Never say die. Few acts in the sometimes jaded world of music can live by this statement with dignity. Need we mention Guns n Roses… But our lovable guys from the Beastie Boys have not only walked the perilous fine line between a long and graceful career and falling by the wayside, they have obliterated it. The boys have continued to raise the bar and heighten expectations over the last two decades, showing no signs of stopping.

And they look set to do it again. A dapper 4-disc vinyl Collector’s Edition of seminal 1992 album Check Your Head is out now and the hype is already building after some fun went down on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in the US. The guys broke into a truly awesome performance of classic “So What’cha Want” sublimely backed by smooth-dudes The Roots. You gotta hand it to them. They still got it. Twenty years on and not a single thing has changed albeit a few grey hairs and lines (no doubt a few of these were brought on over the years defending their use of samples, poor lads).

In the midst of the mayhem, the Beastie Boys announced that their eighth studio LP will be entitled Hot Sauce Committee and will be due for release in September. Aside from the unusual moniker, Adam MCA Yauch revealed to BBC earlier this year that the album will head off in a “bizarre” new direction.

“It’s a combination of playing and sampling stuff as we’re playing, and also sampling pretty obscure records…There are a lot of songs on the record and there are a lot of short songs and they kind of all run into each other.”

Until then though, the beat-busting trio have a stack of US festivals to chalk up with rumours flying that an international tour is on the cards. Watch this space.

- Carley Hall