Mike D shares his love of surfing and his gateway into gardening

2026-07-23

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We travel with him from Central Park to the Californian coast all from Caitlin’s garden. When we started Outsiding, we definitely couldn’t have predicted that Mike D would be among our first guests. But, luckily for us, the lure of the outside is strong. The founding member of hip hop pioneers Beastie Boys, is in the UK making a ‘joyous ruckus’ ahead of the release of his new record, Thank You, which is out on August 28th. He took a garden seat with Adam and Caitlin to explore his connection with nature, how surfing...

We travel with him from Central Park to the Californian coast all from Caitlin’s garden.

When we started Outsiding, we definitely couldn’t have predicted that Mike D would be among our first guests. But, luckily for us, the lure of the outside is strong. The founding member of hip hop pioneers Beastie Boys, is in the UK making a ‘joyous ruckus’ ahead of the release of his new record, Thank You, which is out on August 28th.

He took a garden seat with Adam and Caitlin to explore his connection with nature, how surfing can provide you with both beautiful and humbling moments, and his own unique experience of getting started with gardening. Mike grew up in New York with Central Park on his doorstep, providing endless exploration, before ending up in his Californian home, right by the coast. He explains how he’s always loved park life, including spending time in London’s best offerings and their beautiful lawns.

We also chat about taking his sons to Green School in Bali, where they were also introduced to the gamelike delights of music software. He now tours with his sons Skyler and Davis as part of his supporting band, 5D. Mike D’s 5D have just announced a run of international live tour dates, with tickets available now.

Let us know if you’re enjoying Outsiding and please send us your favourite outside places, memories, smells and gardening questions to hello@outsiding.co.uk

Follow Outsiding on Substack for gardening tips, tricks, upcoming live Q&As with Adam and the progress of Caitlin’s garden project. Find us on Instagram too.

You can watch full episodes of Outsiding on Spotify and YouTube.

Outsiding is a Cold Glass Production

00:00 Welcome back!

00:17 Adam’s run-in with a Tawny Owl!

02:40 Today’s guest

03:42 Mike D is here!

04:24 Growing up in Manhattan

05:58 Connecting to the outside

06:56 Central Park & the magic of New York

08:45 Entering his gardening era

12:41 Surfing

16:08 Jungle school?