Photo by
Keith Marlowe
One night only, with director Jenni
Matz in attendance for post-film Q&A!
When
they signed with one of the world’s biggest record labels, Rye Coalition was
primed to finally get their glory, or so it seemed.
Like
countless rockers before them, these childhood best friends started a band in a
basement with a couple simple goals in mind: have fun and play good music.
As one of the first bands to develop the new “emo” sound, they were at
the forefront of a movement that included
Shellac, Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker
and
Karp
(with whom they later
recorded a legendary 12” split). Rye Coalition’s first recording was a demo
cassette tape (1994's self-released
Dancing Man
), backed by an East
Coast tour in a beat-up school bus, long before most of them had their driver’s
license. As their talent and fan base grew, they released albums on indie
labels and toured the country for over ten years on bigger and bigger bills,
with bands like
At the Drive-In, Mars
Volta, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Foo Fighters
. After gaining
momentum from 2002's
On Top
LP,
engineered by Steve Albini, they were signed to Dreamworks Records and none
other than Dave Grohl came on as their producer. Then, it all imploded. As
Henry Owings of Chunklet put it, “Rye Coalition has had the worst luck of any
band I can think of.”
Filmmaker
Jenni Matz has continuously documented these singular rockers for over a
decade, brazenly chronicling choice moments with Rye Coalition-and those who
know them well-on tour, at home and in the studio. Although the band was
praised by critics and supported by an absurdly dedicated grassroots fan base,
somehow these Jersey rockers never got their due. Until now.
View the trailer:
http://vimeo.com/ryecoalition/trailer
More info:
ryecoalitionthemovie.com
facebook.com/RyeCoalition
twitter.com/RyeCoalition