This year marks the 25th anniversary of House of Pain’s “Jump Around” & 20th anniversary of Limp Bizkit’s Three Dollar Bill Y’all. Each can be considered a career milestone for DJ Lethal, the man behind the turntables for both groups.
Since escaping Latvia as a child — eventually returning to discover his roots — the DJ's toured with the biggest names in both hip-hop and rock, and, of course, there was Limp Bizkit’s much talked about set at Woodstock ’99.
During a recent day off while on his current tour with House of Pain, DJ Lethal sat down with Myspace to discuss his musical anniversaries, return trips to Latvia and the night Woodstock burned. Hop to the next page to read the full interview.
You are currently on tour celebrating 25 years of “Jump Around.” Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine “Jump Around” would still elicit the reaction it does 25 years later?
You can’t really predict the future, but five years into it, seeing how it was. Ten years into it, seeing how it was. Fifteen years into it, seeing how it was, I guess I could kinda see it, but it’s not why we made it, because we didn’t know, but as soon as we started playing it out I remember people going nuts, and I just kinda knew it was on. No looking back after ’91, man.
You mentioned that five years out you had an inkling “Jump Around” would last for a while, but when did you realize the song might be a little bit bigger than you had initially imagined?
As soon as I saw it being in movies, Mrs. Doubtfire, and all that stuff, it pretty much sealed the deal. As soon as a song’s in a movie, that’s kinda forever, especially when it’s a classic movie.
Is it safe to say House of Pain was your first taste of fame?
You know, I guess it would be, but my first tour I ever did was with Everlast, before House of Pain. I was about 16, and my parents had to sign a waiver for me to go to Europe with Ice-T and the Rhyme Syndicate.
So that was my first tour, my first everything, but before that I was also in the Tairrie B video “Murder She Wrote,” where I got to meet Eazy-E. That was my real first yooo I’m in a video, dude! Wow! I’m here chillin with Eazy-E!
Then when I got to meet Ice-T I was like, oh my God, I’m here sitting in Ice-T’s house, and Darlene is making me a sandwich. I was like, yo, it doesn’t get better than this. Then it got better.
How did the conversation with your parents go when you were pitching to them going to Europe with Ice-T? That is not a normal permission slip parents receive from a high schooler.
My dad was a musician. We actually escaped Latvia when I was probably five years old. We escaped because my dad wanted to be a rock n roll star in America. That was his dream.
My dad was like the Russian Ricky Ricardo, so I grew up in bars watching him play, or sleeping in the booth.
When we first came to New York my dad was playing the biggest Russian restaurants, and his studio was my bedroom. When he was doing his music he thought I was sleeping, but I was really under the sheet, and I had one eye on ‘em, checking out what’s going on.
The first drum machine I ever touched was his, a LinnDrum LM-2. When I was eight, or nine, I was making beats on a LinnDrum. I used to string his guitar for him.
I remember beatboxing in my mom’s face. She’d be like, “Stop that!” I was like, “One day, mom, you’re gonna see, I’m gonna be a big star.” So when that time came, they were cool with it. They were like, “Go ahead, son. Go do it. Go do your thing.”
I would’ve faked the signature anyway. I wasn’t gonna miss that.
I want to rewind for a second because you mentioned escaping Latvia. How long was it before you went back?
The first time I went back, I think was 2006-ish. I DJed a festival.
I just remember going back, and going wow, this city is beautiful. Then I went back in 2009, that was when Limp Bizkit got back together. The first show we played was in Rega, Latvia. My mom was there, so she showed me where we lived, where we grew up, where she met my dad. It was crazy.
Was there any trepidation about going back?
No, I wanted to go see where my roots are, and it was crazy because I went to go see my grandmother, who I hadn’t seen in forever. One of my dad’s buddies from when they grew up together drove me through the countryside, and I see this little lady standing on the side of this little country road. I got out and I was like “GRANDMA!” It was really touching.
Then seeing where my parents met, where we lived, going back to where the apartment was, and seeing my dad’s inscriptions into the wall where we grew up. My grandma showed me my first tag, which was on her beautiful, wooden armoire. She’s like, “Here’s your first autograph.” They’d just gotten a brand new armoire, back then it was probably a year’s salary, and I inscribed my name into it.
You mentioned you also went back with Limp Bizkit. I know there’s been some rifts in your relationship with the rest of the band, but Three Dollar Bill, Y’all is turning 20 this year, so are you all on cool terms now?
I’ve been talking to Fred a lot lately, actually. I went by his house probably about a week ago, and we broke bread.
Time changes stuff, man, and you learn to figure out what’s important. Besides all the drama that happened, we’re still friends. We still go way back together, and we just put everything aside, and we hung out like nothing ever happened.
I know your 2001 MTV VMA moonman was stolen. Did you ever get it back?
Nah, man. It’s probably sitting on some kid’s toilet as a trophy.
I got a feeling one day it’s gonna pop up somewhere in some pawn shop, or on eBay, or something, and somebody will let me know. It’s all good. I have another one.
A huge moment for you guys, which has become part of pop culture history, was the Woodstock ’99 show. What do you remember from that night, that set, and everything that ensued?
Shit, I’ma be real honest with you, that day was fuckin’ NUTS. We had this rock doc that used to come out on the road, he was a dentist, so he would bring a huge thing of nitrous. Backstage we had that shit set up. We had about 50 people in the backstage area just suckin’ on the nitrous. I think Dennis Rodman was back there, Carmen Electra was like going into convulsions. It was crazy.
That show was big, dude, and they tried to blame the whole riot thing on us, but they were charging like $20 for waters, and then the Chili Peppers handed out lighters.
We got blamed for just rockin’ too hard. We were their scapegoat. That’s how I feel. They tried to blame the whole shit on us. Yeah, put us on after Alanis Morissette, what do you think’s gonna happen?
(The Chili Peppers) happened the next day. (People) tried to blame us for the whole shit. Literally, Chili Peppers handed out lighters to the whole crowd.
Let’s close things out by talking about the present. You’re currently on tour. After you’re done on the road, what’s in the works for you for the rest of 2017?
We got probably 40 more shows with House of Pain for the whole summer, maybe more. Everlast has a couple projects. I got a couple projects. Danny Boy bought the house The Outsiders movie was filmed in, and around, and he’s building a museum around that. I got a side project with Sid Wilson (DJ Starscream from Slipknot). I got a project with Bumpy Knuckles. There’s some other stuff floating around, too. You never know when me and Fred might drop something … or maybe not. You never know.
Want more blasts from the past? Check out our #ThrowbackThursday page.
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