Cult
With No Name: Blue Velvet Revisited
Kino-Teatr,
St. Leonards-on-Sea - 23 August 2019
"A
magical evening"
This evening
was a rare opportunity to see a screening of the award-winning
feature-length documentary film Blue Velvet Revisited,
accompanied by a live set and Q+A from the soundtrack composers Cult With No Name. It also provided
me with another welcome chance to revisit my childhood holiday
destination of neighbouring Hastings, and check out the
wonderful-looking Kino-Teatr cinema.
In 2012, Cult
With No Name (Erik Stein and Jon Boux) released their fifth album Above As Below. A
couple of years later, inspired by the track As Below, German
filmmaker Peter Braatz commissioned the duo to
produce a soundtrack for his forthcoming feature length documentary
Blue Velvet Revisited. Filmed entirely on set in 1985 during
the making of David Lynch's masterpiece Blue Velvet, Braatz
was given unrestricted access to set, cast, crew and director,
collating hours of behind-the-scenes footage, in-depth interviews
and over a thousand photographs.
Cult With No
Name invited comrades Tuxedomoon to join them in producing the
score, and electronic legend John Foxx
also contributed a track. The resulting soundtrack, released in 2015
(one year ahead of the film is comes from) sees both groups and Foxx
at the peak of their creative powers, producing a score that is
evocative, dark and dreamy.
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Photos
[L-R]: Kino-Teatr, Tonight! Cult With No Name
I've been
following (and championing) Cult With No Name since 2007's debut
album Paper Wraps Rock, and I'm a massive David Lynch fan,
counting Blue Velvet as one of favourite films of all
time. So when I heard that Stein and Boux were working on the
soundtrack to Blue Velvet Revisited I was thrilled for
them and excited for myself. And yet, to date, I'd still not seen
the documentary.
That was partly
through choice, as I wanted to see it first on the big screen. But
I lost count of how many times there was a screening that I might
have gotten to, but which fell on a date that clashed with my
availability.
Around this
time of year (the August Bank Holiday weekend) you can usually
find me at the Infest
festival in Bradford. However, this year I decided to skip
the trip up to North Yorkshire. So, when this date was announced I
was delighted I was free and determined to go.
Cult With No
Name's score delivers in spades. Not only is it as atmospheric as
you'd hope, but it undoubtedly contains some of their finest
writing. Having immersed myself in the soundtrack for the best
part of four years, I actually found it an advantage not having
seen the film before this screening. It meant I could focus more
on Braatz's work and visuals and absorb the music more
subconsciously.
The format
of the evening was that Cult With No Name would perform a live
set, followed by the screenings and concluding with a Q+A with the
band afterwards. For me, this was as near to a perfect evening as
I could wish for. It contained so many of the things I love. The
venue, the Kino-Teatr was a magical space. A former Curzon cinema,
now independent, its striking interiors of exposed steel, bare
brickwork out front juxtaposed with the sumptuousness of it's
gorgeous screening room, complete with bar at the back and
individual leather armchairs in the front row. The gorgeous curved
wooden ticket booth standing in front of the entrance to the
theatre was delightful.
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I've seen
Cult With No Name on many occasions, and often in distinctive and
memorable venues. Tonight added to that tally impressively.
Their
setlist wasn't exclusively tracks from the soundtrack.
Interestingly, they chose to open with Under The Dirt
which actually features on their first
soundtrack to 2010 reissue of The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari on DVD. Although a vocal song, it does have a
decidedly filmic quality (as indeed does much of their writing),
so was the ideal intro.
Three tracks
from the score featured here. Including Alligator Briefcase
- which Stein introduced as the first ever live performance of the
track. So Fucking Suave and No News were the other
two. Hope
Is Existence, from Above As Below (the album which
originally inspired director Braatz). When I Was A Girl
from their most recent album Heir of The Dog. Lies-All-Lies-All-Lies,
mesmeric song from their fourth, and probably my most admired,
album Adrenalin. Swept Away, from their sixth
album Another Landing was the penultimate track.
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It was only
when CWNN arrived at the venue earlier today that they discovered
there was a grand piano in the screening room. Since much of their
composition revolves around a piano (or at least a piano sound) they
just had to commission it. Hastily getting it miked up so they it
could be used during their set. So it was that Jon played grand
piano on So Fucking Suave and Swept Away.
A full
critique of Blue Velvet Revisited is beyond the scope of
this review, but here's a few thoughts.
It has been
rightly billed as a 'mediation on a movie', a notice to anyone
expecting a conventional 'making-of' documentary. Edited into
'chapters', the titles of which are copied from Cult With No
Name's track titles (since their score was completed and delivered
to Braatz a year before the film was finally released), although
not entirely abstract, it is as much of a visual poem as a record
of events.
The
precious, candid footage, photographs and interviews Braatz was
fortunate enough to capture, gradually build into a picture of how
the production came together.
It's a
pleasure seeing Lynch so happy with how the production is
progressing; saying it has been just the easiest and most
enjoyable production he's ever worked on. Hearing Cult With No
Name's music on screen was an almost surreal experience. In part
because I am now so familiar with the score, but know it purely as
an auditory experience, but also hearing it alongside watching
such magical footage of a youthful Lynch operating at the pinnacle
of his talents.
The Q+A that followed the screening gave the audience, me included (and more than once), time to delve a bit deeper into several points of interest. Including how the commissioning of the soundtrack came about in the first place (turns out Braatz was already a fan of Cult With No Name's work), among other nuggets of production trivia.
The Q+A that followed the screening gave the audience, me included (and more than once), time to delve a bit deeper into several points of interest. Including how the commissioning of the soundtrack came about in the first place (turns out Braatz was already a fan of Cult With No Name's work), among other nuggets of production trivia.
As an
evening that brought together several of the arts so dear to me,
this was hard to beat. Although the location and venue tonight was
modest, given some of the prestigious places Braatz's film has
been screened in numerous countries around the world, it
nevertheless impressed upon me just how far Cult With No Name have
come since I first heard them. Tonight was a fitting testament to
the creative talents of Boux and Stein, and one I'll cherish
forever. 9/10
Set List: Under
the Dirt, Alligator Briefcase, Hope is Existence, When I Was a
Girl, So Fucking Suave, Lies-All-Lies-All-Lies, Swept Away, No
News
Review:
Rob Dyer
Photos: Rob Dyer / Jon Boux and Erik Stein photos by Sooxanne Rolfe
Photos: Rob Dyer / Jon Boux and Erik Stein photos by Sooxanne Rolfe
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