Interviews – Jess Harnell

Hello, Nets! This is Jesse from Rock Sugar, and

you're listening to the Geek Cats Radio Network.

Keep it right here. 🎵 Never never let go Hello,

everyone. This is Michael Blanchard with the

Geekcast Radio Network and This Week in Geek.

Today, I have a super awesome privilege to interview

Jess Harnell. Yes, that's right. The lead singer

of the Breakout... The Breakout smash hit band

Rock Sugar and the voice of Wacko Warner from

Animaniacs is on the line with us. Hello, Jess.

Hey, man. How are you, Mike? Pretty good. How

are you? Good. Thank you so much for those kind

words. I owe you $5. That's okay. Your publicist

sent me the CD. It's more than, you know, it's

more than fine. Just to get us started, can you

give us just a quick summary of your upbringing

and how you became a voice actor and then got

into the whole singing thing with starting Rock

Sugar? Well, you know, the singing thing actually

came before the voice acting thing, oddly enough.

My upbringing was that I was born in a musical

family. My father was a fantastic accompanist,

and he played with people like Frank Sinatra

and Barbra Streisand and people like that. My

mom was and is one of my favorite singers. She's

more of a big band kind of singer. But I was

always singing, and I formed bands starting as

early as junior high, many of which involved

Chuck Duran, who was the guitar player of Rock

Sugar. And in the mid-'80s, I began doing studio

work as a singer, Mike. My first demo tape, actually,

I did We Are the World, the original version

of We Are the World, as opposed to the one from

like six months ago or something. And I imitated

everybody's voice on We Are the World, and that

was my demo. And it was cool because I knew when

I did that that even if it sucked, it would attract

attention because it was unusual. And I've always

been about trying to find unusual ways to market

things, hence Rock Sugar. But anyway, I started

doing studio work and singing a lot of jingles

and a lot of commercials and stuff like that.

And one day, I think it was a Budweiser commercial

that I was singing. They had the voiceover copy

on the same sheet as the lyrics that I was singing.

And I just started messing around and talking

about beer. And they said, you know, do you do

voiceover? And I said, well, I do now. And they

said, okay, man, why don't you take a crack at

that? And that was my first thing. And then I

started getting into character voices because

I've always been a mimic and I've always enjoyed

coming up with voices for... I'm the kind of

person that drives down the street and I see

somebody walking on the other side of the street

and I go, I bet you he would drive like that.

And I make up voices for characters as I'm just

going about my day. And one thing led to another,

man, and I started getting into animation. And

the first big job that I did was the voice of

Bear Rabbit on Splash Mountain for Disneyland

and then Disney World. And then I started doing

Roger Rabbit for Disney because they were having

problems with the guy who they had originally

had as far as scheduling and stuff like that.

From that, Animaniacs happened, and from there,

it's just been one great thing after another,

and I've been very, very fortunate because I

am not qualified to do anything in the job market,

so I'm really lucky that I can make a living

doing this. I gotta tell you, We Are The World,

the original version, is one of my number one

favorite songs. Is there any way that you could

email us the promo that you did if you still

have it? Oh, you know what, man? It's funny that

you ask that. I should probably look for that,

because people are asking to hear it from time

to time anyway, and I'll tell you what, Mike,

you know, you seem like a great guy, but reading

some of the posts that you put on Facebook and

stuff like that, if I can find that, I will absolutely

send you a copy. So just make sure that I have

an accurate email address on you, and if I can

dig it up, then you got it, man. Awesome. Alright,

the way we're going to do this is we're going

to start with the Rock Sugar stuff, and then

we're going to move into some voice acting stuff.

Cool. As far as Rock Sugar goes, who came up

with the background story? Was it a collaborative

effort? Because that is just the most hilarious

background story. I've got the press information

that Lori sent me, and it's like, wow. Well,

you know, it's funny because Rock Sugar, Rock

and Sugar, that's kind of cool. How do you say

it in Switzerland? Rock and Sugar. Rock Sugar

is first and foremost an entertainment vehicle.

I mean, we want to be entertaining to people.

