By Andrew Bansal
Stand-up comedian and co-host of VH1 Classic’s ‘That Metal Show’, Don Jamieson has been successfully blending the worlds of comedy and metal in the recent past, specially since signing to Metal Blade Records and putting out his debut album ‘Live & Hilarious’ in 2011. Now, he’s ready to release the follow-up to that album, the sophomore effort called ‘Hell Bent For Laughter’. Recorded in December 2013 at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club in Pleasant Beach, New Jersey and set to release on Tuesday March 18th via Metal Blade, this is Jamieson’s uninhibited take on music-related as well as daily life topics. A couple of days ago, I did a detailed interview with him to discuss this new album, live comedy shows, Metal Blade, That Metal Show, Ted Nugent, awkward moments and lots more. Enjoy this light-hearted yet insightful conversation below.
Don, it’s good to have you again on Metal Assault. Your new album is coming out on March 18th. It’s your second album, three years after the debut ‘Live & Hilarious’ that you put out. How are you feeling at this point?
I’m really psyched about it, man. I’m on Metal Blade once again, which is really killer. I’m proud of this album. I want it to win a Grammy this year!
How long have you actually collected the material that you’ve put on this album?
This is all from the last three years of my life. So it’s really focussed on my life now as opposed to ‘Live & Hilarious’ which I was very proud of, but it was really just the first 14 years of my life plus some current stuff that was happening at the time. This new album is pretty much about me now. But there’s nothing really that different. I’m like AC/DC. I play the same three chords, you know.
Right, but in a sense it’s fresher and more relevant with today’s time as compared to the previous one which was a summary of what you did in the past.
Yeah, exactly, like bands. They take many years to write their first album but then only two years to write the next one. I’m hoping I don’t get the sophomore jinx, but I’m really excited about it and I think it came out really great.
I listened to some of it and I noticed that there are more jokes about rock and metal, specially in the first half of the album. That’s good for all the metal fans.
Yeah, look, I had to really give a nod to all the metalheads and hard rockers out there who helped make my first album such a success. Because it’s such a big part of my life, how do I not talk about it? So yeah, there’s definitely a lot more music talk on this one than the last one.
You’ve been in comedy for a while but you’ve been really embraced by the metal community in recent years and it has clearly helped your comedy career, hasn’t it?
Oh, sure man. The thing is, all the people in the metal community that come out to the shows, I love that they support because I end up talking to fans after the show for like hours about music (laughs). You know how it is when you start talking to another metal fan about music, the time just flies by and the next thing you know, it’s two hours later and you’re hanging with this person you’ve never met before but you’ve just had this great conversation about music. So, that’s been a really fun thing and it’s cool to see couples come to shows and then a table full of guys with Slayer shirts and long hair.
One thing cool about the jokes on this album as well as the first one is that you haven’t held back from expressing anything. Isn’t that the most important aspect of comedy, not to be PC and cautious about anything?
Yeah, to me that’s what it’s all about. The comedy stage is kind of the last place where you could just say whatever you want. But in this day and age of fake outrage, everybody is looking to bust you on social media or whatever. The last place I got to express myself is on stage, so yeah, I totally went for it with this album. And being on Metal Blade, they’re not going to ask me to tone it down when they have bands like Cannibal Corpse on their label. So I didn’t even have to worry about that.
The other thing though is, you have the debut album out for a while and you’ll have this one out soon. So when you play shows, doesn’t that take a little bit of the surprise away because people have already heard your jokes on the albums?
No, because now I’m already working on new material. So, people will hear some of the stuff from ‘Hell Bent For Laughter’ when they see me live but there’s already new stuff in the works for the set. That’s kind of the idea when you do an album. You sort of just purge that material and start working on the new shit.
So you’re different from bands in that sense. You put out the album capturing the past few years, and you don’t need to tell those jokes all the time to promote the album at shows.
Yeah, exactly. It takes a while to develop a new headlining set. So people will hear a lot of material on this album. But the fun thing is, people find their favorite bits and when they come see me, they do want to hear them which is kind of nice. But yeah, it’s like the opposite to what a band does. When a comedy album is out, you want to just move on from that stuff. But you still want to give people the greatest hits. If you see Judas Priest, they’re going to play ‘Living After Midnight’ even though you’ve heard it a million times.
That’s true. You mentioned Metal Blade, and since you’ve been associated with them for the last three years, I’m sure you’ve had a better chance to check out their bands as well because you must be getting invites to their shows and get sent new music. What are your favorite Metal Blade bands at this point?
Well, I’m a huge Amon Amarth fan, so that’s been the biggest one on Metal Blade recently that I just really got into. I got to know the guys in the band pretty well. and those guys are just tremendous. I’m so psyched for all their success. Obviously I’d love to hear some new King Diamond music sooner than later, and I actually just got a download that they emailed me for this band called Mount Salem, which I really love. So I’m going to give that a few more listens. But yeah, it’s cool, man. The good thing is I actually love a lot of the bands on my label and everyone is really supportive. We all help each other out. If Exhumer puts out an album, I’ll tweet about it and then they’ll tweet when I put out an album. All the bands on the label are like that, so it’s really like a family now.
