2011
Carnage & Rouge DVD
I have always enjoyed documentaries about music scenes. So when I received this DVD and it's soundtrack I was excited to watch it. Spokanarchy! is about the 80s era Spokane Washington punk rock scene. Before seeing this film I had seen the documentary "Hype" which was about the Seattle 90s era music scene. And I had no idea that during the 80s that eastern Washington had such a thriving and great punk rock scene.
We get interviews with at least 15 different bands. And through them we are told the history of the punk scene in that era. It seems that Spokane was a forgotten city. No big concerts came to the city. So the kids started up their own clubs to play music at. One of the places that most of the bands played was an old auto body shop called Moes. But sadly the place ended up getting closed down by some conservative forces.
Through out the film,we get to see all kinds of live footage. Which captures the raw emotion and power of the music. Two bands that stood out to me are Sweet Madness and Terror Couple. Sweet Madness has a very pop sound,but without the cleaned up sound that most pop bands have. And Terror Couple has a more standard 80's era punk rock sound. From the various interviews we learn that Sweet Madness is the band that really started the whole scene in Spokane. And I can see why,they have a infectious energy that makes me want to sing along.
But the documentary isn't all happiness. We get to see how heroin infected the scene and almost killed it. We get a chilling scene where one guy is shown shooting up. And you get to see the scars and track marks all over his body. Now I have always had a major fear of needles,and seeing him shoot up into his scared up and damaged foot freaked me out.
The DVD also has a great slide show that has plenty of zines and flyers from that era. It was lots of fun to see these. I have always had a love for DIY zines and flyers and these didn't disappoint. There is also a trailer,a short film plus the Spokane reunion that took place a few years ago.
This documentary easily is in my top 10 music based documentaries of all time. It is a great time capsule of a music scene that I doubt most people outside that area knew much about. After watching it,I ran to my computer ripped the soundtrack and put it on my MP3 player. The soundtrack has 16 tracks from 13 bands. The standout tracks are. Sweet Madness-I need Electricity,Terror Couple-This is Spokane,Fuck LA,S&M-Overdose OK,TFL-Sharon Tate and Sweet Madness Concrete River. The rest of the songs on the soundtrack are OK. But the above mentioned ones are what caught my attention.
So to sum it all up,If you are a fan of documentaries,punk rock music or just music in general this is a DVD you need to see. Spokanarchy! gets a A-.