The Bird and The Bee have released “Hot For Teacher”, a cover of one of the many hits off Van Halen’s 1984 and the final song released by the pioneering rock group’s original lineup. The Bird and the Bee’s distinctive take on the song is sans guitar and with an unmistakable spoken word cameo from Beck. The track also features legendary drummer, Omar Hakim known for his work with David Bowie, Sting, Daft Punk, Weather Report, Madonna, Kate Bush and more. This is the third song the duo of singer Inara George and multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin have released from Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen, a collection of covers of some of the most massive and wild songs from David Lee Roth-era Van Halen. The album is out August 2nd on No Expectations / Release Me Records.
“The Bird and The Bee bring unforeseen angles to the Van Halen song book. Makes sense because, like Eddie Van Halen, Greg is a kind of musical wunderkind in his own right and Inara’s vocals bring a cool counterpart to Diamond Dave’s pyrotechnics,” observes Beck. “Making a cameo on their version of ‘Hot for Teacher’ felt like an extension of the kind of riffing and fooling around we do in the studio on a normal session.”
The Bird and The Bee will embark on a 15 – date North American tour kicking off in Los Angeles’ John Anson Ford Amphitheater. This special one-off performance will feature help from Dave Grohl on drums and Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass.
Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen is the second volume in a series of homage albums, the first being 2010’s Interpreting the Masters, Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates. With the release of Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 2, The Bird and the Bee hope to spread that near-lifelong Van Halen love to a whole new crop of listeners.
