Beastie Boys Won't Tour Until Adam 'MCA' Yauch Beats Cancer

Many people assumed, with the help of misleading reports in the press, that the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch (aka MCA) had fully recovered from cancer. After all, in 2009 when he first announced that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer, the group postponed all plans indefinitely, including pulling the then-planned release of 'Hot Sauce Committee Part One.' But periodic updates from the band's camp indicated that things were going in the right direction. The recent release of their new album, along with a media blitz for their return-to-form, long-form video for 'Make Some Noise,' reinforced that impression.

"He's doing OK," is the official word, now, from MCA's bandmate, Adam Horowitz (aka Ad-Rock), in a new interview with the Guardian. "He's still in treatment so it's not 100 percent ... We're not touring, we're just getting the record out -- and we're not making any plans until he is better."

And while Ad-Rock says that will "definitely happen" in time, his other bandmate, Michael Diamond (aka Mike D.), tells the Guardian that the current situation still shouldn't be downplayed. "It's a very strange thing," he says. "And when you're friends for a long time, and one of that group of friends gets a very serious, potentially terminal illness ... It's a game-changer, if you will."


Listen to the Beastie Boys' 'Hot Sauce Committee Part Two' for Free

While the Beastie Boys remain focused on getting MCA back to a clean bill of health, they are, in fact, celebrating the release of 'Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.' Given the band's somber internal affairs -- as well as the current state of world affairs -- the Beastie Boys maintain that there's no better time to have something fun to listen to where you can blow off some steam, forget about things for a minute and, you know...'Make Some Noise.'