Ahoy sweet, sweet readers! Hope all of you are enjoying the Ides of March. There is something about the onset of Spring that makes me beyond yearn for a good sized road trip. Seeing different states emerge from Winter and figuring out if every single Waffle House this side of the South has a jukebox playing a song about Bert's Chili....ah the romance of the road!
Since, my present conditions are not terribly travel friendly, here's my ever growing and changing list of music to road trip to. Hey, sometimes living vicariously through art is better than not living at all. Starting with...
Anything and everything by The Gun Club & Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Seriously. This music is part of my DNA.
Speaking of incredible bands that have featured the awesome guitar hand of Kid Congo Powers, you must have The Cramps in your vehicle at all times.
Wall of Voodoo, both the Stan Ridgway & Andy Prieboy eras.
Marc Moreland was a true guitarlegend.
The Tornados with the ultimate travel song, "Telestar."
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If you're in dire need of some fabulous print reading and have great taste in cinema, then do yourself a favor and pick up the latest issue of Video Watchdog! Issue #161 features a sweet tribute to the late Jean Rollin, a thorough and thoroughly entertaining interview with Mimsy Farmer and my review of the Lydia Lunch film KISS NAPOLEON GOODBYE. What more can you want?
Passion and fluidity are two key ingredients for any great artist but are often the hardest to possess. Passion is vital for anything truly good since otherwise it's like faking an orgasm. You can give the best moan and grind all you want, but it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. Even more than that, you need fluidity to keep things interesting. Talent helps out a lot, too. When I think of all these factors, singer, musician and artist Gitane Demone comes immediately to mind.
I first became familiar with her work when a friend of mine lent me a compilation that had her single, “Incendiary Lover”, on it. The angel-sweet vocals made an instant impression on me, though the pop-ness of the production gave me little indication of what was in future store. There was her amazing work with the band Christian Death, at first with leader and founder Rozz Williams, resulting the essential albums “Ashes” and “Catastrophe Ballet.” Then after Rozz left, she continued with the band with guitarist and former Pompeii 99 band mate Valor Kand. This line-up resulted in such great songs as “Church of No Return” and “Believers of the Impure.” But if this is all you know of Gitane's work, it is literally just the tip of this brilliant woman's creative release. Her work with both incarnations of Christian Death displayed someone whose vocals range from ethereal banshee to rock goddess, all the while sounding effortlessly perfect. But nothing could have prepared the music world for the next chapters of Gitane's career, all lovingly captured and covered from the beginning of her solo work around 1991 to 1998 on Cult Epics lush special edition 2 DVD and 1 CD set, “Life After Death.”
After leaving Christian Death, a band whose own work had done some genre-bending in both incarnations, Gitane's career went into the one trajectory that no one could have guessed. Utilizing her influences by such legends as Billie Holiday, she transformed herself into a torch singer with heavy jazz and blues influences (which is only one petal to this multilayered flower). While some jazz musicians initially looked down on this “rock and roll girl” back then, Demone is a talent that demands respect and this set will silence whatever naysayer that is left. Janis Joplin was a rock and roll force who could sing the blues as well as the talented old ghosts and so does Gitane.
Disc One begins with a biographical piece that was aired on VPRO, a Dutch Television channel, from 1991. It covers her intense childhood which included being surrounded by nature, aggressive, girl-hungry boys and getting her first taste of death. They soon go into her discovery of love, sex and music. We get to see Gitane at the piano while the camera passes lovingly but fleetingly over a Billie Holiday album in the corner. There is some footage featured here that I would kill to see more of including shots of Gitane singing live while playing with fire (literally) and breaking a mirror and then a TV set with a hammer. Like any artist worth his/her salt, she is a seeker and it is this artistic freedom that is going to shine for the rest of this set. Speaking of which...
Gitane in the Dutch TV Special "The Dark Side of Life."
Following that is a live, B&W clip from the Mazzo in Amsterdam shot in 1989 that includes a blistering version of Holiday's now-classic “Strange Fruit.” This song is a standard that, by the time the '90's hit, had been covered to death by x,y and z performers. It is a powerful song but like a great image, it cannot truly ring true unless the person expressing can actually feel the song. Anyone with the right training can pull this off technically but then you are going through the motions, which is an insult to the material and audience. Gitane is not a faker and brings the right amount of emotional pain and realness that this song warrants and deserves.
Mazzo, Amsterdam 1989
After that is a one-song performance of “Sound of War” for Dutch Television from 1992. It's classic and simple, complete with a great saxophone solo. Again, like “Strange Fruit,” the temptation to do an anti-war song and wring it like the grasp of death is upon it is too irresistible for most, but Gitane and her band find a great balance of emotion without letting any well-meaning but ill-plotted out cheese sully it.
Singing "The Sound of War" in 1992.
