With orchestrated rock music featuring incredible guitar work, soaring vocals, and unparalleled musicianship, NLO succeeds in bringing back classic rock for the baby boomers as well as modernizing a beloved genre of rock music. “The Spirit Of Christmas” combines the talents of executive producer and longtime record executive Russ Regan (NEIL DIAMOND, ELTON JOHN and BARRY WHITE) as well as the incredible instrumental abilities of a number of renowned rock musicians.

The press has been especially drawn to the emotionally moving NLO experience filmed at Phoenix’s Orpheum Theatre. Most recently, the orchestra performed in a laser-light, High-Definition, one-hour live concert featuring many of the performers from “The Spirit of Christmas” recording. This one-hour Christmas special will air on broadcast and satellite television including JCTV, Cornerstone TV, Daystar Network, TCT and NRB networks with potential airings on PBS affiliates as well. Also, in 2009 alone, 500,000 “teaser” sampler discs are being sent out and will be distributed free of charge at gas/convenience stores. Free autographed guitars, t-shirts and drum heads will also be awarded by many mainstream syndicated rock shows. In July 2009, over 25,000 sampler discs were distributed free of charge at Rocklahoma and 15,000 at NASCAR in Louisville, Kentucky.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/northernlightorchestra.

Thanks Blabbermouth.

Like, in an interview yours truly did late last year with Brian Posehn – the Paul Bunyan of alternative comedy – he revealed that he and his buddy Seth Rogen had both come up with jokes revolving around the same premise: “What if my dick could fart?”

Recently, the IndiePit Blog’s nose caught the scent of another funny coincidence – this one pertaining to music, though: There are at least two parody side projects in Southern California devoted to Arnold Schwarzenegger and featuring members of two really big heavy-metal bands.

For one, there’s Austrian Death Machine, led by Tim Lambesis of San Diego death-metallers As I Lay Dying – we’ve known about them since they formed last year. But recently (thanks to IndiePit’s Kristian Habenicht), we’ve also been introduced to Schwarzenator, of which Korn guitarist (and Berklee College of Music grad, ahem) Shane Gibson is a conspirator. As it turns out, the band we just found out about has been around for much longer than ADM.

We worried that we weren’t up to snuff on our SoCal metal till we discovered that Lambesis had also never heard of Schwarzenator, who are taking aim with their debut record this fall. (ADM’s second album, Double Brutal – featuring songs like “See You at the Party Richter”; “I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots and Your Motorcycle”; and “Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?” - is due this fall on Metal Blade.)

That all changed when the IndiePit Blog introduced the two black-clad berserkers last week via a conference call. Over the course of 30 minutes or so, they got to know each other and agreed that, in their book, Arnie can do no wrong.

On the one hand, in the metal sphere, As I Lay Dying’s Lambesis and Korn’s Gibson are about as opposite as Arnold and Danny DeVito. But just like those Twins, we’ve discovered they might be long-lost brothers – as if it were stitched into their DNA, they’re in on the same joke.

Hey guys, thanks for chatting up the IndiePit Blog about your bizarrely kindred side projects. How do you feel about having similar parody bands in the same genre – and in the same region?

Tim Lambesis: I found out about it when I got the e-mail from the record label [about this interview]. To me, I think it’s great. There’s other bands in the “celebrity-metal” genre that have been mad at me for starting another Schwarzenegger band. But I feel like the celebrity-metal genre isn’t a genre unless there are a handful of bands to make it great.

Shane Gibson: Yeah, there are others too, like ArnoCorps. We were doing it as a hobby, it was hilarious, then we found out about Austrian Death Machine too. But instead of being hateful, we feel like it’s more of an alliance.

TL: I also found out there’s a death-metal band called Goretorture, and they’re as brutal as you can possibly be. All their lyrics are about Arnold. One of their songs is called “Cannibal Commando.”

Have any of the fans of your principal bands criticized you for these less serious projects?

TL: They appreciate seeing a different side of what I do. As I Lay Dying is very serious … I’m not the most balanced individual, but it’s nice to show somebody else there are at least two sides to me.

