Jason Momoa On 'Minecraft', Metal And Hosting Sabbath's Final Gig

NME

The biggest metalhead in Hollywood, Jason Momoa runs through his favourite live music moments – and teases his presenter job at Black Sabbath's last ever show this summer.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Alex from NME and I'm thrilled to be joined by Hollywood's biggest metalhead,

00:20it's only Jason Momoa.

00:21How are we doing?

00:22Very well, thank you.

00:23So Minecraft is the meeting of two music obsessed actors, yourself and Jack Black.

00:29I heard that you played live together at the wrap party, how did it go?

00:32It was amazing man, it was, you know, I started a band with some friends and we were just,

00:38you know, we do covers and stuff like that and it was just kind of fun and Jack was like

00:42let's do something together and he did Sabbath, he played, he was like let's do Wizard.

00:47You could just see him doing like, I need money.

00:51So he was, it was pretty epic and then he did, we had him do For Whom The Bell Tolls

00:58Oh yeah, because I know you played that previously didn't you?

01:01Yeah, so I wanted him to do For Whom The Bell Tolls, so, but that was definitely a dream

01:05come true, I wasn't sure if he'd get up but he's, yeah, absolutely.

01:09One of my favourite comments on that video is, it says, is this the remake of Arnie and

01:14DeVito's Twins?

01:15Yeah, there you go, I'd be the, I'd be DeVito.

01:19I mean it was, yeah.

01:21I also found this video of you, because I know you're a big Metallica fan and you've

01:24introduced them on stage at this gig, but afterwards you got in the front row and this

01:30video, you're headbanging so hard that security asked you to calm down.

01:34Now I just want you to watch the video just to confirm that it is actually you, but, is

01:39that you?

01:41That's, that's me, there's my son, yeah, son of my son and my daughter, yeah, me and my

01:48son and my daughter, yep.

01:50I mean that's pretty cool, tell me the story of how you moved.

01:53It was for a charity and it was really beautiful, it's for, they're all within my hands and

01:58obviously I had the honour of introducing them, they're, I'm huge fans of Metallica

02:02and friends now with some of them and so, got to go out and talk about it and then we're

02:08like in these seats and it's, it's charity based so it's like everyone has the couches

02:12and it's really nice.

02:13I was like, it's the last song and I was just like, fuck it, I mean my kids just stormed

02:17the front and we're just like, yeah, so we just started jamming out in front but, yeah,

02:23I just love them.

02:24Because there's some clips of you in a circle pit, I think it's a different gig.

02:27Yeah, it was a different gig.

02:29But I wanted to ask, how do people react when they see Jason Moore suddenly charging past

02:33in a circle pit?

02:34They, they, they get happy, yeah, we have a good time.

02:37You also got to sing live with Pantera on stage at Wembley Arena.

02:40Yeah.

02:41I've got a picture actually.

02:42It's crazy, my friends just did, yeah, but, yeah, it feels like you're coming up, I'm

02:46like, alright, we're doing it, if they'll ask you to come up, you're going up.

02:49Do you get nervous?

02:50Yeah, yeah, it's a little, yeah, it's a little awkward but at the same time I'm like, dude,

02:55it's Pantera, I love them.

02:56Is there a band that you would love to play live on stage with, if you could pick one?

03:00If I could play on stage with them?

03:01Yeah, sing, whatever you want to do.

03:03They're not a band anymore but Rage Against The Machines was like a huge, I wanted to

03:07see them on their tour and it just didn't end up working out but, I'm going to the greatest

03:11show in the world here in a minute, we're going to be up at, I think it's July 5th,

03:15I'll be doing Sabbath.

03:16Oh, amazing.

03:17And so I'll be hosting, you know, Metallica and Slayer and Guns N' Roses.

03:23The final show, right.

03:24Final show.

03:25So I get to host, Sharon asked me to host, I was blown away.

03:28Have you ever met Ozzy as well?

