Don Letts new film
From The Age (Melbourne, Aus.):
http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/letts-we-forget/2005/07/20/1121539036600.html?onfiltered=true
Want to talk about punk? Filmmaker Don Letts is your man. He was there
in London in the 1970s, not just watching the counter-culture unfold,
but living it, feeding it.
Back then, the dreadlocked Letts was an influential DJ at London's
famous Roxy club, spinning hardcore dub reggae for the punks because
it was all he had.
"Turns out that the punks loved it," laughs Letts. "It was very
anti-establishment, they loved the emphasis of the bass lines. They
didn't mind the weed, either."
A close friend of the Clash (he made the celebrated documentary on
them, Westway to the World, and a member of post-Clash band Big Audio
Dynamite with guitarist Mick Jones), Letts is also widely credited
with the dubby reggae that infiltrated the Clash's material.
How close a friend? To say he and the late Clash singer Joe Strummer
were close is an understatement.
"He lived in my house for a while; we shared girlfriends, all kinds of
stuff," says Letts. "I wasn't happy about that moment (turns out the
woman in question was Letts' girlfriend first), but it's cool. I love
all the drama. I look back on it all with great fondness."
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Letts has dedicated his latest film, Punk: Attitude, to Strummer. "I
felt like he was looking over my shoulder the whole time," he says.
The secret to understanding Letts' take on punk is in the title of his
film, which has its premiere Australian screening tonight for the
Melbourne International Film Festival.
Punk, you see, is exactly that in Letts' book: attitude. Not a
haircut, not a style of clothing or music. And certainly not a time
period encapsulated in the 1970s.
"It came to me that this over-emphasis of the late '70s incarnation of
punk sort of trivialises the bigger idea, and that is that punk didn't
begin and end in the '70s," he says. "It's part of an ongoing dynamic
that is counter-culture."
Taking that approach meant doors opened quickly for Letts (although it
doubtlessly helped that he already knew more than half of his
interviewees).
He gained interviews with everyone from Henry Rollins to Jello Biafra,
from Chrissie Hynde to Thurston Moore, from John Cooper-Clarke to Jim
Jarmusch.
"It wasn't a nostalgic look back," he says. "As far as I'm concerned,
punk isn't something to look back on, it's something to look forward to."
So Letts' film also features artists active in the post-'70s punk boom
that he saw as championing counter-culture: Nirvana, Sonic Youth, even
the emergence of hip-hop - that was a "punk-rock moment", he says.
There were people Letts wanted to interview who were unavailable, such
as Patti Smith, who was on the road, and Iggy Pop, who was shooting a
BBC documentary. "And Lou Reed was just Lou Reed - I'll leave it at
that," he says crisply.
He reveals he's just had a call from Courtney Love's lawyers because
the film has some footage of her late husband's band, Nirvana.
Courtney, it seems, was "upset" by a comment made by someone in the
film, says Letts, "that runs something like 'Kurt (Cobain) got
successful, then he was surrounded by all these arseholes, then he
killed himself'."
"The complete statement, he was actually talking about MTV," says
Letts. "Courtney. . . somehow thinks it's reflecting something about
her, so she's made me chop all this stuff out. To say I'm pissed is an
understatement."
Letts is fairly sure Melbourne audiences will get to see the full
version of the film, but for the DVD version he has had to "bow to
Courtney's whims".
"And a cursed pox upon the woman!" he snarls.
So who are today's punks? Not the sort of bands you would find on a
Vans Warped tour, assures Letts. "You know, I got this funny theory
that if you're walking around calling yourself a punk, you're probably
not one," he says drily.
He sees artists such as Patti Smith (as ever), Bjork, Beck and Ween
maintaining the punk ethos of freedom, empowerment and individuality.
"The things that are all sadly lacking these days," he says, citing
MTV, Idol programs and "bloody INXS" in their pursuit of a new singer.
