I had the pleasure of seeing Serious Drugs, the new feature documentary on The BMX Bandits as part of the London Pop Festival last week. The band celebrated their 25th anniversary last year and although there have been several line-up changes in that time, the one mainstay is chief Bandit Duglas T Stewart. I have been friends with Duglas for many years and I’m glad to report he and his vast musical output comes over very well and is entertaining and inspiring in equal measure. One man who was certainly inspired by Duglas’s music was the films director Jim Burns who had never made a feature before this. In the accompanying q&a, he detailed how the BMX Bandits music and in particular the album My Chain helped him deal with the depression he has suffered from over the years and not only did the music afford him solace but the idea of making a film about the band gave him a great artistic undertaking. This would ultimately produce a touching and insightful film. I spoke to Jim afterwards and it was inspiring to hear how he got hold of a camera, a microphone and set out to document a bands music which had changed his life even though he had no previous experience in that field and all the time had to hold down his day job. The true spirit of independent filmmaking is alive and well as long as there are people like Jim around. Here is the trailer –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6G44uRcdk