Consider the term “black rocker” in reference to a musician. It seems like an oxymoron. Black musicians do not play rock and roll, or so the cultural myth goes. Raymond Gayle’s film Electric Purgatory--the Fate of the Black Rocker breaks through those myths with the same intensity as the music itself--driving, relentless, and full of passion. Combining interviews and sequences from live performances, the film tells a visual story we have never seen about music we should have heard, but probably have not.
In the first weeks of January 2007, the innovative hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first rappers to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many soul and R&B artists, such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, are long-standing members. Rock and roll has expanded its boundaries again.
Late twentieth century music and current popular music have constantly evolved into new forms, styles, and categories. Distinct categories of music--rock, R&B, hip-hop, country, easy listening, Christian, metal, gospel, and numerous others--define the recording industry. Though the rise of independent electronic music distribution is bound to change the music business as we know it, for now, the categories persist. There will always be artists who cross over from one category to another or experiment with a different style, but the industry organizes itself around labels, literally and figuratively.
When I talked with Raymond Gayle, I told him I wanted to talk about the film and his work as a filmmaker, but not particularly about the subject of black rockers, since so many other reviews and interviews (available on the web site) seem to have covered that. I asked him what he meant by “electric purgatory.” He said, “It’s about the struggles of black rock musicians. Being black and playing rock music is not accepted by white or black audiences. Black rockers are in musical purgatory.”
I complimented the film’s thoroughness of scope: It showcases rock songs by artists such as Sly and the Family Stone, Rick James, and others who are usually associated with other music categories, like R&B or funk.
Gayle responded, “It’s an impossible job, you know, but I tried to give as many shout-outs as I could. Of course, you can’t do it in an hour and 23 minutes. There are so many people I left out. I was hoping that would be sort of like the starting point, and maybe go from there afterwards.”
When asked what inspired him to make the film, he replied, “I was always a fan of Fishbone, Living Colour, and other bands like them. I found it odd that they never reached the level of success of, say, Jane’s Addiction or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. No Doubt was influenced by garage ska bands. Bad Brains influenced punk bands, blending metal and punk, but never reaped the benefits. Why does this happen?” He went on, “Black musicians are not expected to go outside the box.”
But enough about the plight of black rockers, I said we were not going to dwell on that. I asked him what he loved most about film.
“Well, it’s a medium where anyone can express themselves and have their work viewed and interpreted by people all over the world. I’m not going to sit up here and say I’m going to turn down a million-dollar deal with HBO. The problem we have with a lot of entertainment media is that there’s no soul to it and everything is so constructed towards that--commercialism. I just felt that, hey, I just want to tell this story because in my opinion it that hasn’t been told. Forget all the other stuff. When I was growing up, I didn’t know movies made money, you know what I’m saying? I just went. … There were two incidents I can remember in childhood that that made me want to get into this industry. One was, of course, Star Wars, which I saw with my dad. He took me to see it when I was four or five. The other was a Richard Pryor film called Which Way Is Up? As a kid, I knew what was going on. I thought it was funny.
“Just the film experience at that time--standing around in the long line, the smell of popcorn and all that, having quality time with my dad--that’s kind of why I said, ‘Okay, I want to do this.’ It brings back great memories for me. With multiplexes, the experience is not the same. I think you can get popcorn in vending machines now,” he laughed. “I kind of like the buildup, the excitement of going to a movie and waiting in line, the anticipation.
“I wanted to get into film to tell stories, to be able to have people come and get lost for however long--an hour or so--and kind of have that magic. I think if you do things with passion and a good heart, all the other stuff comes later.”
A lot of directors would say, "Shame on you" for editing out certain parts, but a lot of times I had to cut the camera off. They were telling me some real deep stuff.
I asked him a Barbara Walters “if you were a tree”-type question. “If you could magically be granted any technological wish you wanted, what changes would you make in the technologies of shooting and editing film and/or video?”
Gayle quickly replied, “I would want a camera that could capture pristine sound and images without mikes and lights. You could be a one-man crew. In terms of editing… rendering time is just so long. Software that would make rendering time shorter would be great.”
