Luckily, that’s not all it means.  Labor Day weekend in Detroit also means a lot of great art and music festivals–we like to save the best for last and then cram them all into one weekend!

There is a little something for everyone this weekend, from jazz to art to film.  Enjoy!

Arts Beats and Eats
No longer the “Chrysler” Arts Beats and Eats (Chrysler could not afford the sponsorship this year), Pontiac’s annual festival of art, music, and food soldiers on with only a $2 admission price.  With 50 restaurants, 200 music performers, and 155 art exhibitors, this is one of the largest festivals in the metro area, not to mention one of the most comprehensive.  (It rivals CityFest in restaurants and music performers and whallops them in art; the Ann Arbor Art Fair has more art but little of anything else.)  It’s one of my favorites and I’m thrilled that, even without their major sponsor, they were still able to pull it off.

Friday-Sunday, 11:00AM-10:00PM, Monday 11:00AM-8:00PM

The Detroit International Jazz Festival
Celebrating its 30th year, the Detroit Jazz Fest (DJF) features 5 stages with over 100 artists performing over the four-day weekend.  It is one of the most noteworthy jazz festivals in the country (and the largest free jazz festival in America), and is a signature event for Detroit.  The DJF strives to perpetuate Detroit’s significant jazz history and nurture the development of jazz by offering educational and collaborative opportunities, and all of it free to everyone.

Friday 6:00PM-11:00PM, Saturday-Sunday 12:00PM-11:00PM, Monday 12:00PM-10:00PM

The Innaugural Ferndale Film Festival
The summer begins with the DWIFF and ends with F3.

Local filmmakers have yet another opportunity to shine with this 4-day festival held in locations all over Ferndale, from Dino’s to the Rosie O’Grady’s.  55 films ranging from 300 second micro-minis to full-length features will be shown throughout the city over this four-day weekend.  Regulars of the local festival circuit–this and last year’s DWIFF, the Mitten Movie Project–will likely see a lot of familiar titles, but there are also plenty of new titles (or ones you might have missed previously) worth checking out.

I know from having been at the screening that there were only about 8 people watching Tracy at this year’s DWIFF, which is an outright shame.  I thought the film was hilarious (read about it here), and I highly recommend to the 8 of you who didn’t already see it that you go to the Go Comedy! Theatre on Saturday at 5:30PM and catch this screening.  Get there an hour earlier and you can also catch local filmmakers Five Clover Films’ Office Space send-up First Day.

The Purple Gang is a riveting documentary that covers one of the most feared (and now one of the least-known) crime syndicates in history–the predominantly Jewish Purple Gang, who ruled Detroit (and much of the country) during Prohibition.  It’s a fascinating piece of local history, and one you don’t often hear much about.  See it at Rosie O’Grady’s Sunday at 8:00PM.

Detroit Unleaded is a much-buzzed-about short film by Detroiter Rola Nashef, which is a coming-of-age drama about two Arab brothers who own a gas station and asks the question: What is the American dream?  This is playing with several other shorts, including the award-winning short Bitch by Lilah Vandenburgh, at AJ’s Cafe on Saturday at 7:00PM.

The Festival opens with the red carpet premiere of Creator of God at the Magic Bag on Friday.  There will be an opening reception inside the venue at 7:00PM followed by the screening at 8:30PM.  F3 also will feature a micro-mini film challenge, outdoor screenings of Army of Darkness and Monsters, Inc., and free workshops which range on topics from guerrilla filmmaking, photography, lighting, and zombie makeup.

Tickets are $5 per screening, $10 for opening night, and $20 for weekend passes.  Tickets are available at Dino’s Lounge and other show locations.  See the website for details on screenings, workshops, and more.

Hamtramck Labor Day Festival
The fringe festival of Labor Day, the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival–now in its 29th year–promises lots and lots of polka, the Polish Day Parade (Monday at 1:30PM), a world music stage featuring everything from Afrobeat to Bosnian pop, and enough local indie rock to see you through to the next indie rock festival (i.e., next weekend).  There will also be children’s activities, a dunk tank, carnival rides, and all the Polish food you can eat (which isn’t much, because those pierogies are filling).  It’s a tried-and-true Hamtramck-style festival!

