Line-up

Headliner
Dethklok Last time in San Diego: 2 years ago

Venue

Observatory North Park

2891 University Ave., 92104, San Diego, CA, US

observatorysd.com

Capacity: 1,100

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Additional details

Doors open: 18:00

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Dethklok biography

Dethklok is a vitual death metal band featured on the animated Adult Swim television show Metalocalypse, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha.

With billions of fanatical metal fans who risk their lives to witness the sheer brilliance of Dethklok, the band is made up of visionary frontman Nathan Explosion, lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf, rhythm guitarist Toki Wartooth, drummer Pickles and bassist William Murderface. To offset the daily incompetence of the bands’ members, manager and lawyer Charles Foster Offdense assists the band in nearly all tasks from going shopping to maintaining social relationships.

Being a virtual band and having a membership limited to fictitious characters it would be easy to write Dethklok off as a huge joke, but they’re not. Admittedly a generous pinch of salt is advised but for the most part they do all the things a real band does.

In 2007 Dethklok announced a promotional tour with real band …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. The tour consisted of playing twelve U.S. college campuses and featured lead singer Brendon Small who voices Explosion, Skwigelf and Pickles, guitarist Mike Keneally, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Gene Hogan. Describing the experience Brendon Small used the words “a Disney ride but with murder” and referenced the band Gorillaz who too have an animated representation of band members.

In 2008 Dethklok toured with Chimaera and Soilent Green and during a show at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA, U.S. a fire broke out and fans in the audience were reluctant to leave thinking it was part of the dramatic, disaster-driven style of the band in their fictional universe. It was not. Dethklok had a similarly busy 2009 with another tour alongside the likes of Mastadon, High on Fire and Converge and a free show at San Diego Comic Con on July 13, 2012.

Dethklok have released a handful of albums since their inception. These include their 2007 album “The Dethalbum”, 2009’’s “Dethalbum II”, 2012’s “Dethalbum III” and 2013’s “The Doomstar Requiem”. The band has also received the award for Best International Band at the 2009 Revolver Golden God Awards and in 2013 the album “Dethalbum III won an Independent Music Award for Best Metal/Hardcore Album, which is more than most real bands can claim.

Live reviews

Is there such a thing as a virtual band? That’s certainly the category that Gorillaz have claimed to fall into all these years, although whether that’s actually truly been the case is probably up for debate, bearing in mind that the narratives that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett actually created for their animated characters was usually a muddled, half-baked one. That’s not really an accusation you can reasonably level at Dethklok, who come fron an impressive background conceptually; they appeared on the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse, and went on to prove so popular that an actual, real-life band was assembled to tour the world playing their songs. They’ve gone from strength to strength since, releasing four full-length albums - the most recent dropping last years - and touring extensively. Their shows tend to be ridiculously technical affairs, as evidenced by a slew of U.S. dates throughout 2012; they brought their trademark warped sense of humour to the table, as well as some furious riffery, to delight their American fans. Their British counterparts, however, have been waiting a while for some new shows; they’ll be hoping some are pencilled in sooner rather than later, in support of last year’s The Doomstar Requiem.

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