Handsome Boy Modeling School's latest roll call includes Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, RZA, Jack Johnson, Cat Power, John Oates, De La Soul, the Deftones' Chino Moreno and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos. The suave duo's second album, White People (due November 9th), also squeezes in skits from Saturday Night Live alums Father Guido Sarducci and Tim Meadows, appearing as the Ladies Man.
Convening at Star Shoes in Hollywood to shoot the video for "The World's Gone Mad," Handsome masterminds Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and Prince Paul (a.k.a. Nathaniel Merriweather and Chest Rockwell) -- sporting matching pinstripe suits and pronounced black moustaches -- see White People as a chance to gussy up some famous friends.
"We wander around the globe being handsome, and we run into people and collaborate with them," says Nakamura, remaining fully in character. "So maybe we'll be in Morocco somewhere and run into Chino with the Deftones, and say, 'You know, he could use a little makeover.' Then we go back and try and design something.' The more people we can make handsome, the easier it is on our own eyes."
"It's like a motivational record," Paul chimes in. "People can listen to it and think, 'Van Damme, I can do it too.'"
"We have Del tha Funkee Homosapien putting it down for the hip-hop and Barrington Levy holding it down for reggae and Alex from Franz Ferdinand doing the rock thing," says Nakamura of "The World's Gone Mad" single. "But the album's not about every kind of genre of music in one song -- it's more about handsomely visiting different types of music."
The duo, which opened for Radiohead on the band's 2000 U.S. mini-tour, plans to hit the road to support White People, with some of the guests in tow. "We're trying to bring out the Handsomian Institute a little further, and sometimes that involves public speaking and performances," Nakamura says. "We want to bring more graduates out and show people what can be made of them . . . but some people are more handsomely busy than some others, but we may not be seeing them."
"They've got a lot of runway work, a lot of catalog work," adds Paul. "A lot of things enter their lives as they graduate from this school."
White People track listing:
Intro (featuring Father Guido Sarducci)
If It Wasn't for You (De La Soul)
Are You Down With It (Mike Patton)
The World's Gone Mad (Barrington Levy, Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Alex Kapranos)
Dating Game (Tim Meadows)
Breakdown (Jack Johnson)
It's Like That (Casual)
I Am Complete (The Hieroglyphics)
I've Been Thinkin' (Cat Power
Rock and Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This) Part 2 (Mike Shinoda, Finesse, Jazzy Jay, Grand Wizard Theodore)
Knockers Skit (Tim Meadows)
The Hours (Chino Moreno, El-P, Cage)
First . . . and Then (Dres)
A Day in the Life (Mars Volta)
Good Hygiene (Tim Meadows)
Greatest Mistake (John Oates, Jaime Cullen, Paula Frazer)
The Runaway Song Part 2 Remix (Kid Koala)
Outro
