interview with James R. Petix
by
Leyland Devito

On Friday, October 27th, the long-anticipated documentary film about Motor City rock and roll bands, “It Came From Detroit,” premiers at the Detroit Film Theater. The producers of the film, director James R. Petix and Sarah Babila, have spent the past four and a half years shooting footage of shows and passing out hundreds of promotional buttons. Petix was able to squeeze some time out of his busy schedule to talk to thedetroiter.com about the movie as he and Babila get ready for the opening night.

LD: So why a film documentary on Detroit music, specifically on Garage Rock?

JRP: Detroit has been the center of incredible music for a really long time. I could list off a number of great artists from the city but it would take up too much of the page! What our movie focuses on is the modern Detroit “Garage Rock” scene which is made of up a couple dozen or so bands that share a love for classic rock and roll, blues, and R&B. Even with common influences, the bands in the garage rock scene are all unique in both sound and character. While the Hentchmen love playing a 60’s sounding farfisa-fueled dance rock, a band like Blanche is sweet to perform a dark and haunting gothic country-western sound. What really connects them all is that most of them are friends with each other. If they weren’t playing music with each other, they’d probably be out at the bar together. So it’s really more of a “garage” ethic: do what you can with what you have, regardless of your limitations. This is what really inspired me to want to document the scene.

I had recently finished a short documentary on the underground music in Tokyo for my senior thesis at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. This was in 2001 and the White Stripes were just starting to get some national attention. When I moved back home to Metro Detroit after school, all I knew was that I wanted to take the skills I had learned and see if I could do something similar for the whole “garage scene” that was getting attention at the time. My friends and I were hanging out a lot at the Garden Bowl and the Gold Dollar at the time so I had a pretty good understanding of what was going on and who the players were. One by one I met all of the bands and they were all very open to what I was trying to do. Other crews from overseas had come to Detroit for a week or two to do a short feature on what was happening at the time, but no one has been able to document the scene from within over a period of a few years. I feel real lucky that I was the one to be able to do it.

I think what makes this scene special is that they really do play from the heart, because they’re all obsessed with music. You can tell that by looking at any of their collections of thousands of records! These bands were all playing in dive bars downtown where only their friends and other musicians would venture. They didn’t do it to get on MTV or to get a big record contract. The scene grew up in relative isolation for a number of years before bands like the Go and the White Stripes started to get attention outside of Detroit. I think that when the light was finally cast here, there were a lot of things lurking in the shadows that were really interesting, which is how the buzz started to form that Detroit could possibly be like the “next Seattle.” Luckily, it never got to that point and most of the bands around here have managed to get some recognition while still maintaining their integrity.

LD: It’s been five years since the White Stripes burst into the International arena and people started saying, “Detroit is the new Seattle”. Is the film a conscious effort to put Detroit bands back in the forefront, and keep that momentum? Or did you just want to chronicle what was going on here and now to share with others?

JRP: When I first started I was just trying to chronicle what was happening as the spotlight was first shining on the Detroit scene. I wanted to show people what made it special and how it was different from any other music scene in the world. But as I started interviewing people, I realized that in order to tell the complete story of how the scene came to be I needed to dig back to bands like the Gories and Rocket 455 which had been around since the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s and show how they really established the whole thing. By the time we were finished interviewing, the hype of the scene had already started to wane, but it didn’t matter because the real heart of the story had nothing to do with that hype. If this movie helps the momentum of the scene, I think that’s great. I see it as a tribute to something cool that happened in a place that no one expected it to.

LD: The film took four and a half years to film. Did you learn anything new during that time? Any hardships, or were you just doing what you loved anyway?

JRP: At first it was just fun to go to all these shows and meet all these really great musicians. I was having the time of my life. But there still was a lot of real work to do. Try holding a camera above your head in a crowd full of rowdy drunk people for an hour, and you’ll know what I mean! After that there were over 250 hours of interviews and live footage to dig through to find the story that connected all these bands. We probably spent almost a year cataloging it and digitizing it into the computer. This was all after work taking up our nights and weekends for years at a time. It took real dedication, but I’m really glad we’ve stuck with it through the end. We learned a lot along the way, as well.

LD: Where is this movie destined to go after the Sneak Preview at the DFT?

