BRENDON SMALL On DETHKLOK's Evolution As A Touring Act: 'I Want To Show People What We Do And How Much Fun It Is'

By Clay Marshall

It's rare for a band that's two decades deep into their career to tour more than ever, but that's precisely what DETHKLOK — Brendon Small's melodic death metal group that debuted in the animated television series "Metalocalypse" 20 years ago this August — has done since the release of 2023's "Dethalbum IV".

According to Setlist.fm, to promote each of DETHKLOK's first three albums, the band performed between 30 and 40 concerts across the U.S. and Canada. To support "Dethalbum IV", however, the group — whose live performances are anchored by Small and legendary drummer Gene Hoglan (DEATH, TESTAMENT, DARK ANGEL) — had already logged 59 concerts, including the band's first-ever Australian tour and appearances at major European festivals such as Hellfest and Graspop Metal Meeting, prior to their current 24-date "Amonklok" co-headlining tour with AMON AMARTH — and considering that the band is booked to play the Louder Than Life and Aftershock festivals later this year, a fall tour seems likely as well.

Playing upwards of 100 concerts around the world is a quantum leap from DETHKLOK's first tour in 2007, a modest 12-date blitz of American college campuses organized by Adult Swim (the "adult-oriented television programming block" on Cartoon Network, which aired "Metalocalypse" in the United States). Clearly, what began as a virtual band has transformed into something quite real.

Blabbermouth: DETHKLOK recently co-headlined alongside BABYMETAL, and you're currently doing the same alongside AMON AMARTH.

Brendon: "From a practical point of view, co-headlining, to me, makes the most sense as I've learned this industry. You're introducing two different worlds to each other. BABYMETAL's world did not know our world at all, and our first show [together] was a really strong indicator of that — and then it all changed right after that. The word got out. The first show, [BABYMETAL fans] were watching us with their mouths open — like, 'What is this?' And then immediately after, [it was] back to the full-blown party vibe. But it was really cool, because I think they learned about us, and our audience was like, 'BABYMETAL — oh my god, they're, like, outer space princesses doing this mixed martial arts kind of dance, with this incredibly articulate band behind them. What?' It was really cool to mix those audiences together. I think AMON AMARTH and us, we may have similar audiences, but I just want to show people what we do and how much fun it is. AMON AMARTH is so much fun live. They also use this gigantic screen that we're using. So does BABYMETAL. The whole band of BABYMETAL, they're such ridiculous players. The girls and all those people were so, so cool. And it was just outside of the pandemic, so there was a freedom in just being out and traveling across America. It was very romantic, very beautiful."

Blabbermouth: Did you approach the "Amonklok" tour any differently than DETHKLOK's other recent tours?

Brendon: "The idea is when we do these shows, from BABYMETAL to the [2024] DRAGONFORCE/NEKROGOBLIKON tour, we want to mix it up a little — keep this architecture somewhat similar, but mix things up in the middle of it. There are conversations that Gene Hoglan and I have about what we think we need to keep and what things we can swap out. It takes us a few weeks to go through it. I'll go, 'Hey, here's a song we've never done before,' [but] what would be the best live song? I mean, some are really cool, but are they the ultimate live song? Will they get the audience going? We start to scrape away. I'll go, 'I like this one. I think the audience might like this,' and then he'll have a personal take — he goes,' I think that's a great song, but I think you've got better songs.' It's never personal. It's always like, what is the strategy here, and what is the ideal best show for DETHKLOK? I go to shows all the time, and I watch the audience more than I watch the bands sometimes. I go, 'Is there a place where the audience is disengaging? What would I do differently and why?' All that goes into this. What we plan to do are a couple songs you've never heard us play before; some songs that weren't in the last few set lists; and then some songs we think are signature songs that you need to hear at a DETHKLOK show. That all gets put into a bucket, we swirl it around and then I go, 'Okay, how much money do I have to spend?' That's part of the gig too — how can I make things exciting, and how can I do some comedy that's new? Those are all the questions we ask, but at the same time, we've got an architecture that I think really works."

Blabbermouth: It seems like DETHKLOK has really stepped up its touring game in recent years.

Brendon: "In my mind, I was like, 'Let's see how this BABYMETAL thing goes, and let's see if there's a touring business here.' Some bands put out an album and go tour it. We put out a movie, a DETHKLOK album and I also put out a film score album. We put out two records and a movie all at the same time. It's a crazy workload, and this is a crazy world where, even if you put out a movie and two albums, you have fans out there that sometimes don't get the message that this is all happening. I also really want to express the idea that I can put a project together that is narrative-based and tour it in its own kind of unique entity. In my mind, I think there are three entities that live here. One is the TV show that's meant to function on its own. One is the records, which are meant to function on their own. If you don't know the TV show, can you just enjoy this music on its own? Thirdly is the live experience, where it's meant to be the best of all worlds in that it's got the animation, it's got the music, but it's got an electric live component that is actually unfolding in front of you. The bigger-picture thinking is, 'Can I come up with [other] projects that I can tour like this?' I'm trying to build an archetype, and I'm also inside the kind of record cycle that most people are in, two years after — still touring and showing people what we're doing. Plus, we have this 20-year anniversary, which kind of gives us a reason for being, and we have a couple extra bells and whistles I can't really talk about yet, but you'll hear about them — some fun stuff that I think will excite the audience as well."

Blabbermouth: Does that mean there may be something more in the "Metalocalypse" universe to look forward to?

Brendon: "I can't really say too much, but when I was making the movie ['Army Of The Doomstar'], someone at the network said, 'Try not to kill all these characters. Try to only kill some of them, you know?' I was asked a question, 'Is there a story beyond this?' And I thought, 'There could be.' The fun thing about the movie is that I got to really have fun in the visual world with animation and do a lot of things that the show never got to do and advance the feeling and the look and and try to ape the handmade vibe of the animation that I grew up loving, from 'Heavy Metal' to Ralph Bakshi to old Disney movies. We made some painstaking creative decisions, but I think the end result, visually, I couldn't be more happy with how that all kind of came together. Plus, it's a movie driven by music, and I don't think anybody would ever hire me to do something like this, and I don't think anybody asked for anything like this. But the fun part is that through music school and getting into comedy, it led to that point, and we got to talk people into it. But truthfully, I'm thinking, even [for a] live-action film, how could you tour a movie in the way that we're touring 'Metalocalypse'? I've got some ideas."

Blabbermouth: DETHKLOK toured with MASTODON in 2009, but both bands have grown considerably since then. Have you discussed possibly rejoining forces?

Brendon: "I would love to. Just for hanging out with good buddies, that would be one of the coolest things. Plus, I love them as artists and, and I love that their music continues to evolve. It would be a perfect pairing to work with them [again]. By the way, I introduced [guitarist] Nick Johnston to MASTODON."

Blabbermouth: Can you explain?

Brendon: "It was a really strange occurrence. Brann [Dailor, drums] hangs out all the time when he's in town, which is always awesome. Probably over 10 years ago, Brann was staying the night, and the next morning, Nick was, like, 'Hey, I'm in town. You want to get coffee?' I was like, 'Yeah. Hey Brann, you want to come?' They became friends. I was at one of the [band] members' weddings recently, and they told me the story from their point of view, but that was an important day for Brann and the future of MASTODON, apparently."

Blabbermouth: You recently starred in the Joe Satriani/Steve Vai music video for their SATCHVAI collaborative song "Dancing", which was directed by Satriani's son, ZZ.

Brendon: "ZZ is an incredibly talented guy. I like to brag and say I got him his first internship at Abso Lutely Productions. He's a natural director; he's got a natural eye; he's got a good sense of humor; and he can do it all himself. So he and I were in touch anyway, and one day I got a text from Joe saying, 'Hey, how'd you like to play our manager in this music video that ZZ's going to direct?'"

Blabbermouth: You've spoken publicly of your reverence for Satriani's "Flying In A Blue Dream" and Vai's "Passion And Warfare".

Brendon: "[Growing up,] I would put on those records with my auto-reverse tape deck and go to sleep to them, hoping that I would dream to them. They're such powerful albums, and they were huge ambassadors to guitar for me."

Blabbermouth: Your friendship with Vai has extended beyond music.

Brendon: "We have a long-standing 'bad movie night,' where we order some food, put on some ridiculous movies and have a really good time. Every once in a while, I'll discover a cool app that shows bonkers, weirdo movies, and then I'll just e-mail him — 'Hey, you've got to check this out.' He's like, 'Oh, good find. That's cool shit. Put it in.' I mean, seriously — imagine yourself as a kid, and then you're like, 'Oh, we'll be hanging out, watching movies together as adults.' It's pretty crazy."