Friday, September 4th-Monday, September 7th (see website for complete schedule)

Post-Labor Day Events

The fun doesn’t entirely stop after Labor Day!  There are a few more festivals we can count on before we need to break out our parkas once again.

Dally in the Alley
Saturday, September 12th (rain date: Sept. 13) Detroit’s greenest festival returns with indie rock, techno, food, art, beer, and all that random stuff you find in the alley.  It’s got the most DIY spirit of all the Detroit festivals, though it doesn’t quite have the name…

…Not like the DIY Streetfair!
The second installment of this popular music-food-art event, first started last year, is back and is now spanning three days, Friday Sept. 18-Sunday Sept. 20.  The beer garden, featuring all Michigan-made brews, is back, as is the stupendous music lineup on the main stage.  The Hard Lessons, Octopus, Oscillating Fan Club, Johnny Headband, Lee Marvin Computer Arm, Champions of Breakfast, the Hentchmen, Friendly Foes, Child Bite…yes, this is the best indie rock lineup any of the big outdoor festivals have seen yet this year.  It looks like DIY might once again take top prize for best fest!

And there you have it.  It ends not with a whisper, but a bang (on drums, with lots of fuzzy guitars and reverberating amplifiers).  Enjoy these final hours of summer fun!

Two days of music and media featuring:

Friday (Doors 7:00PM)
The Best of Stolen Media
Sultry Surfers of the Apocalypse
HafLife
The Beggars
The Rue Moor Counts
& Surprise Guest

Saturday (Doors 6:00PM)
Electric Fire Babies
Silverghost
The Potions
Friends on Dennis Wilson
Gardens
The Questions
The Electric Lions

$10 per show, $15 for both

This event is being held at Theatre Bizarre, 967 West Statefair

with Proxy (DJ)

8 p.m. – all ages – $6/$10

Friday: DOORS 8pm/SHOWTIME 9pm
Saturday: DOORS 5pm/SHOWTIME 6PM
*Saturday’s program will begin with a pancake and mimosa breakfast from 11am-1pm followed by a neighborhood clean up from 1pm-3pm. There will be a bicycle scavenger hunt from 3pm-6pm.

-BANDS(confirmed at press time):
ISLES OF ESP www.myspace.com/ericdilworth ELECTRIC FIRE BABIES www.myspace.com/electricfirebabies
OLIVIA MANCINI & THE MATES(D.C.) www.myspace.com/oliviaandthehousemates
PIGEON www.myspace.com/pigeondetroit
*members of the Oscillating Fan Club, Hi-Fi Handgrenades and Murder City Devils TROY GREGORY www.myspace.com/troygregory *former Dirtbomb DEVILFISH www.myspace.com/devilfishband *members of The Oscillating Fan Club and Sey Lui SIK SIK NATION www.myspace.com/siksiknation SONS OF MOON(NY,NY) www.myspace.com/sonsofmoon HEAVY TIMES(Oakland, CA) www.myspace.com/heavytimes THE POUNDERS www.myspace.com/thepounderslive *Dick Coulson from Astigafa PRUSSIA www.myspace.com/prussiamusic THE GRANDE NATIONALS www.myspace.com/thegrandenationals
PINKEYE www.myspace.com/pinkeyewow
OBLISK www.myspace.com/oblisk
BARS OF GOLD www.myspace.com/barsofgold
SILVERGHOST http://www.virb.com/silverghost ODU AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA www.myspace.com/oduafrobeat1 and more TBA

-BACK GROUND:
“Ray [Thompson] from Oscillating [Fan Club] had the name, the venue ,and the thought of it to honor Detroit. When we started getting it together, we came across a lot of talk of it having been 40 years since the riots, and it took shape as an expression of solidarity between the city and the arts – Jeff Howitt” DETOUR 6/30/08

