For Those About To Doc, We Salute You

The golden age of the music documentary is upon us. This month sees Julien Temple’s emotive The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson and Wes Orshoski’s candid study of The Damned, <>Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead, hit the silver screen.
Temple’s lauded study of Johnson’s ’70s pub rock outfit Dr Feelgood, Oil City Confidential, was the beginning of the pair’s friendship. When the guitarist was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2012 documenting his decline was the last thing on Temple’s mind.
“Like everyone else I was just in shock that we were going to lose someone that special,” he
says. “He asked me to do a video for a track on
the album he was doing with Roger Daltrey and during that process we started talking. He was
in a very reflective space. He was interested in talking about how he was feeling and what he was thinking and it was fascinating. There’s a great honesty there and a great sense of humour in the face of something dark.”
From starting out as an attempt to chronicle the story of life coming to an end, medical intervention rewrote the script as Johnson was proclaimed cancer-free after lifesaving surgery in April 2014.
“Well it was an extraordinary twist in the tale and then I realized we had something really quite special that we’d been filming,” he says. “He was amazing through it all. The way Wilko talks is quite inspirational and I’ve had some fantastic letters from people.”
When I spoke to Johnson some weeks ago he still had not seen the finished product but remarked he was sure Julien had done a great job.
Temple laughs. “He seems to have a sense of belief. He was the same on Oil City actually. He saw it at the premiere with everyone else. I might film him watching it for the first time when he sees it.”
On hearing Wes Orshoski’s account of Captain Sensible’s response to the screening of Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead at SXSW you can only wish he had had the same brainwave.
“Sensible ends up throwing rubbish at the screen and walking out only to return and start handing out candies and talking to people during any (Rat) Scabies part of the movie so they can’t hear him,” laughs Wes. “He’s saying things like, ‘Yeah, these are the boring bits, I’ll give you your money back if you want.’ He’s getting so upset by it that he can’t even ingest the film. He had this bizarro emotional reaction!”
Orshoski came onto our radar with the acclaimed Lemmy documentary in 2011 and has once again created a tour de force in his latest project, presenting an entertaining and searingly honest depiction of the grievously overlooked punk legends.
“I wanted to make a film that opened people’s eyes to this band with all these great songs,” he gushes. “It’s shocking to me that in America, for example, people don’t really know who they are.”
The film has its genesis in Orshoski being
invited to document the bands 35th anniversary tour. Candid interviews with current and former members and archive footage are interwoven to relay the tale of a band that suffered at the hands of infighting, inexperience, egos and addictions. At one juncture former drummer Rat Scabies admits that every time they were poised for success they fucked 
it up.
“Oh yeah, they shot themselves in the foot a lot,” agrees Orshoski. “After the film was done Rat told
me he discovered a letter from EMI offering them the equivalent of a million pound deal now in 1977 and they turned it down to stay on Stiff. It’s just so funny cause they had this blind allegiance to Stiff and Stiff didn’t care about them. Stiff dropped them after their second record.”
The film has an impressive list of contributors, were they chomping at the bit to take part?
“Not really,” he admits. “With the Lemmy film anybody who I reached out to said yes. Everyone was on board because Lemmy is cool and they wanted to be associated with that. With The Damned was much harder, it took years of persistence to get people like Nick Mason and Chrissie Hynde and Mick Jones.”
The humourous yarns and respectful acknowledgement from peers are an essential part
of the narrative. The most compelling sections are undoubtedly the gritty and anguished interviews with beleaguered former members Rat Scabies and Brian James. These offset by the manic persona of Captain Sensible (who pulls no punches when referencing the long-standing feud) and the enigmatic Dave Vanian make for compelling viewing. How did Orshoski balance the final product to reflect the long-standing divide?
“That’s the funny thing, if you’re on Rat’s side you probably don’t think this film is balanced and if you’re on Captain’s you probably don’t think this film is balanced,” he states. “It was extremely difficult, the band members would get really insecure and upset and suspicious when I’d go talk to the other camps.”
The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead screens at The IFI on July 23 preceded by a Q&A with director Wes Orshoski. The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson opens on July 24 in the IFI (preview with Julien Temple plus Q&A July 21)