Catching Up With Dhani Harrison

He’s inventing a genre.

To score the Southern-set YA-smash-turned-film Beautiful Creatures, Harrison’s band, thenewno2, coined a new word: ”We needed some swampy blues, but also atmospheric electronica. I jokingly said, ‘Swamptronica?’ And the director, Richard [LaGravenese], loved the term. It’s a good way to describe the feeling, since it’s modern, not a traditional blues score like O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

He’s hanging out with RZA.

”We became friends when the Wu-Tang Clan had me play guitar on [their 2007 album] 8 Diagrams. I said, ‘Now you have to come do the same on my record.’ So he brought [the crew] down, and we mashed up a bunch of tunes. We all come from very different styles of music-making, but we listen to the same things, and we watch the same films.”

He’s following in his dad’s footsteps.

Harrison felt a natural connection while recording for Creatures at London’s Abbey Road Studios. “I’d been there with my father and his friends [for years]. I’ve worked there for a lot of Beatles stuff — we did Rock Band there — so I’m used to being there. But it was my first time recording something we’ve written. It was like a rite of passage. I’m honored to have been able to do it.”