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| David Bryan |
As The Toxic Avenger returns to London's Arts Theatre, I spoke with composer and Bon Jovi keyboards ace, David Bryan
JB: David , what attracted you to write The Toxic Avenger?
DB: Joe DiPietro
and I, my writing collaborator, we were working on Memphis - a big epic story
about the birth of racism, and the birth of rock and roll. We had done some
productions of it, and then we were waiting for it to come onto Broadway when Lloyd Kaufman, the man behind Troma Films, he came in and pitched the idea
about doing a musical.
So Joe wrote a treatment for it and asked : “can we make it
the way we want? Not, the story from the movie," and Lloyd agreed. So we set to work and it was
a chance for Joe and I really to write comedy.
It's funny as hell, there's an underlying love story, and
the moral of it, still, is about global warming.
But, it's all set in comedy, and it was a blast. We did it really quickly, and it was great fun.
JB: The Toxic Avenger is all about satire. What satire
and humour appeals to you and who were your comic influences?
DB: It's funny,
Joe and I, we're the same age, we're from New Jersey, and grew up on the same
comedians. When I grew up I had more comedy records than rock records!
Growing up it was Eddie Murphy. And then the Saturday Night
Live crew was just funny as hell. But, I always loved the side of comedy that
was just an intelligent way of looking at things from a different viewpoint.
It's great, and it's a great thing to watch people laugh. Laughing is a great
therapy.
JB: The Toxic
Avenger is very politically incorrect. How important is political incorrectness
in modern comedy ?
DB: What I think
what we did with our piece, was that we mocked everybody. We took the piss out
of everybody and everything that we could.
We mocked everything, so no one could accuse of us of
bullying on any one angle. If you mock
everything, then it's funny.
JB: Do you sense any trend in how comedy today is shifting? Do you feel that there is a greater sense
of what can and cannot be laughed at in today's era?
DB: The
comedians are the ones that are supposed to push the envelope. All my favourite
top comedians were the ones who did push that envelope, and say stuff that
everybody thinks, but doesn't want to say. I don't have a problem with that as
long as it's done in an intelligent way.
JB: You’re famous
for being the keyboards player in Bon Jovi. Tell me the difference between writing
songs for a show and albums for a rock band.
DB: Same thing.
It's just writing a song. I don't do any
research. Joe and I sit down and go, "Okay, here's the character, here's
the dilemma, or the journey, or what's the purpose of why this character needs
to go from point A to point B, and what's driving him?" I think it's
really a human story, if you will. I just put myself in the shoes of that
character, and just write it, and let it all come out.
JB: A good musical
has a very clear book that the songs work around. How does the creative arc
compare of writing songs for a show compare with the arc of writing songs for a
Bon Jovi album?
DB: Yeah, anytime
we approach an album, it's always a beginning, middle, and end and there is a
narrative.
In a musical, you have different characters and it’s a
little more challenging writing for men, for women, for monsters (!) - it's a
whole different world.
But the songs and the story keep evolving together. It's not
like one's written in stone, and then the other isn't. We are the kind of
writers that don’t just go, here's the story, and now we're going to step out
of the side of the story, and here's a song. Our songs always push the
characters ahead.
JB: Within Bon Jovi do you contribute much to the composing?
DB: Yes! I classically trained for 15 years, so I
understand music. It's really helped in that that is what really separates us
from a guitar band, and then you add keyboards. All the big songs that we've
had in records, with keyboards you can colour the emotion, really paint a
picture. Even in the beginning ... A standout example would be, Wanted Dead or
Alive. At the beginning you hear wind, and strings, and all of a sudden you're
in a Western. That's what I bring to
the table and I love it.
JB: David, thank you and I wish The Toxic Avenger every
success at the Arts Theatre.
Photo credit: Irina Chira
The Toxic Avenger plays at The Arts Theatre until 3rd December
Read my review of The Toxic Avenger here
Photo credit: Irina Chira
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