Soon after our recent special list of 9 overlooked music and punk documentaries by Docs Till Death podcast, we’re back with a quick follow up and our guests’ interesting picks for 9 bands that shold have documentaries, but probably never will. On the other hand, it’s never been easier to make a music documentary these days, so fingers crossed, maybe we will inspire someone to cross a bands or two off of our list.
About Docs Till Death podcast: “A punk podcast where old punks discuss punk and hardcore movies in a very punk way. We ridicule filmmakers for their limited knowledge of punk canon, their corny and sentimental affinity for regional scenes, and their technical ineptitude — but we also praise the few that “rise above” (wink wink). And we’d love for you to join us, but please consider yourself warned, ’cause we’re “bringin’ da noise, bringin’ da punk!””
THE CRUCIFUCKS
Is a Crucifucks doc already in the works? If not, one should be. They’re a great band, with a great record and heartbreaking story. For more on the latter, check out Sam McPheeter’s excellent essay on singer Doc Dart (you can find the essay online and in McPheeter’s recent collection, Mutations).
Similar to the genesis of docs like American Hardcore and Salad Days, then, The Crucifucks’ story is already written and is just waiting to be filmed. And… since Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth played drums for The Crucifucks, you’re practically guaranteed to get Thurston as a talking head, offering up some killer bloviation.
G.L.O.S.S.
This band came and went in what felt like a blink of an eye, but not before they took the punk world by storm.
While their output of recorded work was little, for the short time they were around it felt like everyone was talking about them and their visceral shows. While there may never be a documentary about them, that shouldn’t stop you from seeking out their music.
HARRY PUSSY
An amazing band. Made up of a married couple, plus another dude. Who gave wild performances. And were far more aggressive than their indie peers. But often put out records that bucked expectations. All while living in Miami in the 90s. We have a lot of questions.
TED LEO
The punks punk (in my mind). I feel as though he is often overlooked as a musician, as a lyricist, and as someone who has stayed true to his politics and interests. The mastermind behind citizens arrest, chisel, the sin eaters, and the pharmacists.
Seeing him in the 90’s and then seeing him in the last few years, he continues to deliver. Sure, his music isn’t heavy, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have bite!
MAN IS THE BASTARD
I suggest MITB as someone who has watched the super low rez trailer for the “Bastard” doc that has been floating around since 2006 about..oh…a million times. I don’t think that thing is ever going to see the light of day and it is a shame. That two minute clip shows how compelling the weirdest/most unique/greatest(?) band of all time was/is.
It could just be 2 hours of Kenyon talking about who is the actual bastard and smoking volcanic dope and I would watch it.
ONE EYED GOD PROPHECY
Sometimes you want a documentary to exist simply because…there is not enough out there about the band. And you will take anything you can get.
An OEGP documentary would be a great way to document a super small, hyper specific regional hardcore scene and also see where the tendrils reached out to future bands from a small Canadian band that put out one highly limited LP. And that documentary would be for no one. Except me. (Which is also what I would have said about Deadguy at one point, but look where we are now).
POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD
A band from Nebraska that put out one blistering LP in 1985. We at DTD acknowledge that not everyone is interested in watching documentaries based on largely unknown bands, but from our point of view, it’s precisely how little is known about a band like Power of the Spoken Word that makes them such a compelling documentary subject: Who were they? How did they gravitate towards punk in mid 80s Nebraska? What was punk in mid 80s Nebraska? When did they realize they made a stone-cold classic? And why didn’t they ever make another one?
MARTIN SORRONDEGUY
VOID
End of the day, we watch a lot of docs on Docs Till Death. And we see a lot of the same bands get covered over and over. And in multiple episodes of Docs Till Death, we end up at the same conclusion: They didn’t talk about Void enough. We want a documentary on them. Documentaries about bands who were in the scene but also on the outskirts of the scene are the dream. Let’s get Dave Grohl being a talking head about some different bands for a change.
