We posted about the Vancouver punk music scene documentary Bloodied But Unbowed not long ago, then reported on the limited Skull Skates deck releasing with the film and just yesterday gave away 2 tickets courtesy of SKull Skates. I was recently lucky enough to catch up with director Susanne Tabata and talked to her about this crazy project.

The Bloodied But Unbowed world premiere is taking place at the DOXA Festival this Thursday May 14th, 8pm @ Granville 7. Tickets HERE.

Susanne interviewing Tony Bardach, 1979/80?

Any fav shows from back in the day in town?
Wimpy’s stage moves in just about any Subhumans’ gig.

What are you other most vivid memories about the scene back then?
Vancouver was a SMALL TOWN… yes there were top-40 clubs & discos but other than that it had a vibrant gay scene… the punk scene (by the way it was never called that back then, it was just what was happening) was musically inclusive… but competitive. DIRTY TOILETS…

Who are some of the artists from back then that many Vancouver music fans should know about today?
Watch the documentary and you’ll find out…

The top 5 –
Subhumans – really under appreciated body of work but the songs are really really good.
Modernettes – timeless surf punk sound
Young Canadians (K-tels) – anything Art Bergmann is brilliant
Pointed Sticks – power pop innovators in Vancouver….
DOA – obviously recognized but the early material is groundbreaking

Tunnel Canary, not featured in the doc as I don’t have access to their footage. But they were a punk band out of the art school scene thing that was going on. And Nathan Holiday doesn’t like it when I use the term, but they were an original ‘noise’ band. A new filmmaker Eric Lorenz has made a very good documentary on the band. It’s called Tunnel Canary.

UJ3RK5…art band. Google Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Ian Wallace….

Rabid…they were so punk they couldn’t get their shit together to promote themselves so footage of them is very rare.

The ‘f**k bands’ ….

Check out the Vancouver Complication on our audio player on our website: www.thepunkmovie.com. Also Last Call, a Zulu Records Compilation. Grant McDonagh at Zulu is your man for music suggestions. HANDS DOWN. He WAS at the first DOA gig ever. I was not. He would be a good person to talk to.

Do you think there are a lot of misconceptions about punk music to this date?
I’m not the person to answer that question. Someone said it in the doc… “one person’s punk rocker is another person’s sellout”. The word is overused and overprinted. It’s not a fashion statement. And now with it being such a big industry, it’s hard to decipher what’s authentic and what’s fake. And it must be harder for artists now. Trying to forge an identity in a sea of clones. To me, what is ‘real’ is the sense of being alienated and needing to break out from the mainstream and DIY – that is still relevant. It always will be. That’s punk but the music… you tell me. For you, in your twenties, you have your own context for the answer to this question. Someone in their sixties from NYC would have a different context. If it’s punk to you, it’s punk.

How did the project come about?
Playing a tape of a show I used to work on in the 70s, NiteDreems. We had a little party at my place and played an episode to about 20 people. What struck me was the freshness of the material. Live late night cable tv in the ’70s was like something you will never get to experience. Then I went to Bev’s show at the Jem Gallery with a video camera and shot her guests looking at their old photos. It was pretty cool.

Does the term “labour of love” really apply to this project?
Yes. 3.5 years. Lots of troubling financial issues around getting it made… the hardest thing was to convince stakeholders of Canadian culture industries that this film was worth making. We got rejected SO much & I was surprised. I thought I was able to put the right package and the right people together. It’s not my first bar-b-q. But we had a hard time getting this film to stick. It is also to juggle the conflicting interests of people who are involved with a project. The money part of it. Were this film able to be made for free, it would have been done a couple of years ago. But this IS a piece of entertainment and comes with a long list of obligations.

Susanne interviewing Joey Ramone, 1979

If you were to give advice to any other fledging documentarians who may make a doc about the music scene here down the road, what advice would you give them?
JUST SHOOT. You never know how something quite ordinary will turn into something extraordinary over time. If you think you can work hard, take rejection, face competition and be competitive, AND do shit jobs to finance your work (or starve) then documentary is for you. I think it’s unfair what documentary filmmakers in Vancouver are expected to do for ‘nothing’. So you have to love it or don’t bother.

Who are some of your favourite bands in Vancouver now?
I don’t think I can answer that question.

Who are some that carry on the mantle of the essence of punk music and culture today? Anyone outside “punk” music per se as well?
Anyone who has the ‘balls’ to stand up, be innovative and ethical and do-it-yourself. Is that combination possible?

A lot has changed from the 60s and 70s in punk music and Vancouver. Your tale may offer some lessons from the past but what has you excited about both today?
I think Vancouver has a lot of potential but it’s still young. It’s better for woman and people of Asian heritage… the only two points of reference I have… I’m an outsider. I’m not young but by no means am I part of the ‘culture industry’ in this town… I’m part of the counterculture. I think Vancouver is a better town today because it’s more socially progressive. Still it’s a tough audience here.

Bob Kronbauer’s quote from the initial post on BBU: “I was going to tell you that it’s the best documentary about Vancouver music I’ve ever seen but I can’t even think of any other docs about the history of our music scene so I’ll just say that you pretty much have to see it.”
- If this is, in fact, the first or one of the first major documentaries about Vancouver music scene history, does it give you any extra pride or satisfaction about it?
Need some time to process that statement. I’ve set the bar where I want it to be and I’m not totally satisfied I reached it. Besides feeling like I’m part of a sweat shop with the post crew, there are some things that I couldn’t afford. More music, some footage I was unable to license. I think it’s important to note this documentary was a pay-to-play situation and with that, we were always working with those conflicting interests.

Is there any one message that you hope viewers will take away from the film?
Bloodied but Unbowed… these guys deserve recognition for laying it down ‘here’ for everyone else to follow… this is the first punk scene in Vancouver.

Are there any other subjects that interest you for future Vancouver related documentaries?
Bikers has been suggested. I want to do a mentoring project for the Powell Street Festival whereby I put stakes in the ground and get individual filmmakers to do films about everything that has taken place on that very piece of land… I think I will go into digital media and shorts on the web. This long form doc stuff in Vancouver is really too hard to sustain. This project killed me. It better ‘KILL’.