03:30I haven't, I, you know, I was going to go to his last show in 2017 after I finished

03:35Aquaman and something happened at home and I needed to fly home for my kids and I missed

03:40the last show and I was going to be in Birmingham, I was pretty bummed out about it but, you

03:45know, I needed dad duties and it turns out Ozzy came out with an album and he wasn't

03:52feeling too well and so they asked if I wanted to do the video for him for Little Green Men

03:58and so I got to do that video for him and be helpful and then now I was like, you know,

04:04the opportunity to host, I don't know how I'm going to host but we'll figure it out.

04:08You're going to have to wear some makeup.

04:10I don't know, I'm just so excited to be there so, it was funny because I was begging for

04:14tickets and now I turn out to be hosting so, it's a weird world.

04:18Welcome to the stash, TNT, firework rockets, also good for propulsion, boots of swiftness,

04:26diamond armour, full set and blades for days, everything will need to make it to Woodland

04:32Mansion.

04:33Woah.

04:34We ask everyone this but what's an album that you always go back to?

04:38If you had to pick one album, maybe you're on a desert island, you can only take one,

04:42what is it?

04:43Right now, I'd take Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath, first album.

04:46Yeah, do you remember when you first listened to that when you were a teenager?

04:49Yeah, but that's the, it just introduced me to everything, Black Sabbath drops and then

04:54just when you hear Planet Caravan and NIB and there's just so many, it just kind of

04:59blows your mind, we're like, this came out in what, 70?

05:01And then they came out with Paranoid, I think they came out with those two albums in one

05:05year, in one year they dropped both of those.

05:09Don't quote me on that but I do want to think it's like 70 or 71 or something, it's like

05:12Paranoid, I mean Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath and then Paranoid, you're like, two albums,

05:18one year, the masterpieces.

05:20What kind of posters did you have when you were a kid?

05:24I mean, Talcum Guns and Roses, Sabbath, it's the same stuff I have now, I'm kind of a creature

05:31habit, I still listen to all those songs every day.

05:34Because obviously Jack Black has talked about these same bands for years and years, did

05:38you ever have arguments on set about albums or a band that you like more than him?

05:42No, you know what actually Jack turned me on to is he likes to, he listens to a lot

05:48on his headphones but now what he's decided to do is pick a musician and do their whole

05:55catalogue in order.

05:58So I think he did like Billy Joel and he just listened to the whole thing from the first

06:03song to his last album and listened to everything in catalogue form and how they were designed,

06:07I thought that was really cool, if you want to really know someone, listen to everything

06:10but do it in catalogue form.

06:11That's such a funny thing because obviously he'd be in his trailer and someone might say,

06:14where's Jack?

06:15And you'd say, oh he's just listening to Billy Joel.

06:16Yeah, he's rocking out to Billy Joel right now.

06:18Last question then, Minecraft has a pretty cool song with Jack Black and Dave Grohl of

06:24course.

06:25It actually just came on the way to set and he's like, we're doing this, so I didn't even

06:28know what we were doing at that last scene, like right on the day.

06:33What is it like when you two have to sort of riff with each other?

06:36Is it lots improvised or do you block it out immediately beforehand and like really

06:40fine detail?

06:42We're, I mean Jared really encourages the, we'll improv some, we'll do the script and

06:48then we'll improv some, but like yeah, we just kind of go back and forth and support

06:52each other.

06:52Was there anything that you asked to change in any of the scenes?

06:55We kind of got the script really in a good place before we started shooting, so we had

06:58so much time, so I kind of felt like everything was there.

07:01Because I thought definitely some of the scenes where you're talking in Spanish, and obviously

07:05it's wrong, but you might have been like, well I'll just say some Spanish words.

07:08Some of those were in there, some of those were in there, some of those weren't, but

07:11I did that because my girlfriend's, I mean she obviously is...

07:15She must have been horrified.

07:16It was more of a joke to her, I think it's just funny that he says whatever and he just

07:20has so much confidence behind it, it doesn't mean what he's saying, so it's just like,

07:24he's an idiot.

07:26And I just thought my girlfriend would laugh and I thought it'd be funny.

07:28Thanks so much for chatting to me about music, Minecraft, it's been a pleasure.

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