Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Full Unpublished City Pages Interview
-The first, and most obvious question, is where in the hell did you
guys get this crazy idea for a band? I read in an old interview you
were in a drunk tank at the time, which is perhaps half an
explanation.
Brent: Yes, I honestly thought of the idea in detox. Apparently it's
illegal to hitch hike in nothing but a jockstrap and a pair of flip
flops at 2pm on a saturday. The cool thing about detox is that you
have to be really shithoused to get to go there so for the first
couple hours you're there you're still pretty drunk and it's like
hanging out a bar. So in that time we were just thinking of shit to
make each other laugh and my friend said something about metallica
but it came out in mushmouth drunk speak and I heard metallagher. I
laughed about it and sort of logged in my ever growing bank of funny
ideas that I'll never pursue. When my grandmother read that story in
the star tribune a few years back she said "Hmmmm....what's this I
hear about you being in the drunk tank?" and I had to tell her "No,
no, no, Grandmother, that's a typo. It's supposed to say DUNK tank.
I was at a fair....in a dunk tank.....sober".
Anyway, a year or so after my stay at the Dakota County Resort and
Spa my band was on tour with Pete's band and we were in Florida or
some shit and it was just miserable and we got to talking about how
good cover bands had it with how much money they made and I
mentioned the idea of metallagher to him and we both kind of
shrugged it off. A few weeks later we were taking a piss at
The Triple Rock and he brought up the idea of seriously doing
it so we hashed out the particulars and spent the rest of the night
laughing about how dumb it was and now six years later I'm
discussing it with you in a widely distributed newspaper.
-What is it exactly that drew you to Metallica, and what drew you to Gallagher?
Pete: We had the name and thought it was a funny concept. I learned
how to play guitar when I was a kid by putting on Metallica CDs and
learning the songs. Then I'd get together with my friends on the
weekend and we'd play them. Our bass player Jim (Cliff Burgerton)
was one of those friends. We had known Adam (Lars Casserole) for a
long time and he knew all of the drum parts. Since we knew all of
the songs, Metallica just seemed like the way to go. The only thing
missing was another guitar player. We asked a few people we knew
and no one wanted to do it. I think we barely knew Jason (Kirk Ham
Sandwich) but we saw him playing darts in a bar one night and asked
if he knew how to play the songs and if he'd be willing to do it.
He was into it, so we got started
The draw to Gallagher mostly came from the fruit smashing. We've
got a whole list of band name/comedian mash-ups that sound funny
on paper, but in the end, if you play music and throw food at
people, you're going to end up having a good time. Sure,
Guns n' Roseanne and Tony Danzig are funny names, but without the
theatrics, props, and chaos, it would get old really fast.
-In the old Strib article I read, one of you guys referred to the
G-man as perhaps the least funny person to have ever existed. Do you
think this is so? And if so, what do you anticipate it will be like to
share a stage with him? Have you ever corresponded with him at all?
Pete: Bryan, you know how the media is. You say something
amazing in an interview, like "Gallagher isn't funny," and they go
printing it. It's bullshit.
Brent: I actually will seriously answer this. Metallagher is just a
really awesome word and a funny concept so in me parodying his act
there is gonna be an interpretation that he may not find overly
flattering or that could be deemed offensive. When we first started
doing this we thought that the more accurate and tighter the music
was and the better the impression and the more verbatim the jokes
were, the funnier it would be just based solely on the fact that
anyone would put any time at all into such a retarded idea. In his
defense, we have deviated so far from that idea that at this point
I'm more or less doing an impression of someone doing an impression
of him and apparently that person is a fat, drunk lunatic. So he's
obviously not the least funny person ever (that's apparently Jeff
Dunham's job) and I was half joking when I said that. It's just
that unless he is the greatest proponent of meta humor and
performance art ever, I think it's hard for people of our/my
generation to relate to his act. Comedy is entirely subjective
anyway so who what the fuck do I know?
Hopefully he gets that we're not shitting on him or doing it out of
malice. It's just a funny idea that I like to think I would be
cool with were I the target of it. Basically what I'm saying is
that he's probably going to try and murder me.
-You guys cover only old Metallica. What's wrong with new Metallica?
Pete: I like some of the new Metallica, but I think if you
ask most people who are, or ever have been, into Metallica, you
find that almost EVERYONE likes the old stuff. Our show is a big
fuckin' party. It's not about art or technical proficiency. We just
want to make sure everyone has an awesome time.
Brent: I really don't have an opinion one way or the other on
metallica. I was never really into them. Apparently other people
really prefer the old stuff though so I feel it's my job to stand up
there and drunkenly screw up the lyrics to these beloved songs that I
didn't bother to learn. War is hell.
guys get this crazy idea for a band? I read in an old interview you
were in a drunk tank at the time, which is perhaps half an
explanation.
