The Roots want to be TV stars. ?uestlove, the hip-hop group's leader, has announced that they will trade tour buses for commercial breaks, becoming the house band on an American talk show and leaving large-scale gigging behind.
Britain "could miss out", ?uestlove said in a video interview this weekend. The band will spend most of the year backing up actor Jimmy Fallon on his Late Night talk show, which is set to debut next year in a slot vacated by Conan O'Brien.
Though ?uestlove's interview has since been pulled from YouTube, transcripts show the drummer lamenting the impact that gigging has had on band-members' families – and his own love life.
"I don't know if I want to be 40, on the road and single no more," he said. "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 two and three. 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."
The Roots do intend to continue touring – "we will forever do gigs," ?uestlove said - but don't hold your breath if you live more than a helicopter ride from New York City. "People east of Chicago shouldn't fear, 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."
While neither NBC nor Def Jam have made an official announcement of the Roots' televised future, a label representative did confirm the move in an interview to the Philadelphia Daily News – and said that taping would begin in June.
Judging from ?uestlove's interview, next summer can't come soon enough. "I'm [going to] love my new home at 30 Rock [the address of NBC headquarters]," he said. "Two visits and I'm already on a first-name basis with the [Saturday Night Live] cats."