Courtesy of VPRO Radio in Holland, we then get a three song clip from '93 featuring the great “Love for Sale” (excellent audio on this batch, by the way). The show following this one, from the ISC Club in Bern, Switzerland in 1993 is one of the best on this disc, featuring the show stopper, “I Have a Right to Sing the Blues.” Mein Gott, this is phenomenal stuff, featuring some great, experimental-type sonic horns, percussion and keyboards bleeding together and perfectly offset by Gitane's big, smooth and at times scouring voice. Screw anyone whose “blues” music is basically raping the corpse of Robert Johnson (Clapton, I am looking at you) and/or morphing what were once some good chords into Michelob-lite butt-bar-rock. This is the real blues (Also see, Pierce, Jeffrey Lee. Can you imagine if those two could have worked together? A girl can dream). This is raw and infernal and beautiful, which is really what all great music should be. Especially the blues.
Rounding up Disc One is a killer live-set from the Indie Tour in 1995. The six-song set includes a deconstructed, dreamy cover of “I Only Have Eyes for You,” Jimi Hendrix's “Manic Depression” and the original “These Vulnerable Eyes.” (The latter two are both featured on the collaborative album between her and the late, great Rozz Williams, “Dream Home Heartache.”) Seeing Gitane playing an open-air venue doing these gorgeous torch songs in broad daylight, dressed in a crimson-red evening gown and nose chain is a sight to behold. While typically these are songs that were born in the smokey hothouse of seedy clubs, it all works. When the material and performer are this good, it's proof that they can shine anywhere.
Singing on the Indie Tour in Querfort, Germany.
Disc One is a great representation of the blossoming of the early stages of Gitane's solo career with a defined focus on the blues/jazz side of of her work. Disc two has some shades of this but goes further into the other sides of her 90's solo work and also her collaborative work with Rozz. It's all shades of brilliant blues, blacks and reds from here on out.
The opener for Disc Two is the promotional video for the single, “Heavenly Melancholy,” directed by Nico B. (Who also helmed the brilliant short film PIG and is the man responsible for giving us Cult Epics.) Made and released in 1992, its sonic sleekness and dance-floor friendliness is the perfect opener. There's some jazz tinge to Gitane's voice but the music is different, letting you know that you are in for a wholly unique ride. The video itself features a bewigged Gitane wandering the streets rejected until she finds herself welcomed into the arms of a large S&M club! (If only the rest of us would be so lucky when lost in large European cities!) The club scenes are contrasted with some beautifully lit scenes of Gitane, with her platinum hair close cropped, singing, while some other latex-clad lovelies of both genders dance around. There's some gorgeous jewel-tone sets and lighting going on here, with all that black vinyl and rubber looking especially shiny against cobalt blue and fire orange backgrounds. It may not re-invent the music video wheel, but it does add some lovely new tones to it.
Goddess in Vinyl: Still from "The Heavenly Melancholy" Video
Then there's a brief clip from the UK video magazine “Skin Two” from 1994 featuring a lot of preening S&M enthusiasts and a way too short clip of Gitane singing while tied up and blindfolded as a a Domme teases her with a whip. What you hear is great but undoubtedly the “Skin Two” folks were more focused on the obvious and less creative side of things.
After that, we get a short but chewy documentary from Denmark in 1995 entitled “Fetish Generation,” courtesy of Steen Schapiro. There's some good interview footage where Gitane talks about her involvement with the S&M community and how it is reflected in her music, noting that fetish is a facet of the her music, not the other way around. This take is so intriguing, since so many musicians have employed sexuality as a manipulative, borderline cynical tool of intention, with the music often being an afterthought. With Gitane Demone, it is refreshing because sexuality is just one of the many colors she is painting her music and words with. Featured here are the songs, “Tongue of Fire,” “Cool Domina” and “Perv,” which are all very strong. You also get to see Gitane ride a guy around like a pony on stage and then man-up with a willing submissive lass, all with the help of a luscious apparatus. (You'll have to buy the DVD for further detail, folks.)
Brief performance shot from "Fetish Generation" Documentary
Then we get some straight up live footage, with a killer set from a show in Hamburg in 1994. This is the show where we really get into the meat of the music from this era. Featured here are some crunchy renditions of “Tongue of Fire,” “Perv” (which positively smokes and crackles, here) and “Loveless.” The band is really great here, as is the striking image of Gitane belting out these saucy-raw rock & roll songs and wielding everything from a cat o'nine tails to a large double ended dildo with the total authority of someone who knows exactly what to do with them. This is definitely one of the best highlights of this already stellar disc.
"Tongue of Fire" in Hamburg, Germany.
Segueing smoothly into the next aspect of her career is some choice footage from the “Dream Home Heartache” tour along with co-collaborator/conspirator Rozz Williams. Anyone who is a fan of the album will be extremely happy to hear these tracks live, complete with the non-album cover of David Bowie's “Time,” courtesy of Rozz. (An excellent cover to boot.) Even more lucky is that we get a healthy selection of material totaling 7 songs, which is basically almost the whole album sans Gitane's “Manic Depression” and the tune “These Vulnerable Eyes.” This is okay though since you get to hear them on Disc One. Hearing their soul-burrowing cover of Roxy Music's otherwise uncoverable song, “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” live is extremely special, capturing the cold claustrophobia of the original. The only hiccup is that the climax of the song is cut off, which is a total sonic interruptus.
From the "Dream Home Heartache" tour.
