by Ryan Meehan
Metal Blade Records has boasted an awfully heavy lineup over the past couple of decades. They were home to Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Gwar, and recently they’ve released “Live and Hilarious” by a one Mr. Don Jamieson. A comedian with true steel roots, Don played an integral part in the developmental years of comedy of MTV, helping launch the careers of Jon Stewart, Kevin James and Pauly Shore (sorry). And he’s also this week’s guest in 5 Questions.
FOH: How did you get into standup?
DJ: It’s all (comedian & ‘That Metal Show’ co-host) Jim Florentine’s fault. I used to follow him around to all his stand-up gigs when he first started out which was nerve-wracking for him because he didn’t want the guy who booked comedians on MTV seeing all the crappy gigs he was doing in strip clubs and stuff. At the same time I was thinking, Damn I gotta do comedy! And pay me in singles please.
FOH: Best Motorhead song right off the top of your head without second guessing yourself?
DJ: ‘Orgasmatron’ It’s dirgy riff pounds it’s way into your head while Lemmy spits out lyrics about the spoils of war, sycophants and corrupt government. You know, easy listening sort of stuff. Plus it has the word orgasm in it which is always cool!
FOH: You’re a huge fan of all of these bands that are backed up by such a wall of sound, does that ever mess with your head when you get up there to do standup and you realize it’s just you without a band like Judas Priest standing behind you?
DJ: Well doing stand-up is as naked as you can be in public without getting arrested. It’s definitely the scariest thing you can do on stage but when it’s great, there’s nothing better. No pain, no gain. Plus you get to drink on the job!
FOH: Relapse, Roadrunner and Metal Blade Records have all released comedy records over the past five years. Do you see it becoming commonplace for some of these labels to branch out and start pressing comedy?
DJ: Yes I do because there’s always been such a connection between comedy and metal. There’s always been rock ‘n roll comics like Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinison and with the success of ‘That Metal Show’ I hope we are keeping that connection alive.
FOH: Could you tell us a little about Gunfire N’ Sodomy?
DJ: Yes, Gunfire-N-Sodomy is my acoustic death-metal band (yes acoustic) which I formed with a couple of old buds of mine and recently added Jerry Gaskill from Kings X on drums because we wanted an actual musician in the band. There’s actually a couple of our tracks at the end of my stand-up CD (sans drums) but you can still get a taste of what it’s all about – offensive, funny and well, offensive! Brian Slagel from Metal Blade says we’re the Tenacious D of death metal. And we recently opened for GWAR which was awesome.
FOH: Best new metal act over the past five years?
DJ: (I) Love Charred Walls of The Damned, Hellyeah, Black Country Communion, A Pale Horse Named Death, and Justin Bieber
FOH: What’s next for Don Jamieson in the 12 months that follow?
DJ: New season of ‘That Metal Show’ starting 11/11/11 at 11 (see how they did that), more gigs with the band and of course, doing stand-up in a town near you. Check www.donjamieson.com for all details. Thanks bro!
Make sure to tune into VH1 Classic to catch ‘That Metal Show’s exclusive interview with Axl Rose that will air November 11th at 11PM Eastern Time, and don’t forget to check the rest of the season for all of the Metal that you can handle.
Don on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donjamiesonofficial
Don on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/realdonjamieson
Don on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25gl87io5fg
Once again thanks for visiting First Order Historians and enjoying more of the internet’s finest in user generated content.
Meehan
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