The Bin.

A Lost Classic.

‘Zero Time’ by Dark. (1971). 

The guitars buzz ominously like chainsaws cutting though sheet metal, more brutal and perfectly nasty than pretty much any guitar sound previously captured on vinyl. The drums could just as well be the repetitious thump of an unusually heavy horse galloping along concrete. These two instruments build and build before erupting into one of the most powerfully satisfyingly hard rock riffs of the 70’s. 

This is ‘Zero Time’ by British band Dark. It’s the final track on their 1971 album ‘Round the Edges’ and is as fine a slice of ahead-of-its-time proto-metal as you’re likely to find. 

If you happen to be wondering who Dark are, that’s fairly understandable. They don’t have a Wikipedia page, they’re nigh on ungoogleable and the the only image I could find of the band is the black and white shot above. 

Yep, both band and track are super rare. Not on Spotify, not on iTunes, never singled out for praise in music magazines. Superb as ‘Zero Time’ is, it’s harder to find than a sex tape starring the archbishop of Canterbury. Original pressings of the ‘Round the Edges’ LP are in fact so rare (only a handful were made) that they now change hands for £thousands. Apparently. Luckily for me (and you), some kind soul uploaded the track to YouTube. Yay internet.

‘Zero Time’ is as brilliantly savage as anything on Black Sabbath’s seminal and infinitely more well known ‘Paranoid’ LP, released a few months earlier. Dark’s vocals are altogether different though. Dreamy. Psychedelic. The creamy yin to the guitar’s bitter yang.

If you’re enduring a stressful week at work and have a penchant for fantastically executed rock noise,  I have an idea.

Press play on the clip above and turn the volume way, way up.

Awesome, isn’t it?

‘Zero Time’ deserves a prominent place in the pantheon of hard rock greats. Let’s make it happen.

Forgotten Teens of the Movie Screen Pt 3.

‘Over the Edge’. (1979. Dir: Jonathan Kaplan)

“That movie pretty much defined my whole personality. It was really cool. Total anarchy.” 

- Kurt Cobain praising ‘Over the Edge’. 

It’s easy to see why the late Nirvana legend fell for Jonathan Caplan’s film; a loose re-imagining of a real-life incident in 70’s California where the bored and neglected teen inhabitants of a bleak suburban backwater violently struck out against the town’s authority figures. From its poignantly authentic depiction of teen life to its explosive adult-baiting climax, ‘Over the Edge’ is possibly cinemas purest portrayal of teen angst. 

By pure I mean raw and honest. No punches are pulled. The realistically youthful cast talk and look like teenagers (albeit very 70’s teenagers)- they are in equal parts energetic, funny, sensitive and volatile. They experiment with drugs, get drunk, swear like troopers, party, have sex and finally, get angry with their parents and the police. Really angry.

Add to this combustible recipe a thumpngly evocative hard rock soundtrack (Hendrix, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, The Ramones among others) and you can almost see the lighbulb sparking to life in Kurt’s head.

If you want a crudely sketched idea of ‘Over the Edge’- think Richard Linklater’s ‘Dazed and Confused’ with a bitter dose of 70’s grit and pessimism salting the happy/sad nostaligia (the above trailer makes it look like a straight- up violent thriller, which it really isn’t) . Linklater certainly appears to have used the look and feel of the film as a blueprint. He acknowledges its impact too:

“I’d like to think that Over the Edge influenced Dazed and Confused,especially along the lines of its honest depiction of the teens themselves—flawed, romantic, angry, bored. Over the Edge not only has the courage of its own convictions, but it provides the ultimate in teenage revenge fantasies—what so many of us would like to do at that age: firebombing the school and the P.T.A. inside. I’ve always said, half jokingly, that that’s the truest ending to any real teenage movie I’ve ever seen”

‘Dazed and Confused’ with explosions. What’s not to love?

This no holds barred, ‘true’ depiction of the teenager’s really rather naughty behaviour makes for a movie that still feels deliciously subversive- the moment where a twelve year old trips out on acid in class and later scenes of handgun brandishing youths torching parked cars remain startling (not least because, unusually for American cinema, the cast are as young as the kids they’re portraying). Kaplan’s refusal to colour such scenes with tutting judgement against the characters is enough to give your average Daily Mail columnist a seizure.

That the tabloids never got to register their disgust might be because the film slipped their attention. In 1979, the studio Orion pretty much buried the damn thing for fear that the explosive finale might incite copycat violence. In Britain, ‘Over the Edge’ lacks the pop- notoriety of comparable teen films like ‘If’ and ‘The Warriors’ because sadly, it barely got screened.  

Kaplan’s movie however is no mindless shock-fest; this is a cautionary tale; a film that rages against adults who complacently put their own interests before those of their children. Here, the parents are mostly former city dwellers who have moved their families to the suburbs to enjoy a quieter, safer existence. The kids are bored and angry because the underfunded suburb is utterly un-stimulating - no cinema, no shopping malls, sports clubs or amusement arcades- just a youth club that inevitably becomes the nexus of their ill-behavior and parents too wrapped up in themselves to notice. 