Given that this was far from a huge tour, having this type of documentation of this legendary collaboration complete with clear audio and video, is a huge gift. The stage set-up is as unique as the music, with the mise-en-scene being more of a beaten down European cafe than rock & roll club. Whenever it is a solo turn, the other one sits at a small table with a glass of wine and a lit candle, with the vibe being slightly decadent and melancholy. The only real annoyance is that there are various times where you can hear people loudly talking in the background. Seriously, folks, if you want to have a big conversation with your friends, go to a regular bar or coffee shop. Doing it at a live performance is just flat out rude. Anyone who has been on stage and exposing their art can attest to that.
Rozz singing Bowie's "Time."
That unavoidable nuisance aside, this is a great set and gives a sweet peek into another facet of both Gitane and Rozz's art. The beauty of these two geniuses coming together is that you have two equals with diverse abilities, raw talent and a total willingness to experiment and take a risk. Which is honestly the biggest reason why both the album and performance works so well. This whole set (and DVD) is a Stendhal Syndrome inducing experience of live art.
Following that up is no mean feat but we get more rare footage with Gitane making a special appearance at a Christian Death show with Rozz at the Astoria II in London, 1996. The footage is good, the band's tight and Gitane sounds powerful. The big problem here is the audio on Rozz's mic. While he is absolutely on fire here, with a nice high-energy contrast to the quiet moodiness of the “Dream Home Heartache” tour, you can barely hear his voice at all. Which is a bit of a bummer but anyone who has to shoot video in a live situation can tell you that audio is a bitch-goddess that can give as much as she takes. That said, it is still great to have this preserved and hearing Gitane sing “Lament” off of “Ashes” is beyond gorgeous. There is literally nothing this woman can't do.
Gitane & Rozz during a Christian Death show
in London, 1996.
Rounding out this disc is a 1998 performance in Kato, Berlin. After all of the lush blues, lovely melancholia and sexual decadence, we get a stripped down but powerful mini-set of four songs, opening with “I Lost a Friend to Heroin.” A song like this could easily slip into sap but instead it is crunchy and appropriately gut level. Being someone who has lost some loved ones to addiction, this song pretty much nails the feeling. But even if you are someone who hasn't, it will still hit you. Continuing the great streak is “Speed” and “Incendiary Lover.” The live version of the latter is a vast improvement over the studio one I heard many moons ago.. The studio one is pretty but very polished. Live, it sparkles. But the true standout here is the final song, sung a-Capella and being the classic French song “What Now, My Love?” This is a song that has been covered by everyone ranging from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley, but it is Gitane's that is the most heart wrenching, finding that rare middle of raw emotion and a rich voice. There is no better note to end on than this hard hitting and beautiful song.
Souring through "What Now, My Love?"
Cult Epics has done an absolutely primo job of preparing and compiling material. This set is both a valentine to any fan and also to Gitane herself. There was some obvious good thought put into what material to mix and how it was placed. The real testament to this is that not only is it perfect for someone who is familiar with her work, but it is also a very good introduction to someone who is new.
In addition to all of this audio-video goodness, there is even a bonus CD featuring unreleased covers of such songs as “Time,” “Them There Eyes,” “In My Solitude” (a big favorite) and “Gloomy Sunday,” among others. It is beyond a treat.
One of the best things about this set is the idea of having this lovely and comprehensive documentation of a truly unique and great artist. Some of our best artists are the ones that often get overlooked by the mainstream press. But others can keep going through the motions while those of us in the know can celebrate and support the real artists. The cream will rise and the proof is in “Life After Death.”
Now, here's hoping for a follow up disc in the next few years covering her post-1998 work, with the most recent being the amazing, jangle-indie rock band The Crystelles. The beautiful thing about artists like Gitane Demone is that both their past, present and future work only gets richer and more layered with time.
I'm not entirely sure how the work of Sammy Serious and his classic power pop/punk band The Zeros (think Cheap Trick meets the Dickies with some Bowery Boys attitude thrown in for good measure) came into my existence, but I was a convert from day one. I can tell you that the first song I ever heard was the Zeros “Sticky Sweet Girls,” which is on their major label debut “4-3-2-1..Zeros” and it was instant love. There are songs that take awhile to properly woo you into their groove and then there are the ones where you are smitten with by the 10 second mark. Needless to say, it was the latter all the way for me when it comes to the Zeros.
But that album, as I was soon to find out, was only the tip of the iceberg, with the central figure being lead singer and songwriter Sammy Serious. Turns out, Mr. Serious has had an amazingly productive career as a solo artist as well as work in other bands, such as Serious Suicide. Most recently, his musical touch has popped up in a brand new Zeros album entitled “Zero In.” While Sammy is the only remaining member of the “classic” line-up (that being Danny Dangerous on bass, Joe Normal on lead guitar and Mr. Insane on drums), it will not disappoint anyone who is a fan of any of Sammy's past efforts. Thanks to the joys of social networking, I contacted Sammy about doing a little interview for my small but mighty blog and much to my happiness, he said yes!
So without further ado, here's a little Q&A with none other than Sammy Serious!
Question:Preaching to the Unconverted- How would you describe your sound and style to anyone who is new to all of the Serious works?