Brent: Yes, I honestly thought of the idea in detox. Apparently it's
illegal to hitch hike in nothing but a jockstrap and a pair of flip
flops at 2pm on a saturday. The cool thing about detox is that you
have to be really shithoused to get to go there so for the first
couple hours you're there you're still pretty drunk and it's like
hanging out a bar. So in that time we were just thinking of shit to
make each other laugh and my friend said something about metallica
but it came out in mushmouth drunk speak and I heard metallagher. I
laughed about it and sort of logged in my ever growing bank of funny
ideas that I'll never pursue. When my grandmother read that story in
the star tribune a few years back she said "Hmmmm....what's this I
hear about you being in the drunk tank?" and I had to tell her "No,
no, no, Grandmother, that's a typo. It's supposed to say DUNK tank.
I was at a fair....in a dunk tank.....sober".
Anyway, a year or so after my stay at the Dakota County Resort and
Spa my band was on tour with Pete's band and we were in Florida or
some shit and it was just miserable and we got to talking about how
good cover bands had it with how much money they made and I
mentioned the idea of metallagher to him and we both kind of
shrugged it off. A few weeks later we were taking a piss at
The Triple Rock and he brought up the idea of seriously doing
it so we hashed out the particulars and spent the rest of the night
laughing about how dumb it was and now six years later I'm
discussing it with you in a widely distributed newspaper.
-What is it exactly that drew you to Metallica, and what drew you to Gallagher?
Pete: We had the name and thought it was a funny concept. I learned
how to play guitar when I was a kid by putting on Metallica CDs and
learning the songs. Then I'd get together with my friends on the
weekend and we'd play them. Our bass player Jim (Cliff Burgerton)
was one of those friends. We had known Adam (Lars Casserole) for a
long time and he knew all of the drum parts. Since we knew all of
the songs, Metallica just seemed like the way to go. The only thing
missing was another guitar player. We asked a few people we knew
and no one wanted to do it. I think we barely knew Jason (Kirk Ham
Sandwich) but we saw him playing darts in a bar one night and asked
if he knew how to play the songs and if he'd be willing to do it.
He was into it, so we got started
The draw to Gallagher mostly came from the fruit smashing. We've
got a whole list of band name/comedian mash-ups that sound funny
on paper, but in the end, if you play music and throw food at
people, you're going to end up having a good time. Sure,
Guns n' Roseanne and Tony Danzig are funny names, but without the
theatrics, props, and chaos, it would get old really fast.
-In the old Strib article I read, one of you guys referred to the
G-man as perhaps the least funny person to have ever existed. Do you
think this is so? And if so, what do you anticipate it will be like to
share a stage with him? Have you ever corresponded with him at all?
Pete: Bryan, you know how the media is. You say something
amazing in an interview, like "Gallagher isn't funny," and they go
printing it. It's bullshit.
Brent: I actually will seriously answer this. Metallagher is just a
really awesome word and a funny concept so in me parodying his act
there is gonna be an interpretation that he may not find overly
flattering or that could be deemed offensive. When we first started
doing this we thought that the more accurate and tighter the music
was and the better the impression and the more verbatim the jokes
were, the funnier it would be just based solely on the fact that
anyone would put any time at all into such a retarded idea. In his
defense, we have deviated so far from that idea that at this point
I'm more or less doing an impression of someone doing an impression
of him and apparently that person is a fat, drunk lunatic. So he's
obviously not the least funny person ever (that's apparently Jeff
Dunham's job) and I was half joking when I said that. It's just
that unless he is the greatest proponent of meta humor and
performance art ever, I think it's hard for people of our/my
generation to relate to his act. Comedy is entirely subjective
anyway so who what the fuck do I know?
Hopefully he gets that we're not shitting on him or doing it out of
malice. It's just a funny idea that I like to think I would be
cool with were I the target of it. Basically what I'm saying is
that he's probably going to try and murder me.
-You guys cover only old Metallica. What's wrong with new Metallica?
Pete: I like some of the new Metallica, but I think if you
ask most people who are, or ever have been, into Metallica, you
find that almost EVERYONE likes the old stuff. Our show is a big
fuckin' party. It's not about art or technical proficiency. We just
want to make sure everyone has an awesome time.
