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BY CHRIS KIES AND JORDAN WAGNER
Such Hawks, Such Hounds –
Scenes From the American Hard
Rock Underground
What exactly is “heavy”? If you’re Matt Pike,
guitarist for High on Fire and the legendary Sleep, you might equate it to the wrath
of an overlord as he lacerates the heads
off of his enemies. “If you can make the riff
sound like that, that’s heavy,” says Pike at
the opening of Such Hawks, Such Hounds,
a new documentary showcasing the current
hard rock underground landscape.
Director John Srebalus paints a very diverse
picture of the scene, reaching all the way
down to the roots of the movement with
heavy nods to Pentagram and Black Sabbath.
Srebalus shows all sides of the stoner rock
movement (a label that a lot of bands resent),
illustrating how much more it is than slow,
droning riffs. Noise-sludge darlings Sunn 0))),
Joe Preston of Thrones and Earth and Scott
Reeder of the infinitely influential Kyuss are
just a few of the figures involved offering
their viewpoints and influences.
It should be noted that the most impressive thing that Such Hawks, Such Hounds
achieves is dispelling the meathead myths
about rock and metal in general. It seems
that the major focus of the documentary
is not only educating viewers on the history of the movement, but stripping away
any needless flash and excess to show that
36 PREMIERGUITAR AUGUST 2009
these people are just like anyone else. The
musicians even take a few minutes to talk
about about their day jobs, making the film
even more intimate and relatable. Srebalus
not only shows the obsessive devotion that
these musicians have for their music, but
the primal need to keep it honest to themselves. Those traits are ultimately why their
fans seek them out in
the first place. —JW
List $21.95
suchhawkssuchhounds.com
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace
and Music, Director’s Cut
(40th Anniversary Ultimate
Collector’s Edition)
In the age of reprocessed and repackaged
CDs and DVDs where the “bonus” features
and additional content are anything but,
the Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music
Director’s Cut 40th Anniversary Ultimate
Collector’s Edition DVD gives you everything you wanted and more. It comes in
a ’69-inspired package—no extra charge
for the leather fringe—which includes a
holographic photo showcasing the festival,
reprint of a the Life magazine commemorative issue, replica hand-written notes and
quotes from attendees and an iron-on
patch featuring the classic dove and guitar
logo. For those who couldn’t be in attendance, this package provides a one-stop
Woodstock shop. Although the package
and its extras are a welcome add-on, the
real treat of this DVD package lies in the
audio and visual presentation.
The four-hour director’s cut of the original
Oscar-winning documentary was remastered
by Eddie Kramer to boost the audio quality
up to today’s A/V standards. The documentary weaves performances of Hendrix, the
Who, Janis Joplin and others with a chronological narrative of the festival from its preliminary setup and grassroots beginnings to
the horrific chore of post-festival cleanup. In
addition, it comes packed with over three
hours of bonus footage, including two hours
of previously unreleased, sizzling live performances from the Dead, CCR, Johnny Winter
and many more. The list of other bonus
materials runs long. Standout segments
include:
3 Days in a Truck, which documents
Eddie Kramer’s three days spent capturing
the audio of the entire event from his truck;
and Suits VS. Longhairs, which focuses on
the creative struggle between the flower-children filmmakers and the white-collar
Warner executives. Collectively, all the parts
of the documentary capture the raw emotion of the event. From the hippies basking
in their utopian-weekend to Michael Lang
and the other promoters scrambling to keep
everything from burning like Nero’s Rome,
it was all seen through director’s Michael
Wadleigh’s Éclair NPR camera.
While at its core the DVD is about the
music—just like the original festival—it
turns out to be about the people too, their
first-hand recollections and the social significance that this event still has in a world full
of corporate-driven concerts and festivals.
It was more than the music. It was more
than the improbable list of performers. It
was about a time and place that can never
be recreated—see Woodstock ’ 94 and ’ 99.
Sure the legacy of the festival hinges on the
performers and their music, but would it
have mattered if over 400,000 people didn’t
converge on Bethel, NY? Probably not, but
this documentary provides a potent insight
into a world in the midst of a cultural revolution fueled by thought-provoking music, the
youth and their hope, even if it was just for
that summer. —CK
List $59.98
warnerbros.com
