 |
|
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
| features | cd reviews | live reviews | video & media | news & events | columns | about us| |
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
On the top floor of Toronto’s Circa nightclub, a small purple-lit film-screening room has been assembled. On this particular Wednesday afternoon, it is filled with press and a few lucky Justice fans who have gained access to the preview of Justice’s new documentary, A Cross the Universe. The guests are greeted by the director, Romain Gavras, and one of his crew members, who tell us (in their strong French accents) the documentary follows Justice on their 2007 North American tour. We are assured most of the footage comes from backstage and it is not really about the music but what good rock n’ roll documentary is? The film starts off in a linear, organized fashion but slowly melts into louder and more chaotic scenes as band members Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé power through their tour. The madness of the shows and parties is spliced by the cameraman’s interviews with the tour bus driver, a middle-aged man who takes cell phone pictures of mountains and is convinced he deserves to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. There are the predictable rock-doc scenes featuring groupies, bottles and fights but there are also scenes that are uniquely Justice. The crowd could not contain its laughter during a short scene where de Rosnay sits with Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist, Anthony Kedis, and while snapping his fingers, sings “Under the Bridge” perfectly in tune, but with virtually every lyric wrong. Also memorable is the night of Justice’s Las Vegas show where Augé is enticed into marrying a woman in the chapel of the band’s hotel. The tour managers, crew, and de Rosnay sit impatiently through the service, obviously aware of the quality of this idea. The next morning we are told Justice had to leave Las Vegas to continue their tour and Augé’s new bride was nowhere to be found. Much of the comedy of the film comes from the cool wit of these elitist French artists who are boggled and out of place in North America. The two of them never voice their confusions or qualms with American culture but stay quiet as the camera manages to captures the facial expressions and body language that say it all. Before each show, Augé and de Rosnay face each other and pause while lifting up a large cross pendant. Then, at the same time, they kiss it. This largely intimate moment between the two friends is captured numerous times throughout the film and serves as a humanizing reminder that amidst the madness, these people are just as freaked out as all of the drug-rattled twentysomethings on the other side of the stage. -Allison Smith
On Dec. 1, 1978, Toronto concert promoters Gary Topp and Gary Cormier (The Garys) presented The Last Pogo at the Horseshoe Tavern, a send-off to the first wave of the punk scene in Toronto. Featuring bands like The Scenics, The Ugly, The Viletones and Teenage Head. Suffice to say it wasn’t just another night in the history of the Horseshoe. With about 800 screaming sweaty fans packing the venue designed to only hold 500, shortly before Teenage Head took the stage, cops showed up to put an end to it all. Teenage Head played one song before walking out; resulting in a riot that saw the Horseshoe turned into a war zone. Filmmaker Colin Brunton was there. A young naive cab driver with the brave idea to capture the concert, despite having never shot a film before. The Last Pogo was virtually ignored when it was released in 1978 and the rights were tied up for many years before Brunton was able to re-acquire them. The film screened at NXNE 2008 and on Oct. 14, The Last Pogo will finally be available on DVD. “It’s funny because I hadn’t actually watched it for many, many years and I was a little scared when we showed it at NXNE on the big screen and I thought it came off great,” Brunton said. “I guess just because I was so immersed in the scene back then but having 30 years distance, I thought all the bands sounded pretty good. It looked nice and it’s fun to get it out there.” Brunton worked at the Horseshoe until moving on as a cab driver. He still made the handbills for The Gary’s shows and stopped by the venue when they were discussing The Last Pogo show. “I kind of thoughtlessly blurted out ‘hey that sounds cool,’ I’m going to make a movie,” Brunton said. “The next morning, I got up and it still actually sounded like a pretty good idea.” With his friend Patrick Lee teaching at Sheridan College, Brunton thought he could pull it off. After buying some dubious film stock from a failed producer and switching it with new stock and getting equipment from the Toronto Filmmakers’ Co-op, Brunton and his crew were under way. Looking back, it might not have happened. “We had like no money, but great enthusiasm and just somehow if I actually sat down rationally and thought about how I can make a half-hour film, it wouldn’t have happened”, says Brunton. “If I would have known how much debt it would put me in and how much money it would cost me, I probably wouldn’t have done it”. “Sometimes being naive is a good thing. Ignorance is bliss.” On the night of the concert, Brunton was only able to film 35 to 40 minutes of the concert, since that was all the film stock he had. His crew had to pick which shots to take and was only able to film one song per band. Brunton said he was quite shell shocked by the whole experience. “I had never done this thing before and it was so loud in there, there was not much communication. One thing I recall wondering was I wonder how much the audience is playing