Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio: ‘David Bowie was dressed like a European dad on vacation. He could wander around NYC unnoticed'

Irish Times

08-06-2025

This, explains Tunde Adebimpe, is where the magic happens. The TV on the Radio frontman gestures around his garage, grimacing at the disorder. 'Yeah, this is very magical,' he deadpans. 'I've been moving a bunch of things around, so it's a total mess in here. I'm not proud, but this is where I am a lot of the time.'
This little corner of Silver Lake, in Los Angeles, is where Adebimpe has lived for the past 11 years, after migrating west from New York. He and his bandmates had become one of the most iconic Brooklyn indie bands of the early 2000s, purveyors of cerebral, imaginative art-rock that Adebimpe once memorably described as 'Earth, Wind & Fire meets Wu-Tang Clan'. It's also where he pulled together the bones of what would become his long-awaited debut solo album, Thee Black Boltz, which came out in April.
His solo venture doesn't mean the end of TV on the Radio, however. Last year the band reunited for the first time since 2019 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, and will play their first Irish gig for 17 years at the Beyond the Pale festival this month.
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Tunde Adebimpe interview from 2004: 'It's as if you can't be black and be in a rock'n'roll band'
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'I feel really lucky that we've been able to do it for so long, especially considering we're not making, y'know, the poppiest of pop music,' the 50-year-old says with a chuckle. 'And, also, it is very strange to think it's been that long, which is almost half my life.' He shakes his head in disbelief. 'Wow.'
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In the mid-2000s TV on the Radio were at the vanguard of the emerging Williamsburg indie scene. One of their high-profile fans was David Bowie, who agreed to sing on Province, a track from
Return to Cookie Mountain
, their celebrated 2006 album.
'First off, he was the coolest,' says Adebimpe, grinning as he recalls how his bandmate Dave Sitek, a noteworthy producer in his own right, pounced on the opportunity to ask Bowie to be on their record once he heard that he was a fan.
'He was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger short-sleeve collar jacket, cargo shorts and socks, and New Balance sneakers. That was one of the first things I noticed: he was dressed like a European dad on vacation,' he says. 'And after about 15 minutes I was, like 'Oh, it's another disguise – of course he's got a normcore outfit where he can just wander around New York City unnoticed'.' He laughs hard.
'I was pretty much just sitting there, like, 'I still don't believe David Bowie's here,' but then it got to a point where it was kind of, like, 'Oh, we're just hanging with our cool uncle.' And then he went into the booth to get to work and sang the first harmony on Province, and everyone was, 'Wow. David Bowie is here, singing on our record.' He was incredibly gracious.
David Bowie with TV on the Radio during David Bowie Presents The H&M High Line Festival 2007. Photograph: G Gershoff/WireImage
'Then, later, [in 2007,] we played his festival, the High Line, and he walked into the room in a suit – completely the regular, glamorous David Bowie – and I was just, like, 'It's fucking crazy. You're like Batman'.' He grins widely. 'But he was such a lovely person. What a privilege to be able to even hang out, let alone have him record with us.'
Not all of Adebimpe's memories of the band's early years are so fond. He admits that he reached a point several years ago where he realised that he needed to step away from music. The recording/touring treadmill had become a grind, he says, and he didn't take enough time to process the losses in his life, including that of his sister Jumoke, who died in 2021.
The break that the band took following a period of heavy touring, he says, was 'a good thing' for him. 'It wasn't that I never wanted to do it again; I just wanted it to feel good and purposeful, and not just something I was doing just because I've done it for so long.
'And I feel like that was the right move, because now I do feel like it's something I love, and I feel a purpose in it. Even touring with the brief run of shows we did last year, it just felt so good, and now I'm excited to go on tour. That sounds weird to come out of my mouth,' he says, laughing. 'But everyone's connected in a really good way, and it's kind of hit a refresh button on everyone. It's good to take a break so you realise what it is that you love about something.'