Answer: I would describe it as hold on to your life cause SAMMY SERIOUS is going to come in and rattle your brain.
Question: What were your original influences when starting the Zeros and how do they differ from what influences you now?
Answer: My influences when I started THE ZEROS are basically the same now as it was then. I still listen to all the same stuff today back when I started the band along with some new stuff out today.
My theory is what's good is good and if I hear something I like it doesn't matter when I started listening to it just matters if I like it or not.
Question: Being from the New Jersey area, was your life ever touched by the hand of the great Uncle Floyd?
Answer: Uncle Floyd was a great show growing up in New Jersey, you got to see some great bands on the show along with some funny skits it was really a show that I would say influenced a lot of shows on TV like Saturday Night Live and Mad TV.
Question: You mention DOG DAY AFTERNOON in the Zeros song “Pina Coloda Bang.” What other films have made an impact in your life?
Answer: Saving Private Ryan I must have watched that at least a 100 times
and every time I watch that movie I think about all the People who serve and protect us
SALUTE THE PEOPLE WHO PROTECT OUR COUNTRY FOR OUR FREEDOM.
I also wrote a song about the people who serve our country titled American Vets
which is on the CD LAST STOP OP HOTEL. Check it out. There are other movies that made a impact on my life but there are too many to name.
Question: Are there any records/books/films in your collection that would probably shock your fans?
Answer: Not really.
Question: In addition to the Zeros, you've also made a number of solo IDs and worked with Serious Suicide. What are some of the key differences between the three different parts of your musical career? Which albums would you recommend to someone first getting into Serious Suicide, the Zeros and your solo work?
Answer: That's a good question I don't really put one before the other its more like I have different extensions on my writing and they go into different avenues. I would think if you like one you should like the others they are all from the same brain just a different part of the insane.
Question: I have heard that with the latest “ZERO IN” that you ended up doing the bulk of the work with the music. What was that process like and how long did it take for it to be completed and released?
Answer: I wrote the album and recorded and produced the record and it took a few months for it to come all together to make the complete record. I also recorded the record at Hit Track studios in Las Vegas with studio mogul TOM PARHAM who I worked with on projects in the past, so that is a good thing to have a engineer who knows what your after and knows how to get it fast so things move quickly.
Question: Your work has been featured in a number of films,with the best arguably being the cult classic TAPEHEADS with the song “Mr. MX-7.” What was it like working on that song and that film? Did you get to work directly with Stiv Bators?
Answer: When I wrote the song Mr MX-7 I did work with Stiv Bators on a daily basis. Stiv was a Icon, I loved the Dead Boys and Stiv was one of the coolest, kindest rock and rollers I ever met and worked with.
Question: I love how much name-play is used in your songs, like “I've Got My Name,” the Introduction and Good night portions on “4-3-2-1...” and most recently with “Now Sammy.” How did this come to be part of your style over the years?
Answer: The names are a big part of THE ZEROS along with some other characters who are in the band LIKE the Decantor, the Zeromonger, etc...
There are songs for these other characters I created but your just going to have to wait for NAMES VOLUME 2 to be released to hear these songs along with some other names that surround THE ZEROS.
Question: What advice would you give to any independent artist starting out in the music business?
Answer: Make sure you promote yourself wherever you can to who ever you can.
Question: You've done some really fun, borderline surreal, video work on You tube with The Moo Moo Serious Show. Any plans to take this part of your creativity further?
Answer: Moo Moo Serious is a character that is part of the Zeros family. She is one of our biggest fans that follows the members and gives them advice like a concerned mother and also has a cooking show on YouTube and she should be posting another episode soon.
Question: At the end of the day, how would you like to be described?
Answer: NOW SAMMY? SAMMMMMMMY? SAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY ? For everyone reading this going What! this is a part of the song on the new record “Zero In” by The Zeros .
Question: Bonus Barbara Walters Question: If you could pick any musicians, living or dead, to work with, whom would it be and why? What is the Sammy Serious dream team?
Answer: If I was to start a band and I could pick any musicians to be in it
I would get Burt Bacharach to play keys, Roger Waters to play bass, Roger Taylor to play drums, Alvin Lee, Jimmy Page, to play guitar, Bozo the Clown to play tambourine
and have Alice Cooper, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Johnny Lydon (Rotten), John Lennon hanging out so we can hang out after the session and have a party.
www.facebook.com/sammyserious OR search Facebook for the Zeros.
Much thanks to Sammy for taking the time out to answer my Questions and for making some of the best and most underrated music to have come out in the past 20 years. If you like your music with lots of fun, humor, crunch and catchy, then go no further than the works of Sammy Serious. Plus "Zero In" is a really, really fun album.
Recently, a number of legendary artists have passed away, each one leaving both a void and a distinguished fingerprint behind. In addition to the great Leslie Neilsen and Blake Edwards, there have been three whose talents and vision have left a huge impact on me as a person and an artist. The three in question are Jean Rollin, Don Van Vliet (of Captain Beefheart fame) and John Leslie.
Van Vliet from the fantastic Beefheart album, Ice Cream for Crow.
An insanely gifted painter as well as musician, was one of those rare birds who changed everything while never being able to be pinned down as anything. The only label you could put on this man is the genius one.
