It appears that a filmmaker from Regina, by the name of Tyler Elynuik, is working on a rockumentary that documents the ’90s Canadian hard-rock/alternative music scene. The project, titled “Rave & Drool”, is currently being funded by Kickstarter. On their website, you’ll find the latest trailer of the documentary, that includes clips from retro ’90s music videos, featuring bands like Moist, I Mother Earth, The Killjoys, interviews both old and new from The Watchmen, The New Meanies, Matthew Good, and even clips from back in the golden days of MuchMusic.
This really takes me back to the mid-’90s when I was a teenager; I remember coming home from school, and rushing to turn on the tube to watch music videos. I’d go to a record store like Sam The Record Man or Music World to buy the latest Tea Party, Econoline Crush, or Limblifter albums in the form of CDs (and I still do). But I was never old enough to remember the live scene, ’cause really… I was never old enough until the live scene had died. And that is the message that the documentary is wanting to tell us.
I’ll tell you, this documentary needs to happen. This was a time in music that Canadian rock was at its high point. I could literally go on forever with the list of names of bands that took over the radio, or had a high rotation on MuchMusic at the time, it was phenomenal. And the amount of record sales and chart toppers, it was pretty sweet to see. It was a moment of time that lasted for almost a decade, and then all of a sudden it disappeared. And was almost forgotten, until now.
The style of the documentary really reminds me of the film “Hype!“, which was created by filmmaker Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock coming out of Seattle during the late ’80s, early ’90s. There were interviews, and rare concert footage that took you through the different periods of grunge, from its subversive inception in neighbourhood basements, to its explosion as a pop culture phenomenon. If Tyler Elynuik can make his film “Rave & Drool” in the essence of Doug Pray’s “Hype!”, I think we’ve got a winner on our hands. If we just have a collection of interviews and music videos, the documentry just might miss its mark. To put it in plain language, there is a story that needs to be told about ’90s Canadian rock.
Hype! Trailer
An angle that the film maker could take, for example, would be Halifax’s music scene in the ’90s. Here out East, people were saying that Halifax was “the next Seattle“. And who could blame them; we had bands like Sloan, Superfriendz, Thrush Hermit, and Cool Blue Halo, to name a few that exploded in the ’90s. We literally had a festival that showcased 20+ bands, well-known bands called…you guessed it…Halifax Pop Explosion 1994. Meat Puppets, Sunny Day Real Estate, Eric’s Trip, those were just a handful of bands that played in our city during that time.
Thrush Hermit, “From the Back of the Film”
Anyway, I’m getting a little off-topic here, but go check out the Rave & Drool Kickstarter website to check out the trailer. If you are a fan, like me, of ’90s Canadian Rock, you’ll be pretty excited. There are also some pretty sweet rewards for those who wish to donate to the making of the documentary. I’m sure if you were watching MuchMusic in its heyday, you’ll pick up on some of the references. Here’s the link… Now go… and watch it!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/1841871471/rave-and-drool-the-90s-canrock-revival
