STACK #132 Oct 2016

DVD & BD

Q&A

visit stack.net.au

A KLOK OPERA

On the eve of the release of Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem , series creator, producer and performer Brendon Small gives STACK ’s Ryan Huff an insight into the inception, creation and release of this much anticipated animated rock opera.

orchestra. I wrote the whole thing using a keyboard and he came in and helped with the arrangement and conducting. We would have everyone there – a 50-piece orchestra with Bear conducting, and my input would be “this needs to be 1000 per cent louder to be heard over the death metal band”. So I did write and produce but I hired a real guy to do the conducting. You still voice a whole bunch of the characters yourself, but the series has some heavy hitters on board, too. Yeah! I mean, I don’t think people realise that we’ve had Luke Skywalker in pretty this, Jack and I become pals and worked on a few things together, but when we first started out I gave him a short clip just to learn the song that he sings, but also the full hour-long thing, which to my surprise he listened to. He was really excited and went above and beyond; he also has a really great classic rock voice. What’s the future of Metalocalypse? That’s the question! I’ve spoken to the studio and told them how I want to end it all but they’ve said that they just don’t have the money. The thing is, we have a really great audience, I mean, we’ve sold a million albums! If for some reason the funding turns up, I have an ending worked out which I think fans of the series will appreciate. It will wrap it all up. much every episode. We’ve got Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and now Jack Black. Since working on

First of all, what can you tell us about Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem ? It’s a project that I thought would be an interesting way to continue on where the last season of Metalocalypse left off, with a 50- piece orchestra. I haven’t seen it done before, not to tell a rescue story like this, and I really wanted it to have some really extreme music and some not so extreme. As well as the DVD and Blu-ray release, there’s a special edition with the soundtrack included? Yeah! It’s really fun because you get the full orchestral rock opera soundtrack, but you also get ‘Blazing Star’, which was released as a single and doesn’t actually feature on the show. So why a rock opera as opposed to the usual narrative-driven story? The series has always been so musically driven, and I experienced a moment in Season 3 where I felt that the only way for this particular scene to work would be through a

musical piece. I obviously love music, but I also love musicals and rock operas. It seemed natural because this is a one off, it’s all that the studio could afford at the time. So it was also kind of selfish because I felt like I may never get another chance to make a rock opera. But I’ve approached everything with that thought. The Adult Swim budgets were getting smaller and smaller, so I always felt as though it was my last chance to do anything.

Did you draw inspiration from anywhere in particular for this feature? Absolutely! There’s one piece in particular where there’s a dispute about the direction of the band (Dethklok), which was inspired by a track in Jesus Christ Superstar . While Koki’s dream sequence, ‘I believe’ was inspired by ‘I think I’m gonna like it here’

We’ve got Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and now Jack Black

from Annie , where Annie first arrives at Daddy

Warbucks' place. So many tracks link back to something, or at least have a tonal link to something. How did you find working with an orchestra? I did the smartest thing I could possibly do and hired

Bear McCreary, who has worked on The Walking Dead and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D , to help guide and arrange the

• Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem is out on Oct 21

OCTOBER 2015

048

jbhifi.com.au