We want people to, just like when you go and

see a really good movie, for an hour and a half

you forget the crap that you're dealing with

and you forget your bills and you just have a

good time, and that's the point of Rock Sugar.

So that story you're talking about, there's a

fictional story that I actually wrote about the

band being stuck on an island in 1989. and the

only music that they had to listen to for 20

years was the pop collection of a 13 -year -old

girl. And so they would listen to a lot of Rick

Springfield and Madonna and Paul Abdul and people

like that, that normally a heavy metal band maybe

wouldn't listen to, but that still record, you

know, good songs. The truth of the matter is

that Chuck and Alex, our drummer, and I actually

were paying good American dollars to go to a

desert island called Turks and Caicos and perform

every day. They just did, I think, three songs

a day, and in return they... paid for us and

they took care of us and they taught me how to

kayak and, you know, control a sailboat and,

you know, even learn trapezing, believe it or

not, if you can imagine such a thing. And while

I was there, I thought, you know, it would be

an interesting thing if a metal band got stuck

on an island and all they had to listen to was

pop records. What would that do to their heads?

I think it would be like brainwashed by pop.

Like the pop home syndrome, you know, like the

Stockholm syndrome. And so that's where it came

from. And then I ran that idea by Chuck. and

he's a very musical kind of a person, which is

good. And he came back to me a few days later

with Don't Stop the Sandman, where he combined

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey and Enter Sandman

by Benalik, and that became kind of the template

for the record. And from there, it was just like

we were constantly trying to one -up each other

and say, well, how about if you took this and

this, and how about if you took this and this?

But I think the idea originated with myself,

but it certainly could not have been executed

without Chuck and later on without Alex and Johnny.

I respect. Yeah, you mentioned going through,

talking about how does this sound with this,

or how does that sound with that. What was the

process of going through and selecting the song

combinations for Re -Imaginator? Was it just

random songs that came into your heads or ideas,

or were there any other ones that you wanted

to put in there? Well, many, many. And in fact,

we're already talking about the next record because

fortunately the demand is there. People seem

to want us to make another record, so we're going

to be doing that. And we've already got a lot

of ideas sketched out. The way we actually did

it, Mike, is we made a list of all of our favorite

metal riffs and we made a list of all of our

favorite pop songs because for those who may

not have heard it yet, what basically Rock Sugar

does is we take the metal riffs that get everybody

moving and make everybody want to get up off

the floor and put their fists in the air, and

then I sing pop songs over those metal riffs.

so you get Journey over Metallica and Madonna

over ACDC, and a lot of other unlikely combinations.

So yeah, we had these lists, and basically it

was just a matter of mixing and matching and

seeing what worked and what didn't, you know?

Yeah, it's very, very cool. As far as the title

of the CD, was that something that, reimagining

it, was it just something to go along with the

idea of Metal Rips meets Pop, or was it something

that you guys had to really think about for the

title? No, you know what? That was another thing.

It was just serendipitous. I enjoy words. I enjoy

playing with words. And that's where you get

a lot of those titles on the record, the weird

combinations of titles. It became like a game

to me, putting them together. And I was thinking,

we really need a name for the album that is fun,

but at the same time has some metal to it. Because

I'm like, first and foremost, these guys rock.

And I'm like, well, what would be... You know,

I was always thinking of, like, Judas Priest,

so they had Painkiller, you know, and Turbo Lover

and all these kind of, you know, Judas Priest

things. And I thought, well, we don't really

think of what we're doing as being a cover band

because, you know, with all due respect to cover

bands, they just cover the songs, you know, more

or less, I guess, the way that they are. And

we really tried to reinvent these songs, you

know, and Reinventor didn't sound as metal as

Reimaginator did. Plus, I don't think it was

an existing word. prior to the album, and now

it is. And hopefully, I mean, it's on Wikipedia,

or at least we're on Wikipedia, and the name

of the album is on there, so eventually if the

album does well, maybe Re -Imaginator will become

a word. I can think of no greater honor. It's

like, forget Vlad the Records, man, I just want

to contribute a word in the English language.

