Monday March 16, 2009
Who wants to move?
By ANN MARIE CHANDY
Super-hyped outfit N.E.R.D. arrives with the complete line-up for the Sunburst festival this Saturday, promising a show to ‘move minds’.
WATCH out Malaysia, the inimitable (and rather intimidating) Pharrell Williams warns. “We’re going to burn a whole in the floor.”
Speaking during a short phone call from Los Angeles last Wednesday, childhood pals Williams, 36, and Chad Hugo, 33, endeavour to promote their rock/rap crossover collective’s performance at the second Sunburst KL International Music Festival 2009 at the Polo Pavilion, Bukit Kiara Equestrian & Country Resort in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday. Not much promotion is necessary for slick craftsmen like these.
Manic beat preachers: N.E.R.D. lads (from left) Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley. Together with Sheldon “Shay” Haley, the guys make up N.E.R.D. and have taken on the music world with gusto and panache. Getting this rap-rock outfit to perform here has been a great coup for Sunburst organisers Pineapple Concerts.
Still, talk has been rife that some bands may not be performing at Sunburst as publicised. But Pineapple’s managing director Razman Razali gives his assurance, that they have been given the green light by the top authorities in the National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry, even if the paperwork hasn’t been finalised yet.
Naturally, anything out of the ordinary courts controversy. And N.E.R.D. is anything but your average band.
The trio’s albums thus far – In Search of ..., Fly or Die and Seeing Sounds – have made quite the impression on, well, everyone. These guys are not just multi-instrumentalists with an attitude who have garnered a worldwide following with their own music, they’re also super savvy producers and have churned out hit after hit for glitterati like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Nelly, Usher, Mariah Carey and Snoop Dogg.
While crafting music, Williams and Hugo work under the professional alias of the Neptunes and have achieved a phenomenal yet quiet kind of behind-the-scenes success – reportedly, at one time, Neptunes productions accounted for more than 40% of the tracks aired on US radio. The awards have come too – in 2003, Williams and Hugo took home the Producer Of The Year Grammy – an accolade industry watchers felt was long overdue.
That’s no small potatoes for a bunch of guys from Virginia who began performing with a drum machine in a garage.
What makes these guys so special? They have the uncanny ability of blurring or mashing up genres – there’s a bit of everything from rap, rock, funk, R&B and hip-hop all tossed into a zesty sonic salad that fans the world over seem to savour.
Destroying genres
Williams has said in the past: “We don’t care about genres. Why would we? We are only a slave to the energy and the emotion.”
Indeed, when performing live, N.E.R.D. packs in a fierce punch.
“Our shows are built on a whole lot of energy,” Williams offers as a precursor for what to expect at Sunburst. Hugo, sounding less intense than his cohort, adds: “Xplosive”. In Snoop Dogg talk, “it’s going to be Xplosive.”
What makes the N.E.R.D. (an acronym for No one Ever Really Dies, btw) collective work?
Williams can’t quite put his finger on it. “You’ll see when we get there,” he offers instead. “We’re going to move minds.”
Amid speculation that not all of the trio will be on hand to rev things up at the Sunburst festival, Williams assures that “all of us are coming”.
On the back of its Seeing Sounds album which was released last year, N.E.R.D. has been busy touring, capturing the hearts and minds of fans across the globe. The band has opened for Kanye West, played on the Isle of Wight and made waves across Europe. Last year, N.E.R.D. even got its music played at the Milan Fashion Week during Dolce & Gabbana’s Spring/Summer 09 menswear collection show. An avant garde addition to their already varied resume.
While the guys admit to working on material for a new album, Williams says they can’t divulge too much information about it yet.
After all, things are still hectic on the gigging front.
“We’ve performed everywhere,” Williams claims, adding that “of course” he knows where Malaysia is and that it’s not just on the N.E.R.D. map but “any map you buy at a store.” (Why shouldn’t everyone know where Malaysia is?)