Their rebellion is vengeance against the adults for ignoring and mis-treating them. Neglect has turned these kids towards the criminal activity their parents were trying to escape from when they left the city. They wanted space and serenity, but their planned and recently built neighbourhood transpired to be stifling and hopeless. As Chicago Sun Times critic Roger Ebert noted at the time of the film’s release “‘Over the Edge’ is a funeral service held at the grave of the suburban dream”.

Elsewhere, ‘Over the Edge’ contains a wealth of standout elements. In his debut role, Matt Dillon updates the tragic James Dean rebel trope for a brasher, harsher, more real age by bringing an untutored rawness to the anti-hero role. 

The film also deals with the awkward, first-time sexual experience of one of its male characters with a commendable mix of honesty and subtlety. A morning-after scene sees the boy and his slightly older girlfriend embracing before a gorgeous marmalade sunrise. It’s suffused with an understated lyrical tenderness and feels utterly real. Miles more affecting than your average Larry Clark-style leer-fest.

Above all though, it’s simply very well made. Authentically shot, memorably performed and directed with energy and guile. I could talk at further length about the film’s various qualities, but in the end I loved ‘Over the Edge’ because it was riotously entertaining. It kicked ass. 

I needn’t say any more though because Vice magazine’s utterly brilliant 2009 article (by Mike Sacks) entitled ‘Over the Edge- An Oral History of the Greatest Teen Rebellion Movie of all Time’ pretty much tells you everything you would ever need to know. Read this awesome piece of journalism here: http://www.vice.com/read/over-the-edge-134-v16n9. 

Finally, if you haven’t seen ‘Over the Edge’ and are seeking a coming of age drama featuring a heady mixture of dirty rock& roll, anarchic destruction, social commentary and the ecstatic agony of adolescence, I highly recommend you track down a copy. Especially if you happen to be a teenager. 

Forgotten Teens of the Movie Screen Pt 2. 

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains’. (Dir Lou Adler 1982)

Now here’s a pretty obscure one. Like ‘Time Square’ (1980), this is another feminist slanted teen drama where its young leading women play in a band and find empowerment through punk. Annoyingly, the film is damn hard to find anywhere outside of eBay. 

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains’ was barely granted a theatrical release (Paramount couldn’t figure out how to promote it because, by 1982, punk rock had become, like, so 1977) and remains unavailable on DVD in the UK.

Which is a bit silly frankly- there are far shitter movies than ‘The Fabulous Stains’ sitting proudly on shop shelves across the country awaiting their inevitable fate as Oxfam fodder; this film deserves many a loving home.

It stars Diane Lane (of ‘Rumblefish’ and ‘The Outsiders’ fame) and Laura Dern (‘Blue Velvet’) as a pair of strikingly attired punk heroins who inspire an army of female fans with their raw music and Lane’s ‘don’t fuck with me’ charisma. The film also features a fictional new wave band made up of Ray Winstone on vocals, The Clash’s Paul Simonon on bass, Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols on drums and the Pistols’ Steve Jones on guitar. 

Surely the above could make for a fairly easy DVD sales pitch, particularly for fans of 70’s punk. As it is, the film remains a little seen curio, albeit one with a small but significant cult following (Courtney Love has sited it an an inspiration- a clear line can be drawn between the pissed off girl DIY stylings of the Stains and the early 90’s riot grrrl movement). 

‘Stains’ is your classic cautionary tale about fame, with a bit of romance thrown in alongside the spikey girl-punk ‘tude. What I have managed to see of it is a little dated and kitsch (in an endearing way mind) . Nevertheless, Diane Lane is rather excellent- brimming with confidence and sass.  

I need to track down a copy from America so I can watch the whole thing- but as you can see from the trailer, it looks like a lot of fun. 

Here are some stills for your viewing pleasure- along with the trailer, they rather nicely capture the spirit of a time- when popular music occasionally believed it had the power to change the world. 

Forgotten Teens of the Movie Screen (Pt 1)

I’m currently conducting some research for a piece on teenage rebellion in movies. Quite brilliantly, this has enabled me to unearth some lost teen-film gems . I’m going to share these with you over the next couple of weeks, whether you like it or not. Starting…..now.

‘Times Square’ (Dir Allan Moyle. 1980)

‘Times Square’ tells the story of two sixteen year old girls (played by Trini Alvarado and Robin Johnson ) who meet in a psychiatric ward and escape to a New York squat. Here they forge a close bond and form a proto-riot grrrl punk band called ‘The Sleez Sisters’ whilst hanging out in an atmospherically grotty, badass 80’s Big Apple that now almost seems the stuff of myth. 

