The Film Archive gets Musical

The Film Archive gets Musical

Get your groove on at The New Zealand Film Archive this May. A series of screenings and live music events happening from May 23 - 25 will feature varied types of music, from experimental sound DJing, to ‘60s garage rock, to dubstep.

All events will take place at The Film Archive, corner of Taranaki and Ghuznee streets, Wellington.


Samin Son TV
Performance, experimental sound DJing, and soirée with the artist, 5.30pm, Thursday 23 May - FREE ADMISSION

Korean artist Samin Son’s audiovisual exhibition Samin Son TV is currently on display at the Film Archive. On Thursday May 23 Son will present a performance piece, which interacts with the exhibition, followed by an experimental sound DJing set.

Son’s work is formed by his experience of compulsory military service in the Korean Army. He draws upon the endurance and meticulously directed aggression demanded by army life.

Rumble & Bang (2011)
Film screening: 7pm Thursday 23 and 4:30pm Saturday 25 May - tickets $8 / $6

This documentary revisits the legendary Christchurch garage rock band, Chants R&B, with rare 1960s footage of their live performances at Stage Door in Hereford Lane.

Rumble & Bang was directed by Simon Ogston and Jeff Smith.

“The establishment of a US Air Force base gave the youth of the city access to a wealth of R&B, soul and funk long before the rest of New Zealand. Inspired by these new sounds, art students Mike Rudd and Trevor Courtney formed The Chants in 1964. They played a few different venues before taking up a residency at the Stage Door, a cavernous cellar off what was then Hereford Lane. Strongly influenced by the likes of John Mayall and The Pretty Things, whose tour scandalised the nation in 1965, the band renamed themselves Chants R&B and developed a passionate following for their own raucous rhythm and blues (patrons thought R&B stood for rumble and bang). Featuring pristine archival footage from the Stage Door heyday as well as new recordings from the band’s 2007 reunion, Rumble & Bang proves that there was a relevant musical underground inNew Zealand long before the days of Flying Nun.” - New Zealand International Film Festival

“New Zealand has lost so much in the way of visual and aural archives. But I’m convinced that every sub-culture has an aspirant photographer and film-maker – in love with the possibilities – who captures the action. Sometimes the results never see the light of day. Occasionally they emerge from under a bed, decades later, to be the backbone of a great documentary. The legendary Chants R&B from Christchurch luckily had an art student friend with a movie camera. Now we can all witness the scene at Christchurch’s Stage Door in the mid-1960s.” - chrisbourke.blogspot.co.nz

Feel The Underground & Bass From Another Place
Live music and film screening: Friday 24 May
DJs from 5.30pm, screening 7pm - tickets $5

In partnership with The Film Archive, The Vehicle presents Feel The Underground & Bass From Another Place. A spine-tingling set by dubstep and drum and bass DJs will be followed by two music documentaries. Take a seat and enjoy the underground!

Join us at 5.30pm on Friday 24 May for DJ music in the Film Archive cafe, 84 Taranaki St. Sounds provided by DJ range and DJ Spitfire (UK).

Rangi Johnson, aka DJ range, has been involved in the New Zealand dance scene since the mid-1990s, and helped co-found independent Christchurch-based breakbeat label fabelmusic. He started DJing after moving to Wellington in 2001 and produces music as one half of the duo Stonerange, and as a member of the Audio Mechanics collective in The Vehicle.

DJ Spitfire was heavily immersed in the Bristol underground scene from 1996 to 2008, developing a strong underground reputation playing all kinds of breakbeat music at clubs, on pirate/student radio and at festivals (including in New Zealand, at The Gathering in 1998). He witnessed and was a participant in the dubstep revolution in Bristol, alongside friends DJ Pinch, Peverelist, the Hot Flush Records crew and the Heatwave crew. He will be playing a selection of dubstep that represents the Bristol massive and the music movement he was part of.

The screening will start at 7pm, with Living Inside the Speaker - The Bristol Dubstep Scene (2008) followed by Drum & Bass Sessions: 10th Anniversary Special (2006).

Living Inside the Speaker - The Bristol Dubstep Scene (37 mins) looks at the origins of dubstep, a genre of music first produced by a community of UK musicians in early 2000, and then spread out to the world. This documentary explores the uniqueness of the dubstep sound and subculture, delving into how producers make dubstep tunes and why the sound system is so important to the genre. The film features DJ Pinch, Peverelist, Bubonic, Atik2, Hench Crew, Kymatik, Kidkut, Blazey, Stealth, Dub Boy, Wedge, White Boi, Gutterbreaks, Elemental, Search & Destroy, Skream, Chef, and the Bristol Dubstep Massive.

Drum & Bass Sessions: 10th Anniversary Special (37 mins) was made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Drum & Bass Sessions, a long-running and exclusive Drum & Bass music event in Tokyo. The event has featured international musicians such as DJ Fresh, Caribre, London Electricity, High Contrast, DJ Zinc, MC Dynamite, Goldie, Dieselboy, LTJ Bukem, Shy FX, Nu-Tone, Logistics, Klute, Dillinja, Andy C, PDigsss, Shapeshifter, Jah Shaka, Congo Natty, and Don Letts. This anniversary film features a selection of the musicians who have played at the event over the years and includes live performance footage.

The films illustrate the power of music as a positive force. “Music brings up people’s energy and creates a community, binding them together,” says myoume, the event organiser.

Before relocating to New Zealand, myoume worked for Drum & Bass Sessions in Tokyo for five years, helping to run their musical gigs. She now works for The Vehicle, a Wellington-based crew of musicians, who DJ live events and a weekly radio show, “Audio Mechanics,” Wednesdays 11pm-1am on Radio Active 88.6FM.

“I want to spread the energy of the films created around different countries’ music scenes to New Zealand,” she says. “I hope it will motivate people to create their own musical communities, or at least encourage them to do what they want to do in life.”

ENDS

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