What do Nina Hagen, Lemmy from Motorhead, Grace Jones, Iggy Pop and Slash from Guns'n'Roses have in common? They - together with a host of "cult" rock musicians (Tom Araya, Henry Rollins, Jesse Hughes, Joshua Homme... nope, me neither) - are the stars of a new (odd-sounding) film-and-live-concert-experience called Gutterdammerung, which threatens to arrive at a venue near you some time in the next twelve months...
Described as "The Loudest Silent Movie on Earth," it is the brainchild of Belgian-Swedish visual artist Bjorn Tagemose. With the combination of his backgrounds, I am not surprised this is all a bit odd. Apparently the film plays on a big screen while the narration and the music (played by a band that contains none of the members of the cast) is on stage. It's all very Spinal Tap.
As for any semblance of "plot", the last time I read a description like this is was for "Queen Musical" We Will Rock You:
The film is set in a world where God has saved the world from sin by taking from mankind the Devil’s ‘Grail of Sin’…..the Evil Guitar. The Earth has now turned into a puritan world where there is no room for sex, drugs or rock ‘n’ roll.On 12th November at the O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, exclusive scenes of the film will be first shown with Henry Rollins and Jesse Hughes live on stage. There will be a Q&A with the film’s creator Tagemose alongside Rollins and Hughes.
From up on high in heaven a “punk-angel”, Vicious (portrayed by Iggy Pop), looks upon the world with weary bored eyes. Behind God’s back, Vicious sends the Devil’s guitar back to earth and sin in all its forms returns to mankind.
An evil puritan priest (Henry Rollins) manipulates a naive girl to retrieve the guitar and destroy it. On her quest to find the Devil’s Grail Of Sin, the girl is forced to face the world’s most evil rock and roll bastards. Throughout her journey, she has a rival in the form of a rock chick determined to stop her from destroying the instrument.
I doubt I'll be queuing for a ticket.
Read more on the Gutterdammerung website.
Gutterdammerung, ! Grace Jones as Brunhilde, Iggy Pop as Siegfried. That would be worth the price of a ticket.
ReplyDeleteBut No !
If this visual artist is so original why cant he create his own title rather than ransack the real world of art as if it was macy's bargain basement
It's not even a clever use of the name - "Guitar-dammerung" might have been better... Jx
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