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48-403: Brendon Small (born February 15, 1975) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer, director, producer, and musician who is known for co-creating the animated series Home Movies (1999–2004, with Loren Bouchard ) and Metalocalypse (2006–2013, with Tommy Blacha ). He also writes the music, and is the main performer for the fictional melodic death metal band Dethklok , which began as

96-444: A 2013 special, Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem . The series focused on a fictional melodic death metal band named Dethklok , and each episode features a song performed by the band. In addition to writing, directing and executive producing the series, he also provided voice talent for the characters Skwisgaar Skwigelf , Pickles , and Nathan Explosion , three of the five members of Dethklok. Small has stated that while animation

144-518: A child-friendly show, shifted its target group to ages 12 and up, resulting in a darker and more mature storyline. Animated film theatrical series include all early animated series: Animated Weekly (1913), The Newlyweds (1913 — 1915), Travelaughs (1913, 1915 — 1918, 1921 — 1923), Doc Yak (1913 — 1915), Colonel Heeza Liar (1913 — 1917, 1922 — 1924), Kapten Grogg  [ sv ] (1916 — 1922), Les Aventures des Pieds Nickelés (1917 — 1918),

192-684: A column for Premier Guitar regarding his guitar techniques. Small appeared on Ken Reid 's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast on May 15, 2015, as part of the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, Oregon . Small has frequently performed stand-up comedy, first in Boston , before moving to the Los Angeles area, where he performs now. Small was one of the hosts (along with Ron Lynch and Craig Anton ) of The Tomorrow Show ,

240-800: A dog named Ernie (a Weimaraner ) that died in January 2014. He has since gotten a new dog named Gilda, also a Weimaraner. Small is of Lithuanian descent. Small married interior designer Courtney Bates in 2014. Animated series Animated television series are presented daily or on certain days of the week during a prescribed time slot , including for example saturday-morning cartoons , prime time cartoons , late night anime , and weekday cartoons ; series broadcast only on weekends. The duration of an episode also varies. Traditionally, they are produced as complete half-hour or nearly half-hour programs; however, many are presented as animated shorts of 10 — 11 minutes, which can be combined for filling

288-520: A guitar made to his own specifications, and modeled after Skwisgaar's Gibson Explorer. A limited edition Epiphone "Thunderhorse" Explorer, based on the Gibson "Thunderhorse" Explorer, was introduced in early 2013. In May 2012, Small introduced the prototype for the Gibson Flying V "Snow Falcon", built to his own specifications, and modeled after Toki Wartooth's Gibson Flying V. The final version of

336-725: A live weekly musical and comedic variety show; in his off-time, Small still occasionally appears as a guest. One of his prominent forms of stand-up is character comedy, where he acts out a character he created. Some of the characters he has played are Captain Moustache, Victor Diamond, Tiny and Bernie Fretts, all of which he has performed as in the comedy podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! . In recent years, Small's time has become booked from his music and television career, but he still occasionally performs stand-up at venues such as The Steve Allen Theater , The Ice House and The Baked Potato . Small credits Monty Python , Albert Brooks , Woody Allen and

384-598: A local station of a television network broadcasts an animated series as a part of its own programming, the time-slot will vary by region. All early animated television series, the first being Crusader Rabbit (1950 — 1959), are comic cartoon series. However, later series include sports ( Speed Racer , Captain Tsubasa , Slam Dunk ), action ( Hajime no Ippo , G.I. Joe ), science fiction ( Mobile Suit Gundam , Tenchi Muyo ), drama ( Neon Genesis Evangelion ), adventure ( Dragon Ball ), martial arts ( Baki

432-555: A new sound, including the death 'n' roll of Entombed 's Wolverine Blues . At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul influenced many American metal bands, especially metalcore bands who used guitar riffs and vocals emulating At the Gates' music. The vocals also were noted by AllMusic for being more decipherable than other death metal vocals, resembling high-pitched shrieks that foreshadowed 2000s American screamo bands. The album brought At

