The Independent Culture Project: What It Means

I thought it would be nice to use this Thanksgiving weekend lull to put up a more detailed account of what this project is about. Where it came from, why we're doing it, all that fun stuff. Here's the official mission statement, composed by Nathan (aka. Director/Fearless Leader).

Note: This was written in July 2008, before we began speaking with some of the bands in the film. The project has naturally evolved into something bigger, but this provides a nice glimpse into ICP when it was just a seed.

Austin, TX is known worldwide as the "Live Music Capital of the World." But what exactly does this mean? Certainly the SXSW and Austin City Limits music festivals both provide powerhouse performances from cutting edge local and international musicians. But, when the herds of fans flock home and the stages are torn down, where does the music go? It is alive and well and it can be found in the main stages, back rooms, and rooftops of Austin's premiere music venues. Club de Ville and the Mohawk are part of Austin's Red River music district and feature nightly an array of genre-splitting artists like Belaire, White Denim, Peter & the Wolf, and Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. Situated side-by-side, Mohawk and De Ville rest in the heart of a city changing at a feverish pace.

Belaire

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

White Denim

Like the watershed music documentary 'Heartworn Highways,' which covers the country music scene in Austin and Nashville in the early 1970s, our documentary will focus on the creative process of each band. As we drift through the musings, personalities, and dreams of each artist, the puzzle pieces will begin to lock together and a larger picture will be revealed. Some of these groups find themselves at the cusp of commercial success (whether they want it or not), a great triumph in a city where you can see hundreds of performers every night of the week. This film will be a crucial document in the years to come. It will allow the distant viewer to look through opera glasses into the mythic music culture of central Texas.

In 1979, UCLA graduate Penelope Spheeris (later to be the director of Wayne's World) and a film crew took their 16mm cameras into the ruinous streets of the so-called L.A. punk scene. In her documentary 'The Decline of Western Civilization,' Spheeris depicts a world in a state of near-anarchy, as groups like X, Black Flag, and the Germs blur the lines between rage, politics, poverty, and music. The beauty of her particular form of documentary lies in that it confronts a particular moment in history, when the future seemed unwritten. Unlike later documentaries about the same period like 'American Hardcore,' 'Western Civilization' is not looking back on an era with rosy-colored glasses. It is made by a fan wanting to dig deeper not only into the music itself, but the surrounding sociological factors, the press, and the upheaval of the American identity proper. It feels unsafe, volatile, alive. The film acts as a primary influence for ours.

A feature film will be created, interweaving night after night of performances with the footage we gather throughout the city's many vibrant corners, from renovated churches-turn-private studios to highway overpasses housing secret performances to the rising star Fun Fun Fun fest. We'll also gather rare interviews with local members of the press, fans, managers, skeptics, and independent record company owners, like Dániel Perlaky of Indierect Records. The movie's format and aesthetic will change according to the sounds and attitudes of the musicians. For instance, because Belaire's style is full of popping, bright colors, pristine High Definition Video is most suitable, while White Denim's aggressive, ramshackle threesome might best be represented with black and white 16mm film.

Our film will tell not only a fascinating story about the way of the modern artist, but will reveal something about the kaleidoscopic world of Austin.