http://www.mxdwn.com/2011/08/16/features/brendon-small-interview-metalocalypse-may-end-soon-but-dethklok-will-go-on/

August 16th, 2011

A few weeks back mxdwn covered this year’s installment of the Mayhem Festival in San Bernardino. While we were there, we took the time to speak with Metalocalypse/Dethklok mastermind Brendon Small. Small was casual and frank about the state of his mega successful Cartoon Network show Metalocalypse, explaining to us how the show itself might be coming to an end. He quipped at one point dryly of the band’s technically cartoon status, “We don’t exist. I think I do exist.”

In between working on season 4 of the wildly popular show–which will be returning to its original quarter hour format–Small has completed and named a new solo project, appropriately titled Brendon Small’s Galaktikon. A project featuring him and live Dethklok band members Bryan Beller and Gene Hoglan (famous for his work in Death and Strapping Young Lad), he describes it as a, “High stakes intergalactic rock album.”

Live Dethklok is backed by a large video wall, playing videos synced to the songs featuring their animated counterparts shredding or banging along. As to any future evolution of the Dethklok performance experience itself Small expressed enthusiasm for the technology utilized to pull off Japanese hologram performer Hatsune Miko. He remarked, “It’s amazing. It’s a great idea.” He jokes with a smile, “I was at Disneyland recently, which is not metal, but it’s cool. I’m not very metal, I don’t know if you noticed that yet.” Small detailed his own affinity for an attraction at Disneyland called “The Wonderful World of Color.” He explains, “[It's] this huge gigantic pit of water it’s 300 yards wide. They shoot the water up in the air and they project the images onto that. Then they shoot fire into the water. I thought if you could get a band there, some kind of protective shell covering and glass and have them play. You’d worship them like gods. You could start your own new religion.” Small offers humorously in discussing this innovative approach, “The way I pitched this show was a big stupid Disneyland ride, but with murder.”

Upon being queried as to whether a Metalocalypse movie is in the cards for the show (much like South Park’s creators did with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut), Small indicates that the animated program might be drawing to a close. “My goal is to do this season and then do a movie and then end it,” he states soberly. He adds, “We’re at the mercy of budgets.” South Park is apparently the bar for quality in the TV cartoon-turned movie arena. He explains, “South Park, they’re the ones that nailed it. Amazing, that they did that. What a feat. I remember laughing until my face hurt.”

And if Metalocalypse may be coming to a close, what of the human driven Dethklok band? Small offers that creating an entity that allows for audio-driven entity to continue was always part of the plan, stating, “I wanted to be able to have an audio driven show. Maybe the show gets cancelled, I can keep the audio alive. So, I would love to keep on making Dethklok records forever.”

To hear the whole interview, please watch the video below.

Photos by Raymond Flotat

By Raymond FlotatPosted in Featuresadult swim, Brendon Small, Dethklok, Metalocalypse

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DETHKLOK’s BRENDON SMALL Interviewed By MishMash Magazine (Audio) – July 15, 2011
Blabbermouth.net

MishMash Magazine recently conducted an interview with Brendon Small, co-creator of "Metalocalypse", the smash hit animated series on Adult Swim featuring the fictitious metal band DETHKLOK. You can now listen to the chat in two parts below.…

Brendon Small on Mayhem Fest & Dethklok/Metalocalypse
Crave Online
The Metalocalypse mastermind breaks off a few answers for Crave before Dethklok headlines Mayhem Fest. By Johnny Firecloud "Metalocalypse" mastermind Brendon Small wears many hats of awesome: he’s a comedian, a voice actor, a writer, filmmaker and …

Metal fans are abuzz this week over the release of the Dethklok “Thunderhorse” Explorer from Gibson USA. Designed in conjunction with Brendon Small, the ridiculously talented musical mind behind Cartoon Network’s Metalocalypse, the guitar is a dream-come-true for shredders. And no one is more excited about the new axe than Small himself, whose ridiculous chops trace back to his Berklee College of Music days, before he became a late-night comic mastermind.

Small sat down at the Gibson Beverly Hills Showroom recently to show off his new guitar and deal some serious metal.