480-460: A set time period in "segments", including several such shorts. When advertising is taken into account, the cartoon itself may be only 15 — 20 minutes of the half hour, although Netflix and many other streaming companies do not show commercials. There are also series with a very short episodes lasting approximately five minutes; they have recently become more common in Japanese animation . If

528-692: Is a soundtrack album to the Metalocalypse special of the same name . The album featured Hoglan on drums, Beller performing guest bass on a track, and Mike Keneally performing guest vocals. Small released his second album, Brendon Small's Galaktikon II , in 2017. In 2021, Small released a new instrumental song, "Ghosthorse," to promote his new Epiphone signature model guitar, the GhostHorse Explorer. In 2012, Small self-released his solo album, Brendon Small's Galaktikon , independently on his personal record label BS Records. He funded

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576-459: Is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs , often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal ). The genre features the heaviness of death metal but with highly melodic or harmonized guitar riffs and solos, and often features high-pitched shrieked vocals (differing from traditional death metal) alongside the low-pitched growls commonly featured in traditional death metal. Pioneered by

624-430: Is his dream job, he does not really like watching animation that much. In 2007 and 2009, Small hosted the annual Guitar Superstar competition; in 2008, he was one of the judges. In 2010, Small directed Soundgarden 's music video for " Black Rain ", and The Damned Things ' music video for "We've Got a Situation Here". Small's virtual band Dethklok appeared, via video, at the 2009 Golden Gods Awards. The band received

672-490: Is more prone to using verse-chorus song structures. Much of the origin and popularity of melodic death metal can be attributed to the bands At the Gates , In Flames , and Dark Tranquillity , whose mid 1990s music releases (namely Slaughter of the Soul , The Jester Race , and The Gallery , respectively) defined the genre and laid the foundation for the Gothenburg metal scene. Writer Gary Sharpe-Young considered

720-663: The Billboard 200 , making it the highest charting death metal album in history, beating the first Dethalbum . A tour in support of the new album began in late 2009, where Dethklok co-headlined with the band Mastodon . Small performed guest vocals as Nathan Explosion on the Zimmers Hole song "The Vowel Song". Small contributed guitar work to the songs "Devils Teeth" from Exodus 's album Exhibit B: The Human Condition , as well as "More Metal Than You" from comedian Brian Posehn 's album Fart and Wiener Jokes . Small created

768-757: The Tom and Jerry cartoon short films released in movie theatres from 1940 to 1967, and many others. Direct-to-video animated series include most Japanese original video animations (OVAs). The first OVA series (and also the first overall OVA) was Dallos (1983 — 1985). Almost all hentai (pornographic) anime series are released as OVAs. Animated web series are designed and produced for streaming services . Examples include Happy Tree Friends (1999 — 2023) and Eddsworld (2003 — present). They can also be released on YouTube , such as Asdfmovie , which debuted in 2008. Melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath )

816-648: The BET animated sitcom, Hey Monie! , and has voiced many supporting characters in The Venture Bros. , including that show's shell shocked and drug-addicted version of Jonny Quest . Small has had cameo roles in Aqua Teen Hunger Force , Squidbillies , Reno 911! and Frisky Dingo . Small, along with Scott Adsit , appeared as lead characters of the Adult Swim pilot Let's Fish ;

864-697: The Marx Brothers as his biggest comedy influences. Small wrote all the music for the show Home Movies , and released all the songs he had written for the show on the Home Movies : Bonus CD . The CD was included with purchase of the Season 4 DVD box set. He wrote all the music for Metalocalypse . In September 2007, he completed work on the first Dethklok album, The Dethalbum , on which he collaborated with Gene Hoglan to deliver an authentic melodic death metal sound while simultaneously retaining

912-527: The New Wave of British Heavy Metal , especially melodic or harmonized guitar riffs, with the heavily distorted guitars, fast double-bass drum patterns and occasional blast beats of death metal . The vocal style typically features either high-pitched shrieks screaming (differing from traditional death metal) or low-pitched growling (similar to traditional death metal) and can feature clean sung vocals. Unlike traditional death metal, melodic death metal