You know, that would be a pretty cool thing to

do. Yeah, I've got the CD here, and I'm looking

at it, and just before I even started playing

it, before I started listening to it the other

day when I got it from your eight -year publicist

there, I'm looking at these titles, and I'm like,

oh, wow, this is going to be so awesome. Like,

Shook Me Like a Prayer. Outside of Don't Stop

the Sandman, that is going to be my number one

favorite because it is so... Just the riffs on

that are so awesome. Oh, thank you, man. Thank

you. That's what it's designed to do. It's like

we want to make you... This band is designed

to make you want to drive fast, forget to pay

your mortgage, have sex and have a good time

and be happy. All the things that music hopefully

was in the late 80s, the era where music was

just a lot of fun. In some ways, I think that's

been lacking in recent years. We just wanted

to do whatever we could to bring some of the

fun back to it. From early indications, the shows

that we've done so far, which have been really,

really successful, and we've had amazing people

show up to be at those shows. So far, so good.

Everybody's having a good time, including the

band. Yeah. I was reading the other day in the

press information that I got sent, did the YouTube

reaction surprise you? Because, I don't know,

it's something like over 3 ,000 views or something

or other, or 3 ,000 hits on YouTube? Oh, no,

man. What happened is we were well over 300 ,000

hits. Oh, that's what it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, 3 ,000 was okay, but 300 ,000 was a heck

of a lot better. And then the video actually

got pulled because of some confusion, and then

it went back up, and it's already back. That

particular video is now over, like, 180 ,000,

so it's over half a million, just that. But then

we have several other songs that were put up

by friends of the band, and I say friends because

I don't really use the word fans. I think of

the people that support us as our friends, man,

because they're... But when we play, or when

hopefully you listen to a Rock Sugar record,

it's not a case of them and us. It's a case of

us all being at the same party and having a good

time together. But a lot of these people have

actually made videos themselves with our songs,

and they've all had like 100 ,000 here and 100

,000 there. So I think at this point, we're actually

over a million hits on YouTube, which is pretty

cool. Yeah, that's very, very awesome. Before

we switch gears, how much touring will you guys

do to promote the CD? You know, it's funny. We

got very, very lucky. We got signed to an agency

called Paradigm, and some great guys at that

agency took an interest in the band and signed

us. They also represent Aerosmith and Coldplay

and a lot of other really, really big bands.

And we're basically going where the road leads

us, man. But we have already played. We played

a couple weeks ago in Memphis for 10 ,000 people.

And it was funny because we played right before

Vince Neal from Motley Crue, who we love Motley,

so that was a big honor. He really liked our

band. And at the end of the day, the headliner

for that day was Three Doors Down, and they got

stuck in Nashville and couldn't make it. And

the festival organizers literally asked us if

we would step up and play again, and we did.

So we actually were the first band ever to open

for ourselves. But we did that, and it was great.

And we're going over to England. We're playing

with ACDC and Aerosmith at the Donington Festival

in June for 120 ,000 people. And we've got a

lot of other big festivals coming up. Plus, things

are in the works toward getting us what they

call a residency in Las Vegas, where we'll be

in Las Vegas pretty much every weekend. And that'll

be really, really fun, because everybody goes

through Las Vegas. So I'm sure we'll get to meet

a lot of people that way, and a lot of people

will get to hear what we're doing. As far as

touring on the bus the way that it used to be,

I don't know that that may happen. We've already

been approached. We're playing with Rat and the

Scorpions on at least one date, and now it looks

like they're talking about having to do some

other shows, too. So you never know. I never

say never. If you had told me five years ago

that I would be doing this, I'd be like, I don't

think so. You're going to keep talking about

being a robot on that given day. Yeah, that's

the same thing with me. If people told me five

years ago that I'd be talking to Jess Harnell,

voice of Wacko Warner, I'd laugh in their face.

Well, that's very kind of you, Mike. I appreciate

that. So switching gears into the voice acting

stuff, out of all the characters you've played,

besides the obvious choice of Wacko, who are

your favorites? You know, there's been so many

that I've been really, really lucky to play.

