I talked to Dhani Harrison and Oli Hecks, also known as thenewno2 (pronouned “The New Number Two”), who come to Coachella on Saturday. Actually, they’re going to be hanging out all three days, I think.
You can read about how they started playing together (hint, it involved a superstar British band that isn’t the one Dhani’s dad was in) in the full article that’s in Friday’s Guide.
And go listen to them. They are my favorite new band. I am just digging the Massive Attack meets Pink Floyd vibe of their record, “You Are Here.”
Both Dhani and Oli were super cool when I interviewed them a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that Dhani’s miniature husky puppy was bred in Riverside. Small world. They’re both big Coachella fans, too. That would be Oli and Dhani, not the puppy. I don’t know how the puppy feels about the festival.
Anyway, Dhani was the one who approached Harmonix about doing a Beatles’ video game, which is coming out on Sept. 9. If you don’t know, Dhani’s dad is the late George Harrison, of the Beatles.
Dhani said the game is really fun, but harder than you may expect.
“It’s not as complicated as playing Metallica drum solos but you have to really be on it,” he said.
And a funny tidbit, it was Harmonix’s ninth project so the working title was “Project Number Nine.” Still not getting it? Think “Revolution #9.”
Now you might also notice an odd item up on stage when thenewno2 plays on Saturday–a broom. That’s Wilson. During the band’s Key Club residency last fall, Dhani stayed in the dressing room after soundcheck when everyone else went home. He ended up becoming friends with the broom, named Wilson after the volleyball that was Tom Hanks’ friend in “Castaway.”
Someone dared Dhani to ride the broom like in Harry Potter on stage that night. He obliged and now everyone knows about Wilson and apparently he even has his own MySpace page.