An interview with Dethklok’s Nathan Explosion
Dallas Morning News
Next, there are the strange, almost endearing characters that make up Dethklok, the animated band that makes the death metal. Then, well, there’s the blood …

Brendon Small on ‘Metalocalypse’ Season 3 DVD
Crave Online
One of the driving forces behind Dethklok tells us about the Blu-Ray release, his solo album and more! A supremely disappointing foray into the usually …

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: BRENDON SMALL (METALOCALYPSE S3 DVD)
Cinematic Happenings Under Development
The success has also bled over into record and ticket sales for Dethklok albums and shows, independent of the broadcast. Moving on from the quarter-hour …

MASTODON Drummer Interviewed On FULL METAL JACKIE’s Radio Show …
Blabbermouth.net
MASTODON was featured on the October 3 episode of "Metalocalypse", the hit Adult Swim series which chronicles DETHKLOK’s crusades into darkness and follows …

Fake it ’til you make it: five fictional bands in real life
Pitch Weekly
?Brendon Small’s Metalocalypse brought death metal to the mainstream, courtesy of the show’s protagonists in Dethklok. While the songs are presented in …

Metalocalypse: Season 3 DVD Box Set Sweepstakes
DailyGame
In Metalocalypse: Season 3, of which we’re giving away the complete box set, the animated band known as Dethklok is found in a precarious position without …

CHUD.COM: See it here

Thanks to Zephlar for submitting them…

Hey guys,

Just wanted to give you a heads up that I recently did an interview with Arch Enemy guitarist Michael Amott and I asked him about doing voiceover work on Metalocalypse. Thought your readers might appreciate it. The Dethklok stuff starts at around 7 minutes.

http://www.metalinjection.net/tv/view/4458/arch-enemy-michael-amott-interview

Rob

Weeks later, I started listening to entire songs from the album. "I’m going to the concert…so I might as well know the songs I’ll be hearing," I thought. They grew on me. Initially, I expected more humor, like their first album, Dethalbum I. I realized that I failed to appreciate the upgraded DETH in this music. I found myself head banging so hard at the 1:45 mark that I looked psychotic. I felt psychotic. I felt like I wanted to throw myself against the walls and break everything. Brutal.

Yes, some of this new album’s songs begin with similar guitar rhythms, BUT each of these songs progress and grow into a unique and, ultimately, brutal song. It’s like Dethklok made 12 snowballs (yes there are 12 songs on the album) and rolled them down different sides of Mt. Everest. Each snowball got bigger, rolled faster, gained momentum, picked up trees and small animals until it was a raging monstrous demon of snow and debris utterly destroying everything in its’ path. This album smashes the listeners’ ears and mind with epic guitar, insane drumming, and the hissing and roaring of Nathan Explosion (Brendan Small). Chills running down your spine and blood coming from your ears, you feel like screaming, "FUCK YES!" Each song leaves you craving more. More, more, more drumming more guitar more volume!!! No matter how loud you crank your speakers, you’ll want it louder. I was deafened at the concert, and only then was I truly satisfied.

Ok, so what’s my point? This brutal and very well constructed album has managed to outdo its’ predecessor, Dethalbum I. I didn’t think it was possible, Dethalbum I was incredible, but Dethalbum II has become a force to be reckoned with, and, in my opinion, obliterates the fans’ expectations in becoming a bona fide BAND. It’s not fake anymore, it’s not just a cartoon, it’s real and it’s amazing music. You’d be a fool not to buy this album.

Thanks for reading!

-Griffen Read

Submitted by a reader:

“Dethalbum II debuted at number 15 on the billboard charts. Figured that would be newsworthy.

http://m.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200?begin=11&order=position

I think that the highest a metal album has reached, I’m not positive tho”

More info here:

BRAINGELL RADIO
http://www.braingell.com/?p=3430

Heavy metal juggernauts DETHLOK have exploded onto the Billboard Top 200 again with the release of Dethalbum II , selling nearly 45,000 copies in its first week. The ferocious new record from the stars of the Adult Swim series Metalocalypse debuted at #15 on the Billboard Top 200 six spots higher then their debut album Dethalbum back in 2007.

Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small had this to say about the chart debut of DETHKLOK’s “Dethalbum II”:

“I’m both happy and humiliated that DETHALBUM 2 reached number 15.  Happy because we beat the first DETHALBUM numbers and humiliated to have been beaten by our second album numbers by ourselves. Either way we’re still not as good as the Archies and I never want to forget that. Having said all of that, dear god I am fantastic and talented.”

The September 27 release of Metalocalypse: Dethklok’s “Dethalbum II ” coincides with the start of Season 3 of Metalocalypse on Adult Swim in November.  The third season of Metalocalypse will pick up right where Season 2 left, and this season the episodes will be thirty minutes long.

Go there and vote how you feel: