Video: BRENDON SMALL’S GALAKTIKON Makes Its Live Debut At WESFEST 8 Benefit Concert

March 4, 2013

BRENDON SMALL'S GALAKTIKON, the critically acclaimed side-project of Brendon Small — the creative mastermind behind the smash-hit animated [adult swim] TV show "Metalocalypse" and the band DETHKLOK — became the first metal act to headline an all-star lineup for WesFest 8: A Concert To Benefit The Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship At Berklee College Of Music at The Roxy in West Hollywood, California on Sunday, March 3. The show marked the live debut of the project. The scholarship fund honors Wes Wehmiller (1971-2005),a Berklee graduate ('92) and highly accomplished bassist, athlete and photographer who died of thyroid cancer in January 2005. Established by his family and friends, the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship is awarded annually to a continuing student at Berklee who best exemplifies the excellence and grace Wehmiller showed as a bassist and as a human being. The WesFest concert series and related fundraising drive has raised more than $150,000 over the past seven years.

BRENDON SMALL'S GALAKTIKON's setlist was as follows:

01. Triton
02. Prophecy Of The Lazer Witch
03. Beastblade
04. Deathwaltz
05. Truth Orb And The Kill Pool
06. You Can't Run Away
07. Arena War Of The Immortal Masters
08. Dangertits
09. On My Way
10. Thunder Horse
11. Go Into The Water

Video footage of the performance can be seen below (courtesy of Stephanie Cabral).

Before "Metalocalypse" and DETHKLOK's runaway success, Brendon Small, a Berklee alum ('97),began his career in animation as the co-creator, writer, voice actor, composer and musician for the TV show "Home Movies". Small has also lent his voice to a number of other shows including "The Venture Bros.", "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", "Squidbillies", "Reno 911!" and "Frisky Dingo". He then reprised his co-creator/writer/voice actor/director/producer/music-composer role for "Metalocalypse", which premiered in August 2006 and just completed its fourth season on [adult swim]. But in April of 2012, Small branched out to write and produce BRENDON SMALL'S GALAKTIKON, a self-described "high-stakes intergalactic extreme rock album.” The long-awaited side project was inspired not just by modern metal, but also by QUEEN, FOO FIGHTERS, SOUNDGARDEN, SMASHING PUMPKINS and WEEZER.

The live band required to pull off the multi-layered music of BRENDON SMALL'S GALAKTIKON contained four guitarists, including L.A.-based guitarist and former Musicians Institute guitar program director Jude Gold (JEFFERSON STARSHIP, BILLY SHEEHAN),Mike Keneally (DETHKLOK, FRANK ZAPPA, JOE SATRIANI),Rick Musallam (BEN TAYLOR, CARLY SIMON),and Small himself. Additional bandmembers include keyboardist/guitarist Walter Ino; bassist Bryan Beller (DETHKLOK, STEVE VAI, THE ARISTOCRATS); drummer Tim Yeung (MORBID ANGEL); and vocalists Ben Thomas (ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA),Kira Small (PETER FRAMPTON, MARTINA MCBRIDE),Ali Handal (NEIL YOUNG, PAUL WILLIAMS) and Jude Crossen.

Video footage below courtesy of Stephanie Cabral

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).