Truckfighters – Fuzzomentary: Interview & Review
Somewhere in Sweden. The isolated and desolated landscapes of Örebro… With former Kyuss member Chris Cockrell as annotator, the journey about Ozo, Dango und Pezo can begin.
A documentary about a band, which is well known in the so called Desert/Stoner Rock Scene but not even remotely to the regular rock listener. Does that really make sense? After having the opportunity to see an extra long version of the movie I can say Yes! That the Truckfighters fucking rock is not new at all. The movie presents scenes from live gigs that prove that quite impressively of course.
But what makes the movie interesting and special even for people who are not familiar with the the scene are other things. Like the certain style which the film is held in. Old-looking color grading of the live footage and quite modern artwork in between scenes keep the movies suspense. Everything appears real and warm. No cracy camera movements or unnessecary effects, even though a bunch of them are used.
Also the way the movie is told seems just right. You get thrown into the more or less boring lifes and jobs of the three Swedes. The moment you starting to recognise the boredom they have to feel, you seem trapped just like them. Next thing you know the guys are on the road and on stage. And you are too! You can follow the life of a – in many ways, – quite normal rock band and be with them in the studio, in the tour bus, backstage and of course on stage. You get to see a lot of shots of Sweden, Berlin and the travels in between. And of course by saying the Truckfighters are normal, I’m probably lying. Each individual has his own unique charcater affecting the bands collectivity.
Where Metallicas Some Kind Of Monster showed a bitter view into the workflow of a bunch of big millionaire-egos, the Fuzzomentary is showing honesty in an other way. Disputes and difference of opinions can be seen, as well as all together drinking and having a good time. The difference is, that these guys do their work to have fun, not just for the money. The gift ‚to rock‘ is quite important in the world of the Truckfighters. This movie gives an honest insight into the life of an underground rock band, trying to have and give a good time. Thereby it entertains and surprises with a unique style of editing and the use of selfmade artwork.
An extraordinary work, made possible by Joerg Steineck and Christian Maciejewski with the love to details and a lot of endurance to complete the movie.
Joerg Steineck, who always kept us up to date regarding his movies, was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. Have fun!
Interview with Joerg Steineck
stonerrock.eu: How has the idea developed to make a movie about The Truckfighters? Why exactly them?
Joerg Steineck: Since a few years I’ve been working on Lo Sound Desert, a documentary reflecting the Californian desert rock scene.
Young European bands which have been heavily influenced by Californian desert rock bands like Kyuss, Unida etc. should talk about their musical background as well.
Eventually we’ve met these guys at a small German rock festival called ‚Wilvarin‘ for shooting an interview. We’ve had a mellow chat, but the show was tremendous. The actual production on Lo Sound Desert was put on hold somewhere during that time due some issues on music rights.
Actually the continuance of this project seemed pretty vague at all.
But besides that I was always thinking about making a whole film on a single band, and after we’ve met these guys, I had the feeling this would fit perfectly. They had exactly what I was looking for. A funny name. That’s not all of course, but actually the name gave us the creative fundament.
From there it was easy to see where this would lead to.. kind of. Of course they’re pretty good as well, laid back and really lax when it comes to self-mockery. That gave us a full band width of ideas to aim for something special.
We basically just had one binding demand to ourselves: In no way that common kind of documentary style. Least of all when it comes to introducing a band branded with an often stereotyped genre.
SR: What do you like the Stoner/Desert Rock for? How did you get around to connect Stoner with your profession „movies“?
JS: Of course I like it for what it is: Just a style of heavy music. And besides there was a lack on documentaries about this topic.
Although I’ve never thought I would make two films about it, but as I said- they’re both not entirely about Stoner Rock.
sr: To finance an independent movie is difficult. Was there any time where you thought you have to shut the project off?
JS: That happened pretty often in a more insubstantial way, I guess. I mean there are always times when you think, „what the hell am I doing here?“
But apparently if I would have thought about this in a serious way, we wouldn’t bring it out now.
SR: How did you come to the Desert Rock sound? Which bands are still exciting for you today?
JS: I was around 15 when i’ve first listened to Kyuss. Unfortunately besides that there aren’t too many new bands from this genre which are really exciting to me. I mean really exciting. There are actually quite a few cool bands that play more or less interesting ’stoner rock‘, but many of them got stuck in the past musically. Truckfighters seemed to have morphed into something different, that’s what I like about them.
