Almost exactly a year on from the untimely death of the much missed Adam (MCA) Yauch comes word in the New York Times that Michael (Mike D) Diamond and Adam (Ad-Rock) Horowitz, his surviving bandmates in Beastie Boys, have signed a memoir deal with Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau. The as-yet-untitled book will be gettin’ stupid in your area, causin’ all kinds of hysteria in the autumn of 2015 and, as you would expect from one of the most inventive, influential musical acts of the past thirty years – especially one that has mad hits like it was Rod Carew – will emphatically not be a straightforward ghost-written tell-all.

Instead, readers can expect a freewheeling oral history of sorts edited by hip-hop journalist Sacha Jenkins, which all parties involved are comparing to the Beasties’ short-lived but legendary mid-90s zine Grand Royal as a survey of their hyperactive, hyper-eclectic interests, tastes and flights of fancy. Julie Grau of Spiegel & Grau tells the Times that Diamond and Horowitz are ‘interested in challenging the form and making the book a multidimensional experience. There is a kaleidoscopic frame of reference, and it asks a reader to keep up,’ a description which calls to mind nothing so much as their tremendous 2006 concert film Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!, which saw the group distribute fifty camcorders to fans attending their 2004 show at Madison Square Garden and assemble the final film from the resultant footage.

The Times also spoke to Beasties agent Luke Janklow, who said ‘The first words out of Mike’s mouth were, ‘I don’t want to do a straight memoir’,’ which certainly sounds like him. Plans for the book were apparently first mooted several years ago, but were delayed for obvious reasons following Yauch’s 2009 diagnosis with and eventual death from cancer of the salivary gland. Janklow says ‘After Yauch died, I didn’t push them, but I think that Adam and Mike ended up realizing that it was the right time for them.’

As the Times notes, Spiegel & Grau appears to be cultivating a reputation as the go-to imprint for high-concept hip-hop books, following their 2010 publication of Jay-Z’s lyrics book/memoir/history of rap coffee table thing Decoded. The imprint can surely expect at least one follow-up too, given one source’s claim that the group has more stories than J.D.’s got Salinger.