BEYOND + BACK PODCAST: Episode 7 with Tunde Adebimpe, Artist, Musician & Actor

7: At Ease with Tunde Adebimpe

TRT 1:02:31 // ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 10/27/18

From Los Angeles, California, we go beyond & back with musician, actor & visual artist Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio.

Tunde Adebimpe is probably best known as the singer of TV on the Radio, one of my favorite bands. The band was founded by Tunde and Dave Sitek in 2001 in Brooklyn and they’ve released 5 studio albums, but as we’ll find out Tunde didn’t intend to become the lead singer of a successful band. He actually went to New York for film school, but while he was there he explored all avenues to his creativity. Now, In addition to being a musician, he’s also a working actor, often collaborates with other artists, and when we spoke, he was preparing for his first solo art show at a gallery in LA. 

In this conversation, we talk about giving ourselves permission to do more than one thing, how art can save lives, and how we can use our creative outlets to help process the difficulties and trauma we experience. We talked in Tunde’s garage studio, so do enjoy the sound of passing cars in the background. 

I talked with Tunde for about an hour and 40 minutes. I had to edit out a lot of great stuff to keep this episode to an hour! If you’d like to hear the entire unedited interview, please visit my Patreon page.

AUDIO featured in this episode:

  • Theme music by Davíd Garza.

  • First song: “Staring at the Sun” by TV on the Radio from Young Liars EP

  • Second song: “I Was A Lover” by TV on the Radio from Return to Cookie Mountain

  • Third song: “You” by TV on the Radio from Nine Types of Light

  • Fourth song: “Trouble” by TV on the Radio from Seeds

  • Fifth song: “Wolf Like Me” by TV on the Radio from Return to Cookie Mountain

  • Sixth song: “Family Tree” by TV on the Radio from Dear Science