Mark Haskell Smith (left) was understandably excited about last Friday’s item about the home page for Metal Assassin, the fictional band that plays a key role in his new novel, Salty. At first, he wasn’t sure whether he should shatter the illusion by sharing the inside story with us, but, as he admitted, “The real story is kind of fun in a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney ‘let’s put on a show!’ way.”
Basically, it all came about thanks to a passing remark in conversation with his pal, record producer Fulton Dingely, who’s worked with bands like Teenage Fanclub, Stereolab, and Kula Shaker. Since the main character in Salty is the bass player in Metal Assassin, Smith opined about how fun it would be to have a MySpace page for the band to promote the book. “Next thing I know,” he emailed us over the weekend, “Fulton’s in the studio laying down tracks, I’m writing lyrics and singing, and Grove/Atlantic‘s art department is mocking up fake album covers.” The authentic metal sound comes thanks to an assist from former Panzer guitarist Jim Steinwedell. The band will post one more song to their website, Smith says, and after that, “I doubt we’ll tour… but we might have to make T-shirts.”