“I think the blue moon in june is best described as a mysterious concoction of incredible music and bands and friends old and new celebrating Detroit and Summer the way it should be, with loud, psychedelic, garage-informed and just plain garage poppy rock. If you can dance and you like caterpillar-like fuzzy melodies, I think you could do a lot worse – Pierce Reynolds” Deep Cutz 6/26/08

“There are no headliners, just a sonic engine howling forth into the Detroit night … also, it is 40 years since the Summer of Love, and as the tale goes, it never came to Detroit, hence our ’60s with Seger, MC5 and the Stooges – Jeff Howitt” RDW 7/27/07

“This dilapidated jungle of concrete and industrial red-brick neon factory dust is extremely fertile territory for those with over active imaginations. To be a person born and raised here, there is a sense of gratitude for the laborious insights and cruel lessons this city has to offer. Without its violence, without its brutality, without its impurity, my poetry, my writing, has no balance of muse. That is why I feel it necessary to try and create a balance with the savage for the people of the community. We are really in control of the future perception of what our mystical times will bestow upon the generations of poor children who will have to clean up this human disaster. The least I can do is bring the creative souls, the historians, together for a cognizant brain storm of spirit cleansing – Drew Bardo” RDW 7/27/07
www.thecaid.org

Join On the Rocks Detroit and Rustbelt Studios as we present a very special night of music at Hard Rock Cafe! Jody Raffoul, Bear Lake, and Pale Hollow will be representing some of the amazing talent who’ve recorded at Rustbelt. Hard Rock gift certificate giveaways too! This event will be recorded for an upcoming Rustbelt Studios Showcase CD. See you THERE!

Where: Hard Rock Café, Detroit
When: 8:00PM-midnight
Tix: Free admission
www.rustbeltstudios.com

MOCAD and the Crofoot present
Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 7PM
MUSIC: BLACK DICE W/ WOLF EYES and AWESOME COLOR
$10.00 in advance / $12.00 at the door
tix available at <theCrofoot.com>

BLACK DICE — the massive experimental rock trio pays a long-overdue return visit to Detroit at the MOCAD. With their new record REPO, this Brooklyn trio has never worked harder at crafting a set of concise, sonically battering, or flat-out bizarre tunes than on this collection of fringe-surfing tone bombs. Yet a new roadhouse blues band philosophy has simultaneously emerged, allowing the group to loosen up and casually toss off a record packed with blurry hooks and zoomed in riffs. “Repo” irreverently mulches the sounds and images of radio, TV, and Internet into a fertile compost pile squirming with new, raw life.

With the Wolverine State’s own noise legends WOLF EYES — Wolf Eyes have evolved into a single super-organism. A rich tapestry of wires and pedals inextricably link Nate Young, John Olson, and Mike Connelly and their respective towers of homemade electronics, guitars, horns, gongs, etc. It all has fused into a single, monolithic machine-entity. Their sound is rotten with metal, reeds, consciousness-erasing islands of black doom, bass-heavy rippers, late night free terror jams, and pure mayhem.

As if that weren’t enough, AWESOME COLOR opens — Awesome Color is a group of noise provocateurs and impressionists, ace players with Punk rock flair, inspired citizens of a small modernist nation of musical, visual, and literary outrage on the outskirts of Brooklyn, or a rainbow amalgam of all of the above at once. Following a non-stop touring schedule after their debut release (including stints with Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth in the US, UK, and Europe), the band took their honed brand of turbo chemistry into the studio and created the highly anticipated latest record, Electric Aborigines.

Black Dice on Myspace:
www.myspace.com/blackdicemyspace

Wolf Eyes on Myspace:
www.myspace.com/therealwolfeyes

Awesome Color:
www.myspace.com/awesomecolor

Where: The Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac

When: 7:00PM

Tix: $10.00 advance, $12.00 at the door

www.thecrofoot.com

You must pass through at least 3 of the terminal bars to pass through Gate 84 to see the Von Bondies with VHS or Beta for the official Air Race After-Party; shuttle service provided by the Night Move between Gate 84 and participating terminal bars.  Bars include Bookies, Harry’s, Town Pump, Delux, Loco Bar & Grill, Coach’s Corner, Cheli’s Chii, Pulse, the Old Shillelagh, Fishbones, Jacoby’s, Big City, Detroit Pub, Detroit Beer Company, Centaur, and Pappy’s.

