Brendon Small talks about Season Four of Adult Swim’s “Metalocalypse”

Brendon Small is a God among metal fans. He is the guy behind Adult Swim’s hit show “Metalocalypse” and the virtual band Dethklok. He has even went on tour with the band across the country. “Metalocalypse” is currently beginning its fourth season on Adult Swim on April 29th. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Brendon about what we can expect this season and also get a glimpse into the show/band’s future.

Check out our interview with Brendon Small about his new solo album “Galaktikon”.

Mike Gencarelli: Since you started “Metalocalypse” almost seven years ago, did you think this show was going to be as successfully as it has even spawning the virtual band Dethklok?
Brendon Small: Well the whole idea of the show, or any show, is to make it gets made. Then you want to keep it on the air and that is your job and your way to pay rent, feed you dog etc. What I realized what that after doing “Home Movies”, making the show costs a lot of money but making music doesn’t cost as much money. When you start including animators and a huge team of 40-50 people, it starts getting expensive. I thought wouldn’t it be cool to create a show that if it ever got canceled or ended, that it would continue on through music. I studied music forever and have been crunched over a guitar for the better back of 20 years. I always wanted to put music and comedy together but I didn’t want to be like a guitar-parody act on stage. I figured if I could talk the studio into doing 20 episodes, I could also get them into doing a record, tour and etc.

MG: The show hasn’t aired since October 2010, why the major gap? How long does each episode take to complete?
BS: It takes a lot time. We have been in production actually since early 2011 and we are in still in the same production cycle, just to give you an idea of time. I have 12 quarter hour episodes that I am doing this season and have spent well over a year in production. It takes a long time. Animation is like hurry up and wait [laughs]. All the writing has been done now. I am currently in post-production and have been writing a lot of the music. After this, I still have like one more voice to record. It takes about 3-4 months per episodes but we have them staggered, so a few are in the works at the same time.

MG: With season four, the show returns back to the 11-minute format, why was that decision?
BS: This show is huge amount of work between the music and the animation and as I get through the years I ask myself “How can I make my job easier? How can I take the weekends off?” [laughs]. So, that is what I am trying to do. This season has been plotted out more in advance than any other season. The network gave us the option of doing quarter or half hours. The quarter hours are much easier but I think the show also functioned really well in the half hour format. I thought for the story in this season, that we should do it in quarter hours. So that was the reason and I am really happy with it.

MG: What crazy brutal shit can we expect Dethklok to get into this season?
BS: [laughs] I think you will notice that we upped the brutality in a real fun and clever way. I think some people were missing the brutality a little bit in season three. Our main issue was that we didn’t just want to kill people…we wanted to find a clever way to kill people and have fun with that. I think we have a whole bunch of that put into this season. In addition to that, what I think you will also notice when you see season four is that there is a bigger “Metalocalypse” story. There is something dramatic going on, of course, also laced with tons of jokes and stupidity. The idea is to start telling the bigger story and start involving the band more and then moving on from there.

MG: How does the music in season four compare to the past seasons?
BS: I don’t really know. I really trying to do something that we haven’t done and/or keep that sound alive. That sort of changes from season to season. I still think it sounds like Dethklok and I am still using the same element. I think we have a great couple of cool musically highlights in this season.

MG: Can we ever expect “The Dethalbum III” consisting of season three’s songs? Should I start begging?
BS: You can beg. I love people are begging for me to do more [laughs]. All I can say right now is stay tuned. We hopefully will have some really cool news in the very near future.

MG: What do see in the card for the future of “Metalocalypse”?
BS: We are living in an amazing era of cable TV right now. With all cable stations like AMC, HBO and, of course, Adult Swim, you see that people are utilize the format and still able to tell a story. The way that this show works is that in order for this to be a story, it will have to have an ending. And the ending is in sight for this show. It doesn’t mean the show will be totally done but the story I want to tell has a finish to it. I don’t want to sit around and vamp for 15 years instead of telling a cool story.