JRP: These bands have fans all over the world, and we’d love to personally take it to all of them. No actual plans yet, but we’d love to actually go on tour with a band or two and show the movie in each city we go to.

LD: The film’s premiere on Oct. 27th at the DIA is turning out to be quite the event for Detroit music fans, accompanied by live performances by the Dirtbombs, Outrageous Cherry, and the Witches. How did that come about?

JRP: We were contacted by Larry Baranski from the Detroit Film Theatre asking if the film would be ready in time to be a part of their American Music exhibit happening next door at the DIA. What we’re showing is a one-time sneak preview of pretty much the final film before we submit it to any major film festivals. It turned out to be a great partnership because they were interested in having some of the bands from the movie play that night and it forced us to finally finish editing! The screening will help fund the completion of the film and the costs of actually getting it out to the public, so we’re really excited for the opportunity.

LD: Any other plans beyond It Came From Detroit?

JRP: We’ve been talking about doing some music videos for some of our favorite bands in town. After that, I’m actually excited to go back to Japan to film my next feature length documentary!

Devito interviewed Mick Collins of the Dirtbombs last week, check that out here.

Check out www.itcamefromdetroit.com to find the latest screening info.

Leyland DeVito is studying illustration at Detroit's College for Creative Studies. He can be reached at flyingtreemonkey@aol.com.

interview by
Leyland Devito

Starting the party for the premiere of the rock n’ roll documentary It Came From Detroit (the DIA, October 27th) is a special performance by the Dirtbombs. The pet project of local music legend Mick Collins, the band is praised around the world for their ferocious live antics, unique dual bass and dual drum lineup, and encyclopedic knowledge of music history. Mick was kind enough to take the time to talk to thedetroiter.com’s Leyland Devito about the film, and whether or not Diego Rivera court can survive 128 decibels.

LD: At this point you guys headlined the Rock City Fest, the Motor City Music Conference, and now you’re opening for the premiere of It Came From Detroit. You’ve got to realize that you guys are an exemplary Detroit act.

MC: There was a compilation album that came out a few years ago that was like all local bands. It had tracks by SRC, the Hentchmen, and all these other bands. It was a good comp, and we got asked to put a Dirtbombs track on there, but we had only been out for two years at the time. I was like, we haven’t been around long enough. But now… we’ve been around for fourteen years. I feel like we’ve been around long enough where you can begin talking about the impact of the Dirtbombs.

LD: The Dirtbombs wound up last month in Spin magazine, in slot ten on the list of the “25 Greatest Live Acts Now”, among the likes of Prince and Radiohead. What’s your reaction to that?

MC: I was pretty flattered, really. I was actually more flattered that it was a listener poll. It wasn’t like some editorial thing. They held a poll, and the people voted for us to be the 10th best act happening right now. And that was immensely gratifying because it meant that people were actually seeing us! That made it worthwhile right there. I think we’re the only band in the top ten who haven’t sold a million records.

LD: I know you’ve said before that with the Dirtbombs it’s more about the live show.

MC: We’re always just a live band. The records are nice, they’re a nice memento. I won’t say they’re superfluous, but by the same token, you know, you’re barely getting half the story from the records! You have to see us live.

LD: Do you think that says anything about the recording industry right now? People are just downloading things anyway, so do you think there’s more of a shift to seeing live shows?

MC: I’m not going to lie about it, I hope so. It really is these days, because you can’t base your career on record sales. There was a time when you could count on record sales to make you a star, but as soon as the record comes out its online. It’s going to be downloaded. There’s no denying it.

You cannot count on record sales; you have to have a live show. There’s a computer program called “Hit Song Science”. You feed your song into it and it analyzes it against the entirety of top 10 records in history, basically. And it can judge how big of a hit your record is going to be. When the Maroon Five did their record, they ran extensive computer models, every step from the original demos all the way through the final mix. They ran it through computer models, and they guaranteed themselves a hit record. With that one song, ‘…this love is taking its toll…’ I have to admit, we were in England when that record came out, with a British band, and you couldn’t get away from it. And you couldn’t get it out of your head. Whether you loved or hated the band, that record stuck in your head, after about two weeks of being in England, we were screaming. We’d be sitting there laughing and all of a sudden someone in the band would go, “Ahhh! It’s in my head again!”

