Brendon Small, writer, director and musician known as co-creator of the animated series Metalocalypse visited the Musicians Institute in Hollywood on Thursday, March 14. MI students and guests were treated with loads of interesting stories by Small and tons of career and life advice throughout the night, including the very important warning “don’t walk in front of a car.”
The exclusive conversation was moderated by Ryan J. Downey and held a Q&A portion in which guests were able to speak with Small. The event was free and open to the public as long as guests rsvp’d to get their names on the list. The event was originally meant to be only one-and-a-half-hour long but Small’s stories were too interesting to cut off and he insisted on answering everyone’s questions. The multi-talented creative genius shared many key moments of his life that affected his career path including being a fly on the wall at the Late Night with Conan O’Brien show in the ’90s.
Small is also known for writing and recording all music for the fictional band Dethklok and is the author of the highest charting death metal album of all time, Deathalbum. He is also known for co-creating writing, acting, music for Home Movies and the Galakitkon graphic novel and albums as well as various voice acting.
The conversation began with the topic of how Small first grew an interest in music. Small, who grew up in Springfield, Illinois explained that he was lucky to have parents with a great taste in music that exposed him to various great records including Billy Joel. He then mentioned his friend Renzo, who taught him how to play the guitar and introduced him to metal and rock music. Small then had the crowd at the edge of their seats as he got into the story of entering a guitar competition against his friend Renzo. At the age of 15, Small entered the competition where he had two weeks to compose an original piece of music that was three to five minutes long. After weeks of practicing day and night, Small began to feel fairly confident. However, on the day of the competition his nerves kicked in as he waited outside in the cold for his turn to perform at a bar in front of random truck drivers. Finally he takes the stage and connects to a Marshall full stack amplifier he has never used before. His performance was simply a mess, his strings out of tune, shaky hands, distorted sounds messing up his flow and to make things worse his sister and her friends were in the crowd watching him bomb on stage. “I went there that day to become a great musician, what I became was a great comedian,” said Small. Nevertheless, the competition helped push small to continue improving on his guitar skills.
The conversation then focused on Small’s other passions such as comedy and writing. Small stated that he first got into comedy when his parents introduced him to movies with the Marx Brothers. Small recollected his Junior High School years where he took a class that required a free writing journals, which he used as a therapeutic and creative outlet. He began writing short stories for fun. During his college years, Small signed up for sketch and comedy classes where he became competitive with others in writing as the class voted who’s project would be performed at the end of the semester. Small emphasized the importance of finding a group of creative people to bond with, people who push and help inspire you. He mentioned various people who helped him throughout his career including Eugene Mirman, Ron Lynch, Bill Braudis, Mitch Hedberg, and more.
Things kicked off for Small when Louis C.K. and producers of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist watched him perform a comedy sketch during one of his stand ups and later was contacted to develop what would become Home Movies. Small then mentioned he slowly started pushing the idea of incorporating music into the show. Fast forward a few years and he pitches the idea of Metalocalypse, the animated series that follows the death-metal band Dethklok.
For the final hour of the event, Small answered all questions from the audience mostly giving advice to MI students eager to step into the industry. Most of Small’s answers came down to finding creative people to have healthy competitions that will push one another to exceed. He also stated that the industry is essentially broken down into several groups of creatives and suggested to look for an opening with a group with similar creative flows. Small also stated that every time he met someone that he admired, he interviewed them for any career guidance or creative lessons. He also emphasized the importance of taking breaks or going on walks to allow the inspiration to hit. “There’s never a perfect thing out there waiting for you,” he warned referring to creatives’ struggles of always wishing to perfect their projects.
There was quite an interesting confession Small made amid the Q&A portion of the night. A fan asked Small how he was able to translate Dethklok from an animated show into a live performance band. Small noted that it all started with the idea that each thing revolving around Dethklok, the show, the records, and live show all had to stand on their own. Taking some inspiration from the Gorillaz, Small took Dethklok to a live stage, but admitted that the Dethklok live timeline is on a single one-hour Premiere file on a single computer, no back up, and it is up to the band to always be on sync with the timeline. The audience erupted in laughter as Small realized how many things could go wrong if someone ever accidentally turns off the laptop holding the live timeline. Following the Q&A Small stayed on stage to sign a few autographs and take pictures with fans.
Dethklok returns to American stages with The Mutilation On A Spring Night Tour, featuring special guests DragonForce and Nekrogoblikon, and a special two-night event with Babymetal. The Babylok tour resumes for two nights only at The Masonic in San Francisco on April 24 and 25. Dethklok will visit Riverside’s Municipal Auditorium on April 21.
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