That’s very cool. So, talking a little bit about That Metal Show, it’s been going strong for the last five-plus years. But I wanted to ask you, what’s been your most awkward moment or interview you’ve had? I expect you to not hold back in this answer, just like you don’t hold back in your comedy.
(Laughs) Well, I love awkward moments. Those are the best moments for me. We have a guy like Marilyn Manson come on and he’s wasted on absinth, and I’m like, ‘This is going to be fun!’ When he came on our show a couple of seasons ago, it was a little bit like babysitting a five-year old, but at the end of the day it made for great TV and whether you love him or hate him, you’re going to tune in to see what he says because it’s no-holds-barred with him.
Right, and I think Biff Byford from Saxon was on that episode as well and he got a little uncomfortable with that whole thing.
What happened was, we had Biff on the ‘metal modem’ this season and we asked him about it, but he said everything was cool and that he was actually backstage testing out some of Manson’s potions with him (laughs).
I recently saw the Ted Nugent episode and I can honestly say that was the best TMS episode so far. What was that like? You didn’t really even have to do anything, and he was just talking all by himself for the whole hour anyway, right?
I heard him talking when he came into the building, he was already talking when he got to the studio and he didn’t stop till he was outside in his car. That was when I didn’t hear him talking anymore. What was great about Ted was, he was raring to go. I agree, I thought that was the best show we’ve ever done. The only thing we really had to do was to try and keep the conversation steered towards music. When you have a guy like him for 40 minutes, you don’t want to spend 20 of it on guns and shooting deer and stuff. So the only thing we wanted to do was keep it as much about his music. When you have a 40-year career like his, you’ve got to get into the songs.
That’s what people don’t focus on nearly enough with him, I feel.
Oh yeah, because they all want to rile him up as he’s a loose cannon. But if there’s one thing Ted loves to talk about, it’s Ted.
Exactly. When I interviewed him last year, he said, “If I wasn’t me, I would pay to go see me.”
(Laughs) When he came on the show and we asked him what was going on with him and the first thing he said was he was up all night snorting pussy, we knew it was going to be a good show.
The show has been back in New York this season. How is that going? Obviously it’s very different from the seasons you did in LA.
It’s cool to have it back in New York because I see people in the crowd that I went L’Amour in Brooklyn in 1986 with. So it’s fun to be back home and see some familiar faces, but most importantly for all the viewers, the current shows we tape on a Tuesday and they air on Saturdays, so we can talk about what’s going on in metal now. The day Motley Crue had their press conference about their final tour, it happened on the tape date so we talked about it and when it aired on the Saturday, it was something that people were talking about all week. And I got to make my statement about it that I didn’t believe they would retire. We talked about that on the show with Mick Mars (aired last Saturday). So it’s great that we can talk about really current stuff and that’s my favorite part of doing it.
That’s pretty cool for TV. It usually takes a while for episodes like that to be developed, edited and ready to be broadcast. Yours is so current, that’s the best part about it.
Yeah, I mean we all loved doing the show in LA too and it was great to get the frequent flyer miles in and order room service everyday but those shows took a few months to get on the air and by the time they did, whatever news happened at the time was old. So we’ll see what happens. May be we’ll end up going back and forth. Hopefully we’ll keep doing the show. It seems like people are enjoying this season, so I definitely think we’ll continue.
Aside from TMS, what plans do you personally have in terms of comedy shows and stuff like that?
Yeah, I got a bunch of ‘Hell Bent For Laughter’ tour dates that I’m doing and also Jim, Eddie and I did a speech show together that we’re taking out on the road. We’re going to Philly, Portland, Seattle and Mexico City where we have so many great fans. So people can come and check those shows out too. There’s a lot of stuff going on, man.
Visit Don Jamieson on the web:
DonJamieson.com
facebook.com/DonJamiesonOfficial
twitter.com/RealDonJamieson
youtube.com/DonJamiesonOfficial
Don Jamieson Tour Dates:
Stand-Up Comedy:
03/14 – New Hope, MN – New Hope Cinema Grill
03/15 – New Hope, MN – New Hope Cinema Grill
03/28 – Rochester, NY – The Joke Factory
03/29 – Rochester, NY – The Joke Factory
Don, Jim, and Ed from That Metal Show Live on Stage:
04/04 – Seattle, WA – Studio 7
04/05 – Portland, OR – Tonic Lounge
04/11 – Puebla, MX – McCarthy’s
04/12 – Ciudad de México, MX – Casino Life
Stand-Up Comedy:
04/26 – Poughkeepsie, NY – The Chance
Don, Jim, and Ed from That Metal Show Live on Stage:
05/03 – Wilmington, DE – Mojo 13
Stand-Up Comedy:
05/16 – Columbus, OH – Rock on the Range
05/17 – Columbus, OH – Rock on the Range
05/18 – Columbus, OH – Rock on the Range
05/21 – Point Pleasant, NJ – Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club
05/22 – Point Pleasant, NJ – Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club
05/23 – Point Pleasant, NJ – Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club
05/24 – Point Pleasant, NJ – Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club
05/25 – Point Pleasant, NJ – Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club