Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk
Director: Corbett Redford
Executive Producers: Green Day
Studio: Abramorama
Running Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes
I've never wanted to move what I've been doing with this outlet down to Los Angeles. I've always been told "you need to move because that's where the industry is, all of the people are down there." Then please explain to me why the biggest rock band in the world still resides within the Bay Area. I've always believed that there is something truly special about the Bay Area, even in times when I felt that the scene was "dying". I never felt the need to move.
Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk is the picture perfect definition as to why I'd never leave. Punk rock didn't begin here, but a major wave of it occurred here, and it's a wave that impacted generations upon generations of musicians (including myself). The two hour and thirty five minute documentary (directed by Corbett Redford and executive produced by Green Day), tracks the course of punk rock music in the Bay Area, showcasing the punk music haven 924 Gilman Street and every that happened in an around it that caused a major shift within the world of music.
At some point, the world that Bill Graham had built around the Bay Area, based on the music of large scale arena bands and artists like The Grateful Dead, just wasn't cutting it for some people. They needed more. The punk movement from the UK made its way to CBGB in New York, and this film explains, in great detail, how it became so prominent in the Bay Area. You learn about cities and movements that you didn't even know exist, all while learning how the greats like Green Day, Rancid, AFI, NOFX, and more came together.
Turn It Around cannot be a short film, and I was tremendously and happily surprised that it spent so much time delving into the history of various bands, interviewing everyone within this world, and chronicling the most important moments in history, all while doing it in a style that's entirely its own. There is no other punk documentary on Earth that does it like this one. A must see film, by any standards.
For more information and showtimes regarding Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk, visit www.eastbaypunk.com
This has been another Shameless Promotion.