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Tenacious D: Ready to rock the big screen
‘It’s all lies. But truthful lies’ says Gass about the comedy rock duo’s film
 Nick Ut / AP Kyle Gass and Jack Black are a rock duo who, with the help of a magical guitar, become "the greatest rock gods of all time" in the film "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny." |
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LOS ANGELES - They’re as unlikely rockers as they are leading men. But Jack Black and Kyle Gass, the portly pair comprising the comedy rock group Tenacious D, are starring together in a film hitting cinemas next week.
Black, 37, and Gass, 46, play fictionalized versions of themselves as they recount the fictionalized history of their band in “Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny.”
The movie begins with the young J.B. (Black), who runs away from his small hometown bound for Hollywood in hopes of achieving his rock ’n’ roll dreams. He meets his mentor on Venice Beach: a street performer named K.G. who promises to teach him the tenets of rock. Before long, the two become friends, roommates and companions on a silly, smoke-filled, rock-fueled adventure.
In reality, Black and Gass have been friends and bandmates for more than a dozen years. They met as members of the Actor’s Gang theater troupe, where Gass was the house musician and Black was an aspiring actor. The two formed Tenacious D in 1994 and performed one gig, and one song, at a dive bar in downtown Los Angeles.
Much to their surprise, the band was a hit. Tenacious D has been the subject of a short film and an HBO show. The band released a CD in 2001 and is the subject of a forthcoming tribute album. While Black became a movie star and Gass took on television roles, the two continued with Tenacious D, planning to one day bring the band to the multiplex.
That day arrives Nov. 22.
Black and Gass talked with The Associated Press about their story, their success and their unyielding love of rock.
AP: How does the movie’s story of your meeting compare to reality?
Gass: It’s all lies. But truthful lies. Emotionally, I was ahead of Jack and trying to dominate him because I was older and wiser. And Jack, in real life, did puncture my balloon and I’ve been riding his coattails ever since. So the story is relatively true. We took some liberties, but we only had 87 minutes. We’ve known each other 17 years, you can’t put the whole thing in there.
AP: When did you start performing as Tenacious D?
Gass: ’94. We did one song, the greatest song ever written: “Tribute.”
Black: When did we do the HBO show?
Gass: ’97.
Black: Really? Wow. So we started performing live in ’94, three years later we had an HBO show, three years after that we had a record.
Gass: Two years after that we had a DVD and two years after that, we were making a movie. We’re very consistently slow.
AP: Is this the beginning or the end of the Tenacious D journey?
Black: It feels like a long journey, but you never know how long a thing will go.
Gass: I actually feel that we could stop now and have a nice legacy. We’ve got a couple nice albums, a good movie that we’re proud of. And, this is weird to do right now, but I’d like to stop, Jack.
Black: Like Jordan? I mean, like Michael Jordan should have?
Gass: Go out on top.
AP: Tenacious D is about to start touring. Is that to promote the movie?
Gass: Everything kind of promotes everything else. We’re like an entertainment burrito. Bite in and you might get a DVD, or a live show.
Black: That doesn’t sound like a very tasty burrito. It sounds like you might break a molar.
AP: What’s the difference between the movie version and the real-life version of Tenacious D?
Gass: I think Jack and I are a lot smarter than those characters you see in the movie. In real life, Jack’s an international superstar, and I’m just, like, super-talented dude. In the movie, we’re like kind of shlumpos.
Black: In the movie, we are not actors. And in reality, we have always been actors first, rockers second.
Gass: But I think the movie captures a time when we weren’t really acting all that much and we were trying to be rockers.
Black: But even then, we met acting. When we met, I had not been in a rock band before.
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