INT: Tenacious D!

Okay,
forget for a moment that Jack Black has become a pretty major star
in the past few years. From
SCHOOL
OF
ROCK
to KING KONG, and don’t forget I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST
SUMMER, he has found major success in spite of what is usually
considered a
“Hollywood
star”. Now if you really
know Mr. Black, and I mean REALLY know him, you will also
know Kyle Gass and if you know the two of them you certainly know
Tenacious D. And in THE
PICK OF DESTINY, the boys get down to what they do best and
that is drugs, rock and roll and a whole lotta funny.

I
recently got to sit down with the D when they stopped by The Four
Seasons in

Beverly Hills

. It might have been the
strangest interview I’ve ever been a part of but it was also funny
as hell. There is a reason
these two are together, making movies and making music.
Sitting with these two guys, there is no question as to why
The D may be one of the most unique and creative duos around.
So read on my children… and find out the meaning of
“Fligu Gigu”.

Kyle
Gass & Jack Black

Jack
Black: Alright, we’re
ready. Ask away.

Jack,
are you more comfortable with the acting or the music?

JB:
Yeah, no, there all together… That’s like… what is that
like, saying what do you like better?

Kyle
Gass: Breathing in or
breathing out.

JB:
Yeah… [Laughing]

God
forbid this would ever happen, but if you guys had to rock off
against each other to save your souls, who would win?

JB:
Have we ever had a mountaintop battle?

KG:
I think we did, one time.

JB:
Cage match?

KG:
I think we did.

JB:
Um, well it depends. If
Cage is gonna come at me and were gonna say, “Choose your
weapon.” “We will only use singing, my lord.” [I’d] probably
slay him. But if he
says, “Step into the cage, let’s go guitar battle.” Cage would
definitely kick my ass.

KG:
That’s the title of my solo album.

JB:
Step into the cage. [Laughter]

What
is it about musicians that women go for?

KG:
I don’t know, thank God though. [Laughter]
I need all the help I can get.

JB:
Ummm…

KG:
I don’t know, what is that?
I think that music is somehow simulating sex.
We have some sort of special touch.

JB:
I think it’s because when you sing, automatically… even
if you’re singing [metal voice] hard rockin’, you’re showing a
sensitive side, artistic. And
the women I think are a little attracted by the…

KG:
It seems like we’d be good in the sack.

JB:
Women are lesbians; they’re attracted to the feminine man.
[Laughter]

Can
you describe the ideal groupie?

KG:
Mute and…

JB:
Mutant!?! [Laughter]

KG:
Mute.

JB:
She’s mute! Oh
no, something horrible. Um,
the ideal groupie… Yeah,
I don’t feel comfortable answering that… I have a wife and child
now. [Laughter]

How’s
that going?

JB:
Fantastic! Fantastic!

How
do you like being a dad?

JB:
Excellent. He’s
four and a half months, he’s very cute but that’s not important.
That’s not what’s important.
He’s super funny and his personality’s filling out.
It’s crazy. He
got his shots yesterday. Very
traumatic for me, it wasn’t so bad for him though.
I mean, he cried and then he stopped but I continued.
[Laughter]

What
was the first tasty jam that you guys munched on?

JB:
First tasty jam was… there was a lame song I’m not gonna
say… well, the first song we did was TRIBUTE.
That was our first song we wrote and um, that was the first
power jam really.

[Who]
was your inspiration when you were young?

KG:
The inspiration for TRIBUTE was Metallica’s ONE.

JB:
That’s true.

KG:
Jack played it for me once…

JB:
I turned it on… turned Kyle onto it and I said, “I think
they’re the best band in the world.
Metallica. And I
think this song is the best song in the world.” And then Kyle
agreed after he listened to it thrice.
At first he said nay. Then
he said perhaps. And
then he said yeah.

KG:
Yeah, it had an epic quality.
As long as you’re doing it, you might as well try to go for
the greatest song ever.

Could
you talk about the writing process?
Do you do you’re best writing in the morning, the
afternoon, is there something that triggers ideas?

KG:
Definitely a nighttime thing… I think.

The
crack of noon…

KG:
Yeah. Jack
doesn’t really get rolling till’ around two or three…
mentally.

We’re
you watching a lot of films while you were writing this?
Like, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE… that’s a good idea.

KG:
Are you saying we steal all of our [ideals].
It’s an homage.

JB:
Well when we were writing the script, it got to that scene
and it was like, this could be a great Clockwork Orange.
But we weren’t thinking… Clockwork Orange… how can we
squeeze it into the movie, it just sort of naturally came up; it was
a good place for an homage.

How
hard was it to write this, keeping in mind [that] many may not be
familiar with Tenacious D?

