While the Black Eyed Peas are on "a little vacation", band member Taboo is hard at work on his own solo project, which he gave Dubai a taste of with a show at Cavalli Club on Friday night. Before he hit that stage for what he calls "the Taboo experience", he chatted to tabloid! about going it alone, the movie business and celebrating five years of sobriety.
What's a Taboo live show all about?
Tonight I'm presenting the Taboo experience here in Dubai which consists of a DJ set; within the DJ set you get dancing, movement, interaction with the crowd. There's a couple of songs off my solo project, also, I'll be paying homage to where it all started, playing a couple of Black Eyed Peas songs for the Peas fans.
Mostly it's just a big party. It's the experience that I've always dreamt of giving the world as a solo artist and as an individual outside of the Black Eyed Peas. We're all very strong individuals and now I get to actually travel the world and bring the Taboo experience to Dubai. I was in Bahrain last night with a great audience, now I'm excited to be here in Dubai.
You sound really excited about going it alone.
It's been a very long road being part of the Black Eyed Peas — we've had so many wonderful years of touring. Right now we are taking a little vacation to focus on other individual side projects, and this being one of my projects, my DJ set. It consists of being able to see what works and what doesn't work as far as new material that I've been creating in the studio.
I'm glad that I am able to travel the world and keep myself out there and keep myself relevant. And continue to give my piece of creativity and expression to the world.
What's your solo project like?
Being that I do DJ, I had to be able to cater to the dance floor. A lot of my tracks are reminiscent of the Black Eyed Peas vibe, but I also added a little Latin twist, because I am Mexican. I wanted to create songs that not only speak to the people around the world but also to the Latin community, my Spanish-speaking people.
I got people like [Italian DJ] Alex Guadino producing the tracks, [Spanish DJ] Juan Magan did some stuff, Mario Marchetti did a song. I'm just excited to show the world what I'm coming with as an individual.
It's interesting to hear you'll be including a Latin flavour.
I'm excited to be able to connect with my roots, to let people know how important it is to speak to my community. I haven't had a chance to give back because I've been so caught up with the Peas. We've been doing wonderful stuff like I said, so now it's time for me to slow it down and give back to the people that speak my language.
You just wrapped filming for What To Expect When You're Expecting, playing a reality show judge. How was the movie?
It is such a great project because you have so many people attached to it — Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, Cheryl Cole, Tyce Diorio — that it was just a wonderful experience for me coming back into the acting role. Even though I played just a judge, playing myself, it was good to be back on the set. It's going to be a great movie for all the mothers. It's a romantic comedy about parenting, it's based on a book. I am also a parent, so it's good.
What are your parenting tips?
I would say make sure that you learn a lot about your children. Me being a parent that tours most of the time, I learned about really capturing moments, like my son's first step, his first words, learning how to connect with my older son, who is 18 years old.
For many years I was gone and I didn't really get a change to connect and have that relationship because I was travelling so much. I'm in it for the long haul and I'm just glad that I've been blessed with three wonderful boys.
What do you think of those reality shows?
I think it's good, I think it's a good place for artists to express themselves. will.i.am is doing The Voice, which is good because he's in the UK dealing with up and coming artists, I got the opportunity to do this movie playing the judge that is probably the a**hole. He's like the Simon Cowell — no disrespect to Simon, big up to Simon — but I'm kind of like the jerk of the panel. Totally opposite of who my personality is. I just think it's good to play that.
On Thursday, you celebrated five years of sobriety. Tell us about that.
March 27, 2007 was my epiphany, I wrote a book called Falling Up which tells the story of what happened and what made me make that change in my life. I was going down the wrong path, as so many artists do — we get caught up in our own hype, I was really caught up and thank God that I got arrested. [Taboo was arrested and later charged with driving under the influence, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, possession of marijuana while driving, and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.]
That day was the turning point. The next day, the 28th, was probably the most miserable point of my life because it was such a guilty day for me, feeling what I had done, knowing what I had done the night before. The first year was pretty hard for me but it got easier and thank goodness that I've been able to stay sober for five years and I'm gonna continue doing it. I'm strong-willed and I have a great life ahead of me, a great future and I'm grateful that I was able to overcome those trials and tribulations.
What would you say to people in the same place you were that day?
I would say it's possible. Believe you can achieve. That's what my grandmother always said to me. My grandmother was my biggest inspiration, and I felt like, when I got arrested, if my grandmother was alive she would have been disappointed. She was the person that I never wanted to let down. If you are struggling with any addictions or things that may be getting in the way of your progress, know there is hope, you can overcome.
I was a prime example of someone who hit rock bottom and was able to bounce back.
