They’re the hilarious trio of rap-rock-R&B innovators who are back on the scene with a new album after an all-too-long hiatus – but hey, enough about the Beastie Boys. The Lonely Island, the comedy team of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, whose Internet skits and parodies got them gigs on “Saturday Night Live” and the status that comes from the authorship of enduring digital shorts like “Lazy Sunday” and “Two Worlds Collide ft. Reba McEntire”, have a new record of their own.
Their second album, “Turtleneck & Chain,” which will be released on Tuesday, combines their recent “S.N.L.” hits like “The Creep” and “Motherlover” with brand new tracks like “Attracted to Us,” “After Party” and “Jack Sparrow,” a timely tribute to “Pirates of the Caribbean” with guest vocals from Michael Bolton.
In these excerpts from a recent interview, the Lonely Island teammates talked about the role of taped comedy segments on “S.N.L.,” their musical tastes and working with some of their illustrious collaborators.
Before we run out of time, tell me some tales about working with Michael Bolton.
SAMBERG He’s the king. He’s awesome. And we wrote this stupid song and begged him to do it. We just kept sticking with it and stalking him, like, please do it, please do it. And then when it finally came together and he was in the studio, it was like, the angels singing from the heaven, the clouds opened up and sunlight shone down on us.
It’s so perfect that you got him. Even if you had Josh Groban, it wouldn’t have been the same.
SAMBERG We had that exact discussion! We love Groban, but Bolton’s Bolton. Bolton, we had to get him to come down off the throne. Dude’s a legend.
I ONLY COPIED THE QUESTIONS REFERRING TO MICHAEL. IF YOU WANT TO READ ALL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS YOU CAN GO TO THE ACTUAL ARTICLE. BUT HEY, ALL WE REALLY WANT TO READ ABOUT IS MB RIGHT!?
Joy