During TV on the Radio's downtime, which coincided with the pandemic and the death of his sister, the seeds for Thee Black Boltz were sown. Sitek and their bandmate Kyp Malone had pursued solo projects years earlier, but Adebimpe had dabbled in visual art and acting instead. When someone broke into his garage and stole 15 years' worth of hard drives containing scraps of songs and ideas he had intended to get around to developing some day, it forced him to go back to basics. The resultant album is a celebration of the music that he loves, from the glam-tinged rock of Pinstack to the tender acoustic flutter of ILY and the experimental electronica of Blue.
'They took my laptop and a couple of small drum machines, too. I think they just took whatever they could carry,' he says, shrugging. 'Since I didn't have any of my recording equipment, I took out my old four-track and started recording on that again, which was definitely helpful in the whole process of rediscovering what I liked about making music.
'It felt like I was back to zero in a lot of ways – which at first felt mortifying but shortly after was pretty liberating. It was, like, 'Well, that stuff's gone. I have nothing to do but make more stuff – and anything that was on those hard drives that I can't remember, I don't need.' That was an important realisation.'
That's one of the things about acting: the stomach that you have to develop for rejection is a weird thing
Reuniting as TV on the Radio for the run of dates late last year was a joyful experience, even if Sitek has chosen not to join them on tour – which his bandmates have given their blessing to. 'It's all good,' says Adebimpe with another shrug. 'And when it's time to do that again, whether in a studio or on stage, I'm sure it'll happen.' Does that mean another record – their first since Seeds, from 2014 – is a possibility? 'It's possible,' he says, smiling. 'I mean, I feel like it's more possible than impossible.'
In any case, Adebimpe has plenty of other work to keep him busy, not least his acting career, which recently saw him take prominent roles in the Star Wars: Skeleton Crew TV series and Lee Isaac Chung's movie Twisters. The NYU film-school graduate is laid back about the prospect of further roles.
'The funny thing is, during the pandemic I started doing more auditions because I was just at home – and almost nothing came of those,' he says. 'That's one of the things about acting: the stomach that you have to develop for rejection is a weird thing. But you realise that you've built networks of friends who are making stuff, and I get tagged in every once in a while. It's something I love doing, and if these things yield more things I'm super down for that.'
Despite his acting career, his art career and his solo album, Adebimpe has no feeling of inner conflict about returning to his frontman role with TV on the Radio.
'It's just been really good to get back,' he says. 'I didn't feel like I was getting pulled into the past. I felt like we'd spent 20 years building this motorcycle, and then we put it in the garage. Then we took the cover off of it, and it's still pretty rad. And now we've had enough experience where we can do tricks on it: we're not learning how to ride it or build it; we can just Evel Knievel all over the place.
'And it's weird how the muscle memory comes back. We were on stage, and I'm looking around at my friends playing, and I'm just, like, 'Oh my god. Okay. Yes.'' He grins again. 'I don't feel like it's an ego trip to say we're a really good band.'
TV on the Radio play
Beyond the Pale
, at the Glendalough Estate in Co Wicklow, on Sunday, June 15th; the festival begins on Friday, June 13th
Five other acts to catch at Beyond the Pale 2025
Róisín Murphy. Photograph: Tom Honan
Róisín Murphy
Saturday night at Beyond the Pale sees the Arklow native play her first headline gig in her home county. You can expect pomp and pageantry, plenty of costume changes and wall-to-wall bangers from one of our finest musical exports.
Jon Hopkins
The English electronic musician's music is tailor-made for festivals, whether it's the pulsating electronic fare of Emerald Rush or the elegiac beauty of Small Memory. As he's collaborated with everyone from Coldplay to Charli XCX, he could drop a few surprises during his Friday-night set.
Marc Rebillet
Rebillet forged a career for himself online, but the Texan's music is best experienced live, when his mastery of a loop station and his offbeat stage persona make for a heady brew where anything could happen.
The Sugarhill Gang
The rap legends, now in their 46th year as a group, are always worth a watch, not least because you can challenge your mates to a game of Who Knows the Most Words from Rapper's Delight?
Boney M
Who doesn't want to sing along to songs such as Daddy Cool and Rasputin in the (with luck) blazing sunshine? The German Eurodisco pioneers are the go-to act for communal feelgood vibes at this year's festival.