We Try to Get Metalocalypse's Brendon Small to Do the Skwisgaar Voice

Brendon Small, Los Angeles-based mastermind of the Adult Swim animated series Metalocalypse, has many projects underway: In addition to overseeing the series' fourth season and voicing most of the main characters, he's preparing for the upcoming Dethklok tour by recording a new Dethklok album and creating animations to accompany the songs live. He's also just released a quite-epic solo record, Brendon Small's Galaktikon. We got the chance to chew the fat with him and tried to get him to do the Skwisgaar voice.

Have you always loved metal?
Yeah, but it's not the only thing I love. Sometimes, I think that people in their 20s, or even when they're teenagers, forget that you're allowed to like whatever you want at any given moment. You're allowed to like Cannibal Corpse and David Bowie. I like ELO. I like Olivia Newton-John. I like Steely Dan. I like Jeff Beck. But I also like Gojira or Meshuggah. I'm kind of a guitar nerd first.

How would you describe the music style of Galaktikon?
I'm a big fan of melody, and I like to write catchy melodies.... I said, what if I did that kind of thing and didn't worry about it being brutal? Brutality is part of metal, but it didn't always used to be that way. And so I thought, whatever this project ends up being, I'm not going to say no to any influence.... So that's where I came up with this incredibly stupid, high-stakes, intergalactic, extreme rock album. I don't think of it as metal. I think of it as a rock album.

Dethklok's upcoming tour with Lamb of God and Gojira is huge. Are you as excited about that as the fans are?
I am totally excited about that. I think they're both one of the most creative metal bands out there right now. And if I didn't have so much work, I'd just be sitting here marveling at the fact that I get to hang out with those guys.

How many more seasons of Metalocalypse will there be?
I know that this show has an ending, and as you watch this season unfold, you'll see that we're getting to a point of no return. I need to end the show at some point because I don't want to be a show that doesn't move the story forward and just vamps.

I'd like to do something that's bigger than just another season. I'd like to do some kind of a musical feature, something that I can play live from beginning to end with picture, and that would be how you would see it. It wouldn't be available elsewhere.

Would any of the characters from Metalocalypse be available for comment? Like Skwisgaar Skwigelf, for instance?
(Laughs.) This is usually where I recoil. But let's hear what you've got. I'll see what I can do.