John Leslie was a guy that wore many hats as well; actor, musician and director. An intensely underrated actor, Leslie was a multi-leveled thespian who could pull off likable, sleazy, sinister, polished, piggish and lovable rogue with equal ability. Whether he was playing commitment-phobe with a heart of gold Jack in Anthony Spinelli's NOTHING TO HIDE or the highly dysfunctional millionaire gone to seed Lee Balcourt in Cecil Howard's highly recommended FIRESTORM Trilogy, he could truly do it all. Even in lesser films, Leslie was always the best thing about them. He's truly one of my favorites and his star will always shine in this household.
John Leslie in Dave Friedman's BLONDE HEAT.
Last, but certainly not least, was the loss of French director Jean Rollin, who re-invented horror films and managed to incorporate a painter's eye for visual mixed with a strange and occasionally sad tone to his films. Some of Rollin's best films could be described as beautiful and haunting fever dreams. My first Rollin film was the intense and melancholy LIPS OF BLOOD/LEVRES DE SANG, thanks to Cultcuts having me review it. It made me a convert and in proper tribute, here's my original review in its full state. Though words do not really do full justice to this film and director.
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LIPS OF BLOOD REVIEW
Few genres of horror have become creatures of convention like the vampire film. From decadent
Euro-type lady magnets to the soulful loner who walks the Earth guilt ridden, they have all been done to death and then some. Even in 1975, the vampire genre had already become one riddled with stereotypes.
So it takes an artist with a distinct vision and boatload of talent to use these conventions and bend them to create something fresh and effective. One such artist is French director, screenwriter and author Jean Rollin, whose film, LIPS OF BLOOD aka LEVRES DE SANG, is one of the best vampire films to
have come out in the past thirty years.
In fact, the film opens with that classic horror locale, the old graveyard. At night, no less!
A white van approaches an old Parisian graveyard, where two men and a woman, clad entirely in dust brown, right down to the veiled hat. The group starts to load in bodies, all of them ensheathed tightly by white sheets. These seemingly lifeless forms are taken into a beautiful and gothic tomb, and then placed
in plain wooden coffins. Just when you think this is business as usual, there is one of the most subtle but extremely effective shots in the film. The veiled woman, with a melancholy stare, looks at one of the
bodies as it starts to gasp for air through the sheet. It’s so simple but so creepy.
Immediately after that, we cut to a jazzy, in crowd type of party, which is where we meet Frederic
(Jean-Loup Philippe) and his doting mother (Nathalie Perrey). While talking to his date, Frederic
suddenly becomes entranced by a photo used in a Parfum Nordia ad. This photo is an image of a huge, foreboding castle, still strong looking despite the moss and the ruin. It is this image that proves to be a catalyst for not only Frederic but for the rest of the film.
When he was a young boy, Frederic’s father died, which had some how triggered a huge memory loss within him. Seeing the photo brings him back to when he was a young boy on the verge of puberty. He is lost at night, around the same ruins in the photo. He is rescued by a beautiful, young woman with short, dark hair, red lips and clad entirely in white. She covers him with her sweater and lets him sleep in the castle until dawn approaches, when she quickly sends him back to his mother. Young Frederic tells her he loves her and now adult Frederic is determined to find this woman. The one he may still love, after all
these years.
His mother immediately attempts to put this thought out of his mind and tries to convince him that it was just a fever dream of youth. But the wheels are already in motion and he quickly finds the photographer who shot the photo. This leads to the only scene in the whole film that seems a little out of place,
involving the lady photographer shooting a fully nude and amorous model. There is a nice contrast in the scene involving the image of the saucy model and the sole sound of the camera clicking. No music or dialogue, just a cold and mechanical sound.
The photographer originally plays coy, but agrees to meet him at the Aquarium at midnight, where she
has another shoot. She takes a liking to him and decides that she will tell him the information he wants then. The man’s got a few hours to spare, so he goes to a terrific looking cinema, whose outside walls
have this great, sort of Indian or Turkish inspired mural. He goes inside the theater, which is playing Rollin’s LA VAMPIRE NUE (1969), and soon sees the young girl. Naturally, he follows her and keeps doing so until he ends up in the graveyard that was in the beginning of the film. Unknowingly, he
unleashes four vampire women upon the city.
The scene of the vampire women arising is one of the most arresting and frightening scenes ever in a vampire movie. It’s hard to describe, but there is this quick rhythm to the scene that comes out of
nowhere. So that combined with the arresting looks of the vampiresses makes it memorable, to say the
very least. In firm Rollin tradition, the four of them are in pairs. Two of them are clothed only in long, sheer fabrics and, not unlike the sisters in REQUIEM POUR UN VAMPIRE (1971), are blonde and brunette. The other two, my personal favorites, are two flaxen haired twins (Catherine and Marie-Pierre Castel) whose ethereal beauty barely masks their own feral nature.
From there on, the audience, along with Frederic, is taken upon a strange and very surreal ride, involving
a hired hit man, strait jackets, a bonfire of bodies, and a final image that is haunting and sadly beautiful, which could very well describe the entire tone of the film. Unsettling but very lovely.
Jean Rollin has made a substantial cult career in making erotically tinged films, ranging from the horrific (LE VIOL DU VAMPIRE (1967) to the wholly erotic (BACCHANALES SEXUELLES (1974). What makes this interesting is that, aside from the camera scene, none of the nudity or even love scenes comes across as strictly erotic. That tinge is definitely there but there is purity and menace there that is
extremely hard to portray, even by usually competent filmmakers and actors. You just have to look at the Dracula’s brides scene in BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992) to see that. The nudity and vampire women are there but totally lack the inherent scary sexiness that Rollin’s vampire femmes possess.
Visually, this is a gorgeous film. I’ve heard of it being compared to the works of Argento, in terms of
color. Both men are visual masters, but Rollin opts for more toned down colors that are striking without being overwhelming. There are a lot of light colors here, with the only noticeable dark colors being the ruddy mouths of the women and the purple fabric draping the nude blonde vampire.
As Frederic, Jean-Loup Philippe does a really great job of portraying a haunted man with good
Jonathon Harker.) He also assisted in the writing of the film, which makes one wish he could have done
more work with Rollin. Like everyone else in the film, he is physically interesting to look at it, with his
tall frame, blue yes and boyish, permanent messed up hair. Bizarrely, Philippe’s other best known film is the 1975 sex film LE SEXE QUI PARLE, which among other things, is known for inspiring the US
cult film, CHATTERBOX (1977).
Like so many notable filmmakers before and after him, Rollin tends to use some of the same people over and over again. Both the Castel twins and Annie Belle (who was the young girl that haunted Frederic)
were in BACCHANALES SEXUELLES. Plus, the former were also in Rollin’s PHANTASMES
(1975) and LA VAMPIRE NUE. Belle would go on to be in such movies as Joe D’Amato’s ABSURD (1982). Nathalie Perrey continued to work with Rollin for many years, including his most recently
released film LA FIANCEE DE DRACULA (2002).
Redemption did a terrific job with this disc, being the first Pal DVD release of LIPS OF BLOOD in the United Kingdom. In addition to a still and cover art gallery; there are two trailers for THE SINFUL
NUNS OF SAINT VALENTINE (1973) and THE BLOODSUCKER LEADS THE DANCE (1975). There is even a music video for The Nuns “White Slaves.” (Which will definitely appeal to the Goths
with a heavy fetish bent out there.) My only real complaint about this disc is that there are two instances
in the film where there are lines of dialogue without subtitles. Thankfully they are brief and don’t ruin
the film, but it is still a minor nuisance.
LIPS OF BLOOD is perfect for the art film lovers who also happen to love horror and visa versa. Not
only that, but it is a great hallmark in the long, colorful career of one of France’s greatest genre filmmakers.
Hope you're having a good or at least a non-depressing Holiday season and keeping warm out there. If you've been wondering what I have been up to between the Mike White interview (Seriously, buy his book y'all. It is worth it.) and now, here are a few links that will fill in the gap. Enjoy and stay tuned!
In addition to my steady work with the great film review site Cultcuts, I also was interviewed for the second time around by the one and only Frank Cotolo for his internet radio show, the Cotolo Chronicles. In addition to being a radio personality extraordinaire, he's also a fab interviewer and fine writer to boot. If you're curious, you can access a link to the show here.
I've also started contributing to the relatively new but already going strong site, Cinema Head Cheese. Check out both sites for some fun and fine film writing a go-go. (Plus they are great guys too.)
The biggest news is that I have recently joined the staff at Video Watchdog. This is a huge pleasure for me, especially since VW was one of the big film magazines that helped open my eyes to the colorful world of cult and foreign films back in my early teens.
I've made my debut with issue #160, which is fresh from the printers and uber-lovely. In addition to my two BYTES of Troma's BIGFOOT and Media Blaster's LEMON GROVE KIDS MEET THE MONSTERS, there are some terrific articles about Friday the 13th, including the underrated series with Robey, an interview with June Lockheart and a ton of great reviews.
I also got to contribute to the Best DVDs of 2010 list on the Video Watchblog as well. All of the contributions are really good and a near-painful reminder that I need to find a bag of money asap!
There are other projects cooking, but more on those when the time comes. Thank you everyone for reading and keep fighting the good fight and support great, fringe culture.
To create a zine of any type takes a certain type of creative spark and energy. After all, you're doing something that is DIY, so you gotta make it count. Now to keep said zine going after its initial run takes an especially precious and resourceful blend of focus and energy. Take, for example, Mike White's great film zine, Cashiers du Cinemart, which began operation in 1994. Many a zine from this era has died with a whimper, especially once the age of the Internet and Blogging took a stranglehold in the writing community. (For better and worse.) But Mike kept his creation going, featuring many a strong writer and some wickedly diverse content. This is not your average cult film zine, a fact that shines brilliantly in the newly released tome, IMPOSSIBLY FUNKY: A CASHIERS DU CINEMART COLLECTION.
Even if you've read this noted zine or are still scratching your head over the beautiful bastardization of the classic cineaste periodical Cahiers du Cinema, the odds are damn fine that you will still enjoy this book. It's got more variety than a holiday Whitman's sampler and tastes better too. With articles ranging from Dr. Demento and Crispin Glover to superhero films and the cinematic works of crime author James Ellroy, there is something here for everyone. I was very lucky to get a sneak peek at the book, along with author, filmmaker and mastermind Mike White. Take a step behind the curtain and enjoy!
First of all Mike, thank you so much for thinking of Mondo Heather for the Impossibly Funky promo tour a-go-go! Now to start things off, what exactly spurred you into the wooly world of film zines?
Mike: Like just about everything in my life, it was a confluence of events that finally pushed me over the edge. I’d been a big fan of Factsheet Five (http://www.factsheet5.org/) and loved reading about various film and work zines but didn’t have anything to trade for these. While working at a movie theater I got the idea to do my own zine of life at the cinema. This idea languished until I graduated from college and landed a shitty job where I worked some crazy hours, including a few overnight shifts. Add to that the strange events surrounding a documentary I made (WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE FOOLING) and everything resulted in the messy birth of Cashiers du Cinemart.
-Keeping in that vein, are there any particular inspirations for your writing?
Mike: Style-wise I write far too stream-of-consciousness. I used to bury a lead so deep that it took a back hoe to find the start of an article. I’ve tried to change this over the years by learning how to rewrite my own material. I took a page from Charles Willeford’s The Woman Chaser there with the idea that the biggest part of writing is rewriting. Content-wise, I think that I was influenced a lot by Colin Geddes and Rich Osmond with the joy they showed in their zines Asian Eye and Teenage Rampage.
-You've got a great assortment of writers in the Cahiers du Cinemart league. How did you round up everybody?
Mike: It was kind of like The Dirty Dozen, I found all of them in jail, waiting for death. Actually, over the years I approached and have been approached by a lot of folks. Nearly all of them have turned out to be terrific writers. When people have come to me and asked for an “assignment,” I tell them to write about what they love – preferably something I’ve never heard about. That helps capture their enthusiasm as well as expand my cinematic frontiers (and hopefully those of the reader as well).
-What was the big pull for putting this book together?
Mike-I felt like I’d come to a breathing point in terms of putting the zine in its grave and wanting to look back and update some articles while combining others. Plus, there were a few things I had left to say that never made it into Cashiers du Cinemart. Some people were of the opinion that everything should go into the book verbatim—warts and all—while I was more of the mind to rewrite everything. At the end I think that it was a mix of both.
-How was the decision making process for the chapters and individual articles?
Mike: I got together with two of my friends, Mike Thompson and Lori Hubbard-Higgins, and laid out a huge spreadsheet of everything that had ever been in the zine before. They volunteered their favorite pieces while I did the same. By the end of a long evening of coffee and weepy reminiscences (we all had coffee, only I did the weeping) we had a workable list that was pared down until we got to a place that wouldn’t make an insane amount of pages. Likewise, I picked authors with whom I knew I could get in contact. Some people have fallen off the face of the earth since they sent in their pieces and I wanted to get sign-off to reprint their stuff. I didn’t want to be chasing some author around to beg for permission.
-There's definitely a weird dynamic in the book between you and Chris Gore. He gives a nice introduction but comes across as bit of a jerk in the Tarantino subsection. How are things in that camp currently?
Mike: I gave up holding a lot of grudges. It’s just so “September Tenth,” ya know? I kind of regret that I didn’t have my take on the whole Ultimate Film Fanatic show in the book. It might have made a good comparison piece to Gore’s Introduction. Things seem to be fine between me and him. We still have yet to ever meet in person but I’m up for buying him a beer if I ever do.
-Speaking of Tarantino, what is the strangest reaction you have had from either the articles or the two short films, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FOOLING and YOU'RE STILL NOT FOOLING ANYBODY?
Mike: I still laugh about the guy who asked me how I got all those Asian dudes to be in my film. The hate mail still keeps coming in, usually via drips and drabs on YouTube. You don’t know how many times I’ve gotten people trying to quote the line about good artists creative and great artists stealing to me. Yet, they can’t even agree on who said it first.
Thanks to the wonders of Youtube, you can watch and judge for yourself.
-Out of all the film people you have dealt with personally, who were the biggest surprises, both good and bad, to interact with?
Mike: I suppose that the people that surprised me most were the filmmakers who didn’t want me to review their films. You wouldn’t believe how many folks I talked to over the years that had I sought out to ask for copies of their movies, only to have them tell me their bizarre marketing strategies didn’t have zine or internet reviews in mind. Luckily, I ran into far more nice people than nasty. I was always surprised by how down-to-earth some of the celebs I interviewed have acted.
-The whole BLACK SHAMPOO section is really great and strangely sweet. What other creative things bent your brain in your youth, making you the great fringe culture guy that you are today?
Mike: Gosh, I wish I knew! It was probably due to being raised by the light of a Cathode Ray, hanging out in my basement with the television as my only friend. Like other kids my age I played for hours with Star Wars toys but I would mix Star Wars with disparate ideas like The A-Team, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The Blues Brothers.