Where: Downtown Detroit (Gate 84 is atop the Miller Parking Garage)

When: 6:00PM-2:00AM

Tix: $5.00

www.detroit.metromix.com

www.neptix.com

Get a wig.Wear a wig.
Wig out in Detroit June 6.

Where: The Magic Stick, the iconic Detroit rock-n-roll club at 4120 Woodward Avenue; (313) 833-9700

When: Saturday, June 6, 2009; doors open 8:00 PM

Why: In the spirit of eccentric coiffure and to benefit Gilda’s Club Metro Detroit.

Entertainment: Black Jake and the Carnies, Dale Beavers & Bootsey X, Silverghost, Spag Burlesque, DJ Adam Stanfel and host Creepy Clyde. Also, a Wig Walk, orchestrated by Flip Salon.

Tickets $10: Available now at Gilda’s Club Metro Detroit in Royal Oak, at the door, from Melinda, or through Ticketmaster.

Don’t want to wear a wig? That’s okay… there will be a small non-wig-wearing surcharge of $2 at the door.

Contact: info@detroitwigout.com

Entertainment preview:
•Headliners Black Jake and the Carnies will bring their contagious punk-bluegrass sound to wig-wearing revelers.
•SPAG Burlesque will perform traditional burlesque, with a few specially choreographed Detroit Wig Out routines; bring cameras and pose for tasteful pin-up photos with the gals.
•Dale Beavers & Bootsey X will stomp out their raw, stripped down music.
•Silverghost will add energy to the night’s entertainment with their fuzz-pop melodies.
•DJ Adam Stanfel will share the amazing sounds of vintage R&B, blues and rock-and-roll 45s, recorded in Detroit by Detroiters.

Adding hype to the event, a series of six Detroit Wig Out trading cards have just been released at seven exclusive Southeast Michigan businesses. The collectible cards feature Detroit Wig Out entertainers donning wigs, with “wig star stats” on the reverse side. Trading cards are available at the following hipster locations:

DETROIT
People’s Records (www.peoplesdetroit.com)
3161 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI 48201
Mon-Sat: 10:30 am-6:00 pm

Garden Bowl Bar & Grill (www.majesticdetroit.com)
4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit
Mon-Sun: 11:00 am-2:00am

HAMTRAMCK
Design 99 (www.visitdesign99.com)
3309 Caniff
Hamtramck, MI 48212
Wed-Sat: 12:00 pm-7:00 pm

FERNDALE
Pinwheel Bakery (www.pinwheelbakery.com)
220 W. Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, MI 48220
Tues-Fri: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday: 8:00 am-4:00 pm
Closed Sunday and Monday

Flip Salon (www.flipsaloninc.com)
251 W. Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, MI 48220
Tuesday: 12 pm-6:00pm
Wed-Thur: 10:00 am-9:00 pm
Friday: 10:00 am-6:00 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am-5:00 pm

ROYAL OAK
Bean & Leaf (www.mybeanandleaf.com)
106 S. Main Street
Royal Oak, MI 48962
Mon- Sat: 7:00 am-11:00pm
Sunday: 8:00 am- 10:00 pm

YPSILANTI
Beezy’s Coffee and Café (www.beezyscafe.com)
20 N. Washington Street
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Mon-Sat: 7:00 am-7:00 pm

Pre-Wig Out Primping: Just announced… On Friday, June 5, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Flip Salon in Ferndale will be hosting a Wig & Wine event to style and prep wigs the night before the Detroit Wig Out

Recently chosen to represent Detroit in the Hard Rock Café’s international “Ambassadors of Rock” competition, Ingray’s music is truly a global rock and roll experience. “Our influences are not local, they are from different parts of the world. As a result, we bring a unique spirit to the stage along with a bond of friendship, love, music and live theater,” explains Ingray’s lead singer Adisa.

