How to get hooked up with the Black Eyed Peas

REBECCA BARRY talks to one of the big acts in attendance at the upcoming Big Day Out, the Black Eyed Peas.


Forging relationships on the dancefloor is not just the stuff of alcohol-induced lust. For the Black Eyed Peas, it's a networking process.

It was the hip-pop group's other life as "nightclub cats" that brought them to female vocalist Tracy Ferguson (Fergie), a former stage performer and dancefloor regular whose soaring larynx is most famously showcased in the irritatingly catchy track, Shut Up. Taboo, the group's main MC, says they became friends long before he knew she could hit the high notes.

"We brought her in and she knocked it out and from that point we just started working with her more and more, to the point where it was a natural progression for her to be in the group," he says.

Somewhere within the celebrity-riddled LA nightlife he also met a certain Cameron Diaz-dating, former Mousketeer turned pop star.

"We just exchanged numbers, became friends and shared ideas," he says, as though sharing the spotlight with Justin Timberlake is the most natural thing in the world.

"We'd finished Where is the Love? and I put it to him over the phone. Two days later he called me and he already had a hook for it."

In Britain particularly, the collaboration is doing huge things for the group. Where is the Love? topped British charts for six weeks - the longest standing number one since Cher's Believe in 1998 - selling more than 600,000 to become the biggest track of last year and helping to christen BEP "the new Fugees".

But Taboo insists that Timberlake - who is on both Rolling Stone and Q magazine covers - is not their marketing gambit.

"It's because we were friends," he says emphatically. "No matter if it's Justin Timberlake or Justin Gerafolo. We respect him for the talent that he has and for him being our friend as opposed to it being, 'Oh yeah, we're gonna go mainstream by getting Justin Timberlake'. Our focus was to give you a personal record, and that's what we did."

Their third LP, Elephunk, does possess a candid intimacy. The R&B-tinged Shut Up recounts a relationship gone sour. Anxiety, their guitar-fuelled track with angsty metallers Papa Roach, was inspired partly by producer Will.I.Am's panic attacks, which he claims he sometimes experiences on stage.

The Papa Roach collaboration itself could cause some of the Peas' biggest fans an anxiety attack. "We always knew they'd work together," says Taboo. "We're the type of group that is able to go out of bounds and not follow a certain formula."

The two bands struck up their unlikely friendship when they both played the predominantly punk-rock headed Warped Tour a few years ago.

Not surprising, however, is that the Peas also set out to make Elephunk their most accessible work. Four years ago they released Bridging the Gap, a tour de force featuring, among others, Macy Gray, Mos Def and Wyclef Jean. Suddenly, the group were the most laidback boho hip-hoppers to come from the West Coast, belying their LA roots with soul-soaked pop tunes and a name that comes from soul-food from the south. They seemed to straddle the most sought markets - both the street and the mainstream masses.

But Taboo says they are yet to maximise their popularity, and are prepared to work Elephunk to the ... erm, bone, with another eight months of touring. And it's the touring they love the most, with Taboo describing their gigs as a combination of "live instrumentation, break-dancing, martial arts, Capuera, acrobatics, hyper-kinetic energy, stage diving, mosh pitting, beautiful singing with Fergie Ferg and high energy."

"We're personality cats," he says. "We like to express our individual personalities. The main focus besides the music is us, how witty we are on stage, our charisma, our dance moves.

"Will is the silly guy. He's like an animated whirlwind, running back and forth from stage to stage. Apl is the cool mellow cat, he doesn't really say much, but when it comes time to perform he's an alligator, he likes to attack, especially on the dancefloor. Fergie is like the little sister learning the ropes on how to be a performer because she's never performed with a live band before. And me, I'm like the conductor of the show, I like to control the crowd."

He also likes to control a pipe, like his bandmate Apl.de.ap Pineda, who hit the headlines when they were last here for the Big Day Out when he was caught with cannabis at Auckland Airport and sent home to the States. Taboo concedes his favourite place is Amsterdam "because the coffee shops are great".

"I know New Zealand's got some good weed, too. When we were there, they hooked us up."

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