Jim Breuer: Put your comedy horns up

An interview with comedy legend Jim Breuer

By Josh Drespling

Jim Breuer The Loud & Rowdy; Songs From The Garage

Comedy legend and the perpetually-stoned-looking-dude, Jim Breuer has further infiltrated the rock/metal community with his hilarious and exceptionally relatable album Songs from the Garage. On this album of old school metal and thrash Jim and his band, The Loud & Rowdy take on subjects such as raising girls and dreams of being a rock star. In addition to crafting comical and rockin’ songs the Saturday Night Live alum has guest spots by rock god Brain Johnson of AC/DC fame along with guitar and production by Rob Caggiano of Volbeat and Anthrax. Jim compliments the album with a stunning impersonation of Ozzy that makes you wonder if it really is Ozzy.

Breuer and his band have been touring the country doing a mix of music festivals and comedy clubs in support of the Songs from the Garage album. Empire Extreme was able to catch up with Jim and got the chance to chat with him about music, the album, paint, and Five Finger Death Punch.

JD: Congratulations on the new album, Songs from the Garage. You guys have been playing some of the big rock festivals, like Wacken and Rock on the Range, that has to be great for you as a rock and metal fan. How does it feel to be a part of those festivals being a comedian/ musician?

JB: It’s a serious adrenaline rush. It’s awesome seeing the other bands, especially when they are on the side of the stage watching you. Then you come off, and you got Ivan from Five Finger Death Punch, saying how awesome it was. That stuff is freaking awesome. We got a bunch of other shows to do. The more people are aware of it, the more they love it, and it’s just going to keep growing, and growing, and growing.

JD: How’s it feel to you being on those stages, or even a smaller venues, where you have kids or fans singing your lyrics back to you; some crazy thing you wrote in your bedroom at home?

JB: That has been one of the greatest feelings I ever had.  When I see someone mouthing every lyric to every song, which has happened recently in the last two weeks, that is such…. I can’t describe that feeling. They are running around, dancing around; it’s such an exciting feeling. I think I am hooked forever.

Jim Breuer: photo by Nathaniel Shannon

JD: How did you hook up with Rob Caggiano of Volbeat, formerly of Anthrax? How did that come to be?

JB: It was a total freak of nature. I didn’t know about him and Anthrax. What had happened was I was looking for producers, his management company came up. I just started looking at pictures of all the people Rob produced, and all I did was look at his head shot. Look at this guy with his knit hat, goatee, and it said he was born in the Bronx, and I was like this guy is going to get me! I didn’t look him up or nothing, just get me this guy, he is going to get me, and that’s how it all started.

JD: And he’s produced a ton of people, a lot of big named things and stuff…

JB: Yea, he is a brilliant producer, and I gave him full blown trust. If he wouldn’t have produced this album, it would have been a disaster. There’s no way anyone would have put in the time and the effort; and he still does. Every time he is done with a Volbeat (song) or a tour; he calls, he comes to the shows and tells me, ‘you need more of this, you need to do this, your guitar player needs to do this.’ He is so involved, and loves the album, and the project. I can’t thank him enough.

JD: That’s got to be a godsend. The Brian Johnson (AC/DC) thing, you had to of been in heaven when that fell into place? Can you give me the back story on that?

JB: I didn’t believe it; he came to see me in Florida, I believe it was last March. He said he wanted to be on the album. He said, ‘Seriously I want to be on the album.’ So I told him, I will call him and we will talk about it. I didn’t call him up. A couple months later he called and said ‘Come to New York I want to talk about the songs, I want to do this song.’ We were already in preproduction, and he came in the studio, we talked about doing the song. Then three months later we were in Florida, we were recording, and he showed up with a handheld microphone. He did it (his take) in the control room, he wouldn’t go into the recording room with all the glass, the way most singers do it. He didn’t even want to wear head phones. He stood there in front of two speakers in the control room, and sang like he was in concert. I think it took his part like twenty-five minutes and it took me like forty. It was unbelievable to watch him the way he recorded, it was like learning from a legend. It was unreal. I can’t put it into words, I can’t even describe it.

JD: Wow, that’s got to be an experience, something you will never forget?

JB: Yea, and he doesn’t want anything from it. He just wants me to prevail, and he wants me to just shine. That’s just the type of person that Brian is. He’s giving, he’s funny, he’s just such a great guy.

JD: That’s awesome. I read a little story about you getting James Hetfield’s approval on that thrash video, can you give me the story on that?

JB: When I sent it to him, he went immediately “This is awesome! Do I have permission to show all my family and friends?” I told him “Not yet, family yes, but just that since it wasn’t official just yet.” So I knew when he liked it, I was definitely on to something.

JD: The one song, “Be a Dick 2nite”, has been around forever. Can you tell us how it changed from back in the day to now the album version? How everything all came about?

JB: Well, it started many years ago. I used to tour with a band, I would stand up and rock, and I had these hooks that were mostly based on comedy. Then with that song, if I ever had a problem or a heckler, I would naturally go into lyrics of what that guy was doing, and what he was being that night. He was being a Dick. We played Shiprock, and Five Finger Death Punch was on, and I did Ivan from FFDP going over the rules of a ship, as the captain. We improved that song like being a D..I..C..K, and we just knew, we had to put one kind of funny song out there, and I just knew that this would be the one. The big jam, the big live piece, the big live anthem going on, it goes over very well live.

JD: Going back to the thrash video, was that your garage in the video or is that a stage set?

JB: Yea, that’s all my friends, some family, and everyone we knew, just got together. They all chipped in and made that video. It was nice and simple, just keep it in the garage, just the way I envisioned the song.

JD: Has anybody ever gotten mad about your impersonation of them?

JB: No, no rock guys, but Joe Pesci back in the day was a little grumpy about it, but he turned the corner once he saw I was a big fan. Besides that, the rock guys seem to love it, of all the rock guys; I never heard a major complaint. Lars Ulrich is cool… James Hetfield, I haven’t heard from Ozzy but everyone has been great.

JD: Can you tell me a little bit about The Breuer Unleashed on Sirius? What that show is all about?

JB: That was years ago, we don’t do it anymore. Now it’s podcast, it’s called Metal and Me Podcast. The Breuer Unleashed was 2004 to 2008 maybe. Although it was pretty revolutionary, because it was me and the friends I grew up with, and a comedian Pete Correale, we were best friends. It was kind of like Entourage, the real life Entourage.

JD: With a comedy twist right?

JB: Yea, and we would do bands, we would have metal bands on. It was pretty awesome.

JD: Growing up I heard you worked at Sears selling paint; do you have any anecdotes about that, from working in retail and dealing with people?

JB: Well yea, there’s a killer one go to the YouTube video of This Is Not Happening, it’s on Comedy Central. There’s a huge famous story of me calling in an accidental bomb threat.  It is huge, it’s on YouTube, just punch in, Jim Breuer long lived Sears paint story.

JD: One more question and then we will wrap up. What was your biggest metal or music moment? Was there a song, or something where you were like, ‘yes that’s it’ kind of moment?

JB: Umm… You Got Another Thing Coming by Judas Priest, was my gateway to everything. That was my anthem as a teenager, and I never looked back.

JD: So you are a Priest fan through and through?

JB: Huge Priest fan yea.

JD: Do you have anything else going on, any other projects you want to put out there?

JB: Yes… the album, the album, the album. The more people hear it, the more they love it. This is the number one thing, my biggest passion going on for me is this album. I love it, I love when people discover it, and I have so much confidence in it when people hear it.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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