Murder City Devils--Rock and Roll Won't Wait
MVD 2004
Toward the end of the 90's, the Murder City Devils couldn't have been in a better spot. They were the "it" band on everyone's list and had Sub Pop's muscle to back them up. Rock and Roll Won't Wait is a documentary that gives a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of the band. The result is a film with some surprising cons and pros.
On the down side, Rock and Roll Won't Wait is pretty light on the main thing that made the Murder City Devils so great--the music itself. There are a handful of live clips scattered throughout the flick, but things still wind up feeling lacking in this area. With band interviews being the focus of the film, the members are given just enough rope to hang themselves a bit, in spots. The most glaring example of this is when drummer Coady talks about how the Murder City Devils are often compared to the Stooges and Dead Boys, yet he doesn't even like to listen to those groups--this revelation in itself will be unsettling to many. When vocalist Spencer is later onstage with Pearl Jam belting out a cover of the Dead Boys classic "Sonic Reducer," the bad taste in your mouth from those previous comments starts to taste a bit like poseurdom.
As admittedly bad as that is, there are some extremely endearing moments captured on Rock and Roll Won't Wait. Seeing the band onstage in corpse paint and black robes, bassist and guitarists all spoting BC Rich Warlocks, puming out their slightly waved rock is a great show of humor and one of the film's highlights. Watching the band behind their dead van and trailer, pushing it to the nearest gas station, one can't help but empathize with the plight. Still, the best part of the Murder City Devils story is that of the band's roadie Gabe. He consistently comes off as the coolest person of the bunch and his seemingly selfless devotion to helping the band makes it impossible not to root for the guy.
Bottom line: Rock and Roll Won't Wait is not the place for newcomers to start with the Murder City Devils. There's enough decent stuff here, diehards will certainly want to add it to their collections, though. So too many the novice after soaking in all the actual music, but that's definitely what should come first. At the very least, Rock and Roll Won't Wait is an interesting look into the Murder City Devils, for better or worse.
Score this DVD directly from MVD
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