The post-70’s explosion of independent music in America has many traceable roots, each with a compelling story. One of its most significant has never been told until now. Drawing on never-before-seen archival footage, in-depth-interviews with musicians and producers, and a mighty soundtrack, THE SMART STUDIOS STORY reveals the pivotal Midwest link to the global rise of 1990's Alternative Rock and the unassuming Madison, Wisconsin recording studio at its center. If you’ve ever been touched by the music of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, L7 or their peers, you’ve been touched by the music created at Smart Studios, the legendary recording facility founded by Butch Vig and Steve Marker.
A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.
In the pinnacle of their Stack Is The New Black national tour, Short Stack play the Sydney Opera House in a sold out mega-show.
A 1-hour Documentary looking at the Manchester post-punk group and its infamous leader Mark E Smith. The Film follows the current band recording their final Session for the John Peel Show (they were his favourite group and recorded more sessions than any other band) as well as chronicling the chaotic history of the band & its numerous line-up changes.
The band Fugazi is documented over a period of more than ten years (1987-1998) through performance footage and interviews with the band and their fans. Director Jem Cohen's relationship with band member Ian MacKaye extends back to the 1970s when the two met in high school in Washington, D.C.. The film takes its title from the Fugazi song of the same name, from their 1993 album, In on the Kill Taker. Editing of the film was done by both Cohen and the members of the band over the course of five years. It was shot from 1987 through 1998 on super 8, 16mm and video and is composed mainly of footage of concerts, interviews with the band members, practices, tours and time spent in the studio recording their 1995 album, Red Medicine. The film also includes portraits of fans as well as interviews with them at various Fugazi shows around the United States throughout the years.
Urgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Magazine, The Go-Go's, Toyah Willcox, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, X, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead Kennedys, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi, Wall of Voodoo, Pere Ubu, Steel Pulse, Surf Punks, 999, UB40, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Police. These were many of the most popular groups on the New Wave scene; in keeping with the spirit of the scene, the film also features several less famous acts, and one completely obscure group, Invisible Sex, in what appears to be their only public performance.
A documentary about the life and career of UK singer-songwriter and Adverts frontman, TV Smith.
THIS FILM SHOULD NOT EXIST is a slight-of-hand trick replete with all the details of a rock documentary. Archival footage from the orgiastic 1995 tour with The Oblivians and stories of everyday life leads the audience down a familiar path, and with a delicately insistent grin, transports us somewhere else completely. Echoing the artistic path taken by Ben Wallers, the film winds through the underground world of the 1990's garage rock band Country Teasers to form a portrait of a man, musician, and leader.
Punk bands in Korea get invited to biggest hardcore punk festival in Tokyo. This movie shows how one of the loudest and most active punk bands in Asia live and deliver message very closely and pleasantly.
Henry Rollins narrates Lilly Scourtis Ayers' no-holds-barred profile of volatile Bay Area punk legend Marian Anderson, whose hypnotic beauty, devil-may-care rebellion and shocking sexual exploits onstage launched her to infamy before tragically dying of a heroin overdose at the tender age of 33.
PC-4L follows a powerviolence band’s ritual of drinking Four Loko during practice. It originated with Victoria filmmaker Ailín Ó Dálaigh and was shot on Super 8mm film in one day on a visit to Dallas, TX with filmmaker Dariel Hernandez.
Pivotal
Interviews from 1999, with some queer artists, activists and bands about queer punk, feminist concepts and actions. Filmed during a trip to San Francisco.
A documentary about the life of the four members of punk rock band Dreads 'N' Drones. The footage allows a peek into the rise of the group, their creative interactions and the importance of 'cirandeiro'. This is the first of many grasshoppers to come.
UK punk band, Fat White Family, oozed out of the London DIY scene in 2013 with their self-released album 'Champagne Holocaust'. The group quickly became the face of the UK's subversive political and musical underground, gaining notoriety amongst fans and the music press as being the last of a dying breed: a punk rock outfit so loud, vulgar, and iconoclastic that they couldn’t be ignored. This run n' gun documentary follows the controversial group on tour in the U.S. It is an intimate portrait of a band struggling with the music business, drug addiction, poverty, and each other, as they rocket across the great American hinterland. The film features appearances by Fat White Family admirers Lady Gaga, Sean Lennon, Mark Ronson, Cynthia ‘Plaster Caster’ Albritton, and the long, strange American highway.
Fat Wreck Chords... The influential music label proud to say they've spent the past 25 years "ruining punk rock". A Fat Wreck tells the story of founders Fat Mike (of the legendary punk band NOFX) and his ex-wife Erin Kelly-Burkett, spanning the birth, growth, struggles, and survival of the Fat Wreck Chords label.
A reckless joyride into the darkest corners of popular music that delves deep into the mind of Mick Rock, the genius photographer who immortalized the seventies and the rise to rock stardom of many legendary musicians.
This heart-rending love letter from one brother to another uses animation to mythologize Jonathan's fantasy life as punk singer Johnny Physical. After being hit on the head with a beer bottle, Jonathan was dealt a devastating diagnosis—and escape into rock star Johnny's sex, drugs and rock ‘n' roll lifestyle becomes a vital source of energy as he fights for his life
Documentary about the Mekons.
Formed in 1979 in Wichita, Kansas, the so-called "blister pop" band the Embarrassment played major U.S. cities and garnered praise from the likes of Allen Ginsberg, John Cale and Jonathan Demme, but their refusal to compromise their vision made success elusive. Through archival interviews and concert footage, this documentary draws a portrait of the oft-overlooked post-punk legends.