Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny explains how it all began, finally. From the Comic-Con preview of the opening musical number, we see young JB rebel against his religious father. He may only be in one scene, but as dad, Meat Loaf made an impression. Who could mistake his overwrought vocals singing Jack Black’s nonsense? Since Meat Loaf has a new album dropping October 31, it was the perfect opportunity to get the scoop on his movie role.
Was it an adjustment singing in Jack Black’s style of music?
“I don’t know. I did that in seven minutes. Literally in seven minutes. They said, ‘Just come in, we’re just going to lay down a reference vocal for when we shoot the movie.’ I said, ‘Okay,’ and I went over to one of the Dust Brother’s house, up in his, like his guesthouse where they had just had this little setup going. And I was on my way to Vegas, had something to do in Las Vegas. I had like 15 minutes and so I went in and I did it. I don’t even remember doing it. I said, ‘Well, you’ve just got to remember that you’ve gotta let me, we’ve got to really do it for real.’ They never did, so I have no idea what it is. I couldn’t remember it to save my life.”
Where does acting fit in with your music now?
“I’ve been doing acting for so long, since sophomore year in high school. I’ll tell you, sports, playing sports when I was young, because it’s a team effort and you have to form a bond and you have to form a chemistry and if you’re in - like I played defensive line - if you’re in a defensive line it’s not about the individual, it’s about the other people that are playing next to you because you have a responsibility. They have a responsibility and you have to understand that chemistry and those boundaries. I think team sports is a great example of that. I’ve dealt with acting for so long, it’s been such a part of my life for so long that it’s just kind of second nature at this point.”
You always talk about acting in your music too, right?
“I just used a form of method acting. It’s just a technique where I decided to, on some of these songs, to draw on some personal experiences. I love characters and I love watching people. I love mannerisms and an example is, and I’ve given it before but I’ll give it again, Life is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back on Bat Two. I really took on this character of a teenage boy that, at the time, was my daughter’s boyfriend. He had had a huge argument with his dad over what he did with his dad’s hammer. It was just like so emotional over this hammer in a workshop that I kind of took that moment and that instant and his emotion and put it into Life is a Lemon. You could just sense that that’s how that teenager felt at that moment, that his life was a lemon and he really wanted his money back. He couldn’t take another minute more of it; he didn’t want to be there. ...So most of those, I’ve drawn on other characters.”
Is it always people in your life?
“Sometimes I do it from film. An example, on Bat Two there’s a De Niro character from Cape Fear. He was sitting in a diner and there was a scene with Nick Nolte. I thought it was the most extraordinary scene in a film that I’ve seen in years, at that point. I just took what De Niro was doing inside that scene, because each song is like a scene. It’s not like a whole movie, it’s more like a scene. It’s like playing a scene. I kind of based around that character on Bat Two, so I constantly draw from my emotional connection to things. And that’s what you draw from.”
When you sing duets, do you look for chemistry the same as with a costar in a movie?
“I’ve appeared in 43 films and there’s been very few actors, in fact I really off the top of my head cannot think of any actor that I cannot form some sort of chemistry with. I’ve never been in a situation - and thank goodness - in a creative situation that kind of intense and that personal where I couldn’t find a common ground or a common bond to make it work. And I, if it hadn’t been, then it would have been that drastic that I would have said, ‘Let’s move on.’ But the main thing that I look for is somebody who’s willing to work, who is not afraid to give it the effort that it deserves. That’s not afraid to give themselves over to whatever’s going on. I found that most actors are willing to do that and most singers, especially the three that we had on this record.”
Is it true you tried to get Scarlett Johansson for the new album?
“Well, everybody’s on this Scarlett Johansson thing, we just went to her. My vocal coach was producing an album with Scarlett Johansson, but it’s completely a different style of music. I just approached her casually in a sense to see if she was interested at all. It’s really a different style of music than what she’s used to, really what she’s even into, and that was a very casual thing. And somebody has blown it… I can’t imagine you guys blowing anything up out of proportion, but they’ve done that…”
