05.23.12
Fat guys ready rock tour
Sir Cunning Lingus Jack Black and Bubba Fatt Kyle Gass of Tenacious D.
Excerpted from a Los Angeles Times piece on the above, written by a rock critic who did quite a lot of free-lance work at the Village Voice back when I was also doing work for the publication:
Throughout “Rize of the Fenix” — as well as in several appealingly tacky music videos the band has posted online — Tenacious D’s grip on its subject is so firm and its song craft so tight that the music nearly transcends its basis in satire.
“Jack and Kyle are just empirically good,” says John Kimbrough, who produced the new album. “They’re great musicians and they have great taste in records …
[When you want an unvarnished opinion the first thing I always thought was “What does the guy they pay really think?”]
In “Rock Is Dead” they isolate the problem in language unprintable here, and the album’s title track argues that a single hit might do the trick. (At press time “Fenix” was at No. 4 on iTunes’ album chart.)
“We’re a dying breed,” Gass acknowledged with a knowing frown. “I think the genre needs to reinvent itself …
Satire? If so, Tenacious D is satire for an audience that can’t quite spell the word. Telegraphed sight gags with Dio and Meatloaf imitation is more likely.
This is satire.
See what happens when you’re so famous the hired help won’t say “Boo!” to your dogshit?
Tenacious D was scheduled to kick off their tour in Santa Barbara today. I blew town just in time.