Tenacious D: ‘Being famous is hard work’

SINGAPORE — Two minutes into the conversation and already Jack Black is pitting his band against the best there is out there.

Yes, we’re talking about Jack Black the actor, best known for movies such as School Of Rock, Shallow Hal, High Fidelity and being the voice of Po, the titular animal in Kung Fu Panda, who with his buddy Kyle Gass, formed Tenacious D, the funniest rock band ever.

But we’re not discussing Black’s film career. We’re talking about Tenacious D’s concert in Singapore next month and why The D, as the band is affectionately known, is better than The Beatles.

“Have the Beatles played in Singapore? Well, good news — Tenacious D will play in Singapore. Once again, going places The Beatles did not — yet another way in which we are superior to the Beatles,” he said over the phone.

“You know, the British Invasion, when all the bands from England came over to the United States and taught us how to rock ‘n’ roll? Yeah, this is the Tenacious Invasion, we’re bringing our rock to change the way you see rock ‘n’ roll. It’s almost like we’re taking you to school, like a school of rock,” he added, comparing their show to a tectonic shift. “It’s not something that happens without anyone not noticing.”

Black is prone to making such statements when he is in D mode, talking nineteen to the dozen, while his musical partner Gass proffers the odd assent or two. When we asked whether they feel any pressure about always having to up the ante with every tour or show they do, Black replied: “Yes. But we don’t worry about that because you haven’t seen us before, so we will be the best that you’ve ever seen us in Singapore.”

Their show, which sometimes utilises over-the-top stage props (quite literally), is replete with comic moments that critics have called absurdist and hilarious, although puritans may frown at the amount of expletives used or the sometimes off-colour jokes (although why they would be at a Tenacious D concert in the first place is anyone’s guess).

And then, there’s the music. The D made a name for themselves with humorous numbers such as Tribute, The Metal, Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown) and Kickapoo, often borrowing from (and mocking) the classic rock or metal genres. While some may not like the humour, there is no doubting their abilities as singers and musicians. Black and Gass have been doing this since 1994 — when they were not pursuing their solo projects — and they’ve worked up a great onstage chemistry, which Black said comes not only from knowing Gass for a long time, but also from the energy of the audience.

“We’re hungry because we haven’t been playing a lot of shows lately, so there’s no problem with motivation. And every time we go on tour, it’s the best time of my life. We get our energy from the audience and there’s nothing like it,” he said.

“Just the smiles of the people of the globe,” Black continued. “I love going on tour! I don’t like to go on vacation, to sight-see and relax, but I love to go on tour with the band. It’s like being with a family that’s so rich and warm — and I like those tour-bus bunk beds.”

The only time Black got stumped was when we asked him about Katy Perry: Years ago, when he was doing press rounds for his movie Gulliver’s Travels, we casually asked him when Tenacious D would perform in Singapore. His reply was that they would do so if Katy Perry either sang duet on a Tenacious D album or opened for them.

“Did I say that? Hmm. I’m sorry to say she is not our opening act. But you never know. Anything is possible — technically, it’s still possible,” said Black. “Do you think it would sell tickets if I said I would sing a little Katy Perry at the show? I can do that! (starts singing Roar) You can hear me roar … Maybe, we should get a Katy Perry impersonator to come out and open for us. No, I just think she’d get booed off stage.”

Of course, Black and Gass have learnt quite a few things from being in a self-titled “greatest band in the world”, chief of which is that “doing promotion interviews never works”.

“Either you’re popular or you’re not, you know what I mean? But I think it’s still good to spread the word about who we are and what we’re all about,” said Black.

And what they’re all about is the music which, according to Black, is inspired by “the greats that came before us”. “Like The Beatles. When they started, they were doing pop music, really catchy tunes such as I Want To Hold Your Hand. Then they took it to another level with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, where they metamorphosed into something much greater than they were before and wrote some of the greatest songs in the history of mankind. We’re still searching for our Sgt Pepper’s.”

Black also likened his song-writing relationship with Gass to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s, although he said The D were better off because, as Gass said, they wrote their songs together.

“Some of them are more Kyle and others are more me. Lennon and McCartney, those guys wrote songs separately, but we don’t,” added Black. “We’re staying competitive with The Beatles. One time, we played in Australia at a place where The Beatles had played and, when we finished, I’m pretty sure our show was better than The Beatles’. We don’t have any video to prove it though. But we’re driven by competition with each other and with The Beatles.”

And is there a bad thing about being in Tenacious D?

“It’s great to go out and jam every time. It’s cool,” said Gass. “I can’t think of one bad thing!”

“Being famous is hard sometimes,” Black added. “It’s a full-time job, as Bill Murray says.”

Quipped Gass: “And we never complain about it. Not once.”

“It’s a small price to pay,” said Black.

Tenacious D performs on Dec 2, 8pm at the Hard Rock Coliseum at Sentosa. Tickets are available at Event Clique (http://www.eventclique.com).