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Separate DIY punk scenes are united via the internet and the tours of inspirational Plan-it X punk bands
SynopsisOver the last fifteen years, Plan-it X Records helped foster a huge cultural revolution -- uniting geographically divided DIY punk communities under one umbrella. With a united ethic and common goals, this scene has grown to a critical mass while some bands flirted with mainstream success and others choose to remain firmly rooted in the basement punk scene. This original documentary climaxes in the 2006 Festival where punks from all over the world met up in Bloomington, IN for a week of music and skillsharing. Original footage of This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Japanther, Defiance, Ohio, Ghost Mice, One Reason, Operation: Cliff Clavin, Soophie Nun Squad, and more! From each DVD sold, we will give $1 each to Mother Hubbard's Cupboard and Pages to Prisoners!
Director's StatementMy background in punk is incredibly important to my personal development, character, and what I'm now directing my energy towards so it felt very good to show some of the coolest punks that are out there on the screen.
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Directed by
Joe Biel -
Written by
Joe Biel -
Produced by
Joe Biel - If It Ain't Cheap, It Ain't Punk Website
Written by: Joe Biel
Produced by: Joe Biel
Cast
head humble guy: Chris Clavinlead talking head: Ginger Alford
impressively modest and charming: Matt Tobey
Crew
director or photography: Jeremy Hoganeditor: Eric Ayotte
A third of a century ago, Sid Vicious spit on his audience, shot cheap heroin, and called the Royal Family a fascist regime. He was such a huge success he got himself banned from the BBC. But today punk is just another musical style, no different from Baroque chamber music or hip-hop or alt-country, and frankly, the fun is gone. The kids with the tats and the torn jeans and the tongue studs are really recreating their grandparent's music, becoming a sort of civil war reenactment club that wears the costumes and knows the history, but completely misses the point of tearing down society to its nihilistic, anarchistic roots. But off in odd corners of the internet, in private houses and the basement of used record stores, the mid '70s punks have merged with the mid '60s hippies and recreated the idealistic Earth Shoe-wearing community, but without the promiscuity and drug use. This 480x640 pixel documentary focuses more on the people than the music, and it's great to see all this love and openness and sharing, with the music almost an afterthought. The action revolves around the 2006 Plan-It X fest in Bloomington Indiana and it's a smaller, friendlier version of Burning Man or even a Fringe festival. The golden spirit hovering over the scene is Chris Claven, founder of Plan-it X Records. He's a middle-aged guy with a slicked-down combover Mohawk, and he makes his modest living off of the meager sales of these obscure bands. Their followers are dedicated to the music and ideals -- strangers help each other get to gigs, and words like aesthetic, community, and infrastructure pepper their commentary. Yes, you can make a living selling $5 CDs, but you'll never have the limo or lunch at Spago. And yes, you can swear a vow of poverty with your fellow hipsters, and do what you love, so long as you acknowledge that it is your goal and mom will just have to get over it. And you can commit to maintaining hipness against the very real face of success and maintain your pride and your ideals. The modern DIY punk ethos is full of people who are in it for love not money, and even if you're living on vegan burritos and sleeping in a 1999 Ford Explorer, you're still having fun and no one will criticize you for playing punk glockenspiel. And THAT, my hipster friends, is the essence of being cool. - Ink 19
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Director
Joe Biel

United States of America