Brendon Small on Brian May, Bad Hangovers, and 20 Years of Refusing to Settle

When Dethklok and Amon Amarth take the stage at the Arizona Federal Theatre on April 15th for the opening night of the “Amonklok Conquest” Tour, fans expecting pure Scandinavian brutality might be surprised to learn that the secret weapon in Brendon Small's arsenal isn't Meshuggah, Cannibal Corpse, or even Slayer. It's Queen’s “Flash Gordon” soundtrack.

I was able to talk with Small over Zoom a few weeks before the tour kicks off, and when I bring up his Brian May obsession, he lights up immediately. "Those guitar harmonies, hearing those in the Flash Gordon theme, you can tell that I mercilessly use those voicings and those ideas and those stacked harmonies because of the feeling I got when I was a kid watching those movies," he tells me. "It really is electric and I couldn't believe that guitars could sound so cool as when I heard Brian May and particularly the “Flash Gordon” soundtrack."

The Brian May Influence

AG: It's no secret that you are a very big fan of Brian May, even going as far as owning a lot of his same gear. Where does that Queen harmonic language actually land in the final product?

BS: "Brian May is a songwriter. He's got a beautiful voice. He is a huge part of why Queen sounds like Queen.”

And when I said he's obsessed, I mean it. The guy owns the Brian May signature guitar, the AC30 amp, even the sixpence pick May uses. It's past a level of fan worship and into the territory of tactical reverse-engineering.

But then he broadens the point beyond just guitar technique. "I know that what I love about cinema is great music and action. It's not even the dialogue. It's just like where does the story take me with music and action? And it happens in silly movies like “Flash Gordon” to epic cinema from “Lawrence of Arabia” to "There Will Be Blood.” Music is so important to those movies."

That's the thread running through everything Dethklok does: music as narrative propulsion, not background decoration.

Writing the Same Song Over and Over Again

When “Galaktikon II” came out in 2017, Small told fans the vinyl track order was the one to follow for the story. Gene Hoglan later suggested it was essentially the Dethklok ending Small couldn't make at the time. Fans started mapping the parallels: cosmic tyrant, prophesied war, unity unlocking power, world reconstruction. By the time “Army of the Doomstar” arrived in 2023, the structural spine was unmistakable.

AG: When you were writing “Galaktikon II” and sequencing it yourself, were you extremely conscious of that narrative parallel to “Metalocalypse,” or were those just the general themes in your head at the time?

BS: "You know, it's kind of interesting when I write music. Sometimes it happens in lots of different ways. Sometimes you fall into a pit of cool riffs and you go, 'Oh, I got to do something with these, and oftentimes what I find out is that I've written the same song many different ways. My subconscious is leading me towards something that are similar chords."

But he contrasts that with moments where he knows exactly what he's building. "Sometimes it's conscious. Like for example, in the “Army of the Doomstar” movie, there is a song called the “Song of Salvation.” And I knew that that had to be this song. I knew what the song meant and what the song was supposed to do. It had to be defensive. ‘We're charging out to battle. We may die. It's not totally triumphant. There's danger ahead.’"

Then he switches gears into a glimpse of his own self criticisms. "It's very bizarre. I've noticed this, the second I put out a record, the one before it I have very little interest in because the representation of where you are creatively has changed and so that older version of you is not as exciting."

He pauses, then gives me a pretty powerful line that most creative folk will probably resonate with: "I think it's okay to be in a constant state of disappointment and refuse the earlier versions of yourself in some way because you have to grow."

The Licensing and Live Creativity 

AG: Touching on the creative side more specifically for your live show, how does the whole licensing situation affect what you plan for your live show? Does it really affect what material you want to play?

BS: "No, I mean licensing has been, first of all, not a problem at all. It's been really kind of a pleasant and clean experience and everyone's kind of on the same page," Small says, which as a fan is a bit of a relief to hear considering the past tensions regarding the future and ending of “Metalocalypse.”

