Brendon Small. // photo credit Jim Donnelly

Writer/actor/director/musician/et al Brendon Small would be a legend if he’d stopped with the creation of his Adult Swim animated series, Home Movies, in the early ’00s. Following it up with the heavy metal fantasy comedy of Metalocalypse secured that status for all time when it debuted in 2006.

Spotlighting the death metal band Dethklok, whose popularity makes them the seventh-largest economy in the world, Metalocalypse managed to skewer the music industry as effectively as Spinal Tap while also being a wild ride into interpersonal relationships, worldwide conspiracies, and a cocaine-addled clown based on David Lee Roth.

The series has been absent since its last special, The Doomstar Requiem, nearly a decade ago. It returns on Tuesday, August 22, with a feature-length series finale, entitled Army of the Doomstar, accompanied by both a soundtrack and a fourth Dethklok LP, Dethalbum IV. Ahead of its release, we hopped on the phone with Brendon Small to talk about Metalocalypse and its history.

Tracklist

Dethklok, "Thunderhorse" (Dethalbum)

Dethklok, "Aortic Desecration" (Dethalbum IV)

Dethklok, "The Duel" (The Doomstar Requiem)

Dethklok, "Go Into the Water" (Dethalbum)

Playing bass was love at first pluck for Marty Isenberg. His career as a jazz musician began at the age of 12, after losing his father to cancer the year prior. A skilled amateur musician, Marty’s father kept many instruments around the house that he would play for the family. After his death, Marty would pull one of these instruments off the wall and begin teaching himself how to play by reading tablature in Bass Player Magazine. The first song he ever learned was “My Own Summer” by The Deftones.

Playing bass was love at first pluck for Mr. Isenberg. It was a cathartic healing experience, a way to stay connected to his father, and a way to creatively express himself. He went on to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where he majored in Jazz Performance and minored in Jazz Composition, and received his Master of Music degree from New York University. He is now a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University where he is the teaching assistant to the jazz department chair Ray Anderson.

I spoke with Marty Isenberg via Zoom about his debut recording, The Way I Feel Inside, inspired by the films of Wes Anderson, out now from Truth Revolution Recording Collective.

Tracklist

Mark Mothersbaugh, "Hardest Geometry Problem in the World"

Marty Isenberg, "Needle in the Hay"

Marty Isenberg, "These Days"

Marty Isenberg, "Stephanie Says"

As a boy growing up in Boston, Jon Coco immersed himself in the music of timeless bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Pink Floyd. Tapping into the music of the ‘70s with an impressive vinyl record collection, he started writing original music and dove into performances in the late ‘80s Boston music scene.

Invited by an A&M recording studio head engineer to record songs for A&M, Coco gave in to the eventual lure of Los Angeles and the larger opportunities it promised. An early lesson would come when A&M Records closed their doors while his band was still recording their debut record. After two years as a staple on the Hollywood live club scene, Coco seized the opportunity to try his hand at creating music for a film trailer. This pivot provided many years of work and included his compositions in the marketing campaigns for Oscar-nominated and award-winning films such as The Departed, Batman Begins, No Country for Old Men, Room, and numerous others.

Endlessly pursuing his own true north and identity, Coco relocated to Nashville in 2016 to trade the companionship of traffic and airplanes for a mini ranch with horses, donkeys, and chickens. This slower and more relaxed pace, exacerbated by the Covid lockdown, has cultivated an even more intense maturation of Coco’s signature style.

There is a common element to his music that is as relatable for listeners of a major metropolitan area as for those in rural surroundings, because their source is a man who finds the essential humanity in both.

I spoke with Jon Coco via Zoom about his new album, Chasing the Dream, as well as his work composing for film trailers.

You can purchase Jon Coco’s Chasing the Dream via his website.

Tracklist

Jon Coco, "Chasing A Dream"

Jon Coco, "Hard Habit"

X-Men 1.5 TV spot

Jon Coco, "Time Won't Heal"

The HBO Max series, Peacemaker, the spin-off from director James Gunn's The Suicide Squad has become a massive hit for the streaming service, and not a small amount of its popularity comes from its deft use of music. However, while much as been made of the series' use of under-the-radar or forgotten rock 'n' roll and hair metal, composer Kevin Kiner's work on the series, alongside Clint Mansell, helps set the tone for a show which is by turns outrageous, violent, and surprisingly introspective and thoughtful.

Ahead of the Peacemaker series finale, we spoke with Kiner about his work on the series, as well as his past compositions for the Star Wars and DC universes.

Tracklist

Wig Wam, "Do Ya Wanna Taste It"

Clint Mansell & Kevin Kiner, "Peacemaker Rock Theme Jam"

Clint Mansell & Kevin Kiner, "Eagly"

John Cena, "Home Sweet Home (Piano Version)"

Pronounced “Voyager 3,” Detroit’s Voyag3r feature keyboardist Steve Greene, guitarist Aaron Greene, and drummer Greg Mastin. Inspired by the soundtracks to vintage horror, action, and sci-fi films, the trio creates experimental rock that owes a debt to pioneers like John Carpenter and shares a kinship with bands such as Trans Am, Teeth of the Sea, and Zombi.

Originally directed by and starring martial arts actor John Liu (The Secret Rivals, Invincible Armor) in his only American production, New York Ninja was filmed entirely on 35mm in 1984, but the project was abandoned during production resulting in all original sound materials being lost over time. 35 years later, Vinegar Syndrome acquired the original unedited camera negative and painstakingly constructed and completed the film, with the voice talents of genre favorites: Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Linnea Quigley, Michael Berryman, Ginger Lynn Allen, and Cynthia Rothrock, and a score by Voyag3r.

You can purchase Voyag3r’s New York Ninja score from their webstore, and the Blu-ray is available from Vinegar Syndrome.