Brent: I really don't have an opinion one way or the other on
metallica. I was never really into them. Apparently other people
really prefer the old stuff though so I feel it's my job to stand up
there and drunkenly screw up the lyrics to these beloved songs that I
didn't bother to learn. War is hell.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Press: Fun Fun Fun Fest 2009
From The Dallas Observer
Fun Fun Fun Fest Day 2: Astronautalis, Metallagher, Broadcast, HEALTH, Crystal Castles, GZA, Of Montreal By Jesse Hughey in Show ReviewsMon.,
Nov. 9 2009 @ 6:31PM
Photo by Patrick Michels
Some people attribute weather changes, fortunate or otherwise, to God. The Riverboat Gamblers' Mike Wiebe thought someone else was responsible for the all-day drizzle and showers that turned Waterloo Park into Mudderloo Park.
"Someone said, 'It was sunny yesterday, I'm surprised it's rainy now,'" he said during his band's set. "I'm like, 'Are you fucking kidding me? Danzig is here.
He flew in on a black pterodactyl. The crops are dying. It's because fucking Glenn Danzig is here!'" As for me, I blame myself for taunting the elements with this ridiculous post about the pretty scenery and lack of Zilker Park mud and dust. Whatever the cause, the weather and slick mud thinned the crowds but couldn't dampen some truly great performances.
Metallagher 3 p.m.
The band is exactly what the name implies: a comedy-metal tribute to Gallagher and Metallica, a mashup that is surely the most brilliant moment of drunken inspiration in the history of musical comedy. Backed by a surprisingly competent Metallica tribute band, a grimy Gallagher impersonator sings Hetfield's lyrics with occasional "suck my dick" improvisations, then smashes fruit during instrumental parts and tells Gallagher's awful xenophobic, chauvenist and just plain stupid jokes between songs. ("I don't fly TWA. I think it stands for Traveling With Arabs. I prefer Delta: Don't Even Let Them Aboard!") It's completely absurd, sing-along awesome and hilarious. "You guys have some weird fruit down here," "Gallagher" said, holding up some unidentfiable thick-skinned fruit. He smashed it with an overhead blow from the Sledge-o-matic, sending red pulp spraying across an audience of people who appeared glad to be wearing raingear and carrying umbrellas. "Twenty bucks, whatever the fuck that was." It was certainly funnier than the real Gallagher, and almost as great as the real Metallica.
Source: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2009/11/fun_fun_fun_fest_day_2_astrona.php
---------------------------------------------------
From Austin360.com
Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Metallagher By Chad Swiatecki | Sunday, November 8, 2009, 10:29 PM
The name pretty much says it all. Metallica covers plus lots of smashed foodstuffs, ala unstoppable prop comic Gallagher.
What the name of Minneapolis troupe Metallagher doesn’t give away is how well those two components go together, as evidenced by the dropped jaws and continual cheers the five piece received Sunday at Fun Fun Fun Fest.
With its instrumentalists donning Nelson-esque metal hair wigs, the band peeled through “Creeping Death,” “Battery,” “Blackened” and closing number “One” while its Gallagher impersonator doubled as a fine James Hetfield when not tossing off purposely lame sexual politics jokes from the ’80s that have aged about as well as salmon left in the sun.
Which was all part of the plan, of course, and helped to amp the ridiculous factor even higher than whatever obliterating a watermelon, bananas, a tub of cottage cheese and jug of fruit juice with a sledgehammer will get you.
It wasn’t high concept, but as an early afternoon breather between acts on the Yellow Stage, it was almost perfect. Someone deserves a medal for this.
Source: http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2009/11/08/fun_fun_fun_fest_review_metall.html
----------------------------------------------------
From Houston Press
Aftermath: Fun Fun Fun Fest In Austin Day 2 - Metallagher, Street Dogs, Lucero, Crystal Castles, Gorilla Biscuits, Danzig By Craig Hlavaty in Live Shots, On the RoadMon., Nov. 9 2009 @ 1:30PM
Photos by Marc Brubaker "Nice to see you too, Metallagher."
Day two of Fun Fun Fun Fest began with a slow and steady rain shower that turned into an all-day headliner. As we walked the ground and felt the rain soak into our clothes we started getting ACL flashbacks. Before we knew it we were walking through acres of mud and muck, albeit clean muck, free of reconstituted fecal matter. That's always high on our list of priorities.
Metallagher on the small Yellow stage on the south side of the venue pretty much made up for the rain in our eyes. The band is a Metallica and Gallagher cover band, donning wigs playing covers of some of Hetfield and company's best tracks. Their lead singer wields a sledgehammer and lays waste to large round fruits just like the real Gallagher, in between sporadic bouts of "comedy" with sample topics including "Ehh-rabs," women and bathroom difficulties.
Source: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2009/11/aftermath_fun_fun_fun_fest_in_1.php
---------------------------------------------------
My Personal Favorite.
From SA Current
Fun Fun Fun Fest will probably be fun
Metallagher. You'll only encourage them.
