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Vol. I
No. 9 Rural Rock Spotlights Locals The Rumpled Critic
We are introduced to the Buffy Swayze band’s lead singer who works in a local hamburger bar, “Stars”. Smiling as he chops lettuce and cooks some fries, he gives a brief history of his band, then describes the local “make your own” scene. All of the bands in the film have humble starts and endings. Then we meet Damion Lee, a fairly emphasized character throughout the film, even though he is usually out the door. Raised in pastoral New Mexico, Lee listened to anything he could get his hands on, often raiding his parents record collection for Leonard Cohen, The Band, Van Morrison, The Zombies, The Eagles, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and a host of other seventies musicians. The Lowlights first (and last) self-titled release on the Darla label, performs a little alchemy, turning simple, sad songs into golden arrangements. He is mostly seen in this film departing from his lovely 19 year old girlfriend, who, he breaks up with after the film. Ha.
Monster Women are spotlighted rather prominently also. Courtney , Aimee and Gary are presented with mirth and delight. I could tell the producer had fun interviewing Courtney and Amy, especially when Niko, Amy’s son was present. Aimee’s husband, Bandon, is interviewed at length. He plays drums with The Ravens, originally with the Let Down. Bandon is seen in the works, a local disc store where he and Amy are employed. You can tell he has a grip on what the true music scene is at. Being another local kid, he reflects the true sense of local music. Kids bored, playing music to entertain themselves. Michelle Cable, of Panache Magazine is interviewed diligently, as is Bob Doran of the North Coast Journal. Both have seen a diligent underground music scene flourish in the worst conditions. Some of these people even started a club in their warehouses just to have a place to play.
Others, such a s JPG and The Ian Fayes were touched upon, as were the Great Salvation. Que La Chinga weren’t even present. Some venue conflict, or another. The epilogue was sad as that most of the bands featured were either disbanded, reshaped or dead. This truly shows the transient state of evolution that occurs with bands within a short time. As my lead guitarist tells me on a fairly regular basis, “Things change in a blink of an eye.” Grade: B |
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Copyright © 2005-06, Humboldt Sentinel. All rights reserved. |
The
MTV people were in town for a weekend, so they decided to film a pilot
for a new TV series, Rural Rock. This is a reality format documentary
showing two days in the lives of small town Eureka’s alternative
music scene. The tight knit circle of friends who play music for one another
is warmly portrayed. Shot in Eureka and Arcata in June of 2005, Rural
Rock features the music of The Ravens, The Monster Women, Candy Muscle,
Great Salvation, Eureka Garbage Co., JPG, Buffy Swayze, The Ian Fays,
Trash & Roll, Blue Dot (from Mendocino), Smashed Glass, The Hitch,
Que la Chinga , Dragged by Horses and Damion Lee from Lowlights. 
The Hitch are spotlighted next, Rowshawn, Steve , Jeff and Greg. All of
these guys are hard working blue collared ZZ Top look a likes. They are
more heavy metal than punk, playing that machine gun rapid guitar chops
and heavy bass back. In one scene the bass player licks the base of his
Upside down guitar with a Gene Simmons smile. Apparently they are reputated
as being an odiferous band of thuggish contractors. “Most bands
up here are boys. We are men, so we smell like men.” I would have
to say they seem like the hardest working band in Humboldt county, literally.
I think my favorites were the interviews with Eureka Garbage Company.
They seem like a group of zany, outspoken, opinionated cartoon characters.
Chris, the lead singer, even begins to tell the director what he should
use in the film. How sassy! They appear at home wherever they may be,
bar, backyard or at a friend’s house party. Rob Rierden of Candy
Muscle is interviewed at length, luckily for this director. Rob passed
on shortly after the filming was done, he will be missed. 