By DONNA BALANCIA – “I used to be a serious bodybuilder, I’m a serious rock n roller right now.”
And with those words, so began the downward — and then upward — spiral of one of metal’s favorite giants, the performer known as Thor.
The documentary “I Am Thor” has been lauded for its honest approach and insightful look at one of the world’s most well-liked underachievers, born Jon Mikl Thor, who takes the audience with him for his overdue shot at greatness.
“I Am Thor,” is touring complete with a troupe of performers and Thor himself, giving a musical show to top off the screening of his acclaimed documentary.
Thursday the craziness comes to Sunset Strip’s Whisky A Go Go; then the film and live performance move on to San Antonio’s Housecore Horror Film Festival (Nov. 14); Chicago’s Reggie’s Rock Club (Nov. 16); Detroit’s Small’s Bar (Nov. 18); Philadelphia’s PhillaMOCA (Nov. 20) and Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Nitehawk (Nov. 22)
“I Am Thor” has screened at film festivals around the world, including the New Zealand International Film Festival; the Brooklyn Film Festival; Helsinki’s Night Visions Film Festival and the Slamdance Film Festival last January, where it made its world premiere.
“I Am Thor” was directed by Ryan Wise and Produced by Wise and Al Higbee.
But there’s more to the story than what’s on the screen. There’s a new album, Metal Avenger and the recent re-release of Thor’s 1983 Unchained.
Local musician-producers Bruce Duff and Frank Meyer have had a hand in the rebirth of Thor, mainly out of respect for the larger-than-life performer. They got involved with the Thor band while producing Thor Against The World, which came out on SmogVeil in 2004.
“We then sort of became his defacto band whenever he plays Los Angeles,” Bruce said. “I now, in fact, have played bass, guitar and even keyboards in his band.”
Duff and Meyer produced the latest album by Thor, Metal Avenger, which was released a couple of weeks ago. Those on the record are Henry Rollins, Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke, Dead Boys’ Cheetah Chrome, Twisted Sister axman Jay Jay French, Christian Death guitairst Rikk Agnew, DOA’s Joey Shithead plus Ritchy Stotts of the Plasmatics, Betsy Bitch and others.
“This is my most ambitious and best album in the history of my career,” said Thor.
With Duff and Meyer, the group began writing new material about overcoming overloards from other planets, as well as more common mortal obstacles.
Joining Thor, Duff and Meyer on stage Thursday are Mike Knutson on drums and Dino Everett on bass.
Meyer said it’s a pretty wild experience working with a musician he liked as a fan since the 1980s.
“As a heavy-metal loving teenager I was a big Thor fan, so it was an honor to work with him on this project,” Meyer said. “Thor explained the concept behind the album and we started writing song after song, soon enlisting all sorts of cool guests to join in on the fun.”
For more information go to Thor’s Facebook page