And, you know, I can never believe the fact that

I continue to work to the level that I, to the

degree that I do. Because I know how talented

the people that I work with are. And I'm always

like, wow, you could have gotten Billy West to

do this. You could have gotten Rob Paulson or

Jeff Glenn Bennett or one of my peers that I

think are so fantastic at what they do. But some

of my favorites, I feel really fortunate that

I'm in the Transformers movies as both an Autobot

and a Decepticon. I'm the only person in those

movies who's played two roles, which is nice.

And I've been a good guy and a bad guy. So I'm

working against myself, kind of like the government.

And so I'm proud of that. I'm very proud of the

fact that for a lot of years now I've been the

announcer for a TV show called America's Funniest

Home Videos. The reason I'm proud of that is

because people watch that show, families can

watch that show, and a grandpa can watch that

show with his kid and their kids, and everybody

can laugh and be entertained, and nobody's going

to want to leave the room because they're embarrassed

or they think it's stupid or whatever. So I'm

happy about that. I'm happy and privileged to

be part of the Pixar family, and they, for whatever

reason, man, you know, they keep having me back,

and I've been in, you know, Toy Story, and I

think all three of the Toy Stories, and I've

been in Bugs Life, and I've been in Finding Nemo,

and I've been in Up, and they keep finding something

for me to do, which amazes me, because, you know,

these are things that I would be privileged just

to go and see, much less be a small part of,

you know, so those are the ones that first come

to mind, you know. I mean, like I said, any time

I get to work, which has been enough to sustain

me for a long time now, you know, I'm always

grateful, because I know that there are a lot

of people that can do a great job at that, and

I'm just fortunate that they could let me do

it, you know? Yeah. Can you reveal any behind

-the -scenes moments during Animaniacs? Oh my

gosh, there's so many. I mean, you know, they're

innumerous. You know, that was the first big

show that I got, and... I was working with, like,

a who's who of the animation world on that, from

Frank Welker to Rob Paulson to Tress McNeil to

Jim Cummings, you know. And what was really great

is that since I didn't come from an animation

background, I mean, I love cartoons, and I was

always fascinated by the people that did the

voices, but I didn't know them, you know, like

a lot of folks who are into animation do. And

I think that actually worked to my benefit, because

if I had walked into a room to sing... alongside

some of my favorite singers, like if Steve Carey

and Robert Plant and Don Henley had all been

in a room together and they said, okay, you're

going to go sing with these guys, I would have

been very intimidated, you know? But with the

animation stuff, I didn't know that these people

were like the linchpins of the industry. So I

showed up, and I didn't have any fear, and I

think that really benefited me because I, you

know, I was too stupid to be intimidated, I guess.

And so, I mean, a lot of stories, man, it's just

innumerable because we... first of all, we became

such good friends, and we still are to this day.

Rob and I, the guy who played Yakko on Animaniacs,

we've recently been doing the Gophers, who were

those really little, I'm happy about that too,

I'm happy about all of them, but those real polite

little English guys in the old classic, you know,

Warner Brothers characters, it's like, oh, no,

I ain't supposed to talk to you, what are you

saying, no, I ain't supposed to talk to you,

no, no, you, you know, me and Rob are just now,

we're Warner Brothers, you know, and so that's

a real joy, because we formed such a friendship

on Animaniacs, and, You know, we toured the country.

A lot of people may not know, but I'm sure a

lot of people do because we met so many people

signing stuff on weekends at the Warner Brothers

store. We went all over the country, man, and

those were tons and tons of memories there. And

we also would just, you know, the stuff that

got left on the cutting room floor of us, you

know, talking in between the recording was just

as funny in many ways as the show itself, which

is saying something because that show was unbelievably

funny. And, you know, it was just, it was all,

it was... One of those things, man, it's sort

of like the Rock Sugar thing. I've been in a

lot of bands, you know, but Rock Sugar is doing

something that nobody has ever done in this way

before. I mean, believe me, we are very aware

that there have been mashups where there's so

many great bands that have done so many inventive

covers and stuff. But in terms of saying, hey,

look, we're going to take a decade, say the 80s,

and we're going to take two totally distressed

fields of music, pop and metal, and combine them.