And the record followed us back to America. We figured it was going to be over, and we got back to America and the record came out and we were absolutely being driven insane by this thing. But people who went to see the band said that they were terrible live. It was an absolute mega hit record, but they couldn’t back it up with a stage show. Who cares?

We’re going to reach a point where it won’t matter what the record sounds like. The only thing that’s going to matter is what you sound like on stage. I don’t know when we’re going to reach that point, but we will. We’re going back to the way it was before. The big band era was the last of this sort of touring, work force bands, that got their rep based on their live shows. We’re heading back to that now. And I personally feel that’s a good thing. In the long run I think that the live show’s going to win out.

LD: What can you say about Detroit bands, what It Came From Detroit is all about?

MC: It’s a document of the times. It’s basically about what happened in the last three or four years, it’s like a snapshot, really. Just based on the tiny bits of it that I’ve seen, it’s probably going to be one of the better rock documentaries of the last few years. It can’t help it, because it concentrates on a moment, and the music’s pretty good, and you’ve got a bunch of freaks running through it. It’s an absolute train wreck: we didn’t really care about those bands or the music, we just wanted to watch them fall apart! It’s just a snapshot of a music scene that’s just perpetually falling apart.

It is and it isn’t. The Detroit music scene has basically been in existence since the advent of electricity. It hasn’t gone away, it’s not going away, the only thing that goes away is the media attention. And no one here really cares, and I really hope that comes across in the movie. We really don’t care if you’re looking or not. I’ve got a show to go to in an hour! Who cares if some magazine is praising us as the next big thing… two issues from now, we’re not going to be the next big thing. I don’t care. Let me play my show, man!

LD: Let’s talk about the future of the Dirtbombs. You’ve said that you made a list of all the musical styles you want to make records in, and then the band is through. Do you have it all mapped out at this point? And are you going to go there?

MC: Well yeah. I’m going to do the things I’ve set out to do. It’s taken me about a decade longer than I’ve planned with the band. Suddenly the money got really good, and you didn’t want to say no. So it’s taken longer than it was supposed to, but at some point I will have said the things that I’ve wanted to say and the things that I’ve wanted to explore with this lineup and the sort of types of music that you can do with this lineup. There’s no point in sticking around.

I have to hand it to The Stones. The Rolling Stones have managed to still be cool. The Stones are what, 3 years older than me? 43 years. The Stones have been going since 1962, except for a couple of really bad albums, and believe me; they stink on ice, man! But they’re still good. And I really admire that. I was just saying that the other day. If I’m still rocking that hard when I’m 65… It won’t be with the Dirtbombs, but I hope I’m still doing it like that!

The Dirtbombs was never a main project. It just took over in terms of what I’ve been doing. Jerome and I are actually working on pre-production for a new Voltaire Brothers record right now. I’ve got a techno one that’s coming out in the next few weeks. I’m going to start recording a Man Ray, Man Ray full-length in November. The music itself is the project, no one band is the main thrust, it’s the music itself is the thrust of it.

LD: What’s next for the Dirtbombs?

MC: Well, we’re going to do a bunch of singles. We won’t get them all recorded all at one time, but over the next year I think we’ll record 8 or 9 singles and an EP on In The Red.

LD: Is that ‘Bubblegum’ album you’ve been talking about still in the pipes?

MC: That’s the next Dirtbombs full-length. But the singles are not part of that. The singles are on their own.

LD: A number of Dirtbombs fans recognized a Dirtbombs song in an unusual place this summer… and that unusual place would be a Wal-Mart commercial.

MC: No need to beat around the bush, man. They asked. They came to us and said, “We’ve selected this song to be in the commercial, and we’re going to pay you this much money”, and we said, “Uh… okay!” And you know what, I don’t care. I got into music because I was in [Information Technology], and I said, if I stay in IT, it’ll be okay… but I’ll never know if I can make a decent record! So, I switched over to rock and roll so I could make music. And quite frankly, I’m making music to make money and meet women. I don’t have any other agenda than that. I like to see my records in the stores when I go. That’s like my one bit of ego boost. It doesn’t have to be a huge window display. I just want to see it in the bin. It could be a store in like Lawrence, Kansas or Oslo or something. If I see my record in the bin, I’m happy! I did something. The record’s going to be around forever. I could have quit. There was a point in the first 10 or so years where I could have quit and gone back to IT and been totally happy. But now I’m in it for the long haul.

