Combining Black Sabbath with McDonald’s is a guaranteed happy meal. However it might have gone a little bad by now, because these self-proclaimed mutants have travelled from the 1970s through a worm hole to get here and they are not lovin’ it.
Born from the bowels of Outer Space, in 2013 the four-piece MacSabbath asked freak-museum owner and Sabbath lover Mike Odds to manage them. Since then, playing greasy undergrounds gigs in the basement of a fast-food restaurant turned into art shows and elementary school festivals.
Unlike the food they are commenting on, MacSabbath are very real. Their identities remain completely anonymous, and they stay in character even for their band manager.
“They were playing for kids, and this lady comes up to me and says, ‘Are you responsible for this?’ I said, ‘I’m so sorry, should I shut it down?’ And she said, ‘No, it’s amazing — you should do this more often at schools!’” Odds says.
MacSabbath, comprising of Ronald Osbourne, Slayer MacCheeze, Grimalice and the Catburglar wear costumes on stage and combine Sabbath lyrics with their own dystopian portrayal of the fast-food industry. Although they are disturbing both visually and lyrically, Odds says:
“What Mac Sabbath does is so dark and heavy and metal, but at same time, there’s really nothing that’s not family-friendly about it. (…) Ronald’s not into cussing or talking about inappropriate things, aside from the occasional subtle innuendo. He keeps it clean, like a clown should.”
Slayer MacCheeze butchers a riff on the guitar, as Osbourne sings, “All day long we slaughter things, trying to keep you satisfied (…) We found ways to feed cows scraps of other cows that get left behind. Some go mad and some feel real happiness and some go blind.”
On the mysterious frontman Osbourne, Odds says:
“He’s a mystery — he still insists that he travelled through a time-space continuum from the 1970s to save us from the current state of music and food.”
Whether it’s to save us from the ethical and nutritional perils of fast food, or to bring prime rock back to our ears, MacSabbath are a culinary combo to try. Currently, they are spreading their ‘drive-thru metal’ through America on their Burgers and Boos Tour 2016 tour.