 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||||
 |
|
|
 andsomeness is a state of mind. Anyone can be handsome," or so say Chest Rockwell and Nathaniel Merriweather of the Handsome Boy Modeling School. While their names may suggest obscure British teas, the fancy monikers are just part of their ploy to bring HBMS's hilariously well-mannered brand of living to the masses.Off campus, Nathaniel and Chest are Dan the Automator and Prince Paul, hip-hop producers with impressive resumes. Their first album, So…How's Your Girl? came out in 1999. Featuring a variety of styles (hip-hop, trip-hop, turn tables), and artists (The Beastie Boys' Mike D, DJ Shadow, Sean Lennon,) the album poked fun at the diamond and crystal ethos of hip-hop. For their latest, White People, they once again assembled a diverse group, including Cat Power, the RZA, Kid Koala, and Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. The single is a reggae-inspired track featuring Del the Funky Homosapien, Barrington Levy, and Alex Kapranos (from Franz Ferdinand), but we prefer "Class System," a saucy, purring track about a repressed rich bitch featuring Pharrell Williams and Julee Cruise. Nathaniel and Chest are now at work on a DVD called Handsomeness of Steel, for which, post-interview, we were invited to be in a skit about the right and wrong ways to pick girls up. We're the blonde girl on the bar stool violently rejecting men who hit on us the "unhandsome way." — Sarah Harrison What is handsomeness? Dan: Well, handsomeness takes many forms and HBMS is a vehicle to help bring handsomeness to people. We like to think that anyone can be more handsome, male or female. If you have sixty dollars, you can join. We really do feel like it's a state of mind. Paul: And of hygiene. Dan: A lot of people don't want to blow up the spot and let people know how they got to be handsome. So we don't out too many of the graduates except for those who are willing to go out there and be spokespeople. Paul: It's kind of like plastic surgery. Even though it's obvious, a lot of people don't like to admit it. Do you recommend plastic surgery? Paul: It's amazing that if you get somebody who had plastic surgery and you have kids with them, the realness comes out in the kids. It's like, where did that come from? Is George Bush handsome? Dan: Not in my opinion. Paul: I have to say not in my opinion either. Dan: Pretty much no one who works in government currently is very handsome, but they could benefit from it. Charisma can take you a long way. Ronald Reagan was senile but people liked him because he was a handsome guy. But he wasn't my favorite president either. Who's more handsome, Usher or Justin Timberlake. Paul: Usher Timberlake? What is that, like the top half of Usher and bottom half of Timberlake? Dan: It's your fantasy, you're paying for it. Can you describe each other's style in three words? Dan: Extremely handsome man? Paul: I was thinking more along the lines of handsome, handsomer, handsomest. You're very on message. Dan: Well, if you break it down to the elemental, what is there besides handsomeness? Uh, work? Dan: A handsome person is better at their job because they're more confident. People like them better, things roll smoother. You get a faster promotion with handsomeness. Reproduction? Dan: How are you going to attract the proper man or woman? When handsome people meet other handsome people, you get good-looking children. Mowing your lawn? Paul: Well, it makes your yard look better so when you walk out in your nice suit it matches. You're pretty good. Paul: Imagine an unmowed lawn. Dan: On a woman. It's not handsome. Dan: Exactly. Mow your lawns. Do you guys work equally on all the tracks? Paul: Like off looks? It depends on what sessions you go into. We bring mirrors. Dan: People are more concerned about looking good and paying attention, but a lot of the ODB sessions you did were probably different. Paul: Put it like this, I don't drink, smoke or do any type of drug, but all the other people I can't really vouch for. If you had to date anyone in the music industry, who would it be? Dan: The women [Laughs]. Paul: [Laughs] Well, I'm married. I can't apply that one, I'd get divorced. Could you be more specific? Dan: Being handsome is being discreet. Paul: How about we put him in an orgy with all the women, and then he'll pick afterward? Dan: Bea Arthur. What should you never do on a first date? Dan: Here's the thing with the Handsome Boy Modeling School: you could grow up in Texas with a cowboy hat and the boots and it's cool, right, but you do it here and you might only be cool if you're in the West Village or something. There are only a few universal truths and one of the universal truths would be hygiene. I don't think anyone out there would be like, I really love that unwashed thing. Do you know it? Dan: I know the area. I know what that would be like. What's good music for sex? Paul: To be honest with you, if it's really good, I think you'd be oblivious to everything else around you. But maybe a light station. Dan: Actually, we like to think of what we do as alternative strip club music. Paul: [Makes horrified face.] Paul, you seem distressed. Paul: Nah, just, you talk about the strip club and I get excited. Dan: That reminds me of the Acropolis. We're about to go do a show in Portland, which has the Acropolis. What's the Acropolis? Dan: It's a strip-club steakhouse. Paul: I wouldn't recommend eating steak there, though. I don't think cootchie and steak go well together. Dan: There's something about seeing a bottle of A1 in front of a stripper. Paul: She sits on it and picks it up and we're all like, "I'll take the Heinz." Dan: "I'll take the mustard with the really wide top." So have you guys ever made out with each other? Dan: We're not quite that metrosexual. I think that happens more with jocks — in that community you've got to be so straight that there's, like, a reversal. What about groupies? Paul: Discretion! Discretion! Dan: You know, I'll say this: over the years, as hip-hop gets more mainstream, the quality of women that shows up gets higher. Paul: Also the amount. First show, it was, like, one girl... that might be a girl... oh, she works here. Dan: Except for Run-DMC and LL Cool J, hip-hop gets a very male-dominated audience. So if you're trying to pick up a man, you might consider going to one of the more backpacky hip-hop shows. Or if you're mad at your man, you might want to consider saying, "I'm going to that El-P show." Paul: [Laughs] Yeah, he'll be like, "No, don't go there!" Dan: Because it's not like an Usher Timberlake show, where it's all girls. Thirteen-year-old girls. So, do you like touring? Paul: It's a lot of fun when you're younger and it's all sleeping with girls — girls, girls, money, girls. Then you get older and you're like, man, I'm tired. Dan: These days we watch a lot of pay-per-view TV. Paul: Some people we tour with, they've got a significant other that hates their guts and they're like, "Man, I don't want to go home." After we've been on tour for a month-and-a-half, I'm like, "I've got to go home now." And they're like, "I just wanna stay on the road. I'm going to see if I can jump on another tour." Who tours with you? Dan: Obviously not all the Handsome School graduates. They're very busy with their lives as movie stars or whatever. So what should people wear to your concerts? Dan: Well, with women, as little as possible. Is that handsome? I thought handsome was discreet. Dan: No, discreet is handsome. The thing with HBMS is people ask us what they should wear all the time. And the problem is, we're not McDonald's. We're couture, everything is custom. We don't want everyone to be the same. Paul: You know what that would be, that would be like the music industry in 2004. Everybody that's coming out is the same. Dan: Exactly, you don't want that. n°
© 2004 hooksexup.com. |
|
|||||
| featured personal | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| partner links | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| sponsored links | ||||||||||||||
|
Advertisers, click here to get listed! |
||||||||||||||