SG: Criticism about doing something that’s fun, if anyone does, we don’t really focus on it. We’re having a blast. All this stuff is so fun to do.

And you’re obviously not devoting as much time to these affairs as you do your main ones.

TL: When you do something like this and you make a huge promotion out of it, it’s weird – “I thought you were doing it for fun.” I want it to be natural. It’s a fine line: With the last album, we just kinda released it, and I was a little bit cheap on the promotional side of it, ’cause I didn’t want to spend a lot of my money running ads. I’ll let it grow naturally.

SG: We promoted on MySpace and Facebook, that kind of stuff. We don’t want to promote too much, since [the album's] not out yet. But we have trailers.

So guys, let’s cut to the chase: What is it about Arnold?

SG: Arnold is the most amazing species of people on the face of the earth. We got started in 2001, we had – at Berklee – whenever we’d get bored, we’d always have Arnold movie parties, watching them and drinking beers. Finally, we were just like, “Let’s make a band.” For me and my friends, that’s what we were into – doing metal stuff – so we just took Arnold movies and put them to music.

TL: He’s the embodiment of everything that’s stereotypical in metal. He’s massive. He blows things up. He’s the guy who kills 22 people in the final scenes of his movies. [Metal] bands that are serious write lyrics about that. At first, I thought it’d be confusing to the audience, because death-metal bands are living their own action-movie fantasy, but apparently people saw it as lighthearted. [When I got started,] I wrote down just off the top of my head – I’m not kidding – eight albums’ worth of material.

SG: Plus he has the best puns, the best one-liners, ever.

TL: [The best one is] “Who’s your daddy and what do you do?” if you’re asking a question. But if you’re making a statement, I’m not sure.

Tim, you quote him directly in your songs. Do you sit around watching his movies all the time?

TL: Certain ones I rewatch more than others. As funny as some parts of “Jingle All the Way” are, I’ve only watched it twice. I just can’t watch it anymore. But I could watch “Total Recall” every weekend.

SG: Me and my friends will throw in “Total Recall” or any “Conan” movie. As far as the writing process, we’ll watch a movie, pause every now and then for good quotes, and we’ll use the lines to manipulate the songs. I’m always up for a few beers and watching Arnold movies.

TL: I have no shame, I use the exact quotes. It’s just me that writes the stuff, and I record all the versions of everything, and through studio trickery, it makes me sound amazing. I’ll write an idea around the guitar and start tracking everything immediately. As soon as I feel the song is three-quarters done, I feel like it’s about right.

I’m noticing that neither of you sound like Arnold.

TL: I tried to do his voice [for the ADM recordings]. My other guitar player is probably the best at it. His name is Josh Thompson, but he goes by “Fake Arnold.” [Thompson also does his Arnie impression on "The Howard Stern Show."]

SG: I tried but couldn’t pull it off.

Tim, how did you find Josh?

TL: I was just being a nerd one day, hanging out looking at videos online, and he was by far my favorite.

And didn’t you stage a contest, asking fans to submit videos of them impersonating Arnold?

TL: Yeah. There’s some super-talented guys that submitted content. I wanted to do this skit on the new CD where it’s Arnold getting mad and arguing with the guy who won the contest.

Do you guys see eye to eye with Arnold politically? Do you approve of his job performance as governor of California?

TL: Our kids might not be educated, but at least we’re proud of being friends with Arnold.

SG: We don’t do [Schwarzenator] because of any political ideas, because we try not to get that stuff in the music. But otherwise … he came from Austria, came to America, became one of the biggest acts in the world on TV and the movies, and also [became] the Governator. …

TL: I’m not so much political. The only political coverage I’d want to get to see is for the puns. I think a lot of his political statements are unintentionally funny.

SG: Especially when he says, “Cali-for-ni-a.”

TL: His one-liners are like an ingredient than you need to mix into a recipe.

In retrospect, given his abysmal approval ratings, should he have entered politics?