960-698: The "Murder Mix" of the song "Liar" by Emilie Autumn from the Liar/Dead Is the New Alive EP. Small performed the solo for the song "Get It Up" ( Van Halen cover) on Sylencers ' debut album A Lethal Dose of Truth . Small performs a guitar solo on the song "Let's Make Out" on the Sex Slaves album Call of the Wild . In early 2011, Small introduced the Dethklok "Thunderhorse" Explorer from Gibson ,

1008-478: The 1990s, more mature content than those of traditional cartoon series began to appear more widely, extending beyond a primary audience of children. These cartoon series included The Simpsons , South Park , Family Guy , Futurama , The Ren & Stimpy Show , Rocko's Modern Life , Beavis and Butt-Head , King of the Hill , and Duckman . Canadian computer-animated series ReBoot , which began as

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1056-401: The 2000s decade, melodic death metal achieved popularity among heavy metal fans, starting with the release of In Flames' 2002 album Reroute to Remain , which showed a change to a more eclectic sound while retaining the band's melodic death metal sound. Many other melodic death metal bands quickly had chart success. In the mid-2000s, melodic metalcore , a subgenre of metalcore that combines

1104-422: The 2000s decade. In the mid–late 2000s, melodic metalcore became one of the most popular heavy metal genres, with bands like Killswitch Engage , Unearth , Bullet for My Valentine , All That Remains , Shadows Fall and Atreyu achieving success, headlining major festivals and selling a lot of records. Melodic metalcore combined melodic death metal elements like melodic guitar riffs and screaming with elements of

1152-574: The English heavy metal band Carcass with their 1993 album Heartwork , melodic death metal developed further in Sweden (developed by bands like At the Gates , Dark Tranquillity , and In Flames ) in the mid-1990s. The Swedish death metal scene did much to popularise the style, soon centering in the " Gothenburg metal " scene. At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul , Dark Tranquillity's The Gallery , and In Flames' The Jester Race , all released in

1200-676: The Gates underground popularity, including rotation on MTV 's Headbanger's Ball , a nomination at the Swedish Grammys, and American tours with Morbid Angel and Napalm Death . In the late 1990s and early 2000s, melodic death metal quickly expanded with many bands emerging, including Amon Amarth , The Black Dahlia Murder , Arch Enemy , Soilwork , Insomnium , and Children of Bodom . Additionally, other genres would begin using melodic death metal as an influence, including melodic metalcore and melodic black/death. Stewart Mason claims that melodic metalcore has become very popular in

1248-478: The Gates worship". In the 2000s, melodic death metal became popular among heavy metal fans. In 2002, In Flames' album Reroute to Remain peaked at number 10 on the Top Heatseekers chart. The album, retaining the band's melodic death metal sound, showed a diverse mix of different musical genres, including occasional electronica and hip hop synthesizers and occasional clean singing. This helped gain

1296-545: The Gothenburg scene the commercial salvation of death metal: "Gothenburg became the new Tampa and the genre received a new lease on life." The titular melodic elements can be traced to traditional Scandinavian musical motifs. Another pioneer was the English band Carcass , which performed grindcore on its first two releases but morphed into death metal and an increasingly melodic style on the Necroticism – Descanting

1344-459: The Grappler ), and other genres. The first animated sitcom was The Flintstones (1960 — 1966), produced by Hanna-Barbera . It was followed by other sitcoms of this studio: Top Cat (1961 — 1962), Jonny Quest (1964 — 1965), The Jetsons (1962 — 1963, 1985, 1987) and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (1972 — 1974), an adult-oriented animated series in

1392-693: The Insalubrious (1991) and Heartwork (1993). Death 's 1995 album Symbolic is also considered to be influential in the development of the genre. Ceremonial Oath and Eucharist also are early melodic death metal bands; however, they never gained much attention outside of their own scene. In Flames' The Jester Race combined death metal with guitar riffs heavily influenced by bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest . The album's sound heavily contrasted with traditional death metal, and made Swedish death metal more accessible to more people compared to other Swedish death metal albums that pioneered

