Double Trouble Down Under With CHRIS KAEL From FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH

The main common thread that ties music and comedy together is
timing, not that it works every time. While there and many - some
would say the majority - of musicians out there who THINK they are
funny, once the alcohol and/or adrenaline wears off, what they
thought funny 20 minutes ago is suddenly now lame at best.
But occasionally the transition between two very different forms of
artists' works seamlessly. Artists like Weird 'Al' Yankovic,
Stephen Lynch and Jack Black spring immediately to mind when
talking about people who have performed at high quality across both
professions, but there have also been some riotous failures - but
we won't go into that for fear we, too, might be accused of
overstepping the line.
If you had have asked me a couple of weeks ago how I thought Five
Finger Death Punch's bass player Chris Kael would go on the
stand-up comedy circuit, I may have mumbled alright, but that would
only have been to save my ass if word had got back to him. Then, if
you had have suggested an admittedly famous comedian by the name of
Craig Gass, who is best known for voicing cartoon characters,
chances are I would have tuned out and failed to clock back
in.
Ask me the same question now after having spent a night
interviewing then dining with the pair of them, and you would get
an entirely different response. So I guess even the black sheep of
the world are not immune to judging a book by its cover…
What Kael and Gass may lack aesthetically as a star comedy pairing,
they make up for with impeccable timing that has its foundations in
mutual respect. The fact that they have lived similar lives in and
around the music community definitely helps to keep the
conversation flowing, but together this mismatched pair are more
like the Golden Goose of the comedy circuit. Their jokes are
hilarious, their banter even better, but above all else, both are
humble and inspiring people who just happen to have a somewhat
concerning panache for a side hustle referred to as
DCP. 
What is DCP, you may ask? Well, have a listen to our conversation,
and you will find out the meaning of that unexplained wonder of the
world, plus heaps more that you may or may not be emotionally
prepared for at this stage of your life. HEAVY sat down for an
engaging and entertaining chat with Kael that covered everything
from comedy to music to shin chins.
We start by asking how the tour has been so far.
"It's been incredible," Kael purred in his gravel-stained Viking
voice. "We had a very short time to be able to promote these shows,
so the amount of support that we've had and the amount of people
we've got in there in only a week of promoting the show is awesome.
We did the stand-up comedy show in Melbourne at The Comics Lounge
on Friday night, and then we went to see Metallica on Saturday.
That's basically all we're doing. Just funding the Metallica
vacation (laughs). I have found ways to make money to be able to
travel while off the road with Death Punch. I saw that Metallica
was playing over here, so… I am a marketing aficionado. What better
way to go out and see my old friends in Metallica? Because we
toured with them the last couple of years, going all around the
world, but we're working on a new record right now, so this gave me
the opportunity to come over, see Metallica and get the comedy show
going. We had those two shows in Melbourne, and then on November 11
here in Brisbane, we are playing at the Good Chat Comedy Club,
doing a show at 7 o'clock and at 8.30 pm. Me and Craig - Craig Gass
is a stand-up comedian. An actual stand-up comedian. Not a bass
player who is basically telling stories about life on the road.
He's been doing it for about 25 years and has been on The King Of
Queens and the Howard Stern Show. 
A funny story about Craig - well, I don't know whether it's funny
or not because it's his story - but when he was growing up, he was
the only person in his family who could hear. His entire family is
deaf, except for him. So I'm helping him with his acting these
days. We're both gonna be doing some stand-up comedy here at Good
Chats. 7 o'clock and 8.30 on November 11, and we're just having a
really good time with it. This has been nice for me. The whole
thing started when Craig gave me the opportunity to do some
stand-up shows with him. I was originally going to write stories. I
wanted to be either a musician or an author when I was growing up.
The musician part… I get paid to play bass, so I guess that makes
me a musician… but that's already happened, so I was gonna write a
book about growing up in Kentucky and being able to come up from
Lexington, Kentucky, to these worldwide stages. I mean, I'm right
next to where Metallica is playing, and we have toured the world
with Metallica. All my favourite bands. Judas Priest. We've been
out with those guys. So, just coming from a small town in Kentucky,
all the stuff that had to happen to get me where I'm at, that I am
able to do all this stuff, and then all the craziness that's gone
on behind the scenes, being in a hard rock/heavy metal band… I was
gonna tell those stories in a book, but now I'm just doing it on
stage because I like being able to have that automatic response.
I'm an entertainer. Musician, yeah, I guess. But entertainment.
That's where I thrive."
And that's just the first couple of minutes of our conversation.
Over the course of the next 20 minutes, discussion ranges from Shin
Chins to Double Comedy Penetration to Gene Simmons to Five Finger
Death Punch and pretty much anything and everything in between. If
you are reading this in time to make one of the two shows in
Brisbane tonight, do yourself a favour and make it happen. But if
not, keep an eye out for when next Craig and Chris visit Australia.
You won't want to miss them a second time.
Tickets and more information www.getgass.com


Become a supporter of this podcast:
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.