Ronnie Dobbs

Nov 18 2008 2:28 PM EST
The Roots To Stop Touring, Become Jimmy Fallon's House Band On 'Late Night'?
Drummer/leader ?uestlove says group will always perform live, but might abandon large-scale touring.
By Jocelyn Vena

Over the weekend, a video interview popped up on the Internet in which Roots drummer/leader ?uestlove announced that the long-running group will be retiring from large-scale touring and taking on a new gig as Jimmy Fallon's house band when he takes over NBC's "Late Night" from Conan O'Brien in 2009.

?uest must've said something that someone found objectionable: That interview has been removed from YouTube and apparently everywhere else.

However, we did manage to find a transcript on one blog, which reportedly took it from the Roots' official site, OkayPlayer.com.

In the interview, ?uestlove put the announcement in perspective, saying that the group will not be retiring from playing live, but from long, large-scale tours.

"Yeah, it's hard to make this announcement 'cause it's not like we wanted to pull the heartstrings on some 'This is our last tour' [statement], 'cause we will forever do gigs," he said. "I see the possible chance of this being a 'bigger' move ... but on the real? I don't know if I want to be 40, on the road and single no more. And with the kids my group has now getting older ... it's harder for the guys to leave more than it was when the kids were 2 and 3. And I can't even start to go on that path till a woman takes me seriously. And ain't no one taking a man serious who is in his own home for only three months out the year. I been in my crib since 2006 and I still ain't unpacked everything yet."

To facilitate that, he said smaller-scale tours are the course the band will probably take. "I mean, people east of Chicago shouldn't fear [that they'll never see the group], and I'm certain that on weekends we could trek to an occasional Seattle or [San] Diego," he said. "But obviously Europe and abroad could miss out."

Later on in the interview, ?uest talked about his excitement over the Fallon gig. "I'mma love my new home at 30 Rock [NBC's headquarters]," he said. "Two visits and I'm already on a first-name basis with the 'SNL' cats."

While ?uestlove and reps for the group's label, Island Def Jam, had not responded to MTV News' requests for comment — and a rep for NBC said, "Nothing to confirm at this time" — a label rep reportedly confirmed the report to the Philadelphia Daily News, saying the group will join Fallon on the show in June. The paper also reported that Fallon and the group recently taped "something" at Philly nightclub Kung Fu Necktie.

The long-running Philadelphia group, which released its first album in 1993 and was one of the first groups to pair rappers with a live band, enjoys a popularity and influence not necessarily reflected by its one major hit, 1999's collaboration with Erykah Badu, "You Got Me." The Roots have toured and worked with a wide range of musicians, including backing Jay-Z at his "Unplugged" concert in 2001 and Reasonable Doubt anniversary show in 2006, touring with the Dave Matthews Band and other jam bands, and collaborating with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump. ?uestlove in particular has worked with an enormous variety of artists — most prominently Badu, Common and D'Angelo — serving as musical director for the Jay-Z concerts (including his 2003 "Fade to Black" show) as well as "The Dave Chappelle Show."

DJLinus

While I'm happy that they'll get the national exposure that they so deserve, this is sad news. The Roots are one of the best live bands that I've ever seen and one of the few that I've paid to see multiple times. You always know that you're going to get a great show with them.

Richmond's close enough to NYC that I hope we get the occasional gig from them. But it's not like they came here all that often, anyway.

sauce07

I'm sad but this is a great fit.

Hixx

meh, musicians always say stuff like this and then realize they miss playing shows and most importantly the cash that a popular touring act generates by doing full tours.

Goat3001

I think this works for the Roots. ?uestlove is hilarious so he'll be good on the show. Hopefully the Roots will drown out all the suck that Jimmy Fallon is dishing out.

On the other side, I've never been a big Roots fan. They played at my school once and I went and its still the best live show I've ever seen. Those guys really know how to rock the house. Too bad they won't be doing that anymore but I'm sure they'll eventually go on tour again.

asianxcore

Wow, that sucks. The Roots are one of my favorite bands.

My girlfriend and I finally got to see them on the tour they are currently on with Gym Class Heroes/Estelle.

Never thought that might be the last time I'd ever see them live.

They should just keep playing bits of "Phrenology" and "Things Fall Apart" whenever Fallon attempts to be funny.

auto

I almost saw them on this tour. Damn. I think this is a really bad idea. Hopefully the show gets cancelled quick since Jimmy Fallon is the suck anyhow.

Thrush

I don't know of anything on heaven or earth that can overwhelm the amount of suck that Fallon produces.

I predict a repeat of the Branford Marsalis/Leno deal. Where Marsalis eventually wised up and said "what the fuck am I doing here playing second fiddle to an Ass clown with less talent than I have in my Big Toenail?!".

NoirFan

At least ?uestlove won't have to brush up on his rimshots.

DJLinus

I thought that this was a bit interesting:


I wonder how much NBC has been paying for publishing. On one hand, it'll be great to get a bunch of new music from them. On the other, I kinda wanted to hear their take on other people's stuff on a regular basis.


And I'm really jealous of all you NYC folks:

The Bus

I definitely want to see them in NYC. I count a concert that I saw them play in a basketball court in a gym as one of my all-time favorites, even if the acoustics were shit. I was 5 feet from the group.

sauce07

The Roots are gonna have to write a lot of 15 second songs. Sucks that they can't play other peoples songs, I guess it doesn't matter too much in the end.

Supermallet

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. The idea that for millions of people The Roots will only be known in association with Jimmy Fallon sickens me.

My Other Self

I thought The Roots have been pretty popular with a lot of people since ?uestlove was on Chappelle's Show way back when.

DJLinus

BTW, Questlove is on Twitter and he tweets - a lot. He does a bunch from the Fallon rehearsals. I'd expect him to do it during the tapings, too.

http://twitter.com/qoolquest

DJLinus

It was weird seeing them in the role of talk show house band, but I thought that they did a great job. I hope they're thrown a bone every once and a while and get to perform a full song on air.

I miss Hub. And Rahzel and Scratch, for that matter.

Kory

I feel the same way.

Robot Rock

Definitely, the best house band EVER.

db27

I was lucky enough to catch the test show on Feb 25th for Late night with JF. It was the fourth test show, and seeing the Roots play a private show was awesome. The play a ton during the taping, but of course not a lot makes it onto the show. Very cool experience.

NoirFan

More like hundreds of thousands.

Supermallet

Ha, you're probably right.

NiCK Crush

Roots are opening up for Dave Matthews Band at MSG in April.