Reddit AMA Recap: Brad Neely of China IL

Brad Neely, creator of China IL, recently took part in a Reddit AMA and just like every Q&A the poor soul does whether it’s live or on fucking Reddit, he’s gonna get a 1000 and one questions about Wizard People. However the coolest thing I realized was something that I already knew, but never really put two and two together…did you know Brad Neely worked on South Park? It was one of those things that I knew but completely forgot so when Brad mentioned he worked on the Comedy Central series I was like ‘I fucking forgot all about that!’

That’s what I love about AMA’s. Shit you forget about, you can easily get back! But, yea after doing some research Brad worked on half of season 11 for South Park which if you recall was a great season. From the legendary ‘Imagination Land’ Trilogy to ‘More Crap’ and ‘Guitar Queer-O’, I have no idea what Brad did for those guys but maybe he should do that too along with making more China IL. It wouldn’t be THAT much of stretch as Brad had the nicest things to say about the South Park producers saying, “They were genius men and women at South Park. Very patient and kind to me.”

In any case, Brad was there to talk about China IL which right now is in the midst of it’s second season on Adult Swim and is just absolutely killing ever since the series switched to that of the 30 minute variety of entertainment that we now cherish. However we still have our die-hards and  when asked about the possibility of maybe doing more short-form content in the future, Brad seemed to warm up to the idea when someone longed more for the poetry that comes with doing the type of stuff from his Super Deluxe days, “Different horses for different courses. I think the content is dictated by the form. Looseness and crazy doesn’t fit the TV narrative form that well. A skit show would be different.”

How about the songs? Arguably the trademark of the China IL series are all of the musical numbers that Mr. Neely is responsible for. But, how do they get written? Well, like all brilliant musicians (and make no mistake, now that Brendon Small is taking a break from Metalocalypse, I think it’s safe to say the Chief songwriter on Adult Swim is certainly Neely), but how do those songs get written? Welp, in terms of production I would say Brad keeps the tool belt pretty standard as he mentions that he uses  Pro tools, Guitar, and Midi Keyboard but that his songwriting happens when he takes random walks and then he just comes up with the beats and melodies in his head. It sounds like a pretty unique process, but most of the music I listen to nowadays is written with thousands of dollars of studio money staring at the bands so I’m sure they are under a different type of pressure.

There’s a whole lot more that went down over on Neely’s Reddit AMA. Check it out, and don’t forget to tune into an all-new China IL starting @ 11: 30pm EST, Sunday Night only on Adult Swim. Check your local listings!