LD: Let’s talk about your radio show Night Train.

MC: This will be the first interview I’ve done about it.

LD: What can you say about Night Train, and how that all came across?

MC: Again, they called me. I got a phone call while the Dirtbombs were touring the west coast. They said, “Would you like to do a show on DET? We were thinking about some people and your name came up.” I’m like, “Sure, we’ll talk about it when I get home.” I went down there, and after about 40 minutes they were handing me the paperwork. I ran some ideas by them, and the one everybody seemed to like the idea of focusing on an artist for a few minutes, going in depth and doing that sort of thing. And so far I’ve been able to keep it up. The key to the show is that I get to play what I want. I choose the artists, I choose the songs, and no one has anything to say about it.

LD: My roommates and I all liked the Chess Records day.

MC: It was the Dally [in the Alley] and I figured people would want something cool to listen to while they tried to find a parking place.

There’s so much at Chess… and their reissues are so terrible! Consider the breadth and depth of material to be found in the chess vaults, and how trifling these CD reissues are.

The Motown reissues that are coming out are amazing; somebody’s getting a Grammy for the packaging. They’re book-sized. They’re doing one per year, from the very beginning until 1972, which is the last year Motown was in Detroit. And these things are enormous! Each one has like a 200 page book in it, they’ve got a half-dozen CDs: every single released, in chronological order. And I can’t believe how great these Motown reissues are, and how bad these Chess reissues are… they’re owned by the same company!

LD: You also DJ at Motor City Brewing Works. Do you also play whatever you want there?

MC: I play what I like there too, but I tend to focus on acid jazz and deep house, soulful house kind of stuff, ‘cause it’s a bar. I keep it pretty funky. I do play the occasional ‘70’s soul record or funk record. People go down there expecting me to play rock music. But no, I play pretty much no rock… I play rock everywhere else. I’m going to play what I like!

LD: So, the It Came From Detroit premiere is on October 27th…

MC: Yeah, I just found out now we’re going to be playing in the Diego Rivera room. Someone mentioned the other day our decibel level, which you know is not a small number, and I suddenly became very worried about the structural integrity of the murals! I need to get a lawyer and draw up a release form or something! Just in case man, ‘cause now I’m worried, so we’re not responsible in case these things crumble! It’s not our fault that the DIA put 128 decibels in the Diego Rivera court!

LD: I’ll be looking forward to that night for a few reasons: Will the murals crumble? Oh yeah, and also to see the film.

MC: Will the murals survive the Dirtbombs? (Laughs) The movie should be good. The local reviews seem to be really positive. I know the Dirtbombs are featured to some extent in the movie, so I’m sure we come off looking like the rich brothers. We look like clowns, and that’s okay.

LD: You said that you’re not consciously trying to fit into the “Detroit garage rock scene”. How do you think the Dirtbombs fit into Detroit? Is it not even a conscious thing?

MC: We’re Detroiters. We’re in the Detroit scene because we’re Detroiters, and not for any other reason. The same is true about any of the Detroit bands. We see ourselves not being any different from Underground Resistance and Carl Craig. Those guys go to see rock shows. I go to see Underground Resistance all the time. It’s all the same music scene. Those of us who are playing the music in the scene, it’s all the same to us. It’s the media that tries to lump all the rock bands into one thing and all the techno bands in another. We all hang out at the same bars as Slum Village.

Everyone whose name you don’t recognize on the Voltaire Brothers is a well-known Detroit Jazz musician. I was driving by Baker’s the other day and I saw one of the guy’s names on the marquee as the leader of a big band. I have to go check that band out. Where else would you see the leader of a big band play on a P-funk album? Where’s that going to happen? It happened here, because we don’t think it’s any different from anything else.

For more on the Dirtbombs, please click here.

For more on "It Came From Detroit," please click here.

For tickets and info on the DFT's premiere of the film on October 27th, please click here.

Leyland DeVito is studying illustration at Detroit's College for Creative Studies. He can be reached at flyingtreemonkey@aol.com.