Indeed the siren-like song and movement of Adisa is as mesmerizing as the ethereal chords only guitaristNermin Selmanovic seems able to reach. The sound of Dave Dupuie’s thunderous drum rhythms and Haris Cizmac’s mystical bass hooks complete the band’s overture. Ingray is as exciting to watch as they are to hear.

Presented by Darkgreene Entertainment -experience Ingray live and up close while celebrating the release of “Always” at a very special performance on May 28 at Detroit’s Hard Rock Café!

For more information Ingray and Lies Unknown, please check out their respective web sites:

Myspace.com/ingrayband

Ingrayband.com

Myspace.com/liesunknown

For additional show information, please call the Hard Rock Café at 313-964-7625 or hit hardrock.com.

Where: Hard Rock Café, Detroit

When: Doors 8:00PM

Tix: $5.00

Recently chosen to represent Detroit in the Hard Rock Café’s international “Ambassadors of Rock” competition, Ingray’s music is truly a global rock and roll experience. “Our influences are not local, they are from different parts of the world. As a result, we bring a unique spirit to the stage along with a bond of friendship, love, music and live theater,” explains Ingray’s lead singer Adisa.

Indeed the siren-like song and movement of Adisa is as mesmerizing as the ethereal chords only guitaristNermin Selmanovic seems able to reach. The sound of Dave Dupuie’s thunderous drum rhythms and Haris Cizmac’s mystical bass hooks complete the band’s overture. Ingray is as exciting to watch as they are to hear.

Presented by Darkgreene Entertainment -experience Ingray live and up close while celebrating the release of “Always” at a very special performance on May 28 at Detroit’s Hard Rock Café!

For more information Ingray and Lies Unknown, please check out their respective web sites:

Myspace.com/ingrayband

Ingrayband.com

Myspace.com/liesunknown

For additional show information, please call the Hard Rock Café at 313-964-7625 or hit hardrock.com.

Where: Hard Rock Café, Detroit

When: Doors 8:00PM

Tix: $5.00

It Came From Detroit Official Trailer (New) from James R Petix on Vimeo.

“We are distinctly not marketable, which suits me just fine because I wouldn’t want it anyhow.”

Mick Collins (the Dirtbombs), It Came From Detroit

And in Detroit it stayed.

It Came From Detroit is perhaps one of the most culturally relevant documentaries of a particular time and place in music ever made. A documentary film five years in production (and almost mythic in stature—spoken of widely as the pinnacle tome on the Detroit “garage” scene, a claim made fervently by even those who have never seen it), It Came From Detroit chronicles some 20 years of Detroit’s thriving independent rock-and-roll subculture—Detroit “garage,” as it came to be known all over the world.

It Came From Detroit looks at this music scene as it evolved over two decades, but also approaches weightier discussions such as the price of fame. Filmed at the time the White Stripes had already skyrocketed into international superstardom, the filmmakers had the unique opportunity to document the genesis of the international spotlight on Detroit (referred to at the time as “the next Seattle” by a number of international media outlets) as well as the aftermath, when the rest of the world had moved on.

It Came From Detroit is a thorough and detailed chronicle of Detroit’s underground indie rock scene. What started as a bunch of record-collecting music geeks who lived, breathed, ate, and DEFINITELY drank music and ended up forming bands because, well, they lived in Detroit and it was so bleak they had nothing to do but to create, then became an international phenomenon, a whole genre of its own. They borrowed and plundered from from rock’s greatest eras, fusing soul, funk, ‘60s psychedelic, pop, punk, mod, classic country, Ziggy Stardust glam, and straightforward guitar-driven rock into a new hybrid later dubbed “garage.” Director James Petix interviews dozens of musicians and fans to document the rise of this so-called “garage” scene, from Mick Collins and Dan Kroha of the Gories all the way to Dan and Tracee Mae Miller of Blanche and everyone in-between—the Hentchmen, Electric Six, the Von Bondies, the Dirtbombs, the Sights, the Detroit Cobras, the Paybacks, and more are given their due diligence as being integral parts of this scene. As are the White Stripes.