Feminist punk icon Kathleen Hanna (of riot grrrl legends Bikini Kill and Le Tigre) sited ‘Times Square’ as one of her favourite films and also a key influence. The Manic Street Preachers wrote ‘Damn Dog’ in reference to a song featured in the movie. They also quoted the characters dialogue in the liner notes of their 1992 album ‘Generation Terrorists’. 

One particularly cool scene features the girls dancing along nasty old 42nd Street at an ungodly hour to Talking Heads’ ‘Life During Wartime’; danger, joy and rock & roll- ‘Time Square’ gives us teenage rebellion in its essence.

The film is most notable for the wonderfully charismatic turns by the two leads (particularly Johnson, who somehow managed to not become a huge star later on) and their brilliant, even poignant on-screen chemistry. 

The original cut of the film was ahead of its time insofar as its main characters were shown to be romantically involved, though nervous studio bosses edited out most of the lesbian content for the theatrical release. This footage is unlikely to ever see the light of day as it is currently missing, though the watered down final cut has featured in many gay and lesbian film festivals. 

Like many of the best teen movies, ‘Times Square’  is graced with a superb soundtrack, which features the likes of (the aforementioned) Talking Heads, The Ramones, XTC, The Pretenders and The Cure among many others. 

Someone find me this album!

The Greatest Awful Moment in Cinema History. 

‘Megaforce’ (1985)

I’m saying nothing. This shit speaks for itself. 

‘Star Crash’ (1979) 

They just don’t make crap sci-fi fantasy films like they used to. 

‘Star Crash’ is a massive Italian rip-off of a certain rather famous 1977 space adventure with a similar title and a much bigger budget. 

Most of the effects here look like they were knocked up by Blue Peter presenters on acid. Plus it features The Hoff battling a rubbish stop motion robot. 

Both these points make ‘Star Crash’ far more worthy of your attention than ‘The Phantom Menace’. 

The Videogame I’d Most Like to See Remade: ‘Body Harvest’ (N64. 1997)

Though ‘Body Harvest’ was not a huge hit upon initial release, its place in gaming history is significant. This was, to the best of my knowledge, the first completely non-linear 3D ‘sandboxer’ (i.e players could, as in ‘Grand Theft Auto’, do more or less as they pleased within the gaming envonment) to appear on a games console.

Its piece of the gaming puzzle fits snugly between the 1997 2D Playstation ‘Grand Theft Auto’ and the 3D Playstation 2 ‘Grand Theft Auto 3’ released in 2001. It was made by DMA design, who later renamed themelves Rockstar North and become one of the most successful games manufacturers on the planet following the 2002 release of ‘GTA Vice City’.  

‘Body Harvest’ plays a bit like a sci-fi B -movie ‘Grand Theft Auto’ but instead of a criminal, the protagonist is a genetically engineered soldier who travels back and forth in time to rid the world of giant insect like alien invaders.

Crucially, while doing this, you get to drive (and destroy) cool vehicles and can even run over innocent people in the best ‘GTA’ tradition, if you are so inclined.

The original game was ingenious, cinematic and atmospheric, while running with the brand of post-modern black humour that Rockstar originally employed in ‘GTA’ and would later make their forte.

It was admittedly a little rough around the edges. The graphics were not terribly impressive by the standards of the day, but it had ideas in spades and was loads of fun- particularly the early 1950’s USA-set levels, which recalled the cult Amiga title ‘It Came from the Desert’. 

The thought of Rockstar remaking ‘Body Harvest’ with ‘Red Dead Redemption’ standard presentation is tantalising. Sadly, there are currently no signs of this happening.

Oh well.   

Matt Berry. ‘Witchazel’ 

Well, if this isn’t the oddest bit of music news I’ve heard in a while then I’m a laughing daffodil. 

Matt Berry has released a bloody psych-folk album. Yes, that Matt Berry-  the awesome comic actor who played smarmy Dr.Sanchez in ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace’ (in my view, one of the finest and most underrated comedies of the last 10 years) and Douglas in ‘The IT Crowd’.

Strangest of all, it is in fact his third album, originally released as a download in 2009 ( Why didn’t anyone tell me?) and now getting a physical release.

Better still, Berry has kindly agreed to perform tracks from the record at London’s Rough Trade East on Tuesday 27th September (at 7pm). 

Wonder if he’ll play ‘One Track Lover’?

Surprisingly, the LP (which is called ‘Witchazel’ if don’t already know) has been showered with critical acclaim. What the fuck? Comedians aren’t supposed to make decent records, it’s not allowed. 

Try telling that to this lot though:

“…the result is a revelation…” - Q ****

“An actor/comedian breaks convention by making a good album.” - Mojo ****

“…psych-folk genius.” - The Times ****

“The music is ambitious and compelling.” - Uncut

“…a luxurious intro into his musical world.” - Clash

“…brilliant? Yes. Funny? No.” - NME 

“Witchazel is enchanting…genuinely impressive.” - The Guardian

I NEED to head over to Rough Trade East on Tuesday just to see whether I can sit through his set without smirking. Or without seeing him smirk. 

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