Stand-up comic/actor Brian Posehn is best known for his work on Just Shoot Me, though he'll remain in nerds' hearts forever for his time spent on Mr. Show. More recently, he's been on tour with the Comedians Of Comedy, and he's appeared as the nerdy gay neighbor on The Sarah Silverman Program. Posehn is also an avowed metal aficionado, which is why The A.V. Club asked him to interview Dethklok, the world's most popular (cartoon) band, as seen on Cartoon Network's Metalocalypse, which skewers and celebrates heavy metal in equal doses. (In a real-world twist, Dethklok's debut, The Dethalbum, jumped onto the Billboard charts in September.) The first season of Metalocalypse just came out on DVD, the second season is airing now, and the fake band—led by creator Brendon Small, who also voices many of the characters—will hit the road for a tour this fall. Posehn recently spoke with lead singer Nathan Explosion and guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf about the joys of brutality.
Brian Asks Nathan What's Brutal And What's Not
Brian Posehn: Dethklok is the mightiest metal band of all time, and you got there by selling craploads of CDs and merch, but you guys don't seem to respect your fans. Where would you be without them?
Nathan Explosion: First of all, it's a loaded question. We do respect the fans; we respect the money they give us. But at the end of the day, fans are obnoxious. They discovered the Internet and that's, uh, fans make it, uh—fans fuck it up for themselves by talking. To us. And giving their opinions. I mean, start your own metal band, dude.
BP: So who are Dethklok's fans? How would you describe them?
NE: Dethklok's fans are um, like, horny college co-eds that like to fuck. It's like anybody that likes to fuckin' get it on, you know. Like fat dudes or trannies, or pre-operative trannies. Like Polynesian Hawaiian hookers. Those types. I would say that's our fans. You get the idea.
Nathan Explosion On Dethklok's Fans
BP: You've got some guys from the Florida death-metal scene and some guys from Norway in your band. Why does the darkest music in the world come from those two places?
NE: That's a good question, actually. Florida, I don't know. I wanna say it has something to do with Epcot Center being there.
BP: That's where all the anger and the darkness comes from—Epcot?
NE: Yeah, it's just like the Hall Of Presidents thing and the rides just make you go insane with anger. And then Norway's just depressing. I think it's like 50 percent of the population is depressed. And the other 50 percent, they're kind of douchebags. So you're either depressed or just annoying.
BP: So, just depressed douchebags, pretty much?
NE: I don't know. I don't know that much about Norway. But, you know, I know where it is. Kind of. It's Scandinavian to me where it is—meaning I don't know where it is.
BP: But why not Fresno? Are there any other death-metal cities that we don't know about? Places full of depressed douchebags?
NE: I don't know. I think there are places that are more brutal than Norway.
BP: Where's the most brutal place you've been?
NE: San Jose, maybe. There's just, like, Applebee's and, you know, Starbucks and strip malls.
BP: Do you think the next Dethklok might come from San Jose?
NE: It's definitely possible. I think Illinois could breed the next Dethklok. Southern Illinois. Any place that's really humid could breed the next… I mean, that's brutal. The most oppressive thing is the horrible, horrible, muggy weather.
BP: That's where the anger and the darkness comes from?
NE: There's a term called "oppressive weather" that meteorologists use. And when you're sick of being oppressed, you just say "Fuck this, I've had enough! I've gotta start a fuckin' metal band!"
Nathan Explosion On Florida Vs. Scandinavian Metal
BP: Metallica took a lot of grief for having a therapist in Some Kind Of Monster. How do you guys justify having one?
NE: I don't know if I'm the guy to talk to about that. I mean, one thing is, we learned the tools that we need to function as a band without that guy. We got stickers. We have psychological validation through, uh, giving ourselves presents, and I think that's important.
BP: Do you know what any of that stuff means?
NE: All I know is that if I can have stuff, if I get prizes, then I win.
BP: Have you gotten any flak from fans or other bands for having a therapist?
NE: We don't tell other people. I mean, I guess it got out that we have one, but no—
BP: Everyone knows it.
NE: Once you make a certain amount of money a year, it's in everyone's best interest to keep the machine moving, you know?
BP: Do you read what fans say on the message boards?
NE: Oh, fuck no. Fuck that. No way. I'll get angry. I'll get fuckin' pissed off. It'll ruin my entire day. I logged in as Toki [Wartooth, rhythm guitarist] and just, you know, talked shit about people for a while to get 'em back.
BP: You guys cover things like mythological creatures. Does that come from books? Are you guys readers? Iron Maiden always seemed like readers, but Dethklok… Is there a reader in the band?
NE: There's a lot of people that read books that write music on books. Iron Maiden did a lot of that. They had music about Dune, and I think Slayer wrote a song about Tron.
BP: Yeah, Slayer read some books. Who's the reader in Dethklok?
NE: We watch a lot of YouTube, and that's how we get a lot of our ideas. And most of us, it's just comic books, or we'll talk to people who have read comic books, and they'll kind of paraphrase it for us. We'll get the gist of it, and then we'll go into the studio.
BP: What was the last book you read?
NE: Does blabbermouth.net count as a book?
BP: Yeah, we'll count that.
NE: I was just checking out what was going on with [metal band] Exodus on Blabbermouth, so yeah, that's the last book I read.
Nathan Explosion On The Importance Of Reading
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