KG:
It was definitely a challenge to sort of try to serve both
the camps.

JB:
That’s why we did this movie as sort of the origin episode
of like a comic book where you start before there was a Tenacious D.
Cause if we would have started in the middle of our existence
then people would have had to do a lot of catching up.
But, besides that it was really…

KG:
I think we tilted it more for the fans I think.

JB:
Yeah.

KG:
Sort of hoping that people got it.

Was
the “Operatic” format there from the beginning in your concept?

KG:
Nope. No.
I’m not gonna comment.

JB:
I got mad at Kyle in the last interview cuz he said we should
have done the whole thing as an opera without any talking.
I went [mock anger] “What are you talking… Stop saying’
bad things about the movie!”

KG:
I wasn’t… It’s an option.

JB:
He’s like, “Yes, we blew it.” [Laughter] “Shoulda
done an opera.”

KG:
It came out wrong… it came out wrong.

JB:
I digress…

KG:
The opening scene is mind-blowing.
And it’s just… ohhh.
And then I just sometimes get a little sad when it stops.

JB:
[Laughing] That song is not easy to write.
To write a full opera, you gotta take your hats off to The
Who, but on the other hand, that movie [TOMMY] kinda sucked.
And it’s probably because it was an opera from beginning to
end… Kyle… [Laughter]

KG:
I’m gonna put EVITA in that category too.

JB:
You gotta stop and start talking at some point.

KG:
I agree.

JB:
You’ve gotta talk and communicate without singing.
It’s annoying.

Can
you define “Fligu gigu”?

JB:
Well, I think you’ve pronounced it wrong.

[Again]
Fligu gigu.

JB:
Well, what is that from?

I
think, TRIBUTE.

JB:
Oh, Fligu Gigu.

Yeah.

JB:
Fligu Gigu…Fligu Gigu…

Yeah,
where do you come up with these sounds that you…?

JB:
[Singing] Fligu Gigu, Gigu gigu.
Gigre, gigu gigu. Yeah
just sounds I like to make. [Laughter]
There are no definitions.
Bligi gigi bugiu ging. I
guess it’s kind of baby talk really.
There’s a lot of goo goo’s in there. [The spelling here
may have been questionable.]

How
would you describe the D? When
Liam [Lynch] was asked if you were satirists, he said you were
Satanists.

KG:
I think it balances between some hard-rockin’ and having
fun with the [form], the lyrics.

JB:
I don’t think there’s any real satire in there, is there.
Well… we make fun of Satan; we make fun of the devil in
rock a little bit.

KG:
I think our commitment to the rock is funny, to me.
I mean, I think there’s something funny when you sort of
play on the Black Sabbath, Satan thing.
Which when you look back seems really funny but you don’t
think there’s any irony in those guys but now I think, when we do
it, hopefully it [occurs].

JB:
Yeah.

So
why is Tenacious D the greatest rock band in the world?

JB:
We have never said that we were the greatest rock band in the
world, um, other people have said it and it’s always flattering.
Well, the reason we are “great”, whatever you wanna call
us I think is because of our “chem”istry [pronounced with the C
and the H]. [Laughter]

KG:
It’s pronounced chem-s-tree.

JB:
Kyle and I… I think there’s a… sometimes, you get
lucky. Me and Kyle
stumbled upon each other and immediately it was apparent that when
me and Kyle were friends that walking down the street, it was like,
you know… peanut butter and chocolate, lightning and thunder…
when we’re together, we are ten times the rock beast that we are
alone. We’re not just
twice as powerful when were together, but ten times as powerful.
Like a transformer, a rock transformer.

Kyle,
you’re also in a group called Train Wreck, is it more fulfilling
to do something…

KG:
I started Train Wreck so I could talk on stage.
[Laughter] Cuz
Jack is a steam rollin’ muther f*cker up there.
Jack is really entertaining and I was gonna say the reason it
rocked so hard is Jack is awesome.

JB:
Owww. Dude.

KG:
It’s true. You
just got some great pipes and it’s just really fun to watch.
I still enjoy watching Jack perform after a bazillion years
of watching him. It’s
really, its fun… But
yeah, Train Wreck so that I could… it is satisfying.
But I figured out mathematically that Tenacious D is actually
a thousand times more popular.

JB:
[Laughing] we’ll see, after the movie comes out.

Are
you planning a tour?

JB:
Yeah, we’re doing one when the movie opens.
We actually start before the movie opens.
Cuz now the movie opens on the 22nd and our tour starts on
[questioning] the 17th. And so
those people from the 17th to the 22nd will not know what the hell
we’re singing about, because they will not have seen the movie.

Let
me know what you think. Send
questions or comments to [email protected].