During the Classless Act stadium tour in support of Def Leppard and Motley Crue last year, the aspiring rockers were joined onstage by hip-hop legend Daryl “DMC” McDaniels, of Run-DMC fame. Now, use the Classless Act DMC for a new version of the track “Storm Before the Calm,” which premieres via Serious consequences (Watch the video below).
Similar to Run-DMC’s legendary “Walk This Way” collaboration with Aerosmith, DMC lends its vocals and rhymes to “Storm Before the Calm,” dropping some bars after the guitar solo. It sounds right at home on rock instrumentation, giving the melodic melody of the moment a big payoff.
Surprisingly, DMC said he was “terrified” at the prospect of collaborating with young rockers. In a behind-the-scenes interview about the song — which can also be seen below — the rapper opened up about his verse, which was inspired by the entire script and the initial shock of working on the project.
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“I was a little intimidated, because ‘Walk This Way’ was great, and I was familiar with ‘Walk This Way’ because I’ve been singing the beat for ages, even before I learned about the full song,” DMC said. But when I heard [“Storm Before the Calm”] When my legs rick [Canny, Classless Act’s manager] She sent it to me, and I was like, “Wow, can I fit in with that kind of energy?”
It didn’t take long, DMC had the song sent in on Thursday, he parted his hair on Friday, and recorded vocals on Saturday.
“The reason I was able to respond so quickly was the whole show, the essence and the soul of the song that inspired me to say, ‘Well, before a bomb drops, or before a hurricane or a storm comes, people are so calm and confident, and life is good. When I heard what they did vocally, lyrically, and musically, peace came to me, which was like, “No, bring the energy you D…”
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The intimidation factor went both ways, especially when the Classless Act and DMC met in person to shoot the song’s music video — a performance clip that was filmed inside a UFC octagon.
“I was with a legend!” It was noted by Derek Day of Classless Act, who said he was “tossing bricks” during filming. And I didn’t have to say… that verse, completed the song in so many ways. It made us feel like…we wanted to save that thunder energy, and it just came in and… I can’t even put it into words. We had to come and emulate it. It’s in the movie!”
The original version of “Storm Before the Calm” appears on the 2022 album Classless Act Welcome to the show (order here), while the new DMC Enhanced Show is available for streaming or downloading at this site.
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Classless Act is currently in the studio working on a follow up Welcome to the show. Below you can watch the video for “Storm Before the Calm” and the interview with Day and DMC.