and make that a theme and have a story and have

a show and have all this stuff, you know, I don't

know that that's been done before. So, you know,

I'm very proud of it. And when we were making

that record and while we're doing this now, we

all know how good it is. And the same thing with

Animaniacs. It's like we would look at each other

and go, you know, we may do something as good

as this again, but it doesn't really get a lot

better. And I think that just in life, if you

can do that, if you have the sensibility and

the wisdom to when you're involved in something

great. to appreciate it and recognize it while

you're doing it and go, you know, this is pretty

darn good that you're a lucky person and that

way I definitely was a lucky person because we

all knew that Animaniacs was the bomb and it

still is, you know. We, on one of our other podcasts

called ToonCast, we talk about all kinds of cartoons

we grew up from Looney Tunes to everything up

until 1999 and we interviewed Maurice LaMarche

and one of my little... I didn't want to ask

him a question about it, but I just wanted to

make a statement. I said, stunt burping, go.

And... Because I remember... What did you say?

I told him, stunt burping. And I had him explain

it. Oh, yeah, man. He's the best. Yeah. Um...

He's an inspiration to me, too, man, because

he's such a great impressionist, you know, and

I used to just kind of marvel at his impressions

and, you know... And I learned a lot from him

as well as a lot of the other people that I mentioned.

Yeah. I got to tell you, before the last question

I have for you, when I first saw the Don't Stop

the Sandman video, if I didn't know that it was

you on the screen, I would have thought, wait,

isn't that Steve Perry? Oh, thank you. Because

it sounds so close. Steve is a huge influence

of mine and a huge hero of mine. I'm always very

flattered when people say that. And, you know,

it's funny because when you're singing something

like that, you know, something like Don't Stop

Believin', if you don't kind of, you know, what

was fun for me on the whole record is I got to

kind of put on halves of a lot of my favorite

singers from Axl Rose to Steve Perry to Joe Elliott

and Devin Leppard and Brian Adams and a lot of

other guys and try to emulate them and at the

same time stay true to what we were doing and

not become like a Vegas, you know, in person.

Right. Right. to sing Madonna over ACDC. But

what's crazier still is that it works, and a

huge compliment that we get is when people say,

you know, I listened to this, or I saw this video,

and I laughed, and then I started listening to

it, and I went, wow, this is really good, you

know. And that always makes us really, really

happy. And before we go, Mike, I want to please

extend a hand to everybody who's listening, you

know, on your site or to your podcast or whatever

you've got going, that they'll come and join

us at Facebook, at Rock Sugar Band. And don't

come as a fan, come as a friend. You know, enjoy

the music. We do a lot of fun stuff on that site.

We give things away. We give away tickets and

shirts and CDs and all kinds of other things.

We make a movie for the fans, or excuse me, for

the people that are on the site every Monday.

There's a new movie that we post. You know, just

kind of fill them in on what we're doing or showing

them where we are. You know, we try to take really

good care of those people because we understand

how important they are to the band. So that's

Facebook. There's also a website, rocksugarband

.com. We usually sell a lot of stuff. The store

right there is down right now because we're getting

a whole bunch of new merchandise. We're going

to go back up with Guns Blazing. So you can't

get the CD right now, but keep watching because

you'll be able to get it again very, very soon,

as well as shirts and hats and God knows what

else. And hopefully I can get a deal on it because

I want to get some of that stuff too. I want

to just tell you, ever since I've had the CD

the last two days, I actually enjoy listening

to this more than the original songs. Oh, well,

thank you, man. Because it's just so awesome.

Well, that's kind of you. And I think that the

reason that you might feel that way is just because

you probably love those original songs so much,

but you've heard them for a long, long time.

And that's kind of the fun of the band is that

we're taking something that everybody knows as

well as you know your own name. I mean, this

is stuff we've all heard so many times, and we

love it. But it's really kind of cool to hear

it and think you know where it's going and then

have it go somewhere else completely, you know?

