Revenge of the N*E*R*D
Pharrell Williams has his fingers in many musical pies. Between being half of The Neptunes and collaborating with the likes of Madonna, he still finds time to promote the latest album by his dance-rock outfit, NERD. By Ed Power
THREE'S COMPANY: Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley are the cooler than cool NERD
Friday August 15 2008
On a muggy summer's morning, Pharrell Williams is stifling a yawn. It's 7am on America's east coast and the NERD frontman sounds like he could do with a strong coffee or 10 minutes alone with a hot shower.
His voice is low and bleary -- as if echoing from the bottom of a deep well. We're guessing Pharrell isn't a morning person. "No, no... 's cool," he murmurs. "I'm okay."
To be perfectly honest, we were expecting this. Williams, who also comprises one half of The Neptunes, the storied production team whose glittering touch has illuminated records by Britney Spears and, most recently, Madonna, has a reputation as a "difficult" interviewee. He's not sullen exactly -- but there's an intense shyness that comes off as almost zen, as though he walks through life permanently in a semi-trance.
Still, with a little pushing, he will eventually start to break out of his somnambulist funk. Asked why he and Neptunes partner Chad Hugo were motivated to put together NERD, a dance- rock outfit that veers between groin-thrusting R'n'B and shiny nu-metal, when they are already among the industry's most feted back-room operators, he becomes, if not quite animated, then very definitely alive. "Going on the road is certainly exhausting, you know," he says. "But it has its perks. There's no other feeling like being on stage in front of 70,000 people and they're all going crazy for your songs. It's kind of a high."
We're here to talk about NERD's new album, a bouncy, at times perversely experimental piece, entitled Seeing Sounds. Romping from genre to genre as if in the grip of a manic attention deficit, the LP is -- for good or for ill -- all over the place. "We wanted to tear down walls as creative artists and discover new sounds," says Williams. "We wanted to push boundaries. But it wasn't like we set out to cover all these different genres. It doesn't work that way. You go into the studio with the aim of making good music, to capture the creative energy you have at that moment."
Pharrell would prefer the conversation to be focused on NERD (as would the trio's third blade, Shay Haley, who joins us). Yet it's difficult to divorce the band from his accomplishments on the other side of the mixing desk. Renowned for their glossy, lurching style, The Neptunes have redefined the aesthetics of mainstream pop. Their golden touch has made Britney credible (Toxic), mediated Justin Timberlake's break with his boyband past (they oversaw half of Justified, his solo debut) and is a dominating influence on Madonna's hard-edged new sound. "We hook up with people in all different ways," says Williams of his multiple collaborations. "We might bump into each other. At other times, we might get phone calls. We pick and choose what is right. "
The Neptunes have also channelled their talents into pet projects -- such as underground rap duo The Clipse, whom Williams has known since high school. Do they ever offer their services for free? "It's always for the love of it," he says. "But you have to get paid in this business."
He most recent hook-up up was with dance-pop 'it' girl Santi 'Santogold' White and The Strokes' Julian Casablancas. At the behest of sneaker maker Converse, the three got together for a one-off single, My Drive Thru (it would be easy to dismiss this as a cynical piece of brand manipulation were the song not so fantastic).
"Santogold is a genius project," says Pharrell. "Santi is a smart lady. And Julian Casablancas is a genius as well. I brought the record to them to see what they thought. They liked it, so we all just collaborated on it."
Speaking of The Strokes, the internet is agog with rumours that Pharrell has been lined up to produce the New Yorkers' next album. He says he'd like to, but adds nothing is yet on the cards. "I'd be honoured if they asked me," he says. "But we haven't talked about it."
Though understandably a little listless this morning, Williams clearly does not lack creative energy. Consider that in addition to fronting The Neptunes and NERD he runs his own skateboard team, Icecream and, together with Japanese designer Nigo, high-end fashion label Billionaire Boys Club. How does he find the time? "There are ways and means. It does mean I have no social life, but that's the kind of person I am."
For the past three months, NERD (an acronym for "No-one Ever Really Dies") have trekked across the US as part of Kanye West's Glow In The Dark Tour (West, naturally, is another Neptunes collaborator). By all accounts, Glow In The Dark, presented with Hollywood-worthy production values, was something of a tour de force -- in San Francisco a journalist actually compared it to Wagner's Götterdämmerung.
As the opening act, NERD had the intimidating task of winning over a field of Kanye fans, many of whom were barely familiar, at best, with their songbook.
"It was fun because it was our first time doing huge arenas like that in the States," says Haley, a rather chipper character whose booming voice is in contrast to Williams' barely-there whisper. "It was a hell of an experience. You know, it's a big deal to rock 20 or 30 thousand people. We do that all the time in Europe. But it's a different story in America to a degree. It's the ultimate rush."
They toiled on Seeing Sounds between other projects, most notably Madonna's Hard Candy LP. Did their work with Madge inform the songs they were writing as NERD? "It's more a question of zoning out from whatever else you are doing," says Haley. "We wanted to be influenced by the fact that we were working on our album rather than anything else. You zone out when you're in that process -- you're basically searching in oblivion for the music."
As high-profile members of the African-American community, Williams and Haley are watching the forthcoming US presidential elections with interest. They haven't gone as far as Usher, who has campaigned on behalf of Barack Obama, or Ludacris, who released a Republican-baiting pro-Obama single (and was roundly denounced by both sides). But they're unabashedly enthusiastic about the junior senator from Illinois. "Hell yeah -- it's time for a change," says Haley. "He is totally set to improve this country. He has some interesting ideas and he's a charismatic speaker."
Williams adds that NERD's reluctance to proselytise on Obama's behalf shouldn't be misinterpreted as indifference. "Just because you don't talk politics all day doesn't mean you don't totally support him and his whole movement and what he represents. Politics isn't necessarily on our list of priorities. We want to make good music. We don't like preaching to people. We stay out of that lane. We really appreciate what he's doing and we support it but our job is a little different, to make music, not to tell people what to think." n
NERD play Lovebox Dublin in Marlay Park, Saturday August 23. Seeing Sounds is out now.
- Ed Power
