We live in difficult times. The seasons change, time passes, etc. And the one thing we can be sure we will need in the years to come, the fundamental quality that turns New Year’s resolutions into accomplishments, is tenacity. Luckily for us, its most notable practitioners, Grammy-winning comedy-rock duo Tenacious D—still Kyle Gass and Jack Black—arrive at the Theater at Virgin on December 30-31 to teach a lesson in tenacity, shaking your [expletive] socks.
A few weeks ago, Tenacious D spoke to the Weekly through Zoom. It was almost a performance in itself: Black caused a stir while pacing his living room like a caged tiger, and Gass laughed every time his gardener stifled conversation with his leaf blower.
“He comes once a week,” Gass said, waving out the window. “Hi Pedro.”
Tenacious D first performed in Las Vegas in May 1999, opening for Beck at the Tropicana. Was this the start of a love affair in Vegas?
Jack Black: An interesting and adventurous little relationship we had with Vegas. Yes, it started with Beck opening, but we quickly realized how our fates would be linked again. We had a hell of a show at the thing called… Kyle, what was that called? Let me hear that leaf blower again.
Kyle Gas: The Miller Genuine Draft Blind Date.
JB: Anyone from all over the country could call their radio station, be the 13th caller, and come to Vegas to see a “blind-blind” concert. I do not know who it is ! Can be anyone! This is probably your favorite band! And they got everybody drunk at the Miller Genuine Draft Theater [actually the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, August 1999] and open the curtain, and everyone was so disappointed that it was Tenacious D, because they had never heard of us. It was one of the most traumatic yet hilarious experiences of our lives.
So we were ready for, like, the third round. We had our first real show in Vegas [the Joint at the Hard Rock, April 2002], and it was special; we uncorked it that night. And we played a New Year’s show [at the Hard Rock] in 2018, and we had so much fun, we brought in the new year so powerfully, that we were like, “We have to do this shit again.” 2022, see you soon! 2023, come see the D!
I just made it up, by the way. Sorry to steamroll you, Kyle, but you have a leaf blower.
KG: No problem at all. You know, I think they actually banned leaf blowers in LA, but they just said, “Well, who cares. We need it. Do what you want. You’re not going to get us all, that’s for sure.
Will we get a preview of your new gear? You’re working on an album, I hear.
KG: Oh yes. It’s a laborious process though. A lot of thought goes into it.
JB: Me and Kyle are actually late for retirement. Airbnb in the desert, in Joshua Tree. Next, we have a plan for Airbnb somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Take inspiration from landscapes.
KG: The redwoods.
JB: The last one we did… We were supposed to do a four-day fast where we didn’t eat anything, just water. We broke this rule almost immediately. We just started attacking fucking snacks. On the next one, I really want to get it right. When we’re hungry, dazed with hunger, it’s almost like an altered state. We’re so hungry, we’re delirious – and that’s where the fucking jams come in.
Has the COVID been hard on the morale of the group? You had to cancel your Purple Nurple Tour…
KG: It was understandable. I mean, everyone was in the same boat together. But we had some fun projects during this time.
JB: We channeled all that Purple Nurple energy into the “Time Warp” music video [for Rock the Vote]. And by God, it worked; we got Trump out of there.
KG: Thin margin, but yes.
JB: And a lot of people don’t know that we did a little Rock the Vote tour just before the midterm elections. And by God, we did it again. We held the Senate. This was 90% due to Tenacious D.
KG: Nothing, democracy.
What keeps the band going after 20 years of uninterrupted rock? Is it the writing? The record? The performance ?
KG: All three. There’s nothing quite like breaking through and having a new jam. But playing live is quite rewarding, I must say. Our audiences are really, really generous and sometimes a bit…I’m going to call them psychopathic fans. There is an intensity that is quite fun.
JB: I don’t think I’m happier than when we do a gig and everything goes well. … To put that into perspective, when I turned 40, I was like, “I don’t want a birthday party; I hate birthday parties. They are so stressful. I just want to do a Tenacious D birthday concert instead. It’s what I choose to do, the day I can do what I want. And we did it again on my 50th birthday.
That being said, there’s no desire to crack the code for a new song. I think that’s actually the hardest of those three things you mentioned. It’s weird, though, because when that happens, we just start playing and singing and on the first take of improvisation, a whole song comes out that says, “Wait, that was as easy as falling off that fucking log. Why can’t they all be like that? Why can’t we write masterpieces every time? It is a mysterious enigma, this path we have chosen.
TENACIOUS D With the Wolves of Glendale. December 30, 8 p.m.; December 31, 9 p.m.; $49+. Virgin Theater, virginhotelslv.com.
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