SKUM Rocks - review and interview

Move over Spinal Tap! Here comes the ultimate rockumentary – a sordid tale of mega ambition, wild parties, professional shows of dubious standards and talent, and above all, scandal and mayhem. You read about the self-styled legends, now see it all for yourself!

Somewhere down the road, and many moons ago (like, the 80’s), a bunch of well-meaning up-to-no-goods played at student parties at their local college in Virginia. Yes, SKUM set the scene for their initially questionable future in the music biz – high-jacking rock ‘n’ roll in the process, and leaving a trail of destruction wherever they chose to go.

But what do you do with a bunch that seemed more interested in fame and fortune than raw talent? Whose idea of making it to the top was side-stepping hours of hard practice, and focusing on girls and the party-hardy lifestyle instead?

This hilarious, outrageous, no holds barred documentary – directed by brave dude Clay Westervelt, and narrated by mega SKUM fan Alice Cooper – tells the saga from the beginning… ending on the rainy streets of London where the band turned up for the exclusive premiere at Raindance Independent Film Festival 2013.
With contributions from Kevin Bacon, Paul Stanley, Fran Drescher, Edie Falco, Ron Jeremy, Matthew Broderick and countless others (trust me, the list goes on!), SKUM Rocks! makes for a truly awesome entertainment! Friends and foes contribute, each and every one recounting an anecdote worth the ticket price alone. We get to hear sheer unbelievable tales, like when the band organized a Halloween pumpkin rock festival… albeit during summer, forcing them to make do with melons instead! Or hiring an array of accountants, managers et al, none of which were actually qualified for the job. Then there are the people who were tricked into investing money into SKUM, and who never saw a penny back… yes, it’s easy to laugh at the antics from the safety of a cinema seat or home movie screen!

How befitting then that Film- and Music-News Claudia A. pinned the band down for a chat in a café called the Buta Lounge, not officially opened yet (though it is at the time of writing this article).

In the rockumentary, SKUM founding band mates Hart Baur, Pat Burke, John Eaton, Tommy Gunn and Todd Mittlebrook all tell their side of the tale, and it is a tale of truly quixotic proportions! In Soho, Claudia A. listens to various band members as they give account of new plans for world-domination, and a new album on the way. During the course of the conversation, one can’t help but getting instantly sucked in by the band’s mischievous charm and irrepressible enthusiasm!

Film-News:
Hi guys, in the beginning you were in it for fun really… for how long did you think you could get away with not displaying sufficient talent?

SKUM:
It was sort of an organic thing, you know we were soccer players in a very conservative, boring school. We were a team of eclectic individuals that didn’t fit into the school. So our parties and lifestyles were completely in contrast. So Todd and Scott Bell, the original drummer, agreed to start a band, and we realized very quickly that we couldn’t play anything. So we started to write our own music, followed by our first show which we prepped up for about five weeks, you know, posters and so on until people said “Wow, we gotta see these guys”! We didn’t book a venue, but we got this basement from a guy called Dean, a very square guy and we told his girlfriend we gonna throw a surprise party for him. He was oblivious to all the posters around… so we packed in about 300 people into this basement. So by the time we went on, there was this ruckus… we sounded horrible but they loved it! It was legendary! So over time, whenever we played people came more for the friendship and the connection. And some girls probably ended up losing their virginity during our shows.

Film-News:
If your chosen genre of music would not have been punk, would your approach to playing music have been different?

SKUM/Pat Baur:
Well, we have an amazing guitarist and an amazing drummer! Later when we played in Miami it gave us more freedom, whereas back in Virginia we were more part of the musical arrangement. But when these guys came along (Pat looks at his mates sitting next to him), they are great musicians. John took the songs that we wrote, which were good rock songs played poorly, and turned them into something that really stands out! You got to understand that SKUM were an eight-year band… the first three years we played in Virginia we were more of a ‘house band’, but we evolved as a band in Miami. Then we became musically quite good, because of the new musicians.

Film-News:
You made a lot of bad career choices, from roadies to managers etc. Didn’t you have a clue, didn’t you have a concept, or did you just not care?

SKUM:
There’s a saying in this business: “A good salesman doesn’t necessarily deserve a promotion to be a manager”. So, we shouldn’t have been managing ourselves, we needed some help there. That didn’t bother us, but we got bad advice, and the bad advice came early. To us, it didn’t really matter at the time. In retrospect of course, I’d say do things differently maybe.

Film-News:
In the film, there is this (rather poignant) scene where the artwork for your album ‘Lost At The Circus’ is revealed… but you look shocked and hated it. When you gave the artwork into commission, didn’t you give the artist a brief and monitor how things would develop?

SKUM:
He gave us the impression he got it, and all would be clear to him. We had anticipated something really cheerful, bright colours, almost a circus type thing. The artist used these really dark and gloomy colours, not the reds and yellows we had hoped for!

Film-News:
Yellow… Ok, in Skum’s case, what would be at the end of the yellow brick road?

SKUM:
I think making this film has been a lot of fun, obviously getting back with these guys has been a lot of fun. We have a new album coming out, and also we have a book coming out as well. First, the movie rights were all for sale and that’s very important to us, the music is being mixed down, the two songs we recorded here in Abbey Road are being mixed, but the book will be a bit of a longer project… But that’s about two thirds done anyway.

Film-News:
So is Alice Cooper going to write a foreword to your book?

SKUM:
Haha, we spoke to him only last week, and he’s excited, he calls us ‘skumtastic’ and he’s looking forward to the release.

Film-News:
I take it it’s a good thing then that you have Alice aboard?

SKUM:
The great thing about this project is that everyone from Alice Cooper to director Clay Westervelt to all the other people that we had helping us do this because they believe in our dream. Ultimately, the movie is a very optimistic movie. And in America, we are born to the concept of the American Dream… the idea that you’ll really want to will something to happen, it can happen! So yeah, it is a very hopeful movie!

Film-News:
Thanks guys, it’s been a real pleasure meeting you, and best wishes for the movie and your future projects!

(Special thanks to Ruslan at the Buta Lounge, Rathbone Place, London W1T)

At the time of writing, SKUM Rocks! has as yet no official release date.