The Metalocalypse is Now

During the daytime the Cartoon Network plays host to, well, cartoons and other television shows that suit younger audiences, but once the late night hits, Cartoon Network transforms into Adult Swim. The late night block has become infamous for popular shows such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies and Robot Chicken as well as playing host to plenty of traditional anime. Three years ago Adult Swim brought Metalocalypse to its audience and the success of the show has been snowballing ever since. Fans that aren’t even into metal enjoy the story, characters and fun animation, while the show also plays to the delights of metalheads that can enjoy the inside jokes, parodies and satire. The outlandish show and the larger-than-life Dethklok are quickly becoming household names and easily extending itself into the mainstream rather than just being a niche show.

While the band may be fictional, the music is very real. Co-creator Brendon Small writes the music for the show and is the creative force behind The Dethalbum and The Dethalbum II, which was released on September 29. Not only can you rock out to the Dethklok tunes from the show on CD, but now you can see a live Dethklok show featuring Brendon Small, Gene Hoglan, Mike Kneally, and Bryan Beller. It was a great treat to talk to Small about the music of Dethklok, Metalocalypse itself and what the touring version of Dethklok is all about, which will be making an appearance at Saltair on October 9th with openers Converge, High on Fire and co-headliners Mastodon. 

SLUG: Where did the idea for Metalocalypse and Dethklok come from?
Brendon Small: I wanted to do a show that was music driven and all I had been doing was going out and seeing metal shows at the time. I was kind of slowly falling back in love with my guitar. I’ve been playing guitar for a really long time. I went to music school and all that, and when I was in music school I was kind of away from rock and metal I was more studying the academics of music. The stuff I really cared about was loud and distorted guitars—that’s why I’m here today. I was just so excited to see people really playing their guitars again, and that’s what got me into Dethklok

SLUG: When you started did you think you’d actually be out on the road touring as a band?
Brendon: That was part of the idea. Myself and Tommy Blacha, who co-created the show (Metalocalypse), we thought okay, this (Dethklok) is a band. I’ll write all of the music and hopefully, if this all goes well, I’ll put a CD out after each season and if I put out a CD, there must be a way to do a tour, so how do I do that? Well the Gorillaz did it, so how can I do it and make that work for us? That was the whole idea. Luckily everything kind of fueled itself so we could get to this point.

SLUG: I have to ask, since I’m wearing my Strapping Young Lad shirt as we speak, how did you come to hook up with “Big Gene” (Gene Hoglan)?
Brendon: I program all the drums on the show, basically because I don’t have the budget to hire a drummer and we don’t have the time, I have to do the music very quickly so I wouldn’t even be able to get a drummer and get him up to speed because I’m creating everything on the spot. I figured when creating The Dethalbum I wanted real drums on the record and I wanted it to be produced by a real producer—I just wanted it to sound good. So I talked to Century Media Records who are the ones that put out the Strapping Young Lad stuff and I asked them if they knew any drummers that would be good for doing this project, everyone said in unison Gene Hoglan, and I said yeah right, well he wouldn’t do it would he? Well I talked to him and he was vaguely familiar with the show at that time, but I said I want to do this project, I want it to be fun and low key and it’s just going to be you and me doing everything pretty much so what do you think, and he said sure. I’m really happy it was Gene Hoglan because first of all he’s a legendary drummer, and then secondly he’s an amazing drummer and thirdly and most importantly he’s a really cool guy. That’s the most important thing about being creative is being reasonable and having a sense of humor and that’s what Gene’s got.

SLUG: Yeah, and he has a history obviously with Zimmer’s Hole adding comedy to metal..
Brendon: Yeah, he’s a big comedy fan. He’s a funny guy and he sure can play those drums.

SLUG: So I have no idea, what Dethklok looks live looks like live. How would you describe the band’s live show?
Brendon: Basically it’s very simple. The whole show we’re playing to pictures we have a movie theater sized screen behind us and we’re not supposed to look like Dethklok—we’re supposed to sound like Dethklok. We’re basically the pit band playing to the images and video. Gene’s got a click track running to his headset and we’re matching every downbeat so it’s all integrated to have this synergy between band and imagery it’s very satisfying to watch. The reason we’re in front of the screen is because when I saw the Gorillaz stuff I felt like there was a disconnect between the audience and performer. I think ultimately if you go to a live show you want to see the guys fingers move on the guitar or see the drummer and what he’s doing, otherwise you could just play the CD and I could sleep the whole time. Which actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea—I like sleeping. But that’s pretty much what the Dethklok live thing is, It’s like a big multi-media kind of like Universal Studios or Disney type theme ride, that’s the way I want it to feel I think it does feel that way, we’re telling a story through this video. Ultimately it’s fun and people go crazy. There are mosh pits and everyone’s got a big dumb smile on their face.

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Comments on this article

Posted on September 29, 2009 by amanda

great interview! thanks for posting. can't wait to see the show!

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