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And another fake rockumentary comes its way and finally out on dvd this time from western canada and this one keeps quite close to „Spinal Tab“ as it, too, shows a band that used to be big and now isn't any more gives it one more try and gloriously fails.
But where Spinal Tab fail because they are stuck with the past and don't want to believe that it is over and that they are nothing but a relict, Hard Core Logo (Vancouver's fictional greatest punk band of the 80s with more than 1000 shows and 7 records) fail because they want to leave this past behind ans because they are human failures. Leadsinger Joe Dick still wears a mohawk and names himself after the male primary sex characteristic. Maybe he is the one who is stuck with the past here but he is always looking forward. He just wants to write songs and play shows. He wants music and he wants it along with Leadguitarist Billy Tallent (hey, wasn't there a band with a very similar name?;) ) who himself is about to quit Hard Core Logo to play in major rockband Jenifur. Bass player John Oxenberger is mentally ill and after losing his pills starts stuttering along with saying and doing very strange things. Drummer Pipefitter finally is a full retard shitting on hotel bed pillows (which is unfortunately not shown in the film) and masturbating in the band's van.
The movie is a lot harder than „Spinal Tab“. It gets more weird (e.g. the collective LSD trip) and the live perfomances are really good, in fact better than a lot of real punk bands I've seen. The band is playing songs probably written for this film and at least one cover song („sonic reducer“ by the Dead Boys) and there is real punks in front of the stage dancing pogo (many of them really came there to see a show and paid admission). The way the film crew gets integrated into the action is good as well e.g. when Pipefitter asks director Bruce who actually watches his (real) previous films and in the end it is the film crew itself that gives the film a quite dramatic and drastic spin leading to an unforseen and harsh end.
What I especially like about this film is that it reflects the way a band works and the way its members act towards one another is quite realistic. I'm in a band myself for many years now and you really get to know people after days and days squeezed together into a van. And of course there is tensions, of course there is problems and yes, dear punks, people change. Some sort of grow out of that shit and some cling to a golden past that sometimes was only golden in their own minds. Punk means change but being a band also means being a family and being there for each other. The latter Hard Core Logo do so often in such a unpretentious yet rough way but in the very crucial moment they fail... [jan]
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