Their new album doesn’t sound like this stereotype kind of ’stoner rock‘ anymore. And that’s good. In the future they should bring out a dance album, though.
SR: In the movie we are able to see differences in between the band members. Even sound technicans, organizers and the venue are concerned. How was the collaboration between you guys and the band?
JS: Not that easy to answer. They’re cool guys, sometimes a little too cool, but despite the fact that every artist is difficult, they were overall pretty open minded about the way we did the film. And they seem to like our humor, which was very important.
All three are completely different though, for example Mr. Pezo: he’s likely the most outgoing character, ..but also the most flaky one. Mr. Ozo is the middle man, and Mr. Dango the booster. As a team pretty much unbeatable. And highly entertaining.
SR: For a few scenes you were in Örebro. What was your expirience there? Is it the Palm Desert of Scandinavia?
JS: Of course you can’t compare Swedish Örebro with Californian Palm Desert. It’s just not that hot. No, but what you can compare at least in some ways is the state of isolation.
There’s not that much to do for young people in the desert except playing music, and that ’s kind of similar to our little isolated Örebro, which isn’t a very huge city but breeds a very vital rock scene: Witchcraft and Graveyard, which are part of the film as well, are also from Örebro.
Another similarity is a general lack of venues to play their music at – which automatically leads to the conclusion to go on tour more often.
SR: The live footage is interjected by animated artwork. Was it the plan from the beginning to give the movie a style like that?
JS: The live footage isn’t injected by animated art work, the art work is injected by live footage. The idea came right after we’ve heard the bands name and actually decided to start working on this project.
So yeah, that was planned.
SR: Do you have the feeling, that the Underground Rock Scene is flourishing again?
JS: A „flourishing“ underground scene seems to me like the end of that same particular underground scene. I mean, if it’s underground, it should probably proceed slowly to stay underground to avoid becoming mainstream. Not a lovely thought to breed a second Grunge hype, right? I would miss it.
SR: What’s the fascination about the Truckfighters?
JS: I wouldn’t say fascination, but to me they appear interesting simply in the way they do their thing. Basically they’re common fellows, not typical kind of rock’n roll hardliners, destroying hotel rooms or shitting on the backstage couch – just because they’re enjoying being crazy as fuck.
It’s a three-piece which seems to fit together, even if there are friction and disorder from time to time. Each of them has different existential views, but in the end they’re a one-piece.
I think this film is primarily about the details. If you’re just interested in wild escapades, you will definitely get bored. But it tells much about social behaviour between three common guys getting along with each other. And that can be funny.
SR: Do you think the movie is representative for any regular Stoner Band, or is the movie really just about the Truckfighters?
JS: From what I know, they’re .. I don’t want to say „unique“.. but „special“ for sure. I also know for sure a lot of bands of this genre take themselves too seriously.
I don’t want to discredit neither the bands nor the genre -maybe fuck around a little with general prejudice, but in the end there should be an hour and a half of good entertainment.
SR: Now Truckfighters, then Lo Sound Desert. What are your plans after that? Enough „Stoner Rock“?
JS: Definitely enough „Stoner Rock“. But to say though, Truckfighters have been branded a stoner rock band which to me they aren’t anymore. Because their music has grown.
Musicians from the Californian desert all apply to be stoner rockers, but most of them aren’t and have never been. Each of those bands has it’s own individual style. Not talking about differences between so-called sub genres like Heavy Psych and Doom, but main genres like Classic Rock and Punk.
For myself- I don’t like one sided content within a film. And I try to avoid that as well for my own projects.
Thank you
Details:
Featured bands:
Truckfighters
Queens of the Stone Age
Fu Manchu
Kyuss
Valient Thorr
Witchcraft
Graveyard
Let Me Out
Red Stoner Sun
The Freeks
Nebula
Music by:
Truckfighters
Greenleaf
Witchcraft
Melanie is demented
Let Me Out
We Hunt Buffalo
Red Stoner Sun
Alvin Tyler
Miriam Cutler
Length (DVD):
84 min.
Chapters:
1. Common
2. How To Get Things Done
3. Road
4. Home
5. Issues
6. The Body Burden
7. Family Fights
8. Big
9. The Drummer Dilemma