"The real question is, Dethklok is a show where if we're going to switch up the setlist, we have to do a lot of creative thinking ahead of time. What does the contour of the show feel like? That's something that Gene Hoglan and I talk about a lot. What do I think would be cool for an audience to see and what kind of music would be really great for a live audience?"

And here's the good news for Phoenix fans: he confirmed that the Amonklok setlist will include things fans haven't seen before. He wouldn't tell me specifics to keep it fresh for the show, but he made it clear they've been hard at work.

The Studio and the Musicians Who Made Him Feel…Small

AG: You contributed to Flying Lotus's “You're Dead!” (2014) between the production of “Dethalbum III” (2012) and “Doomstar Requiem” (2013). Do you think that a completely different production environment had any influence going into when you were doing “Doomstar?”

BS: "Being inspired by Thundercat or Flying Lotus or those guys is just something that happens peripherally. And maybe it does join into my world, but I don't know that I..."

He trails off, then pivots to a specific moment. 

"I know that Thundercat did influence me. Thundercat plays on a song on the Doomstar Requiem called “How Can I Be a Hero?” He plays bass and he's great. He's so funny. That guy's such a musical genius. I didn't even walk him through the chords. He just kind of was listening so well that he figured it out in like a take and I was like, 'Okay, I recorded that.' He's like, 'When do you need me to do it again?' I'm like, 'No, you're done.' It makes me feel like I don't even play music when I'm around people like that."

AG: Before your studio got unfortunately robbed in 2022, it kind of sounded like it was just this hub of random collaborators just appearing whenever they wanted to. What was the most unexpected person that had walked through the door?

BS: "I mean I've had everybody in my old studio," Small says. "It's a good place to listen to music. I remember at one point all of Mastodon was here listening to some mixes because they went to Sound City and used the room to re-record drums. Joe Satriani has been in here, who's a guitar hero and just an incredibly cool person. Thundercat, of course. Flying Lotus has been in the studio."

Then he shifts into an observation about the difference between music school and the professional world: "I went to music school where everyone was kind of a shoe gazer and a mushmouth and hid behind these guitars, but I'm constantly reminded in the professional world of music that everyone was forced to become articulate at some point and be able to express themselves in clean, consistent ways. Joe Satriani has always been, he's a natural teacher."

For Small, standup comedy is what forced that shift. "I felt that way where I was the quiet guy in the room all the time. I didn't really express myself and then through standup comedy I had to force myself in that uncomfortable, terrifying position of trying to get a laugh."

The Night Before Home Movies

AG: I kept seeing when I was going through old interviews that you had said that when you were starting off “Home Movies,” you went to a concert with Jon Benjamin the night before recording and that was kind of when you developed your whole relationship there. None of the interviews ever touch on the specifics of the show though, do you remember which concert it was?

BS: "Oh, I do remember. I went and hung out with Jon Benjamin one night and the next day we recorded," Small says. "We were doing a comedy event and at that event the band Fountains of Wayne were playing and it was just like two guys with acoustic guitars and I didn't meet them. I didn't talk to them or anything but I knew they were just songwriting powerhouses. I think it was somewhere on Lansdowne Street in Boston that we went to this and that was the night before and I think we woke up the next morning a little too early and we're not ready to record, but went and recorded the lion's share of the first episode and kind of improvised a lot of it."

"I'm funnier when I'm uncomfortable and not feeling well," he adds. "So it was a perfect storm."

Twenty years later, the entire Dethklok live show runs from a single computer backstage. Every video projection, every lighting cue, every moment of synchronization between the live band and the animated characters flows through one system. If that computer crashes, the show stops. It's the kind of setup that would terrify most touring acts. But for someone with the methodology of Small, it's just another version of working on the edge.

Small's built an empire on channeling “Flash Gordon" soundtracks, uncomfortable mornings, and refusing earlier versions of himself. On April 15th at the Arizona Federal Theatre, Phoenix gets to see what twenty years of that philosophy can become, despite all odds stacked against it.

Knowing Small, though, even if things go perfectly…if creativity strikes him, he might already be disappointed by the time the tour hits the next city.