1440-577: The Trail of Dead . The quartet reunited in 2008 to headline a longer "Dethtour", where they toured the US in June and early July with fellow metal bands Chimaira and Soilent Green . During the tour they released the ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead/Dethklok split EP for free at the concerts. The second Dethklok album, Dethalbum II , was released on September 29, 2009. Dethalbum II reached No. 15 on

1488-487: The United States, using the term "Swedecore" to describe Scandinavian-style metal as played by non- Nordic bands. Many melodic death metal and metalcore bands (especially after melodic metalcore band Killswitch Engage rose in popularity) were heavily influenced by Slaughter of the Soul by At the Gates and had an influence of them in their music. Many heavy metal bands in the mid-2000s, in turn, were labeled "At

Brendon Small - Misplaced Pages Continue

1536-640: The album himself, and used all of the profits he received from the album to fund future projects. In 2013, as there was no demand from Cartoon Network's Williams Street Records for another Dethklok album, Small released the fourth Dethklok album, The Doomstar Requiem (the soundtrack to the TV special of the same name), on BS Records instead. He stated at the time that he wanted to keep Dethklok's music going regardless of whether it would be financially beneficial to him. Small currently resides in Los Angeles. He had

1584-432: The award for Best International Band. At the 2010 Golden Gods Awards, Small attended and performed with Brian Posehn 's band and introduced Fear Factory 's set. At the 2011 Golden Gods Awards, Small attended and introduced DevilDriver 's set. Small attended the 2012 Golden Gods Awards and introduced Trivium 's set. He was nominated for best guitarist at the 2013 Golden Gods Awards but did not win. In May 2014, Small wrote

1632-472: The band a new amount of fans while alienating fans of In Flames' early work. In Flames' next two albums, Soundtrack to Your Escape (2004) and Come Clarity (2006), peaked at numbers 145 and 58 on the Billboard 200 , respectively, with the latter album giving In Flames a Swedish Grammy Award. The Black Dahlia Murder, Arch Enemy, Children of Bodom, and Amon Amarth also enter the Billboard 200 during

1680-617: The first time at "WesFest 8" on March 3, 2013, in West Hollywood , California. On April 29, 2012, Small started a weekly guitar lesson video series on the Adult Swim YouTube channel, entitled "Shreducation", which consisted of 12 installments. Small, Beller and Hoglan got together to work on the third Dethklok album, Dethalbum III , which was released on October 16, 2012. Small released a fourth Dethklok album, entitled The Doomstar Requiem , on October 29, 2013, which

1728-461: The future. Small posed for a pictorial that appeared in the April 2006 issue of Playgirl magazine, as part of a humor-themed issue. Small posed naked holding a medieval flail and a strategically placed metal shield that hid his genitals. Small served as co-producer, co-writer and composer for the Adult Swim animated series Metalocalypse , which ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2012, along with

1776-610: The genre with melodic death metal, achieved popularity with the chart success and sales success of bands like Killswitch Engage , All That Remains , and As I Lay Dying . Deathcore bands during this time period like Bring Me the Horizon and Through the Eyes of the Dead also were influenced by melodic death metal and achieved popularity. Melodic death metal combines death metal with elements of traditional heavy metal ranging as far as

1824-428: The genre would incorporate an increased sense of melody and narrative. Melodic metalcore is a fusion genre, incorporating elements of metalcore and melodic death metal, with a heavy emphasis on melodic instrumentation, blast beats , metalcore-stylized breakdowns and clean singing . These bands often take influence from the guitar riffs and writing styles of Swedish melodic death metal bands, especially At

