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• Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small

The almighty MASTODON returns to its old stomping grounds to cap off a lineup of extreme metal mayhem. Converge and High on Fire also play blistering sets of soul-crushing riffs. But these are all paltry mortals who have been summoned to simply clear the stage for DETHKLOK, stars of Adult Swim's "Metalocalypse." Animated metal madmen William Murderface (bass), Nathan Explosion (frontman), Skwisgaar Skwigelf (lead guitar), Toki Wartooth (rhythm guitar), and Pickles (drums) will appear live, in the flesh — led by creator Brendon Small — to shred through such classic originals as "Bloodrocuted," "Murmaider," and "Hatredcopter," as well as some new cuts from their latest, Dethalbum II. $34.50. 6:30 p.m. Tabernacle, 152 Luckie St. 404-659-9022. www.livenation.com.

For the purposes of this interview Brendon Small did most of the talking, but I was allowed one question with each member of the band.

Chad Radford: What goes in to putting on a live Dethklok show?

Brendon Small: We have a gigantic LCD screen behind us and we play to an hour-long animated show, and that's the real star of the live show. Me and the musicians are kind of like the pit orchestra. The drummer has a click track running through his headset and he counts us in to all the tracks. The end result is that we're supposed to sound like Dethklok, but we're not supposed to look like Dethklok. We're pretty much in the shadows so you can't really see our faces, but there's a really cool light show going on at the same time and we're playing to picture. It's almost like live scoring but every single downbeat is coinciding with a cut. It's very systematic and very integrated.

You're playing with real metal bands; Mastodon, Converge and High on Fire. I imagine that most metal heads have a good sense of humor, but have you encountered anyone who just doesn’t think that the show is cool or funny?

They usually don’t get as far as me — they usually don’t show up. If metal heads don’t get it, that’s cool and I’m fine with it. But honestly there’s nothing much to get, because we’re not making fun of metal with the show, that’s the big thing. If they don’t get that then I’m just confused. If they just don’t like the show that’s something that I can understand. If they don’t understand the joke than they probably don’t have much of a sense of humor at all — not that I’m saying our show is funny. We’re trying to be funny, and if it isn’t, I get why people don’t like it.

It’s important to address the fact that you are not making fun of metal.

Right. The poor Mastodon guys get questions all the time, like ‘What is it like opening up for a band that mocks what you do?’ They roll their eyes as much as I do because it’s not mocking metal. The show is about celebrityism and it gets to be about metal. All of the fun, peripheral stuff is about metal, which is something I’m into. I’ve been playing guitar for 20 years and you don’t just do that as a joke but because you really enjoy it and are engaged by it.

I tend to think of your role with the show, the band and the songs as being pretty layered, but really it’s not all that different from someone like Alice Cooper or Marilyn Manson who have invented a stage character and drives the show.

Right. But also, I certainly didn’t invent this sort of thing. This started years ago when the Monkees were breaking up and their producer said ‘OK, I can’t control the Monkees anymore, so what can I control? I have this song here and I know it’s going to be a hit, so I’m going to create a band around it.’ That band was the Archies and someone made a lot of money off of that. The Monkees were prefabricated. "Making the Band" is all bullshit, too. Here is a band, here is an image and a logo that we’re going to brand and all of that good stuff. This show started out as a comedy at first but the idea was to at least make the music authentic enough and exciting enough to keep me interested in it. But yeah, we’re not the first ones to do it. Look at KISS, or GWAR … Insane Clown Posse.

Was there a cartoon that you watched that really resonated with you going into this project?

Not necessarily tonally at all, or character wise. Visually, tonally, yes. When me and Tony Blacha were talking with John Schnepp who ended up creating the characters, and with Antonio Canobbio, who’s the art director of the show, we threw out a lot of references, including old Ralph Bakshi, like the Fire and Ice line weight in the character look. Human proportion was important because I didn’t want to do a "Southpark" or a "Simpsons" kind of thing where they had four fingers. They have to play guitars and look proportionate and be able to hold their instruments. I thought that it was important to buying the show, too. Even though we’re in this fake world, some kind of legitimacy or authenticity within this world would pay off in the future. Old Filmation stuff, like "The Masters of the Universe," Tarzan and Flash Gordon. … Just the way that those characters looked and we wanted our world to a little bit like that. We sat and had talks with Antonio, who’s a French guy, and he brought a whole European feel to it, which I haven’t seen on any other shows. And also an album cover art style and feel, which is a big part of metal too.

I try to not watch too much animation; I try to stay away from "Adult Swim," Comedy Central and those kinds of things in general. I don’t want to be influenced. I think there are enough shows out there that are copying each other and I don’t need to do that. When I watch entertainment, I’m a nerd, so I watch documentaries and I get more character insight from them than any other TV show.

Is it hard to switch gears from working on the show in a visual, conceptual way and then go to writing songs and recording an album?

No. The albums are really tricky in that there are a lot of long hours that go into them. But luckily I have enough of a bag of tricks after going to music school and playing guitar for all of this time that music writing is never anything that I bang my head against the wall over. It’s the guitar playing and nailing things to perfection in this metal genre where they really have to be locked-in. It can’t be like David Bowie where everything is played in this really loose way and it all sounds good. It’s gotta be totally 100% locked-in. It’s a tedious process for getting the foundation for the songs together, but everything else is a total pleasure and a lot of fun. Also, I do it totally by myself so it’s rewarding in a way that I don’t have to wait for someone else to finish their job before I do mine. That’s what the whole show is. I only have to rely on the drums and the engineer and everything else is my fault. But It’s never too difficult; it’s just a matter of using two parts of the same side of the brain, but music writing is easier and more fun, and I can do it quicker than script writing any day of the week.

On the new Dethklok album, Dethalbum 2, there's a song called “The Cyborg Slayers” which stands out a bit from the others …

That’s the one that I wrote and saved for last because I didn’t know what it was going to be, which was a lot of fun. Everything else is a bit darker on this second album, which coincides with the second season which is a bit darker, too. In general, I really like the second record a lot. I like the way it sounds and the arrangements are more exciting to me, too. Really, it’s all very selfish for me. I’m trying to do something that excites me and I don’t let it get out of my studio unless it does. I’m pleased with everything on the record and what everybody else thinks is up to everybody else.

Can I ask the members of the band a few questions?

They will answer one question, but only one question, and I wouldn't press them too hard. You don't want to know what happened to the last interviewer who made them angry.

OK. First, what fuels the massive floating palace where Dethklok live?

A lot of it is fossil fuels, but also some endangered species and the by products of stem cell research.

For Nathan Explosion: How does it feel to be the harbinger of death for so many fans?

You'll have to talk with my lawyer. I’m not ... I’m just an entertainer! Talk to my lawyer.

Skwisgaar Skwigelf: What’s up with all of the old ladies you're into?

I’m not totally sick of hot models or anything like that. I just like to go the other way sometimes.

Pickles: How much money have you spent on hookers and booze?

I don’t keep receipts.

Toki Wartooth:  Is Dr. Rockso still clean?

No. When we last met he was not clean. Actually, he’s on the war path right now.

William Murderface:  When and how did you first learn to play a bass with your junk.

I broke my arm skateboarding.

Was it when you were a teenager?

No more questions!

"The Cyborg Slayers" mp3