead singer of the Fountains Of Wayne.

We kept walking till we got to a fenced off area where a couple of the Beastie Boys security members were seated in almost a outdoor living room canopied arrangement and were told that the Beastie Boys were situated inside the trailer next to them.  Security told us to stand aside the fence and wait for our turn.  I chatted with a couple of the guys standing with me and one of them ran an online Detroit radio program and the other was a reporter for MTV online.  Even though I had no idea what I was doing or what to expect I felt good about the situation.

When it was my turn to approach the trailer John Norris of MTV cut me in line and made his way into the trailer.  Time was passing now and I was not sure I was going to be able to interview them.  I was sweating my ass off too as it was hotter than hell outside and the security guys would not share their canopy with us.  No complaints from me though, I was still pumped.

I finally was told I had six minutes to interview the Beastie Boys and made my way into the trailer.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in the trailer were the three Armani suit wearing Beastie Boys all with smiles on their faces.  The second thing I noticed was that the trailer was air conditioned… Score.

I was asked to sit down on one of those fold out chairs and I hit record on my digital recording device.

Here is what happened:
Beastie Boys Interview 2007

As you can hear I was interviewed more by the Beastie Boys but I did not care.  The Beastie Boys are known for not being serious during interviews and I think if anything they really had fun chatting with me.  I was not looking to perform the most amazing interview of my career anyways, I was just looking to hang out with a band I have been a life long fan of.  Talking about LeBron James, breakfast bar buffets, and my Ween t-shirt just made the conversation all the more enjoyable.

I left that trailer with the biggest smile on my face and soon met up with Matt and Rad-am who were both wondering if I was ever going to come back to the festival grounds.  Moments later the Beastie Boys took the stage and blew the three of us away.

When I hear myself speak I think I sound like an idiot but then again I was a little nervous and did not know what the heck I was doing.  I never did so anything with the recording as I was unable to decipher some of the member’s voices from one another when I was transcribing it….then I lost the file (or so I thought I did).

Good times.  I hope you all enjoyed the little WAV file I found.

Here’s a recorded interview I found that SPIN Magazine did with the Beastie Boys on the very same day.

Here are some more vids of the performancee in 2007: