http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/LCawADy1xYc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0
Justin McConnell’s Working Class Rock Star is essential viewing for those with rock star dreams. The documentary is unrelentingly dark, but then again, so is the music industry. It’s bad for labels now, and it’s worse for artists. This film portrays the struggles of bands trying to “make it.” It is divided into several sections: “The Myth,” “The Life,” “Tour,” “Work & Family,” “The Business,” and “The Future.”
Some established artists – The Haunted, Unearth, Devin Townsend, Gwar – discuss how hard things can be for them. This is sobering in and of itself. These are the 1% of artists that “make it,” the music equivalent of professional athletes. But things are tougher for minor leaguers. The film achieves great poignancy documenting the lives of several up-and-coming bands. It’s obvious where some are headed: nowhere. Their music is unoriginal or doesn’t stand out. Yet they’re completely invested in it.
This is heartbreaking, as these are caring, committed people. McConnell gets deep into their everyday lives, showing their struggles with work, family, and finances. As one gets to “know” them, one wants them to succeed. But the world has more bands than ever, with fewer places than ever for them. This film makes that clear. It lays bare the costs of touring, recording, and giving up the stability of normal life. The production values aren’t glitzy – hand cams, straight shots, plain fonts. They’re perfect for the message, though. McConnell’s eye is sharp, and what he sees is bleak.
You can view the first four minutes of this film here.
Good write-up. It’s not looking good for people that want to make a living off of this music.
This looks pretty damn interesting. Most of my favorite bands don’t make a living on music and don’t really expect to.
I know it’s a dream, but it always struck me as a little strange when people thought you had to make bank in order to have “made it”.
Thanks for the write-up. Cheers!
I just watched this the other day, and the whole time I was really struggling to get into it. It's hard for me to criticize this film and the people in it–or at least I want to do so delicately, because there's a very, very high likelihood of my being in the same predicament these three bands are in. That said, something about this film really annoyed me. The people in the film did, indeed, evoke quite a bit of empathy, but honestly I found the movie quite boring. I know just how (sometimes) boring and (always) difficult it is to put everything into your dreams in the face of failure, but I also couldn't help but feel like there was a lot of complaining going on in this film.
I'm reminded of a feature you wrote for Decibel a few issues ago (I'm at work or I'd look it up, can't remember which issue…) about the effects of "The Economy" on metal. We all know the record industry is losing girth pretty steadily (and so, naturally, are artists), but your piece showed a cross-section of opinion among recording artists: there certainly were many with the somber, pissed off quality of the people in the film. Your piece, however, also voiced the kind of embattled but optimistic "Who cares what state the industry is in" character that I guess I identify with more closely.
It could be denial–that I don't want to acknowledge the fact that things are so bad for many bands–that inspired those pangs of annoyance in me. But I also think there is something to be said for knowing nothing is going to come of what you do, and just doing it for it's own sake, which is clearly what the people in this film are doing already. If that sentiment was ever strongly voiced, though, I suppose I just missed it.
Loren – that is a valid, insightful take on the film. The part about "knowing nothing is going to come of what you do" – that offers an interesting comparison to the Anvil movie, which I just reviewed today.
http://invisibleoranges.com/2009/06/anvil-story-of-anvil-film.html
Can I just say that I am really, really excited to see the Anvil movie? My dad was trying to explain it to me a while ago and I, never having heard of it before, had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
I think the main reason I found Working Class Rock Star to be not-that-interesting is that one of it's central purposes seems to be to dispel the rock star mythos of being rich, famous, and even moderately successful–a mythos that died in my eyes a loooong time ago.
Judging from the millions of bands that spring up weekly on MySpace (and fill up my inbox), I think your practical viewpoint is in the minority. Working Class Rock Star would surely be a reality check for some. Also, I recommend the Anvil movie as simply a good piece of filmmaking.