The Tejon Theatre, Bakersfield, California, December 15, 1995. Tenacious D are staring out at a sea of raging hostility and wondering what the hell they’re doing here.
This is not how it was supposed to be. The pair – Jack Black and Kyle Gass – have spent the past few months building a cult following in their hometown of Los Angeles with an act that combines comedy sketches and offbeat acoustic songs that celebrate their love of metal, sex and inter-band politics. The conceit is that Tenacious D believe they are the best band in the world, and they play every show as if they are headlining a football stadium. That both Jack and Kyle have serious acting chops alongside serious songwriting skills is essential to selling this gag.
Among their early supporters is Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, who has invited Tenacious D to open for his band for three shows, starting with this one. Unfortunately, it’s falling well short of the transcendent comedic triumph that all parties have envisioned. Right now, armed only with acoustic guitars and an arsenal of gags, Jack and Kyle are facing a barrage of venomous cheers from an audience primed for the concussive barrage of Tool.
“I didn’t feel like we weren’t ready for prime time,” says Jack today. “I just felt like, ‘Oh, this is what happens when we don’t go to the right audience.’ We know Tool. Tool’s great, but that crowd – they came for Tool or you better be a lot like Tool. Ha ha!
We were a lot softer than Tool. We came out playing Jesus Ranch and they were like, ‘What?!’”
Shaken but resolute, Tenacious D finish that night’s set and the two remaining support slots as well. This is more than just a baptism of fire, it’s another in a string of progressively bigger challenges that the two men will face, galvanising their confidence and becoming a crucial waystation on the most unlikely heavy metal odyssey in history.
Because here’s the dirty little secret about Tenacious D – when they take the stage, pretending to be the best band in the world, in that moment there’s a part of them that really means it.
n the beginning, there was no Tenacious D, just a pair of would-be actors crossing
