Features
The Way Of Cool
The cheekily named Chest Rockwell and Nathaniel Merriweather are about to take their educational music to the masses. Truthfully, it’s music producers Prince Paul and Dan The Automator who are are going to show up in the flesh as Handsome Boy Modeling School – a concept that the two artists take to the extreme.
Separately, the music men have worked with De La Soul and Kool Keith. Dan The Automator is also one of the faces behind the animated Gorillaz.
In 1999, they formed HBMS, based on an episode of “Get A Life” – Chris Elliott’s short-lived cult status sitcom. The result, So … How’s Your Girl? sold 150,000 copies. The duo took it to the hilt, dressing as two sophisticated gents and offering advice on handsomeness. The “school” has locations in New York and San Francisco.
Five years later, the duo created White People with the help of several in-studio guests (Including Cat Power, RZA, Jack Johnson and Linkin Park‘s Mike Shinoda). The release garnered tons of critical praise.
The tour promises “special guests,” too. Beyond that, everything is strictly hush-hush. It begins March 28 at the House of Blues in Hollywood. After several stops in California, HBMS swings through Portland and Seattle before hitting Chicago and the East Coast, with plenty of shows in between. Things come to a close April 4 at New York City’s Irving Plaza.