Williams comes across as a no-nonsense sort of guy during this interview and it’s not hard to believe that he really is as knowledgeable as he sounds.
After all, he has been described as the embodiment of the new “geek chic”. In a recent article from The Australian, he’s billed the “Discovery Channel guy” who browses bookshops to unwind.
The most widely known of the trio, Williams busies himself not just with music. The part-time entrepreneur’s passion for fashion is undeniable (those trucker hats he wears became a fast fad not so long ago) and he owns the Billionaire Boys Club luxury streetwear line and Ice Cream shoe collection. He also designed a series of upscale sunglasses and jewellery for Louis Vuitton, and, believe it or not, has even entered the furniture business (with Domeau & Peres ... look for the “perspective chair” on the Internet for a peek at his quirky creation).
This year, Williams took part in the Rock the Rabbit Playboy magazine initiative – where musicians had to design shirts inspired by the infamous bunny logo, and part proceeds from sales goes to charity.
There’s more. Williams also created the Ice Cream skateboard team and has collaborated with American skateboard icon Tony Hawk to encourage inner city youth to participate in X-Game competitions.
Stage is the place
With so many “side projects”, what drives Williams the most? He’s acknowledged before that there’s “no better rush than being onstage.”
And during this interview he insists: “For now, I’m mostly looking forward to doing the show in Malaysia. We’re going to tear it down. I mean, the rest is cool but right now I’m excited about getting with the Malaysian audience and connecting with fans who have supported us for so long.”
The enthusiasm from their Down Under shows is also still fresh (the Australian tour ended on March 9), and he raves about their trip.
“We had a really crazy time,” he says about their participation in the Future Music Festival shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Chad enthusiastically jumps in at this point: “The whole festival atmosphere was a great sweaty experience. There were amusement park rides, and lots of girls in shorts and bikinis.” He says it again to make sure this bit doesn’t get lost in translation: “There were lots of bikinis.”
The guys explain that seeing the excitement of close to 50,000 people swarming to hear your music is an awesome experience. “There were people jumping everywhere. The girls were crowd surfing, the guys were crowd surfing, there were mosh pits. That’s what we’re used to. Our shows are very interactive. That’s a whole big part of us,” says Williams, finally coming alive to describe the N.E.R.D. experience. “Fans usually go crazy.”
Williams and Hugo reckon if Malaysians want the true N.E.R.D. experience, they’re going to have to come prepared. “We’re gonna ‘move’ people,” William reiterates.
For the Sunburst show, you can expect tracks from all three N.E.R.D. albums – although this writer is hoping for a concentration of tunes from its sophomore 2004 effort which didn’t sell as well as the debut but reaped some slick hits featuring a curious mélange of live instrumentation – guitars, synths, manic beats – and Williams’s boyish melodies and distinct falsettos.
Australian reviews say the band played tracks like Sooner or Later, Rock Star, She Wants to Move and invited some lucky audience members on stage to dance. N.E.R.D. even performed the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, so some surprises are definitely in store.
The way the trio works, Hugo is usually on keyboards but sometimes has the mic and joins Haley and Williams while they “rock in front”. The guys promise it’s going to be the kind of raw, energetic hybrid hip hop that *everybody nose* they are good for.
And don’t forget to stock up on H20 for the KL show. “Yeah, get properly hydrated,” Williams cautions, once again. “It’s going to be a big sweater.”
Catch N.E.R.D. at the Sunburst KL International Music Festival 2009, Polo Pavilion, Bukit Kiara Equestrian & Country Resort on March 21 between 2pm and 2am the next day. Other acts appearing include Korn, Erykah Badu, Skye (Morcheeba) and a host of homegrown and regional bands. Tickets for Sunburst KL 2009 are priced at RM203 (for pre-sale tickets) and RM253 (for on-the-day tickets). For ticketing information, go to www.axcess.com.my or call 03-7711 5000. For more information, go to www.sunburstkl.com.
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