Before there was punk, there was a band called Death.
This screening has been postponed to the 14th of January 2016!
documentary, 2012, Jeff Howlett / Mark Covino, 96min, ov
Finally receiving the recognition you really deserve for your music, thirty years after it was released. It happened to Detroit punk band Death a few years ago. A painful reality that nonetheless yields a fine tale. Directors Mark Christopher Covino & Jeff Howlett translated that chronicle into the documentary ‘A Band Called Death’.
Death is a band consisting of three brothers who decided to go play funk in the early ‘70s. Under influence of the likes of The Who and Alice Cooper, funk pretty soon became punk avant la lettre. Although they barely received recognition at the time (when mainly Motown ran the show), Death can be considered one of the founders of the genre.
More than thirty years after the release of their ‘United Sound sessions’ from 1975, indie label Drag City (see: Bill Callahan, Pavement and Joanna Newsom) decided to re-release the seven-song CD. A sign for the band to try their luck again, which resulted in an overwhelming response.
‘A Band Called Death’ received unanimous praise after the 2012 release at the op het Los Angeles Film Festival. Aside from the reunion and the eventual success, the documentary also focuses on their failed attempts to break through, the death of one of the brothers and the thirty year long black hole. An interesting look at an undervalued band.
all seats are taken for this screening