(bright upbeat music)
(whooshing beat)
- Hi, Paul, how are you?
- I'm great James.
How are you doing?
- I'm, you know, I'm feeling good.
And I watched this film yesterday
and I'm still profoundly moved, profoundly moved.
You're a musician.
How did you get,
I mean that's such a great fit for you.
How did you get involved in this project?
- Well, I just read the script.
I have an agent who said they were looking for this role
and she knew that I was close to the role
and I didn't even know how close I was to it till I read it.
So I've been, you know,
as a young boy in the 50s,
my parents were deaf
and Paul Anka, Bobby V. Elvis,
I used to get records and try to sign them for my mom,
who I knew,
and I would always be trying to portray music,
'cause my mom lost her hearing when she was five.
- Oh my God.
- She still remembered music.
That's where the line comes from
and move right where I tell Riz
that I still remember the last song that was playing
before that bomb went off.
- Wow.
- That comes from my mother remembering a certain song
before she lost her hearing.
So I was always trying.
It was a frustrating thing as a kid,
not yet a musician,
but trying to become one
and try and portray music to my mom.
I always felt that I always missed the mark,
but I was always,
It was a painful experience to just try and do that.
Now I've got a heavy metal band
by Black Sabbath Tribute Band,
(laughing)
I sing all - that took a-
- I sing all of Ozzy stuff,
and I sign it.
And we have 50 to 60 deaf people that show
up at these nightclubs every time we play
or when we open up again they will.
(patting)
- You know I actually I have a confession.
I was watching some of the videos you made,
I was just so moved.
How did this come?
So first of all, what song was it?
If you don't mind sharing that.
What was the song that your mom?
- Oh my mom, she remembered "I'll Get By"
and I'm sitting in her lap
in a rocking chair and she says, she started singing.
♪ I'll get by as long as I ♪
You know, but she would sing like,
(Paul singing)
I was like this is weird.
And I looked at her and I remember this.
I looked, I said, "mom, that's not how it goes."
And this look of disappointment just covered her face
as if to say, "oh, I don't know how to sing anymore."
And then my heart broke.
So I was always making up
for that one remark I made to her,
"mom, that's not how the song goes."
But she was just tryna sing it for me.
Such heartbreak and profound feeling of loss
and how can I make that up
to you and show you what music.
When The Beatles came out she bought me tickets
to go see The Beatles, twice.
And I came home to tell her what the show was about.
And I would try to portray,
you know I'll wanna hold your hand
while it was on sign a tour.
And she remembers seeing Frank Sinatra
when she was a teenage girl.
A deaf teenage girl.
Yeah. - Wow.
- At the Albert theater.
So she just loved music.
Deaf people liked music.
My father didn't give a rat's ass
because he never heard anyway.
(laughing)
So yeah, there's, there's so many different
deaf people around.
- Well, how did, how did you get into black Sabbath?
That's really cool.
(laughing)
- Well, I've always been doing music like in Chicago.
I was in a David Bowie band, Ted Nugent kind of stuff.
When I moved out here, I was, I've been acting
for years and years and I started to miss it.
So I started auditioning
and I hit upon this Black Sabbath Band.
And then, one day we decided to do it in sign language
and we put it on Facebook and it went viral.
And so the band comes to me and they go,
Hey why don't you do everything in sign language?
And so we started doing the hour and a half show
in sign language and deaf people just flock to it.
They love it.
They can't get enough of it.
- You see, I'm not even deaf,
I would love to see that.
That's such a profound way to express music.
- Well, these heavy metlers and these clubs, they come up
do they go, you know, what's the best part
of the show is watching you do your music to your people.
(laughing)
- Oh my God.
Yeah, 'Cause there's, there's definitely a connection.
Deaf people are just glued to what's going on.
And the music is Sabbath.
It's loud and heavy and it's right in here.
- Yeah.
- So it's made for deaf people and the lyrics are prolific.
- Yeah. And well, I mean the sound of metal,
you can feel it.
You can feel the war room shake, even, you know
having not having that issue, you can feel it
so I can imagine it must be an incredible feeling for them.
- Yeah, are you in LA?
- I am, I am in LA.
- Well, you gotta come and see my band.
when we start playing again
- 100%. I'd love to I'll look you up.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah.
Yeah ,no, it's a, so with this movie,
I guess we got wrapped it up.
Dang it.
Well, let me give you one quick one.
What do you hope people get out of this film?
- I hope they see that deaf people are not a monolith.
There's so many different kinds of deaf people.
Your hearing is precious.
You know, you think standing in front
of a big speaker or listening to these iPods,
you can damage your hearing.
So at that, that's one thing.
But the other thing is deaf people are just like us.
They have addictions.
They make mistakes.
They're not these little saints.
Just 'cause they're poor little deaf people,
they're not.
They're like us.
So, you know,
(patting legs)
deal with it.
(upbeat music)
- When this
crappy, mundane world
suddenly becomes radiant and magnificent,
all the fear is gone.
That place will never abandon you.
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