All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow’s Parties
Melbourne International Film Festival
Sat 25 July, Thu 6 August
As a music ‘tragic’, I can say with clear conscience and no regret that I make mix CDs (previously tapes too, before the medium became extinct). ’So what?’ you ask, ‘anyone can bang 20 tracks on a CD!’
Not true – the track order, track selection, length of songs, and outros rolling to intros are all major factors in the success of a ‘mix’. This is something that the iPod generation and the ‘Shuffle’ option is slowly killing. But, when you get it right – at risk of sounding like an arrogant tosser – it’s pretty damn good. However, for someone who sees live music on a pretty regular basis, there is nothing better than seeing a band perform ‘that song’ live. So what if you could combine the two – in essence, a ‘live mix tape’ of all your favorite bands playing their songs live?
The All Tomorrows Parties Festival is just that. Curated by a selected artist (or of late, artists), it gives the them the chance to select their favorite bands or artist for ultimate music festival. Directed by Jonathan Caouette, All Tomorrows Parties (ATP) takes us on a behind the scenes journey of the festival and its patrons. Shot on Super 8, camcorder and mobile phones, this lo-fi doco traces the origins and captures the spirit of the festival.
The skill of the direction is that this is done without the aid of narration – well, narration of the standard form. Caouette uses the artists, fans and media alike to tell the story of a festival created by Chris Geddes (Belle and Sebastian) called the Bowlie Weekender in 1999, held at the off-season holiday camp in Camber Sands in Sussex. The gig consisted of Belle and Sebastian headlining a festival in which they selected all the acts. Festival producer Barry Hogan was so enamored by the idea that he asked whether he could keep the format and continue the medium. With blessing received we now have ATP as we know it today.
Caouette uses the split-screen effect with creative precision, showing an artist performing live on one side and the festival goers hijinks at the holiday camps on the other. The film captures some amazing acts and some pretty special performances and commentary. Look out for the Warren Ellis/Nick Cave interview and some sublime performances from Battles, Grinderman, Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston, Mogwai, The Dirty Three, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Mogwai, Seasick Steve, Mars Volta, The Stooges and Two Gallants. Special note must go to Lightening Bolt for his amazing drumming sequences, involving him drumming in the crowd (hunt this down on you tube). The use of archival footage of the holiday camps when they were popular in the 50s an 60s is a nice touch as is the footage of the punters at the festival enjoying impromptu performances and copious amounts of booze.
Unfortunately I caught the last screening of the Festival and the docos dont always get picked up for general release. However, I implore you that if you can track down the DVD or find a screening that you see this film. Without any exaggeration this is one of the better music documentaries, capturing the spirit of the live festival and is definitely worth the search.