kill your idols

Director Scott Crary / 2004 / USA

This is a vivid and complex history of New York's art-punk and No Wave scene of the late 70s and early 80s. It also seeks that creative legacy in the current crop of Big Apple brats. Members of DNA, Swans, Foetus, 8-Eyed Spy and Suicide line up alongside Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Lydia Lunch and Glenn Branca, plus players from the Liars, Black Dice, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and A.R.E. Weapons to represent the nouveau No Wave.

"We weren't trying to make music, we were trying to be monsters," laughs Teenage Jesus and The Jerks' bassist, Jim Sclavunos, who went on to play with the Cramps and Nick Cave. He is supported in his claims by fellow interviewees, with a constant hunger for invention through subversion, motivations that come into cacophonous focus in the new and archival footage that bridges the history. An ultra low-budget debut shot and edited in the same spirit that informed the music it captures.

"Hot ticket! This is the most vital rock scene New York's had since Blondie, Talking Heads and the Ramones hung out at CBGB." - Paper

"Could find worshippers!" - Variety


D/P S.A. Crary WS Hunger Artist Productions TD video/col/2004/75mins

S.A. Crary was born in Oahu, USA, in 1978. Kill Your Idols (MIFF 05) is his first feature documentary.

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