I told him I had heard that photographing and shooting indoor live performances is as challenging as it gets. I asked him how he dealt with the pre-existing lighting conditions, an inability to control noise and sound to some extent, people moving around, potentially in front of the cameras, and other obstacles.
Gayle’s answer did not surprise me. “It is a challenge” he said. “A lot of interviews we got were on the fly, backstage. We couldn’t take a lot of equipment back there. The best we could do was shoot it and hope that everything would work out or [that we could] fix it in post. A couple of times we did have a controlled setting. Joe’s Pub in New York let us shoot for, like, four hours.”
I pointed out that some of the archival photos and video are not of the best quality, but they may be the only record of certain events. This is always a problem with using historical artifacts in documentaries. I asked Gayle what his criteria are concerning technical quality.
“When I was doing the research. I had hours and hours of stock footage that I had to go through. It really boils down to, What captures the essence of the piece? What do you think the listener or the viewer will kinda gravitate to? That’s an artist decision and you’re taking a chance. Like the Prince footage. It was not the best footage, you know, from 1981, but the guitar solo was so killer, it embodied the whole essence of his musical talent, so you let it ride. To me, story will always win out. You just stay true to it and trust your gut.”
He talked more about finding historic footage. “A lot of people don’t realize how hard it is to find this stuff. It’s not just sitting around,” he explained. “[Stock footage library] Historic Films stepped up to the plate in terms of giving me the footage I needed and really working with me. Broadway Video was also great. It took a while to find out who had rights to the Saturday Night Live footage. I had to have that footage. Many of the artists, like Cody ChestnuTT and Bad Brains, and companies like EMI, gave me footage. Everything else fell into place.”
When asked how he got his subjects to be so relaxed and forthcoming, Gayle explained, “To be honest with you, I was just real with them. I came at them like a brother. They said things like, ‘Man, you flew all the way out here to interview me?’ They knew I was passionate and serious. That meant a lot to me. I made a commitment to them. I said, ‘I am going to tell your story.’ ”
Gayle showed compassion for his subjects in a way that many filmmakers or journalists would not have. The conventional wisdom is that the storyteller remains “objective,” but in reality, who can really do that when human stories are involved? Gayle chose humanity over the tabloid scoop. Artistically, his work will have more credibility in the long run because it tells a complete story, over 83 minutes, rather than inviting viewers to fast-forward to a few minutes of sound bites with industry gossip and pseudo-shocking revelations.
As he said, “A lot of directors would say, ‘Shame on you’ for editing out certain parts, but a lot of times I had to cut the camera off. They were telling me some real deep stuff--tabloid-type material. I decided I am not going to exploit them. It was really difficult for a lot of the guys to talk to me.” Gayle is inspired by Spike Lee, especially his When the Levees Broke and the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys. He said, “You are going to be influenced by others. I don’t think any artist can say that [a technique or style] is theirs.”
I asked him how he visually capitalized on the fact that people are used to hearing rock music and seeing white musicians. In the film, black people play hard rock music, creating a visual paradox.
“My original concept was to film everything in black-and-white and have only performances in color--to play off the energy of the performances and the irony of the race thing” he replied.
I asked him about the extensive background information and interactive timeline on the film’s web site. Gayle explained, “I wanted the website to be a gateway to some of the bands and help people learn more. It’s all about the artists. It’s not about me, it’s about them. Hopefully that’s what the end result will be. That was the goal. The fact that I was able to interview all these people I grew up admiring was a dream.”
He has two favorite scenes in the film. “The Prince footage. It was a two-minute clip that I had to cut down… The Fishbone segment. It’s tough to watch. No Doubt, Jane's Addiction, and other bands they influenced have this great success. [Fishbone] deserved that and didn’t get it. It hurts.”
When I asked him what’s next, he said, “I want to do it all. I want to do an intelligent urban horror film. Every urban film is stereotypical. I want to work across all genres and tell a different story.”
Like the musicians in his film, Gayle will not be put into a racial box. Describing his approach to filmmaking, he said, “We read about and honor people who went against the grain. We need to get back to that and not take the easy way out. [Making this film] was a struggle, for me and others.”
Gayle’s dedication and willingness to follow his heart leaves us a groundbreaking and poignant film that does not forget that it’s about rock music. Audiences will come for the music and stay for the story. And it’s quite a story.