up to the cameras,” Brunton said. “There were these big, bright lights and I’ve talked to so many people since who were there and it’s never come up.” When the riot erupted, Brunton’s crew members were kicked out except for the sound guy who stuck around to grab audio of the carnage. It was only afterwards during the editing process when Brunton realized how much the film would cost him: roughly $10,000 and it put him in debt for 10 years. Brunton continued to work in the film industry, directing A Trip Around Lake Ontario (1988) and The Mysterious Moon Men of Canada (1989), which won the Genie Award for Best Live Action Short. He also served as an executive producer on the film Cube (1997) and recently has produced TV shows like Jeff Ltd. and Little Mosque on the Prairie. But some things come full circle and Brunton is now working on The Last Pogo Jumps Again. The idea for a sequel came after Brunton watched the original and thought it would great to revisit not only the bands but the people who were there too. “The deeper I got into it the more I thought, ‘oh man I’ve got to get these people’ and now it’s turned into a sort of a documentary on the initial period from 1976-78,”Brunton said. “I think that was the first real wave of punk and New Wave in the city. It basically started almost as much of a lark as making The Last Pogo was”. “It’s been a real laugh but as we get closer to editing and stuff, I think it could go on forever so I have to make a deadline for next year and see if I can get this thing all edited together.” While beginning to film the sequel a couple years ago, Brunton stepped foot inside the Horseshoe for the first time since 1978. He was quite surprised to see how different it was since that fateful concert. “I went in there when I started doing the documentary and I realized it’s only half the size it used to be,” Brunton said. “The front of the building used to be twice as big so it really looked like this formidable place and it’s not just another bar on Queen West but it’s certainly got a lot of history in there. I’m sure if you took a swab of one of the men’s urinals and the DNA could track musical history right back to Hank Williams.” Brunton also humourously said the film is being made for Tony Torture from The Ugly. Shortly after The Last Pogo was made, Brunton had picked up Torture in his cab and asked the young punk what he thought about his film. Whether adhering to the punk style or not, Torture replied, “fuckin’ piece of shit.” “Here I am, I’m driving cab and I’m poor, in debt, owning a bank like 10,000 bucks and there comes Tony and his girlfriend and yeah that was word for word what he said,” Brunton said with a laugh. “It was like, how do you win in this town?”. - Jon Brazeau
There’s a new funky disc that hit the stores recently and it’s titled I Got The Feelin’, James Brown In The ‘60s. This DVD includes three phenomenal discs that will have your emotions running wild. The first disc, The Night James Brown Saved Boston, focuses on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the James Brown show that followed that horrific day. The show was going to be cancelled but instead was televised and broadcasted over the radio. This concert was a legendary one that definitely helped soothed the anguish of people in Boston. This CD includes special interviews with Rev. Al Sharpton, the James Brown Band, Dr. Cornel West, Ricky Vincent, Kevin White, and more. -Danielle Cowie
Dir.: Rick Ernst There is no better way to summarize Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal than the words of deceased Exodus singer Paul Baloff: “Metal rules and if you don’t like it, die.” Get Thrashed is a fist-pumping, head-banging tour through the 1980s, when thrash metal rocked the underground, and into the 1990s and the present as it struggles to survive. All the big players are featured here, from Metallica, to their original guitarist and founder of Megadeth, Dave Mustaine as well as WWE wrestler and Fozzy vocalist Chris Jericho, among others. The film features segments on all of the major bands of the era, such as Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera and more. It also looks at particular scenes in San Francisco, New York and Germany; what it meant to be a metal fan from the clothes to moshing and the debate between the rap/metal hybrid Nu Metal versus the thrash-influenced New Metal scene. There are a lot of ‘talking-head’ segments as the film jumps around from musician to musician, with plenty of long hair and goatees among them and lots of pictures of flying V guitars. The interviewees mostly glamourize the scene, talking about how great it was and take potshots at “poser” metal fans who listened to “glam hair bands” like Ratt. However, it’s a bit hard to swallow that sentiment when Pantera’s early work was closer to Van Halen than anything else and just as bad as the bands being mocked. The musicians also blame others for the decline of thrash metal (apparently it was all grunge’s fault). Metallica also receives no criticism for their “Selloutica” shift towards ballads and radio-friendly hard rock, which allowed them to be one of the few bands from the era to continue selling millions of records. It’s quite ironic to hear Metallica’s Lars Ulrich talk about the old days when “it wasn’t about the money.” While the film itself is mostly U.S.-centric, the bonus features delve deeper into other territories across the world, including Canada. A nice little segment discusses the thrash bands from Canada including Exciter, Razor and Anvil. There is also a tongue-in-cheek mention about how the whole film could be about Anvil, a nod to the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, released earlier this year. For a nostalgic look at thrash metal, Get Thrashed may just be the most concise and entertaining documentary about the genre. It may just make you bust out the old jean vest or leather jacket (or the jean vest over the leather jacket) and raise your fists in the air with the devil horns salute. http://www.getthrashed.com -Jon Brazeau
