[kj] The Death & Resurrection Show Premier balls-up

[jpwhkj at aol.com]

Great review, thanks Brendan.


-----Original Message-----
From: Brendan Quinn <bq at soundgardener.co.nz>
To: 'A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)' <gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:16
Subject: Re: [kj] The Death & Resurrection Show Premier balls-up



So tonight I woke up at 7pm after catching a couple of hours sleep (I got about an hour the night before), flipped a mental coin, and decided to go to the premiere, due to start at 7:45. Luckily the ticketing / bar staff were chronically slow and there were a lot of people still buying tickets and drinks, so I was fine. Because I wasn’t sure whether I was going previously, I hadn’t arranged anyone to go with, so I went on my own, slightly sleepy and dishevelled…lots of black-clad people, the usual smattering of punks, alternatives, weirdos etc. Very nice crowd basically.
 
Jaz turned up shortly after I did, was nice to see him but I decided to leave him alone. They were charging full price because Jaz and Shaun Pettigrew were on hand to do a Q and A session at the end. Fair enough. So I grabbed a couple of beers and went in – I managed to get a seat in the same row as Jaz and his daughter and some other family members etc. 
 
The movie – I was very impressed, despite or perhaps because I was almost totally sober. While you could make the comment that about a third to half of it would be more appropriately titled Jaz Coleman: This is Your Life, a) that was always going to happen and b) the documentary doesn’t suffer at all from it’s Jaz-centricness, to me at least. It’s not overwhelming. And there’s plenty of Geordie (he gets HUGE respect from everyone interviewed…), Youth (also plenty of respect, and very amusing at times), and Big Paul – who adds quite a touching personal / emotional element to the story. Jaz’s mum features a fair bit, and is a great addition – great anecdotes about Jaz and the band, and very amusing. 
 
There was lot of great early footage of the band, and more in-depth explanation about Jaz and Geordie’s activities in Iceland than I’ve been able to find out about elsewhere. Not surprisingly, the film has a VERY strong emphasis on magick / esoterica / ritual, and if you’re into that side of the band then you’re in for a treat, because Jaz and many others (including a lot of very interesting and strange people from Iceland) goes into detail about a lot of the rituals he performed, ‘transmissions’ he received, the intention behind them, their meaning etc. Different people will take that angle differently, but to me it’s plain to see that it’s a belief system that Jaz and Big Paul in particular took very seriously, and which Geordie and Youth later bought into wholeheartedly. There are some interesting reports about strange phenomema experienced by groups of people, people being struck by lightning multiple times while in Jaz’s presense in Iceland, similar with ball lightning in the UK etc.
 
Bear in mind the premiere was a 150 minute version, which Shaun (the director / filmer) said will be whittled down to more like 90 minutes. As a fan I didn’t find it dragged at all, I felt privileged to be viewing this footage and it was both thoroughly entertaining, amusing, and touching at times.
 
At the Q&A session Jaz mentioned that he found some of the footage almost unbearable to watch, both because of the emotions it elicited, and also because the Jaz from some of the early footage was different to the Jaz that he has become. Which was a nice comment to hear to be honest...
 
I think that fans will be very proud, entertained, and especially amused – I was struck that almost everyone from Jaz down found an amusing angle to most of the events. 
 
Plans afoot to hold premieres in the UK and Europe and possibly elsewhere towards the end of the year (Nov was mentioned…). I think you’re in for a treat. Shaun has spent ten years, who knows how much time, money, blood sweat and tears working on a labour of love which has resulted in a thoroughly fascinating and entertaining piece of work. Jaz was most grateful and mentioned that he was sad that filming had stopped because it had been such a blast and they had formed a close bond (apparently Shaun saved his life on more than one occasion…).
 
Oh and Jaz also intimated that he may be keen to go into politics at some stage (!), isn’t at all a fan of the current NZ govt (hear hear), that Kiwis need to ignore draconian undemocratic laws (agree), and that we of all people need to exemplify and earn our ‘clean green’ image - which we don’t deserve. Spot on, unfortunately.
 
BQ
 
 
From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On Behalf Of Neil Perry
Sent: Wednesday, 12 June 2013 8:18 p.m.
To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
Subject: Re: [kj] The Death & Resurrection Show Premier balls-up
 


I think it was something like 8 years, on and off, travelling all over the globe,

plus the last 18 months/two years finishing off the editing.

Like I said, I'm just hoping that during this time he learnt the value of abandoning all
hope and expectations when dealing with the band!



 

On 11 June 2013 18:53, Alex Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net> wrote:

And how many years did Shaun spend on this project, exactly?

 

It's just disrespectful. 

 

Alex in NYC


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