1872-437: The guitar was released on December 13, 2013. In April 2012, Small released his debut solo album, Brendon Small's Galaktikon . The album featured Dethklok members Beller on bass and Hoglan on drums. Small described the album as a "high-stakes, intergalactic, extreme rock album" and described it as being similar to Dethklok but with more melodic vocals and rock elements. Small performed songs from Brendon Small's Galaktikon for

1920-487: The guitar. It would be another ten years before he was comfortable performing in public. He graduated from Palma High School in Salinas, California . He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1997. During his music studies, he took several writing and comedy classes at Emerson College . After graduating, he felt that the rock music genre was fading in popularity, so decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy. Small

1968-534: The light-hearted nature with which Small portrays the heavy metal genre. The album debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 , making it the highest-ranked death metal album on the Billboard at the time. In November 2007, Small, Hoglan, Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller performed live as Dethklok at twelve US college campuses in support of The Dethalbum . The Adult Swim -sponsored "Dethtour" featured Dethklok supporting indie rock band ...And You Will Know Us by

Brendon Small - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-500: The mid-1990s, were highly influential albums in melodic death metal, with At the Gates and In Flames being the two most common influences on North American 2000s heavy metal bands. Many American heavy metal bands emulated At the Gates' sound, resulting in the usage of the phrase "At the Gates worship". In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many melodic death metal bands emerged, including Children of Bodom , Arch Enemy , Amon Amarth , The Black Dahlia Murder , Insomnium , and Soilwork . In

2064-685: The original style of metalcore like breakdowns . At the Gates and In Flames were major influences on these bands. Killswitch Engage are often credited as the band that brought melodic metalcore into the mainstream among heavy metal fans. Some deathcore bands during this time, such as Through the Eyes of the Dead and Bring Me the Horizon , combined deathcore with melodic death metal. Many melodic death metal bands began being inspired by black metal and European romanticism . This style has been referred to as blackened melodic death metal , melodic blackened death metal and melodic black-death . However, unlike most other black metal, this take on

2112-486: The show's pilot premiered on May 13, 2007, but the series was not picked up. In April 2005, the Sci Fi Channel announced an upcoming debut of a half-hour animated ensemble comedy show created by Small titled Barbarian Chronicles . The show, which has not aired, was said to be produced by Small and Worldwide Pants Incorporated . Small has said that there are no plans to air the show but that anything can happen in

2160-1046: The style of All in the Family . The Alvin Show from Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and Beany and Cecil from Bob Clampett are also sitcoms. The 1980s and 1990s were a renaissance of the animated children and adult television series. Various broadcast networks and media companies began creating television channels and formats designed specifically for airing cartoon and anime series. Companies that already had these types of formats in place began to revamp their existing models during this time. Most of this animations were American-based or Japanese anime. Listed below are examples of television networks and channels that include animated programs. American British Japanese Canadian Australian Examples of animation-focused networks and channels are listed below; but some of them aired live-action programs occasionally. American South Korean Canadian Japanese During

2208-577: The subject of Metalocalypse but has taken on a life of its own, with four albums and an occasional live touring band, headed by Small. Small has also released two albums under his own name, in a similar musical style to Dethklok. Small was born in Illinois in 1975. He moved to California as a child. Small started learning guitar at the age of 14 after a kid in his neighborhood began teaching him about guitar and music. At his first public performance, his hands shook so wildly that he had trouble controlling

2256-414: Was one of the show's writers, while Bouchard served as the director. In the series, he voiced the show's protagonist, eight-year-old aspiring filmmaker Brendon Small, as well as a number of other characters. Small composed the show's theme music, as well as writing and performing numerous other songs for the show's soundtrack. Small lent his voice to a number of other animated shows. He co-starred as Chad in

2304-602: Was performing stand up at The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square when he was spotted by Loren Bouchard , who at the time was casting for the central character for a UPN pilot produced by Tom Snyder Productions , which eventually evolved into Home Movies . Small and Bouchard co-created Home Movies , an animated series that initially aired on the UPN television network which moved to Cartoon Network 's Adult Swim block. The series ran for four seasons from 1999 to 2004. Small

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