Source: http://www.sacurrent.com/blog/default.asp?perm=70000
Fun Fun Fun Fest Day 2: Astronautalis, Metallagher, Broadcast, HEALTH, Crystal Castles, GZA, Of Montreal By Jesse Hughey in Show ReviewsMon.,
Nov. 9 2009 @ 6:31PM
Photo by Patrick Michels Some people attribute weather changes, fortunate or otherwise, to God. The Riverboat Gamblers' Mike Wiebe thought someone else was responsible for the all-day drizzle and showers that turned Waterloo Park into Mudderloo Park.
"Someone said, 'It was sunny yesterday, I'm surprised it's rainy now,'" he said during his band's set. "I'm like, 'Are you fucking kidding me? Danzig is here.
He flew in on a black pterodactyl. The crops are dying. It's because fucking Glenn Danzig is here!'" As for me, I blame myself for taunting the elements with this ridiculous post about the pretty scenery and lack of Zilker Park mud and dust. Whatever the cause, the weather and slick mud thinned the crowds but couldn't dampen some truly great performances.
Metallagher 3 p.m.
The band is exactly what the name implies: a comedy-metal tribute to Gallagher and Metallica, a mashup that is surely the most brilliant moment of drunken inspiration in the history of musical comedy. Backed by a surprisingly competent Metallica tribute band, a grimy Gallagher impersonator sings Hetfield's lyrics with occasional "suck my dick" improvisations, then smashes fruit during instrumental parts and tells Gallagher's awful xenophobic, chauvenist and just plain stupid jokes between songs. ("I don't fly TWA. I think it stands for Traveling With Arabs. I prefer Delta: Don't Even Let Them Aboard!") It's completely absurd, sing-along awesome and hilarious. "You guys have some weird fruit down here," "Gallagher" said, holding up some unidentfiable thick-skinned fruit. He smashed it with an overhead blow from the Sledge-o-matic, sending red pulp spraying across an audience of people who appeared glad to be wearing raingear and carrying umbrellas. "Twenty bucks, whatever the fuck that was." It was certainly funnier than the real Gallagher, and almost as great as the real Metallica.
Source: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2009/11/fun_fun_fun_fest_day_2_astrona.php
---------------------------------------------------
From Austin360.com
Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Metallagher By Chad Swiatecki | Sunday, November 8, 2009, 10:29 PM
The name pretty much says it all. Metallica covers plus lots of smashed foodstuffs, ala unstoppable prop comic Gallagher.
What the name of Minneapolis troupe Metallagher doesn’t give away is how well those two components go together, as evidenced by the dropped jaws and continual cheers the five piece received Sunday at Fun Fun Fun Fest.
With its instrumentalists donning Nelson-esque metal hair wigs, the band peeled through “Creeping Death,” “Battery,” “Blackened” and closing number “One” while its Gallagher impersonator doubled as a fine James Hetfield when not tossing off purposely lame sexual politics jokes from the ’80s that have aged about as well as salmon left in the sun.
Which was all part of the plan, of course, and helped to amp the ridiculous factor even higher than whatever obliterating a watermelon, bananas, a tub of cottage cheese and jug of fruit juice with a sledgehammer will get you.
It wasn’t high concept, but as an early afternoon breather between acts on the Yellow Stage, it was almost perfect. Someone deserves a medal for this.
Source: http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2009/11/08/fun_fun_fun_fest_review_metall.html
----------------------------------------------------
From Houston Press
Aftermath: Fun Fun Fun Fest In Austin Day 2 - Metallagher, Street Dogs, Lucero, Crystal Castles, Gorilla Biscuits, Danzig By Craig Hlavaty in Live Shots, On the RoadMon., Nov. 9 2009 @ 1:30PM
Photos by Marc Brubaker "Nice to see you too, Metallagher."
Day two of Fun Fun Fun Fest began with a slow and steady rain shower that turned into an all-day headliner. As we walked the ground and felt the rain soak into our clothes we started getting ACL flashbacks. Before we knew it we were walking through acres of mud and muck, albeit clean muck, free of reconstituted fecal matter. That's always high on our list of priorities.
Metallagher on the small Yellow stage on the south side of the venue pretty much made up for the rain in our eyes. The band is a Metallica and Gallagher cover band, donning wigs playing covers of some of Hetfield and company's best tracks. Their lead singer wields a sledgehammer and lays waste to large round fruits just like the real Gallagher, in between sporadic bouts of "comedy" with sample topics including "Ehh-rabs," women and bathroom difficulties.
Source: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2009/11/aftermath_fun_fun_fun_fest_in_1.php
---------------------------------------------------
My Personal Favorite.
From SA Current
Fun Fun Fun Fest will probably be fun
Metallagher. You'll only encourage them.
Source: http://www.sacurrent.com/blog/default.asp?perm=70000
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