Thundercat joins Zane Lowe in-studio on Apple Music 1 to discuss his surprise collaboration with Tame Impala on new song “No More Lies”. He tells Apple Music why the experience was “one of the greater moments” for him and discusses the origin of the collaboration, how Tame Impala’s “Apocalypse Dreams” got him through one of the hardest moments of his life, the experience of creating together, and more.
Thundercat Tells Apple Music About The Origin of His Collaboration with Tame Impala...
For me personally, this is one of the greater moments for me. I don't even know where to begin with this. This is me and Kevin Parker. And from the day I heard Kevin's music, I knew me and him could do something. I knew it from the minute I heard it…I was like, "Man, I would've been in his band." I remember something like saying, "I'm a fan of your music," it almost feels like tongue in cheek. It's a weird way to fluff. But there's a part of it where I'm like, genuinely, for me, I own all your albums. And I remember a very specific thing for me, and we both, we were sitting there while we started working on it, and I had to make sure I had... Because there's a part where it's all washed over in alcohol psychologically for me. And I was like, "When did Apocalypse Dreams come out?" Just to see which order this is in, because there's a part that this could've inspired that, and there's a part where we both were just in the same mind frame, psychologically, in the feelings of certain things, I think. And I expressed to Kevin how Apocalypse Dreams got me through one of the hardest moments in my life. That song, I can distinctly remember myself in the car crying and screaming the lyrics to that song, but it was coming out like vomit. Just was kind of one of those things where I'm like, maybe if I ever meet him one day. Here we are. There's only a couple songs like that. And it was like that helped me cope. That was one of the helps. That was one of a genuine spiritual moment for me. And I told him, and I was like, "The minute you said 'Everything is changing,' it just made me feel okay." And I then I was like, "Kevin, I don't think you understand what I'm saying." So what you're hearing with this is everything from that. That's what this feels like for me. Yeah, he's a G. Yeah. Kevin's sick, man.
Thundercat Tells Apple Music About The Process of Collaborating with Tame Impala...
I had to make sure I wasn't coming in too hot, because I was like so excited! I'm way too... the ADD's in full swing. I didn't know if I should just immediately get naked and sacrifice myself. I was like, "Kevin," I was like, "Hey, you like me?" I was like, "Hey, can I play some music?” I’d already know he's chill as hell. So I'm pretty sure that I was like, "You got to let me know if I'm messing up right now. You got to let me know if I'm talking too much." He's like, "Nah, it's fine." And I'm like, "Are you sure?" Because I was like, "I got a lot of stuff to talk to you about." But I think we genuinely warmed up to each other, and it's a couple of moments. I think the minute he played this idea that he had started working on, I had pulled the bass out. I was like, "Man, please let me, I can..." I was immediately engaged, and it was kind of like this thing where it was like... He was like, "Oh, okay." And it was funny. His demeanor is so funny sometimes. He was just like, “Oh." It became a game of ping pong for us. It was like, "Oh, oh." And we're talking about life. We're sharing stuff, but we're talking about it. There was moments that we captured within this song.
Thundercat Tells Apple Music About Touring with Red Hot Chili Peppers…
Chili Peppers, man. I mean, I think if you're going to step into an environment that is stadiums only and you're going to get to tour with a band of that caliber, Chili Peppers, I reckon that's probably the most dialed in experience because those guys have lived at all. Seeing Flea come out on stage. Yeah. And I seen all of them, but seeing Flea come out and just whoop ass every night was like, I have no excuses. I have none. This is full account. This was like, do better. It was like, way better. Man, it was inspirational beyond reason.