What I like about this film is that it is not just a documentary of one band but of the scene as a whole. It would have been easy to make this whole film into a sort of “one degree of Jack White” spectacle, presenting all of these other equally talented artists as only being relevant inasmuch as they existed in Jack White’s shadow, and capitalizing on his fame to help promote the product. While the film does allow the rise of the White Stripes a certain platform of importance, it is only to show how this fame (and consequent spotlight on Detroit) did (or did not) effect the rest of the substantial group of talented and passionate musicians. Yes, the White Stripes are entirely relevant and no discussion of the Detroit “garage” scene can be held without in some way acknowledging their contribution to it, but largely because of the way their increasing fame changed things back at home.

This film feels like part homage, part eulogy, and part forewarning: it is noted by several interviewees that things were different before anyone got big, before anyone started touring, before anyone was on the cover of NME. This “before” time (the long long ago) is spoken of with almost a kind of wistfulness, a paternal sort of “back in my day.” Discourse regarding the White Stripes’ rise to fame is tinged with a sense of the bittersweet, hinted at being “the beginning of the end.” There was a distinct energy unlike anything happening anywhere else, an energy unique to Detroit largely because of the bleakness here, the sheer impossibility of ever landing a record contract or “making it.” As a musician, you simply had nothing to lose. You did it purely for the love of the music.

Once what was labeled as Detroit “garage” music (a label most of the subjects interviewed here bristle at) started making headlines in (inter)national media, the scene had changed irreversibly. It was no longer just “ours;” suddenly the whole world wanted a piece of it. Competition became vicious, friends became enemies, and just as quickly as all that attention had come it left once again, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The message throughout the film is the same: “Be careful what you wish for.”

But through it all, here in Detroit it was only ever really about the music, and that’s how it ultimately remained, even after Spin and Rolling Stone declared Detroit garage “dead” (a declaration that was ironically something of a relief). That same “garage” (or indie, or post-punk, or whatever else you might want to call it) scene still exists, and it is as strong now as it ever was before. The same 40 or so record geeks who kick-started the whole trend are still here, still playing, still forming new bands out of the ashes of old ones. And now, there is a whole wave of new bands to carry on the torch: kids who probably grew up listening to the Gories and the Hentchmen who finally decided to pick up a guitar and follow their lead. And much like those who came before them, these bands have no delusions of fame. Much like their forefathers, they are musicians. They aren’t trying to make it because there is no making it (and perhaps they know this now better than their predecessors did before); they play music to escape from soul-sucking day jobs and because they simply love it—they are fans first, and musicians second.

James, Sarah and Rich Hansen at the Lager House

This is the ultimate fan film for anyone interested or involved in Detroit’s music scene, and for any music lover in general. There is a wealth of interesting factoids for a fanboy or purist to memorize and spit back out at the appropriate opportunity. This is a film made by fans for fans, a time capsule of this particular scene at this particular time. And while the scene will never again be what it once was—disregarded, neglected, ignored—what it has become is something far more valuable: incorrigible, unwavering, permanent.

It Came From Detroit closes with a series of shots of confused musicians who had clearly just been asked why they choose to stay in Detroit, and their answers are resoundingly unanimous: because they can’t imagine being anywhere else (with an underlying sense of “what kind of stupid question is that?”, as if the answer should be so obvious). They choose to stay here—even those who have made a career of their music who could live in any other city in the world. They want to be here—even after a grueling tour they look forward to returning home, despite all of home’s many problems. The music is still alive here: and that’s what makes it so rewarding.

