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Three-week departure
Being the overall creative force behind the band’s music, "?uestlove" often finds himself in the tricky position of balancing his unflinching musical vision with the opinions of his experienced bandmates.
The recording sessions for the album’s lead single, the the melancholy Make My, were especially tense, eventually leading to his three-week departure from the band. Says the drummer and producer in an interview with pastemagazine.com:
"This is a running joke with The Roots — I always quit. Sometimes you gotta walk away. More than anyone, I take criticism the most personal. (...)
So a song like ‘Make My,’ in its original incarnation, just faded out after Tariq’s verse. But "?uestlove" felt it needed something, and the rest of the band agreed. Recalls the veteran drummer:
"So we were like, ‘OK, we need a coda.’ And the whole challenge was, ‘What should I do?’ So the whole goal of the coda at the end of ‘Make My’ was to make death sound beautiful, like a soaring thing, someone’s soul leaving their body. And the first time I did it (...) they started saying — this sounds too King of Limbs-ish, and you’re using too much electronics, and it sounds cold."
So he went back for a second version. This time he thought he really killed it:
"I was like, ‘This is the one!’ And they were like, ‘Ehh, nah, that’s not it.' And I kept my patience, so the third time, I really — oh, man — I pulled out all the stops, all the whistles and bells. I gave it to them, and they were like, ‘Ehh, nevermind.’ I was just... I was like, ‘Fuck y’all!’ I didn’t talk to them all during Fallon — nothing. I was like, ‘Fuck it! If you don’t accept my contributions, there is no record! I quit!’"
But knowing the drummer, the band trusted him to return in a couple of weeks. And sure enough, three weeks later, "?questlove" was back, simply asking: 'What do y’all want then?’ Their answer as plain and easy to understand: "Just keep it simple and keep the beat regular." In retrospect, the musician admits they were right:
"The last time they let me run amok alone without any supervision, [was] on our 'Phrenology' record. I turned what was simply a three-minute anti-drug song into this ten-minute nightmare of a drug trip. (...) I’m smart enough to know that I can’t drink and drive. I can create the alcohol, I can consume it, but I can’t get behind the wheel."
In the end, "?uestlove" is very content with the Roots' first full-fledged narrative concept album. And rest assured: his drumming and production esthetic are once again a major appeal.
