Fuck the Facts - Disgorge Mexico: The DVD
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Quietly but steadily, Fuck the Facts have been writing a textbook on how to promote an album. It’s not the textbook, since every album is different, but it is the most creative leverage I’ve seen of an album as a living entity.
The album in question is Disgorge Mexico, which came out July 2008. As bands do with albums, Fuck the Facts have toured multiple times behind it. But they’ve also opened it up to interpretation by others.
First, David Hall of Handshake Inc. made a full-length film, Disgorge Mexico: The Movie, as a visual soundtrack to the album.
Next, Phil Pattison of Nictophobia Films filmed Fuck the Facts playing Disgorge straight through live – the only time that ever happened. That document is called Live Disgorge. The band has packaged Hall’s and Pattison’s films onto Disgorge Mexico: The DVD.
Finally, it just released a live cassette tape that contains some Disgorge songs. It is called Live in Whitby, and it is streamable and available as a pay-what-you-want download here.
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Thus, some Disgorge songs have gone through three interpretations after the album: two visual treatments and a live recording. I’ve seen the band play three times since the record’s release, so I’ve engaged with the songs in six different contexts. That’s a lot of engagement. As a result, Disgorge is “alive” to me. It hasn’t fallen victim to the typical record cycle dynamic of release-tour-oblivion. These songs carry visual and spatial associations for me. They’re not just sounds on a disc; they’re part of my life now.
Not all albums can or should have such plasticity. Pink Floyd’s The Wall has a great film attached to it, and I wouldn’t want to see any other. But Disgorge Mexico isn’t so monolithic. It isn’t like, say, Reign in Blood, where the songs mean what they mean, the music speaks for itself, and there’s really only one way to react. Disgorge has a wide emotional range, and Mel Mongeon’s lyrics, while personal to her, are abstract on paper. Disgorge takes the most dead-ended of metal subgenres, grindcore, and makes it open-ended.
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“Absence and Despite” (from Live Disgorge)
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So it’s natural that two filmmakers would present very different views of the same album. Hall’s has his signature hyper-speed editing style, a visual analogue to grindcore’s energy. (See interview here.) You can download Disgorge: The Movie on a pay-what-you-want basis here.
Pattison’s is more conventional, though no less edgy. He mostly presents the band as itself, which in a small space is a fearsome beast. (You can see a teaser from Live Disgorge above). However, like the band’s music, he throws in surprise twists occasionally. As the film progresses, Pattison becomes more whimsical with his edits, which helps maintain interest once one has processed the limited visuals of the venue’s space. Of course, being there would have been optimal. But Pattison reaches viewers through the screen and brings them into that space.
Again, Disgorge: The Movie and Live Disgorge are bundled together on Disgorge Mexico: The DVD, which is available for purchase here. Live in Whitby is available as a pay-what-you-want download here, and as a cassette tape for sale on Fuck the Facts’ “Unnamed East Coast Tour”, which begins today. See dates below. (Orders placed to the band’s webstore will be fulfilled after it returns from tour.)
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FUCK THE FACTS – UNNAMED EAST COAST TOUR
View flyer here
07/29 Fredericton, NB @ Nicky Zee’s w/ Hard Charger
07/30 Halifax, NS @ The Paragon w/ Iron Giant, Hellacaust
07/31 Sydney, NS @ Christ Church Hall
08/01 Moncton, NB @ Manhattan
08/02 Charlottetown, PEI @ Baba’s
08/03 Sussex, NB @ Jubilee Hall (early all ages show)
08/03 Saint John, NB @ Sunset Lounge (late bar show)
08/04 Edmundston, NB @ En Haut
08/06 Philadelphia, PA @ M Room w/ Doomsday Machine Schematic
08/07 New York, New York @ Cake Shop w/ Magrudergrind & Defeatist
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