thePULSE
Time to “Jump” for Joy!
By Suzy Geers
As a writer who specializes in music journalism, there are days when I absolutely revel in what I do. Back in 1992, my favorite band was House of Pain ~ no surprise, since I’m a red haired, fair skinned Irishwoman. My mom’s family name is Daley ~ as in County Cork. My ring-back tone is the opening instrumental to House of Pain’s “Jump Around.”
So when I learned that House of Pain will be performing a series of reunion shows in March ~ including a date at The Palladium in Worcester on March 20 ~ to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with music from their now classic back-catalog, yes, I erupted in Gaelic euphoria. And when I found out that I’d get to interview Everlast to preview the show, well, I did the Bobby Brown/ Riverdance with “Shamrocks and Shenanigans” in the background.
If you don’t know (kids under 20), House of Pain was one of the most influential hip-hop groups to emerge out of the ’90s. Consisting of Everlast, Danny Boy, and DJ Lethal (pre Limp Bizkit), House of Pain shattered hip-hop stereotypes, brought down barriers and helped bring hip-hop to a whole new audience. You can thank THEM for a lot of the music you are listening to today. And yes, the next time you hear the irresistible “Jump Around,” you can thank them again.
Says Everlast during our way-cool, laid-back interview, “People ask me why am I doing this? I am not the guy that is doing all the old skool circuits ~ I have a viable career on my own beyond that. Since Danny Boy and I have reunited in La Coka Nostra we’ve been basically doing House of Pain stuff, too. So, with this tour, we’re flipping the ratio of songs ~ it’s going to be House of Pain and La Coka Nostra, just heavier on the House of Pain.”
For those of you who didn’t catch Pulse’s July ’09 interview with La Coka Nostra (thepulsemag.com/2009/07/0709-la-coka-nostra): LCN is House of Pain in the sense of attitude and vibe, but musically it’s more underground hip hop, more hardcore ~ think old skool without sounding dated ~ and that is not easy.
And are the HoP guys psyched to be playing New England again? Everlast certainly is: “[The Boston area] has always treated me like a king even though I am a Lakers fan!”
I pointed out to him that he did rock a Celtics jersey in the “Jump Around” video, after all, and he responded with a rousing ““Oh YEAH! Larry Bird ~ we were on some white boy sh*it! I’m gonna keep it real ~ I was rockin’ a McHale jersey, too!”
House of Pain promises the shenanigans will be o’ plenty on March 20th.
