YMM: Where did the idea for Metalocalypse come from originally?

Dethklok: The original idea is that I needed a job. I needed to find a way to make money. I finished with a different show called Home Movies some time ago, and I slowly re-acquainted myself with metal. I listened to metal growing up and went to music school and all that stuff. I think that ever since music school, I have been throwing out the academics and coming back to the stuff I cared about as a teenager. I just liked guitar playing and loud music, so I wanted to put together a show where I get to write the music and be very self-contained. That ended up being Metalocalypse.

YMM: Didn’t you do the music for Home Movies as well, the theme and all that?

Dethklok: Yeah, I did all of that stuff, and it was very different from this stuff. But it was important for me to get the garage sound style of music to get to this place.

YMM: How do you go from Home Movies, which is a little more innocent, to Dethklok, one of the bloodiest animated show on television?

Dethklok: I don’t think that it is that difficult. It wasn’t like any kind of challenge. I think that anyone who’s creative has lots of different interests. The only thing that I think happens is that people in television get pigeon-holed and just do one style. I think that there are a lot of animated shows where every show is like the previous ones before, and I had the luxery of not having Home Movies be that successful. So no one cared about me trying to repeat myself with Home Movies so I didn’t have to. But I didn’t want to, cuz I already did it. The fan base is the same, which is good. But with every episode of any kind of show that you work on you try to keep moving forward.

YMM: What got you into animation, since you said you went to school for music?

Dethklok: I kind of fell into it. I always liked animation like old Disney or Heavy Metal; that what I cared about in animation. And then I thought that South Park and Simpsons were fine and everything. I am more interested in live action in general. It just turn out that I got lucky with Home Movies. I was living in Boston and doing standup and I met the producers of Dr. Katz. After having a good night of doing stand up, then the next thing I knew, I got lucky and was doing some voices for one of this kind of untitled projects. I just kept wedging my foot in the door with this creative opportunity. I fell into animation; I didn’t think that I was going to be where I am.

YMM: You said that you started in music, how long have you been playing guitar?

Dethklok: I have been playing guitar for around twenty years now, and when I say that there is a lot of hours I put into it. I really spent a lot of my life practicing. Because the kind of guitar that I got interested in my mid teen years was very difficult kinds of stuff like all of the shred masters and stuff like that. I started young enough to try and copy those styles, which got me stuck in my bedroom for hours on end just practicing scales.

YMM: So, Dethklok is going on tour this fall, a much bigger tour than last time. Are you excited to play the shows?

Dethklok: No, excited is not the word. Exhausted is the word. I am looking forward to it. I think that somewhere along the way I will get a little more sleep than when I am in production on the TV show. So for those reasons I am happy, and I just want to play guitar across the country.

YMM: It is different to play on stage rather than your bedroom.

Dethklok: Yeah, very different.

YMM: What has been the response since you have announced the tour dates?

Dethklok: Ticket sales have been really good. I don’t want to jinx anything. We just added second shows. I know that ticket sales have kind of slumped due to the economy and stuff, but we are touring with a really good band, Mastodon, and we have a TV show so we can get our message out there a little bit better than the other actual bands can. But the ticket sales are doing great; we added shows in New York, LA, and a couple of other shows in the south.

YMM: Anything in the Bay Area, I noticed that I didn’t see anything in San Francisco this time around?

Dethklok: There is a good reason for that, and I don’t know exactly, I can’t give you any actual news, but I think that there is a pretty good reason for that and it has to do with previous tour outings of one the other bands and once they complete something, then we maybe able to get some shows there.

YMM: Is it because Mastodon was just here?

Dethklok: Yeah…

YMM: At Outsidelands Festival?

Dethklok: I do hope to add some shows in central and northern California.

YMM: What about the Dethklok book, which was awesome; how was it working with Eric Powell? How did you get in touch with him?

Dethklok: Eric got in touch with us because he became familiar with the show and he liked it a lot. He said he wanted to do some ridiculous crossover. And in my opinion that’s what crossovers are, they’re ridiculous, a total cross over into two different worlds. So, I said as long as it is really stupid I would do it. He said sure, so he wrote it. I think that it is really funny and well written. I usually feel really nervous when I collaborate because I am unsure, but in this case I was ready to. But with Eric, the story was really funny. He is a good writer and a funny guy.

YMM: Are you a comic fan?

Dethklok: I am kind of like… I like the good stuff. So, when someone hands me something. I don’t know that much about comics. I know when someone hands me something. My brother knows more than me, so he is like check out the Preacher. I read that whole series even though it has been around for a while. I am the type of guy that read Watchman the year before it came out rather than inin 1986. I am aware of that stuff, but I don’t make frequent visits to the comic book store.

YMM: What can people expect at a live Dethklok show?

Dethklok: When the show was conceived, everything was conceived at the same time. So me and Tommy, the co-creator, I grabbed him when I thought I was going to go sell the show. We came up with the world and the characters and stuff and I thought ok, I’ll come up with the music side and put out a CD at the end of each season of the songs from the season, and elongate them, give them better production, and all of that stuff. And then there has got to be a way to tour, and how do you tour if you’re not even as a real band, but then I figured, well, the Gorillas did it. I watched the Gorilla’s videos and they played on a screen that they were projected onto, the thing is that you don’t get to see the bands. I feel that there is a little disconnection there between the band and the audience. I wanted the audience could see that they were real people generating the music, but we’re not lit, we’re like back lit, we’re not the stars of the show, we’re more like a pit band for the movie that we’re playing to.

YMM: How hard is it to stay in character or out of character?

Dethklok: All I am doing is playing music at that point. I am not supposed to be any character. I am supposed to sound like Nathan and all that stuff but I am not supposed to look like anyone. The only thing that makes me think this show is cool is that is does not exist. The second you see it in live action the magic is gone. People ask me about live action versus the show and I start to tune out, because what makes this cool is that it is not real, so we are not going to try to be the characters. I hired really great musicians to play with me.

YMM: Yeah, you have the drummer for Death Angel back there.

Dethklok: Yeah, and the thing is that if I chose musicians to look like the Dethklok members, then I would be in trouble.

Dethklok: Yeah so I got these super musicians and they are amazing. They make my job a lot easier.

YMM: Do you find your guitar playing getting better playing with these people?

Dethklok: Absolutely. I think the second you start working with better musicians who’ve done more you kinda rise up to their level just a little bit. I’m nowhere near as good as these guys, but I’m no slouch on guitar either.

YMM: You kinda shred buddy.

Dethklok: The thing is I put the hours in, spent a long time practicing. But playing live is a totally different beast altogether. It’s just a different set of skills, and that’s what I’ve been working on for these past few years. It’s been a fun learning experience.

YMM: So what’s next then, after this tour?

Dethklok: That’s a very good question. I have the ultimate job right now, where I get to make my own TV show, write every line, do the voices, write the music, tour and get endorsement deals. It’s tough to top this job. I don’t’ know. I guess I’ll have to figure that out after we kill this show.

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