by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Dude, every Canadian metallist worth his mullet is totally stoked about FUBAR, the like, totally fake documentary about these two headbangin’ Prairie dudes, Dean and Terry, that came out earlier this year. It’s fuckin’ rad, they’re totally rockin’ and partyin’ and shotgunning beers, eh, but then Dean gets cancer in his fuckin’ nutsack, fuck. Harsh tokes, there, lil’ Deaner. Anyway, they got a DVD comin’ out like, right now, and like that metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Täp, the movie has spawned a touring band. Creep’r, who did a lot of FUBAR’s music because they couldn’t afford too many Maiden tunes, features the Deaner on bass—or rather, Paul Spence, the Montreal-based thespian who chatted with the Mirror about taking FUBAR on the road.

Mirror: We profiled FUBAR last May, just before its general theatrical release. It had already gotten positive reactions at film festivals, but how has it done since then?

Paul Spence: It’s interesting how it did in little towns. Like Lethbridge, Alberta—I don’t know if you’ve heard of it—it sold out there for two weeks straight. I think it played at the library (laughs). That kind of thing was quite surprising. It made the biggest splash in, of all places, Victoria, B.C., for whatever reason. That was pretty much our most ridiculous show. People were insane. The standard thing to do was to bring two beers, crack one at the top of the movie and crack one later on. The woman at the cinema had to start putting up warnings, asking people to take their beers after, because they were spending a half-hour after the movie cleaning up beer and condoms.

M: The DVD’s coming out, as well.

PS: The DVD’s being released in Canada exclusively, right now. The only other place it’s set to come out is England, probably within a couple of months. It showed at the Raindance festival there, and apparently it did really, really well. I’m interested to see what the mass audience thinks, because festival audiences are more likely to get the low-budget thing, or at least be a little more forgiving.

The lightning god laughs

M: What about the Germans?

PS: I have a feeling the Germans would love this thing. I think about how we equate music and the success of FUBAR—if music is any indication, rock is huge out there, so something like FUBAR might do pretty good too. We were pretty cognizant of the how real headbangers would react.

M: Every metalhead I know has Spinal Tap on his or her shelf, which is indicative of the fact that woodies, or heshers or metallists or bangers or whatever, seem to be about the only musical subculture that can actually laugh at themselves.

PS: It’s true. I think about a guy like Thor. His lyrics are crazy, and yet you talk to him after the show and he’s like, “Yeah, I did a really good show, I think ‘Thunder on the Tundra’ went off tonight.” But he’s also kinda got a smile on his face, because he knows it’s kinda funny to be waving a sword at the audience. He’s putting on a show—hard rock is about stage presence and showmanship. There’s not a lot of posing. This is what they do.

M: Have you met a lot of headbangers who are like, “Duuuuude!”

PS: They’re like, “Aw, man… I fuckin’ loved your fuckin’ movie. I just had to say that.” Then they just stand there and look at me. So I’m like, “Uh, alright… cool.”

Sing along with Sabbath

M: What does Terry & Dean’s Headbanging Roadtour involve?

PS: Terry and Dean open the show, do a little talk and tell people what’s going on. Then we do some Full Metal Karaoke. We get whoever wants to come up on stage to do karaoke, except there’s no Barbara Streisand or fuckin’ Elvis. It’s all rock. For people of discriminating tastes, that is the ideal karaoke. People can come up and do their favourite Black Sabbath song, or their favourite Van Halen, AC/DC or Kick Axe. Then Creep’r come up—it’s interesting, we kinda open for ourselves, doing a warm-up. Then Terry and Dean do some shotgun competitions and give away prizes for headbangin’ costumes, loudest screams, best rock kicks, that sorta stuff. Then Creep’r closes out with a 40-minute rock set.

M: I guess you still have the wigs, eh?

PS: Yeah, that’s the funny thing. Everyone wants to see Terry and Dean. They know the movie’s fake, they know Terry and Dean aren’t real, but they totally want to see them anyway.

M: What are you guys working on now?

PS: We’re living in Montreal now. The three of us who made FUBAR, we’re writing our next project. I’ll just say that it’s a comedy about a cult. It’ll be shot in a similar style. We’re shooting for a bigger budget, but basically it’ll be the same thing, a lot of improv-style acting. Hopefully we’ll be able to stick to what made the first one work. :

Terry & Dean’s Headbanging Roadshow is at
Café Campus on Saturday, Nov. 16, 9pm, $6.50

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