And one of my favorite things to hear about Rock

Sugar is when people buy the CD and they say,

man, I have people over to my house. And I put

it on and I just said, here, listen to this.

And you watch their faces because it's like,

oh, I know what this is. Wait a minute, what

the hell is that? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and I

always say it's the perfect band if you got ADD

because every 45 seconds it becomes another song.

We would like to thank Mr. Jess Harnell for taking

the time to chat with us on this special Geekcast

Radio This Week in Geek interview. Jess, if you'll

hold the line, we will be right back after this.

Hey, Mike, it was my pleasure talking to you,

man. Thank you. Yeah Yeah! It'll all work out

Everyone's waiting and holding on We gotta hold

on to what we've got It doesn't make a difference

if we make it or not We've got each other and

that's a lot for us Everybody needs a second

chance You want a piece of my heart Thank you.

I want a piece of my heart Well, class, are you

ready for your lessons? Yes, Miss Flaniel. Very

well, then. Let's begin. Today's categories are

astrophysics, Chaucer, Latin, nuclear fission,

TV movies, and the United States. And please

remember, students, your responses must be in

the form of a question. Yakko, you're the reigning

champion, so please select. Okay, I'll take TV

movies for 100. She has made even more TV movies

than Lindsay Wagner. Wacko? Who is Valerie Bertinelli?

That is correct. Select again. Okay, I'll take

the United States for 500. The Daily Double.

Wacko, you can wager all or part of your money.

I'll blow the wad. All right, then. In the category

of the United States, the answer is the names

of all 50 states and their capitals. Okay. Here

goes. Baton Rouge, Louisiana Indianapolis, Indiana

And Columbus is the capital of Ohio There's Montgomery,

Alabama South of Helena, Montana Then there's

Denver, Colorado Under Boise, Idaho Texas has

Austin Then we go north To Massachusetts, Boston

And Albany, New York Tallahassee, Florida And

Washington, D .C. Santa Fe, New Mexico And Nashville,

Tennessee Elders used to hang out there a lot,

you know Trenton's in New Jersey, north of Jefferson,

Missouri You've got Richmond in Virginia, South

Dakota has Pierre Harrisburg's in Pennsylvania,

and Augusta's up in Maine And here is Providence,

Rhode Island, next to Dover, Delaware Concord,

New Hampshire, just a quick jaunt To Montpelier,

which is up in Vermont Harvard's in Connecticut,

so pretty in the fall And Kansas has Topeka,

Minnesota has St. Paul Juno's in Alaska and there's

Lincoln in Nebraska And it's rolly out in North

Carolina and then There's Madison, Wisconsin

and Olympia in Washington Phoenix, Arizona and

Lansing, Michigan Here's Honolulu, Hawaii's a

joy Jackson, Mississippi and Springfield, Illinois

South Carolina with Columbia down the way And

Annapolis and Maryland on Chesapeake Bay They

have wonderful clam chowder Cheyenne is in Wyoming

and perhaps you make your home In Salt Lake City,

out in Utah where the buffalo roam Atlanta's

down in Georgia and there's Bismarck, North Dakota

And you can live in Frankfurt in your old Kentucky

home Salem in Oregon, from there we join Little

Rock in Arkansas, Iowa's got Des Moines Sacramento,

California, Oklahoma and its city Charleston,

West Virginia and Nevada, Carson City That's

all the capitals there are Huh? Oh, what? I'm

so sorry. You failed to put your response in

the form of a question. That ain't hard to define

Just has got himself a girl And I wanna make

her mine And she's watching it with those eyes

And she's loving it with that body I just know

it Can you explain? It's right I can feel the

power Just like a baby I'm down on my knees,

I wanna take you there It's the midnight hour,

I can feel it now Just like a prayer, you know

I'll take you there When you call my name, it's

like a return bell I'm down on my knees, I wanna

take you there It's the midnight hour, I can

feel it now Just like a prayer, you know I'll

take you there I hear you call my name, and it

feels like home Just like a dream, your voice

can take me home Just like a muse to me, you

are a mystery Just like a dream, you are not

what you seem Just like a prayer, no choice,

your voice can take me home