The final cut of It Came From Detroit is now complete and will be screened May 20th and 21st at the Magic Bag in Ferndale. After so many years in production and so much local coverage of the film already (including on this website), when I had the chance to speak with director James Petix I wanted to approach my conversation with him with the filter of five years having passed and much having changed since it was shot. In many ways the film is still entirely relevant to the current music culture in Detroit (and most of the musicians featured still play around town), but it also has a bit of a dated feel—Danny Methric is interviewed as the guitarist for the Paybacks, long before that band dissolved and he formed the Muggs; Marcie Bolen was still in the Von Bondies and Silverghost didn’t yet exist; Ryan Allen and all his bands weren’t around yet, and neither was the acerbic, wonderfully elitist music blog named after one of the songs written by one of Ryan Allen’s bands. Most of these people have moved on or moved forward, in one capacity or another, and a whole new crop of eager and enthusiastic young musicians have jumped onstage, guitars in hand, to fill in the voids. Bands like New Grenada, Pas/Cal, Millions of Brazilians, Zoos of Berlin, Deastro, Champions of Breakfast, Silverghost, the Nice Device, the Silent Years, the Hard Lessons, Four Hour Friends, Friendly Foes, Lightning Love, the Muggs, the Pop Project, SikSik Nation, SSM…and this is just scratching the surface of Detroit’s nü-garage scene (even the Metro Times Blowout, né the Hamtramck Blowout, with its feature of some 200+ bands annually and going on 12 years running, still can’t begin to encompass all the great music currently happening in and around the city). I was interested in looking back at the film as an archival piece, and reflecting on how things have changed even more since the film was shot (but also how they’ve stayed the same).

Nicole Rupersburg: The film documents a certain specific “scene” in Detroit, that existed at a certain time. How has the “scene” changed?

James Petix: Our film documents a group of friends that all played in rock bands in the same 3 or 4 bars in Detroit from the late ‘90s until the mid-2000s. At first the scene was small and close knit. As it became more popular in town there were more bands that were influenced by the scene and thus it grew. Eventually a couple bands got some
recognition outside Detroit and allowed the scene to grow again. As the scene continued to grow in popularity, more and more media attention was placed on them. Eventually, for whatever reason, the media stopped paying attention and didn’t cover the Detroit scene as much. Some bands broke up, some musicians moved away, some formed brand new bands—but those are all normal things that would have happened whether the media was watching or not.

James Petix, Director, It Came From Detroit

One thing that never changed was the music. It was always consistent. Perhaps it got better as musicians naturally tend to do, but it never changed to match the newest trend.

NR: What do you think about bands like the Silent Years and the Hard Lessons, who are fairly new bands getting a lot of national attention, who surfaced after this doc was shot? How do they fit in with this “scene”?

JP: I’m sure those bands were in the crowd watching the Dirtbombs and White Stripes in the heyday of the scene. They know what a good Detroit rock show is like and they’ve carried the torch in that vein. There’s a pretty high bar for musicians in this town and if they’ve gotten any success outside the city, that means they’ve reached that level.

NR: Why do you think Detroit bands like the Von Bondies and the Dirtbombs who have flirted with fame (and still do) but never quite achieved it?

JP: I think both of those bands have been able to make a career out of music and therefore are successful. If you measure success only by the level of fame they’ve achieved, then most people are going to come up short. Celebrities have to be an elite group or else everyone would be one!

NR: Do you think Detroit artists have been resistant to major-label deals and the national spotlight because there is a strong elitist perception here in Detroit that mainstream equals selling out, that a band’s credibility and their music’s authenticity is destroyed by a record deal?

JP: No, I’m sure all these bands are more than eager to sell their music to a commercial or sign a major record deal, given the right opportunity. That’s not selling out, that’s making a living. However, there are strings attached to major labels that independent minded musicians like the ones in Detroit might want to avoid.

NR: Do you think the fame of the White Stripes had a counter-effect on other Detroit bands, who saw the end results and decided not to pursue anything more?

JP: Yes, of course. I think it put a lot of pressure for the scene to come up with the “next big thing.” Some bands tried to step up and be that, but I think (knowing what I know now) that feat was probably impossible to achieve. The White Stripes were a phenomenon. They were not only very good at what they do, but they were smart enough to be at the right place at the right time. In the end, it helped a lot of bands grow to a bigger audience outside of Detroit, so that’s a very good thing.

NR: Is the music still pure, or has the kiss of fame (from the White Stripes and from previous major media attention) destroyed it?

JP: Not at all! The whole reason this scene is worth talking about is because they didn’t change who they are to meet some media expectation of what “garage rock” is or isn’t. That’s what makes this group special and why I chose to make a film about them.