Tracklist

Voyag3r, "The Ninja"

Voyag3r, "The Plutonium Killer"

Voyag3r, "Battle on the Rooftop"

Voyag3r, "Lord Of Doom Fortress"

On this episode, we continue our series, Your Favorite Soundtrack, where we talk to our favorite people about the soundtracks they love. Our latest installment features Katlyn Conroy of Cheery and Dooms, talking about the soundtrack to the 1974 film, Phantom of the Paradise.

You can purchase Dooms’ Shellshine via High Dive Records.

Tracklist:

Paul Williams, "Phantom's Theme (Beauty And The Beast)"

The Undead, "Somebody Super Like You (Beef Construction Song)"

Dooms, "number's up"

Paul Williams, "The Hell Of It"

Director Matt Hinton's documentary, Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury, has a couple of very interesting wrinkles. Not only is the Georgia post-punk band an act you've likely not heard of, the reunited act now features three members who are Eastern Orthodox priests, and director Hinton is part of the band, as well. That's before you get into the fact that Luxury is an often-forgotten part of the early history of Christian label Tooth & Nail Records, or the terrible accident which almost ended the lives of the band members.

It's a fascinating story, filled with music you're sure to wish you'd heard when you were in your teens, as it's so richly-layered and evocative, so it was with some excitement that I hopped on Zoom with director Hinton (who now also plays guitar for Luxury) to talk about all of this and more.

Tracklist

Luxury, "Pink Revenge" (Amazing & Thank You)

Luxury, "The Luxury Theme" (Amazing & Thank You)

Luxury, "From the Lion Within" (The Latest & The Greatest)

Luxury, "You Must Change Your Life" (Trophies)

A project born in Bristol in 2006 and developed in the bohemian dystopia of Berlin from 2009, Antoni Maiovvi walks the line between retro-synth and horror soundtracks for both real and imagined films. Recently, the musician -- who is one of the co-founders of Giallo Disco Records, in addition to his own endeavors -- has released Church of the Second Sun, a collaboration with prog-rockers ANTA, as well as the latest '80s synthwave album from his Jason Priest alter-ego.

I spoke via Zoom with Antoni Maiovvi about horror disco, prog, composing for film, and more.

Tracklist

Antoni Maiovvi & ANTA, "As Above, So Below" (Church of the Second Sun)

Antoni Maiovvi, "Zombie Beach" (Before & After The Bomb)

Jason Priest, "The Power" (Jason Priest Is Missing)

Antoni Maiovvi, "Driving Theme" (Yellow OST)

Formed in late 2014 in South Wales, Punk Rock Factory combine everything you love about 1990s/2000s punk rock, and reimagine classic and hit songs like you’ve never heard them before. From Meat Loaf to Disney, nothing is off-limits to them.

The band rehearse, write, record, mix, master and film everything themselves in one dedicated space that they affectionately call "The Sausage Factory" and have no problem bringing friends along either. To date, Punk Rock Factory has had singers from bands such as Protest the Hero, Bowling for Soup, Mest, Rufio, Belvedere, Ten Foot Pole and more, provide guest vocals on tracks, firmly cementing themselves as a punk rock household name.

On the new album, Masters of the Uniwurst, Punk Rock Factory takes on 21 classic TV theme songs including, Arthur, Power Rangers, Saved By The Bell, The Flintstones, Goof Troop, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pokemon and many more.

I spoke via Zoom with all four members of Punk Rock Factory about Masters of the Uniwurst, cover songs in general, and more.

Tracklist

Punk Rock Factory, "Let It Go" (ft. Jaret Reddick) (A Whole New Wurst)

Punk Rock Factory, "Thundercats" (Masters of the Uniwurst)

Punk Rock Factory, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" (The Wurst is Yet to Come)

Punk Rock Factory, "King of the Hill theme" (YouTube)

Sorry for the delay on this episode. I got a promotion at work, live shows are returning, and I have been quite overwhelmed. Rest assured, the podcast is still happening. I just needed to catch up on the things which pay money in order to get around to putting together the next few episodes. So, after much delay, here's our episode on composer Max Aruj.

Up and coming Los Angeles based composer Max Aruj had two exciting projects release on June 25: the crime drama Lansky from Vertical Entertainment, profiling legendary gangster Meyer Lansky, and the Liam Neeson-starring action-thriller The Ice Road from Netflix.

The composer got his start in the industry working at the widely known film music hub Remote Control Productions in Santa Monica, CA where he's worked closely with composer Lorne Balfe on numerous projects, including Ad Astra, Black Widow, and HBO's His Dark Materials.

Max first collaborated with Lansky writer-director Eytan Rockaway on the psychological thriller The Abandoned. Their established working relationship allowed them to delve even deeper creatively this time around. The film takes place in two time periods: Lansky in his earlier years and him looking back at his life in the '80s. To reflect this, Max utilized some '80s Vangelis colors as the musical palette, mixed with orchestra. He wanted to create both a sense of darkness and sentimentality to capture both sides of such a complicated figure. The composer also leaned into his Jewish roots by including Jewish colors in the music to reflect Lansky's identity.

For The Ice Road, Max collaborated with director Jonathan Hensleigh and his goal was to really play into the classic action tropes and create a next level, bombastic score. Having an archetypal character (led by the iconic Liam Neeson), allowed Max to really dig into the storyline. Once Max had the thematic tapestry nailed down, the rest of the music flowed out.

I spoke by phone with Max Aruj about these two films, their differences, and his career.

Tracklist

Max Aruj, "Dive" (Crawl OST)

Max Aruj, "The Ice Road" (The Ice Road OST)

Max Aruj, "Lansky" (Lansky OST)

Max Aruj, "Bounteous Fields" (Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids OST)