"When you look around the cultural climate today, it's almost like
punk never happened," he says. "But I'm here to tell you, and show
people that it did, and it works."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/letts-we-forget/2005/07/20/1121539036600.html?onfiltered=true
Want to talk about punk? Filmmaker Don Letts is your man. He was there
in London in the 1970s, not just watching the counter-culture unfold,
but living it, feeding it.
Back then, the dreadlocked Letts was an influential DJ at London's
famous Roxy club, spinning hardcore dub reggae for the punks because
it was all he had.
"Turns out that the punks loved it," laughs Letts. "It was very
anti-establishment, they loved the emphasis of the bass lines. They
didn't mind the weed, either."
A close friend of the Clash (he made the celebrated documentary on
them, Westway to the World, and a member of post-Clash band Big Audio
Dynamite with guitarist Mick Jones), Letts is also widely credited
with the dubby reggae that infiltrated the Clash's material.
How close a friend? To say he and the late Clash singer Joe Strummer
were close is an understatement.
"He lived in my house for a while; we shared girlfriends, all kinds of
stuff," says Letts. "I wasn't happy about that moment (turns out the
woman in question was Letts' girlfriend first), but it's cool. I love
all the drama. I look back on it all with great fondness."
AdvertisementAdvertisement
Letts has dedicated his latest film, Punk: Attitude, to Strummer. "I
felt like he was looking over my shoulder the whole time," he says.
The secret to understanding Letts' take on punk is in the title of his
film, which has its premiere Australian screening tonight for the
Melbourne International Film Festival.
Punk, you see, is exactly that in Letts' book: attitude. Not a
haircut, not a style of clothing or music. And certainly not a time
period encapsulated in the 1970s.
"It came to me that this over-emphasis of the late '70s incarnation of
punk sort of trivialises the bigger idea, and that is that punk didn't
begin and end in the '70s," he says. "It's part of an ongoing dynamic
that is counter-culture."
Taking that approach meant doors opened quickly for Letts (although it
doubtlessly helped that he already knew more than half of his
interviewees).
He gained interviews with everyone from Henry Rollins to Jello Biafra,
from Chrissie Hynde to Thurston Moore, from John Cooper-Clarke to Jim
Jarmusch.
"It wasn't a nostalgic look back," he says. "As far as I'm concerned,
punk isn't something to look back on, it's something to look forward to."
So Letts' film also features artists active in the post-'70s punk boom
that he saw as championing counter-culture: Nirvana, Sonic Youth, even
the emergence of hip-hop - that was a "punk-rock moment", he says.
There were people Letts wanted to interview who were unavailable, such
as Patti Smith, who was on the road, and Iggy Pop, who was shooting a
BBC documentary. "And Lou Reed was just Lou Reed - I'll leave it at
that," he says crisply.
He reveals he's just had a call from Courtney Love's lawyers because
the film has some footage of her late husband's band, Nirvana.
Courtney, it seems, was "upset" by a comment made by someone in the
film, says Letts, "that runs something like 'Kurt (Cobain) got
successful, then he was surrounded by all these arseholes, then he
killed himself'."
"The complete statement, he was actually talking about MTV," says
Letts. "Courtney. . . somehow thinks it's reflecting something about
her, so she's made me chop all this stuff out. To say I'm pissed is an
understatement."
Letts is fairly sure Melbourne audiences will get to see the full
version of the film, but for the DVD version he has had to "bow to
Courtney's whims".
"And a cursed pox upon the woman!" he snarls.
So who are today's punks? Not the sort of bands you would find on a
Vans Warped tour, assures Letts. "You know, I got this funny theory
that if you're walking around calling yourself a punk, you're probably
not one," he says drily.
He sees artists such as Patti Smith (as ever), Bjork, Beck and Ween
maintaining the punk ethos of freedom, empowerment and individuality.
"The things that are all sadly lacking these days," he says, citing
MTV, Idol programs and "bloody INXS" in their pursuit of a new singer.
"When you look around the cultural climate today, it's almost like
punk never happened," he says. "But I'm here to tell you, and show
people that it did, and it works."