-Something that I love about this book is the variety and the fact that you have figures and films that have not really been properly covered in any other film books. The Charles Willeford section is a terrific example of this. Is this a conscious decision on your part or is it the natural trajectory of the zine/book?
Mike: That’s very much a conscious decision. I love reading about authors or seeing movies that I’ve never heard of before and wanted to share that same idea with my readers. While I was doing Cashiers du Cinemart I always thought about the kid stuck in some crappy Midwestern town with no access to culture who happens to pick up a zine and read about someone or something that they never heard about that blew their mind; that’s because I was the same kid. Pieces about Harry Stephen Keeler in Murder Can Be Fun or on hopping Chinese vampires in Asian Eye opened my world up in directions I’d never thought possible.
-Seeing a filmmaker like Shuji Terayama get noted and written about made me smile. His works are ripe for proper discovery over here in the States. While I do disagree with writer Andrew Grant about FRUITS OF PASSION, I loved what he wrote about EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP. How do you personally feel about Terayama's works?
Mike: Here’s a filmmaker that needs to get some notice in the U.S. that just isn’t getting his due. I personally feel that his work needs to be seen and enjoyed, along with more of the Japanese New Wave. I’ve done all I could to help get these films more notice, even working with native Japanese speakers to subtitle Terayama’s movies for the gray market to get more American eyes on his movies. It’s like a treasure just waiting to be discovered.
-Out of all the articles you have personally written for the zine, what's your most and least favorite and why?
Mike: My most favorite piece is probably the Willeford. I was deathly afraid of writing this at first as I thought I’d never be able to do him justice. I finally sat down one Saturday and just started at it, writing down everything I could before beginning an arduous editing/rewriting process. In the end, I’d like to think I did a pretty okay job.
My least favorite piece might be my interview with Alex Winter. I’d been trying to get an interview with him for years and, when I finally did, it was around the release of his film Fever. If you just asked yourself, “Fever?” you’re not alone. It was kind of a psychological thriller with Henry Thomas. Despite meeting him under the guise of covering Fever, I should have thrown caution to the wind and just talked to him about the movies of his I love like Squeal of Death and Freaked.
-For any piece that I work on, I always take little notes while watching or reading whatever I am covering. One of notes here only says three words; “Paul Fucking Williams!” That's with complete seriousness since I love Paul Williams and is one of those artists who found great commercial success but yet I feel still deserves some critical love, which is most definitely found in this book. In fact, I think Leon Chase's piece was touching and perfectly fitting.
Mike: I love Leon’s piece. It’s so well-written and told me about someone I thought I knew but didn’t. Leon’s piece really made me appreciate Williams and even track down some of the movies with which he’s been associated—though I have yet to brave Ishtar.
Amazing clip of Paul performing "The Hell of It" from The Phantom of the Paradise.
We love you Paul!
-Another comment is that I love how well-researched and downright dense (in a good way!) the articles are. One could expand almost any of them into a book in their own right. Which do you think would make the best book?
Mike: Oh, geeze. I don’t even want to think about that. I try to think that I properly employed the “Lady’s Skirt” rule for these pieces—they’re long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep it interesting.
If anything, I could see busting out the section on unproduced or misdirected scripts into its own book as I’ve still got a pile of a few dozen scripts that I need to read and research.
-Reading the Superman article, which was excellent by the way, you gave a great peek not only into the snake-eating-its-tail machina that can happen in the pre-production process in Hollywood, but also the scariness of fan boy culture. Namely the endorsement of the Kevin Smith script, complete with some semi-hokey dialogue. What do you think are some of the sins of fan boy community?
Mike: I think it’s the prejudice against certain films/filmmakers/actors without giving them a chance. By the time a movie comes out it’s already been scrutinized via all of its elements and not the final product. That’s a great way to condone crappy movies while condemning good ones. I mean, it took six months before anyone would even think to say that The Phantom Menace sucked. Everyone was still too busy kissing George Lucas’s ass to think differently.
-IMPOSSIBLY FUNKY contains what I think is probably the best interview I have ever read with Crispin Glover. How was the experience of putting together that interview?
Mike: I can’t tell you how many times I emailed and cajoled Glover about this. Finally, out of nowhere, he emailed me back to say that he was available for an email interview. Again, after I sent questions, it was a lot of wheedling to get the answers. I’m glad that the interview turned out as good as it did as he’s very high maintenance.
-Lastly, name a group of artists, films, books and records that will change our readers’ lives in three easy steps.
Mike: Books: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (the audio version read by Barrett Whitener is incredible), The Abortion by Richard Brautigan, and Of Tender Sin by David Goodis.
Films: The Spook who Sat by the Door (Ivan Dixon), Boxer’s Omen (Chih-Hung Kuei), and Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone).
Records: A Night at the Hip Hopera by The Kleptones, Silence! The Musical by Jon & Al Kaplan, and Metal Box by Public Image Ltd.
Many thanks to Mike for his time, great work and friendship. He's what we in the industry call a helluva guy and you can read more of his work at his main website, http://www.impossiblefunky.com/.
IMPOSSIBLY FUNKY is a great read and one of the best fringe cinema culture book to have come out in years. Support your indie writers and read some great articles while doing it!
