Julien Temple's OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL Coming To Canada
Evokative Films, in partnership with Hanway Films and Cadiz Music, will release the film across Canada with a theatrical release in September. Plans are afoot to hopefully bring former Feelgood guitar player Wilko Johnson to play shows on these shores in support.
Say Evokative head Stephanie Trepanier:
Says the lovely and talented programmer of Canadian Music Week's film program (that would be me):I discovered Dr. Feelgood when I saw OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL at last year's EFM, loved their bluesy kind of rock and went straight to iTunes to get its discography. This band should be more widely known for its place in rock and punk music history and hopefully a wider release of the film will help towards that. Here's a documentary that's beautifully filmed, dynamically edited and thoroughly entertaining. It follows the band members' history with a lot of heart. I'm overjoyed that this is the first documentary Evokative will distribute.
For one brief, shining moment in 1976 Dr Feelgood were the biggest band in Britain. Somehow four kids from Canvey Island - a below-sea-level island mostly notable for its large oil refinery - had risen through the pub rock scene of the early 1970s to build a loyal, rabid following that culminated with the release of number one album Stupidity. This, of course, led to the band splintering and the departure of lead guitar player Wilko Johnson.
More than thirty years later director Julien Temple - JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN, GLASTONBURY, THE FILTH AND THE FURY - chronicles the rise of the four boys from Canvey with all the crackling energy and style that we've come to expect from the man widely considered the best rock and roll documentarian on the planet. OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL starts from their unusual hometown and childhoods, building through to the splintering of lifelong friendships at the peak of their success, with Temple presenting it all in insightful and wildly entertaining fashion.
Check out the trailer below!