SG: Best move of his career. After he finished with movies, it was amazing. You gotta admire a guy who ran for governor, won it, but then decided to not take a paycheck. [For the record, we don't, because the dude is a multimillionaire.] You may disagree with him, but the fact is that he’s doing it because he loves it and is trying to do the best for California. You gotta admire that.

TL: I don’t really care about the political side. Can’t give him a hard time for what he enjoys.

Wow, it’s pretty shocking to hear that you guys aren’t critical of Schwarzenegger despite having these parody projects based around him.

TL: I grew up in a family where the more you love someone, the more you make fun of them. It’s my way of letting everyone know how much I like him.

SG: I think we’re all laughing with him, not at him.

TL: Yeah.

SG: He’s frigging awesome.

Is it true that he’s getting involved with another movie? [IMDb, we later learned, has him listed as a castmember in Sylvester Stallone's spring 2010 South America-set mercenary flick, "The Expendables."]

SG: From what I heard, it’s some sort of superhero-type thing. I hope it actually happens.

TL: I don’t have my ears to the ground so much on what he’s up to lately. I’m just trying to have fun with [ADM].

In his future, would you rather see a Senate run or more movies?

SG: I hope he stays in the spotlight as long as possible, whether it’s movies or any political outlet. As long as we have more info from him, more puns, things’ll work out.

TL: I agree. I would personally enjoy more movies, but I don’t know how many more he’s got in him. As far as a guy in his 60s annihilating all these younger action stars …

SG: Sly, they should all be in a movie soon. One of my friends told me, the movie is a lot of older action-hero actors together.

So it’ll be like the “Space Cowboys” or “Wild Hogs” of action movies.

TL: Yeah, “Wild Hogs.” I saw that on a flight one time.

Do you know if Arnold has heard either of your bands yet? Would you want him to?

SG: We would love him to hear our bands. I’m just guessing, as far as time goes, he will, but we want him to like it and not feel like we’re making fun of him. I’d love to get a call from him someday.

TL: I totally agree.

His steroid use hasn’t tarnished your opinion of him?

TL: I use steroids all the time.

SG: I was going to say the same thing.

TL: It’s a given at his age – it’s the unofficial standard. I’m not excusing his steroid use, but of all the terrible things that could be done in life, I don’t care about that one.

SG: Nowadays, what is a “human-enhancement drug”? There are so many things … Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, they’re allegedly using, so the standard changes all the time. I think it makes things more funny than worse.

Now that we’ve talked about Arnie’s future, can you say what you have in store with your projects?

SG: With Schwarzenator, it’s hopefully going to be this fall when we’re going to have everything done [for the LP]. We’ve been working on this since 2006, but it never really came together. We’re finally getting it done.

TL: Our first release [Total Brutal] came out last year, and I have the follow-up coming out on September 9. It’s called Double Brutal.

And you’ve been playing some one-off shows with Austrian Death Machine at festivals, right?

TL: Yeah. Besides the festivals, I can’t tour too much, ’cause I tour nine months a year with As I Lay Dying. I’d be the world’s worst dad if i did [tour heavily with ADM]. But there might be a West Coast tour, some East Coast dates. I try to keep it a special event, ’cause I can’t do it all the time. It keeps me passionate and really enjoying it. When you do something lighthearted that becomes a job, what’s the point?

SG: I just got done with a whole European tour with Korn. When we put the Schwarzenator album out in the fall, we want to tour a lot, starting at the Key Club [in West Hollywood], playing with bands like [parody glam band] Steel Panther. It kinda works together with our vibe. Korn’s writing a new album, hopefully it’ll be out by early next year, so hopefully I’ll do [Schwarzenator] when I’m not touring and recording.

source: indiepit blog

Schwarzenator is:
JP Von Hitchburg – Lead vocals
Weeder – Guitar, background vocals
Shane Gibson – Guitar, background vocals
Eloy Palacios – Bass, background vocals
Thomas Lang – Drums
Damion Sanchez – (Recorded) Drums

Visit Schwarzenator at Facebook and MySpace.

Also, continue voting for Shane’s dog!!

Keep it metal.