Sydney Film Festival has managed to lock down two official screenings of the upcoming Stooges documentary Gimme Danger. The Sydney screenings will go down shortly after the film is premiered at the Cannes film festival.
The doco follows the early footsteps of Iggy Pop as he and cohorts Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton and Steve Asheton trail blaze the punk rock movement. After a career of three albums The Stooges (1969), Fun House (1970) and Raw Power (1973), the band would break up, completely unaware that in the years to come, they would be credited with ushering in punk rock.
The documentary was realised by Jim Jarmusch who worked on 1997’s Year of the Horse, a doco based on Neil Young. He’s also worked on a variety of music videos including The Lady Don’t Mind for Talking Heads and I Don’t Wanna Grow Up for Tom Waits.
“No other band in rock’n’roll history has rivalled The Stooges’ combination of heavy primal throb, spiked psychedelia, blues-a-billy grind, complete with succinct angst-ridden lyrics, and a snarling, preening leopard of a front man who somehow embodies Nijinsky, Bruce Lee, Harpo Marx, and Arthur Rimbaud,” said Jarmusch in a statement, via Indiewire. “There is no precedent for The Stooges, while those inspired by them are now legion.”
“[The film is a] love letter to possibly the greatest band in rock’n’roll history, and presents their story, their influences and their impact, complete with some never-before-seen footage and photographs. Like the Stooges and their music, ‘Gimme Danger’ is a little wild, messy, emotional, funny, primitive, and sophisticated in the most unrefined way. Long live The Stooges!”
Fans will be able to delve into the film at the State Theatre on June 17th and Event Cinema, George Street on June 19th.