Dir.: Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo) If there is one thing Daft Punk knows a lot about, it’s robots. Their film Electroma is the odyssey of two robots representing the band and played by Hurteau (Hero #1) and Reich (Hero #2). The silent film follows the duo’s quest to become human as they drive through the back roads of California, in a 1987 Ferrari 412 no less, enter a small town with robot residents and then finally stroll through the desert. If you’re expecting a 74 minute Daft Punk music video filled with “One More Time” and “Robot Rock,” then you’ll surely be disappointed. While the soundtrack is great and each song fits with its scene, the film is filled with songs by other musicians such as Curtis Mayfield and Todd Rundgren as oppose to tunes by Daft Punk. Much like 2001: A Space Odyssey, there are a lot of scenes that are completely silent and the camera remains still, adding to the film’s surreal experience. The long, drawn-out drive through the desert and the subsequent hike into the middle of nowhere make it feel like you’re with the characters in the backseat or are walking right beside them. It’s a bold experiment that some may find boring but it gives the film its unique charm. Surely with Daft Punk’s involvement and the unconventional yet appealing nature of the film, Electroma will become a cult classic like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s not a Hollywood blockbuster but it will find its audience. - Jon Brazeau
Joe Pernice has turned an indie rock career into an indie writing career. Pernice, founder of Scud Mountain Boys and the Pernice Brothers, wrote a novella for the 33 1/3 series based around The Smiths’ Meat Is Murder and his followup, It Feels So Good When I Stop, marks his full-length novel debut. It Feels So Good When I Stop takes place in late 1996 and follows an unnamed narrator who’s left his wife, Jocelyn, after only three days of marriage and is now living in Cape Cod at his former brother-in-law’s house. The narrative deals with his experiences as a no-luck twentysomething screw-up and his run-ins with the folks of Cape Cod. Sprinkled into the mix are flashback chapters that show his old life, seemingly “better days” with Jocelyn and working as a waiter in a restaurant. Of course, there’s also music; Sub Pop here and Lou Barlow there. It’s not too surprising considering that Pernice has released albums under the Sub Pop label. Nevertheless, it fits perfectly into the post-Nirvana era when Sub Pop was “the” label for indie musicians. Likewise, Pernice currently lives in Toronto and Leafs fans should appreciate the Wendel Clark reference in the book. Style-wise, Pernice’s male character is a lot like Rob Fleming in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity: grumpy, miserable and yet we stay attached to him (again, not surprisingly, there’s a quote from Hornby on the back cover). Pernice has an interesting writing style that’ll keep you reading but the plot itself tends to chug along and never reaches a definite conclusion. Even the flashback sequences seem a bit jumbled and random at times. Pernice also reaches to the low brow with several shit-related gags. Although funny at first, they probably belong in another book. For the most part though, It Feels So Good When I Stop is a hit and Pernice should find himself carving out a literary niche much like he has in the music world. — Jon Brazeau
Working Class Rock Star In an age of the internet hype machine and viral videos turning musicians into instant stars, it almost seems like a thing of the past to follow the classic formula: start a band, play countless shows and hope to get signed. However, the old-fashioned way still exists, although as evidenced in the documentary film Working Class Rock Star, it’s none too glamourous. Focusing on three up-and-coming bands – Tub Ring, Bloodshoteye and 3 Mile Scream – the film follows the musicians during a two-year period, from 2005 to 2007, as they hope to get signed by a major label and leave behind their day jobs. Over the years, they cope with both the highs and the lows of touring as they leave behind family and friends in order to hit the road. In some cases, they even lose money in the process, yet, they continue plugging away, hoping it’ll be worth it in the end. Mixed with the band’s stories are talking head segments with veterans of the music scene, such as Frank Marino (Mahogany Rush) and Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad). These segments prevent the flow of the film from becoming monotonous and without any record executives appearing on camera, they help establish the film’s message that signing with a label can actually be far worse than being independent. It’s also almost worth it just to hear Oderus Urungus of GWAR discussing his band’s over-the-top, stage theatrics involving the destruction of puppets of world leaders and celebrities. While there is a strong focus on the metal scene, being a fan of the genre is not required as it’s not the music that draws you into the film but the people behind it. Overall, anyone with a dream can relate to the bands featured in this documentary as it is a gripping tale of the struggles many bands face in their quest for success. http://www.workingclassrockstar.com/ -Jon Brazeau
|
It Feels So Good When I Stop 
Directed by Justin McConnell