Bringing rich hard rock sounds and hilarious comedy to the stage, Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) is set to ring in the new year from the Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas with back-to-back nights on Dec. 30-31. Las Vegas Magazine’s Em Jurbala recently had a Zoom call with the duo.

You’ve played Vegas before; do you have any memories to share?

Jack Black: The first time we played Vegas, we actually opened for Beck. Beck invited us down to Vegas to play a concert and I love Beck. And Kyle likes Beck, so we went down and we made it super Vegas-ified. We did a little magic, we had stuffed animals for an animal training bit and we rocked extremely hard. It was just me and Kyle, and who was watching from the wings? Beck. Loving it.

JB: And another time we did that weird Miller Genuine Draft gig.

Kyle Gass: That’s the one.

JB: We’ll never do that again, the blind date. Sometimes it’s fun to play a show where you’re a surprise, then you can win the crowd over, which is generally a good time. But (for this show) they flew everyone in from all over the country on radio contests to fly into Vegas, drink as much Miller Genuine Draft as you wanted and then see probably your favorite band. You don’t know which band it is, but probably your favorite … Curtain goes up and it’s Tenacious D. Nobody knows us at the time, we’re just starting out, and then everyone, drunk as a skunk, was immediately like, “Boo, we hate you.” … We survived, and by the end only half the people were booing, so it was kind of a victory. Here we are 20 years later, still telling the story.

Wolves of Glendale are coming with you. What brought you together?

KG: I think (John) Spiker was working with the Cooties. We just got to know them and became mutual friends. Then the Cooties fell apart and then the Wolves of Glendale emerged. They’re some funny friends.

JB: John Spiker is our bass player and producer, so these guys were working with him. And then Kyle became best friends with them and said, “They are our opener,” and I was like “OK. I hope they’re good.” And I think they are really good. They’re legit funny.

What’s currently fueling your creative process?

KG: Well, some really strong French roast. I’ve been jamming a lot, trying to find some new sounds.

JB: Me and KG have started going out on vision quests. It’s called the AirBNB retreat method of songwriting. We do that. And I force myself to listen to music to try and get inspired. You know what I’ve been listening to that I like. This is nothing new. This was our opening music through all of the Post-Apocalypto tour, but ...

KG: Pink Floyd? The Wall?

JB: Yeah. This album is not funny at all, so I’m not getting any comic inspiration in there, but look at that sh*t dude. It’s great.

What do you do to nurture the chemistry that you two have?

KG: Well, it’s like a lifetime of bits. Competition, I think, fuels a lot of it, the comedy. But I think similar aesthetics and Jack’s hilarious. I just gotta keep up.

JB: No, we gotta come from love. We gotta stay together. That’s the main thing. Because most comic duos burn out in a fiery explosion and never speak to each other again. We found a way to stay together. That’s the key.

Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, axs.com

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