Lunchtime has arrived at the Manhattan studio where the Beastie Boys are working on tracks for a new studio album. Mike Diamond (Mike D) orders a cappuccino and the conversation turns to politics.

That, Diamond says, effectively describes the genesis of the "Get Out and Vote 08" tour, which will bring the Beasties, Ben Harper, Crosby and Nash and Tenacious D for a show Sunday night at U.S. Cellular Arena.

"Come lunch time, when we take a water filtration break or a cappuccino break, the dialog turns overwhelmingly to the election," says Diamond, who joins bandmates Adam (MCA) Yauch and Adam (Ad-Rock) Horovitz in supporting Barack Obama.

"Our shared feeling -- one that many, many others share -- is that in our lifetime this is by far the most important presidential election we've been faced with."

In advance of the short swing-state tour, Diamond sat down with his cappuccino and conversed via telephone with OnMilwaukee.com.

OnMilwaukee.com: What do you hope to accomplish with this tour?

Mike D: When we look at the more recent presidential electoral history and see how small numbers of voters in small numbers of places have decided those races, we thought we had to do whatever we could to basically help get the vote out in force.

I'm really hoping for a record turnout in terms of people really feeling compelled to vote in this election.

OMC: I think Bruce Springsteen, REM and John Fogerty said the same thing last time around ...

MD: (laughs) Yes. This is certainly true. Not to take anything away from them, because they put in the work. That's very, very true. At the same time, no credit to ourselves, but there are so many issues that are on the table and the timing of those issues is so much more pertinent and critical now.

Not that they weren't four years ago, but were we in the midst of the worst economic crisis we've been in since the Great Depression four years ago? No.

Were we so aware of our dependency on natural resources and those resources running out? No.

Were we so aware of the disastrous economic consequences of our government's policies? No.

Had we invested so many lives and trillions (of dollars) in two wars at that point? Not yet, we hadn't.

OMC: A lot of people in your industry are finding that it's difficult to get young people to do anything these days -- buy music, get off the couch, stay away from Facebook. If you get them to the show, how do you get them to take the next step and get involved in the process?

MD: That's where we're trying to make it as easy and transparent as possible. If there is early voting where you are, this is where you go. Come with us right now. We'll go to early voting. If there is still registration in your state, this is where you can go register and maybe vote at the same time. If you've already registered and there isn't early voting, this is where your polling locations are. This is how you can get an absentee ballot. We're not only bringing an immediacy to the process, but also a transparency.

OMC: This is kind of a surgical-strike tour. I know you're in the studio now, but how much time have you had to rehearse?

MD: Does the phrase "seat of our pants" mean anything?

I actually think, in a way, we look forward to these shows. It's like that not only just for us, but also for everyone else involved. Everyone is just kind of getting it together and we're all going to see what transpires. There is that element to it. Is this one of our regular tours where we rehearse forever to go out on tour? No. But, maybe that actually makes it a little more fun and interesting.

OMC: What kind of a show can fans expect? Will you break out some of the new stuff or is it time to "play to the base," so to speak.

MD: (laughs) I think we're going to shore up the base ... and ... I don't know. I think there is probably room for a solid game of Parcheesi, parlayed into Twister parlayed into a fine meal.

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