Game of Thrones fans may recognise them from their Rage of Thrones music video (they read the fucking books! Twice!) and the three-piece are coming to London’s Leicester Square Theatre on Saturday, September 13. You can book your tickets here.
But who are they? Well, The Axis of Awesome are three human men. Lead singer Jordan Raskopoulos has appeared on numerous Australian TV shows, including Underground: The Julian Assange Story, and recently won an International Emmy as part of the team behind #7DaysLater.
Benny Davis is a classically trained musician and has millions of hits on his YouTube channel “The Human Jukebox”, as well as a recent tour to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Guitarist Lee Naimo is a champion improviser and has featured on Slideshow and Written It Down where he made stuff up. He isn’t as talented as Benny, as boisterous as Jordan or as smart as most dogs, but he sure is part of the band. Lee once fractured a bone in his foot playing Nintendo Wii Fit.
Your UK tour will be taking you around most of the country this September – which place are you looking forward to playing at most? (Clue: It’s totally fine to say London).
Definitely Ormskirk. Ever since we started as a band, the dream has been to perform in Ormskirk. There and Boorowa, and we unlocked that achievement last year.
When you’re travelling, do you ever get on each other’s nerves? If so, how do you alleviate any tension?
We do spend an unnatural amount of time together, so yes sometimes things get a little tense. We find travelling in different parts of the plane tends to relieve that tension, so Jordan will take the business class, and Lee sits in economy with Benny in an overhead locker.
Do you know if any of the Game of Thrones cast saw the Rage of Thrones video?
Not sure about the cast but a comedian friend interviewed George R R Martin and showed him the clip. I believe his response was “Cool.”
Talking of which, were you pleased by Joffrey’s death?
We all were. It’s always sad to see your favourite character die, like in Star Wars when the Emperor is killed, or when that little jerk Aladdin traps the hero Jafar in a lamp.
You’re bringing Viva La Vida Loca Las Vegas to this year’s Edinburgh festival. Are you excited? Nervous? Mildly indifferent? Do you think you’ll go down well?
Very excited, and a little jetlagged is how we’ll feel. We usually premiere a show in Edinburgh, but this year Melbourne and Sydney were the first to see this show, so we’ve tested it on them and now we bring only the cream to Edinburgh.
It’s a great show with a bunch of swell new songs in heaps of different styles, everything from Johnny Cash to Macklemore, as well as a handful of your favourite Axis hits from the internet.
Finally, what’s your favourite Dennis Pennis sketch? We favour the Michael Jackson one.
*Looks up Dennis Pennis* …oh yeah, me too (I don’t think Dennis’s work made it to Australia, sorry. I’m sure he or she is wonderful/very funny/a comedy icon).
