D.O.A. A Rite of Passage punk rock documentary film

The notorious punk rock documentary D.O.A. A Rite of Passage will receive its first stateside release on December 8th, 2017 when our friends at MVD Entertainment issue the film on standard DVD and high-definition Blu-ray disc. The set includes a 12-page booklet with liner notes by John Holmstrom, founding editor of PUNK Magazine, as well as a bonus feature – Dead On Arrival: The Punk Documentary That Almost Never Was – a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the movie by award-winning filmmaker Richard Schenlman.

D.O.A. is, ostensibly, a documentary of the Sex Pistols’ 1978 tour, filmed by director Lech Kowalski with handheld cameras as the band performed dingy clubs across the South and Southwest United States. By the time of the film’s 1980 release, however, Kowalski had expanded the scope of his documentary to include footage of other contemporary punk bands like the Dead Boys, the Clash, X-Ray Spex, the Rich Kids (with former Pistols guitarist Glen Matlock), Sham 69, and Generation X (with Billy Idol), among others. The film also features interview footage with the Pistols’ Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen shortly before their deaths as well as interviews with audience members at various Pistols shows.

An essential slab of rock ‘n’ roll history, D.O.A. offers up the behind-the-scenes early history of punk rock, documenting the genre’s growing pains with footage from on and off stage, capturing the zeitgeist of the short-lived punk era on film for posterity. A number of theater screenings of D.O.A. are scheduled to promote the film; you’ll find a list of those shows below as well as a trailer for the movie.

Buy the Blu-ray from Amazon.com: D.O.A. A Rite of Passage

D.O.A. A Rite of Passage film screenings:
11/29 @ FilmScene, Iowa City IA
12/01 @ Brattle Theatre, Cambridge MA
12/03 @ Brattle Theatre, Cambridge MA
12/04 @ Carolina Theater, Durham NC
12/11 @ Belcourt Theatre, Nashville TN
12/18 @ Enzian Theater, Maitland FL
01/03/2018 @ Alamo Drafthouse, Yonkers NY
01/12 @ Circle Cinema, Tulsa OK
01/12-1/14 @ Northwest Film Forum, Seattle WA
01/15 @ Alamo Drafthouse, San Francisco CA
01/15 @ Alamo Sloan's Lake, Denver CO
01/18 @ Speed Museum, Louisville KY

Hype! rockumentary returns to DVD!

Filmmaker Doug Pray’s critically-acclaimed ‘rockumentary’ Hype! premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1996 and was released to general audiences later that year. The film attempted to place the Seattle ‘grunge’ scene into proper context through on-camera interviews with those involved while poking gentle fun at an overly-enthusiastic music media that ‘hyped’ the scene to epic proportions. Among those interviewed by Pray for the documentary were members of rising stars Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Mudhoney as well as lesser-known bands like the Gits, the Melvins, Supersuckers, and the Fastbacks.

On September 29th, 2017 Shout! Factory will release Hype! for the first time on Blu-ray disc as well as updating the original DVD release for their Shout Select line. Hype! [Collector’s Edition] includes new audio commentary by director Pray, vintage interviews and performances, and cartoonist Peter Bagge’s animated short “Hate” as well as video outtakes and a new featurette with interviews with some of the original characters from the film 20 years later. 

‘Grunge’ rose from the late ‘80s/early ‘90s rock scene in Pacific Northwest that was based in Seattle, Washington and exploded out of a vibrant local underground music scene on the strength of major label releases by Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam. Nirvana, arguably the scene’s best-selling band, hit #1 on the charts with their classic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (and accompanying video, which received heavy airplay on MTV), opening the floodgates for dozens of bands like Seaweed, Flop, and 7 Year Bitch to sign deals as the major labels went on a ‘grunge’ feeding frenzy. While the top bands on the scene achieved multi-Platinum™ sales status and worldwide fame, many others scrapped by in the PNW and are known primarily by hardcore fans of the genre.

Hype! [Collector’s Edition] features rare performance footage of Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, the Posies, Supersuckers, the Mono Men, the Fastbacks, the Gits, and the Young Fresh Fellows as well as the first live performance of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. Aside from the wealth of band interviews the film provides, director Pray also included interviews important with behind-the-scenes movers and shakers like Sub Pop Records co-founders Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt, K Records founder Calvin Johnson, Empty Records founder Blake Wright, and many others. Hype! offers the definitive story of what was arguably the last great rock scene before major labels took control and diluted ‘grunge’ in the name of more marketable ‘alt-rock’.

Sidemen: The Long Road To Glory Kickstarter Project

The Reverend doesn’t ask readers to donate to crowdfunding projects all that often, but I’m going to break with tradition and recommend…nay, demand that y’all offer up some coin for Sidemen: The Long Road To Glory. An award-winning documentary film about the lives, music, and legacies of blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Sidemen: The Long Road To Glory premiered at the 2016 SxSW Film Festival and had an extremely successful festival run.

Now the producers are looking to take the film worldwide and although they have cleared the music and video footage rights for festival showings, they need to raise some cash to clear the rights for wider release of the film, and that’s where y’all come in. Directed by filmmaker Scott Rosenbaum and narrated by Marc Maron, Sidemen: The Long Road To Glory presents these three bluesmen as the important musicians they were, the three lending their talents to legends like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. The film includes testimonials from such musical heavyweights as Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and many others. Filmed during the final years of the artists’ lives, Sidemen captures the late career triumph of Perkins and Smith upon winning a Grammy™ Award for their 2010 album Joined At The Hip.

The Kickstarter campaign for Sidemen is trying to raise $225,000 for wider distribution of the film. They have plenty of cool rewards for donors, such as digital downloads of the film, a copy of the cool movie poster seen to the right, a DVD of the film, buttons, t-shirts, and other memorabilia as well as a one-year subscription to Blues Music magazine. Check out the Sidemen Kickstarter page to find out more about this worthy project.