Tenacious D have recorded a 30-song cover album – and you’re never going to hear it

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Guitarist Kyle Gass also hopes that he and Jack Black will release their next (original) album this year

Jack Black and Kyle Gass 2023 Tenacious D
(Image credit: Travis Shinn)

Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass has revealed that he and Jack Black have a 30-song cover album in their vault, but that they’re unlikely to ever release the collection to the public.

Gass, who co-founded The D with Black in 1994, explained in a new interview with Loudwire Nights that issues with copyright led to the project being scrapped.

“I was really pushing for a covers project,” said Gass, “and we started going crazy because we have so many ready.

“We went into the studio and just knocked off, no exaggeration, 30, but kind of short versions just to see how we liked them.”

However, he added, “We had some trouble getting the rights to one or two and then we got frustrated and said the hell with it. We’ll just do our own thing.”

It seems that snippets of this aborted LP have been heard, as The D released an abridged cover of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game in 2023.

The band also put out a cover of Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time earlier this year as part of the soundtrack to Kung Fu Panda 4, which starred Black.

In more promising news, Gass also said that The D are hoping to release their long-awaited fifth album this year.

It will be their first full-length studio release since Post-Apocalypto in 2018.

“We have to finish the new record,” said Gass.

“We’ve been working on it, we have a very strict six-year cycle.”

He continued: “We gotta do it this year. We can feel the heat, but you know, it’s gotta percolate. We got to fit in between Jack’s very busy film schedule.

“But we’re going to do it. We’re going to get it. Publish or perish.”

Until then, Tenacious D plan to tour prolifically in 2024. Dates and tickets are available via the band’s website.

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Matt Mills
Matt Mills
Online Editor, Metal Hammer

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.