Such a frustrating disappointment

Better Late Then Never

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Shihad were my backbone ever since I was born. I am waiting for the Australia/New Zealand tour as of next month. The Rockumentary was extremely fantastic. The 11 September 2001 attacks was quite a shock due to changing the band name all because of too many bloody people dying on that day particularly the death of my maternal Godmum. I hope they will return for a new album soon or otherwise if not they will disband. R.i.p Peter Kippenberger,Gerald Dwyer and of course Michael Toogood.

"Beautiful Machine" had no reason to exist upon release, and less after seeing it; its essentially the story of Wellington, New Zealands most successful post-grunge/radio metal band who made their most successful recordings prior to 2003. Decamping to Melbourne in the nineties, the band released a string of radio singles, and toured the Aussie pub band circuit and further overseas, a tradition that New Zealand musicians have held since the 1970s.My main issue with the film is that NZ arts funding bodies supplied some $980,000 to produce what is essentially a series of found-video excerpts, home interviews and some in concert clips - much of it about the quality level of a well made student film. Where the money actually went I can't say, but possibly the bands ever-declining recording sales was the main motivator for this NZ music nostalgia flick; fans should be aware of their plans to recently try and sell their live performances as pay-per-view broadcasts to bars, part sponsored by NZ house paint company Resene. (note: a musical act is not a rugby or cricket team, but anyways. . .)But what about the film's content? Well, back in the mid nineties, Shihad and a group of other popular acts (Supergroove, Headless Chickens and to an extent smaller groups like HDU or the Nixons) were on the warpath in NZ, impressing kids via radio sponsorship or live sets at local college orientation gigs etc. Shihad were originally a high school metal band, based around rich-kid drummer Tom Larkins impressive rhythm chops, with the rest of the band playing along. Frontman Jon Toogoods cartoonish, manic stage energy helped engage an audience often indifferent to local releases in the countries tiny commercial music market.Ultimately, what happens in reality is not what happens in this documentary; for starters, it should be noted that the bands early alt. metal gigs were surprisingly sharp and self-assured, but later attempts at coercing the bands sound into a radio-friendly singles format made the same strengths weaknesses; their robotic, soulless sound may have suited industrial tinged metal, but sounded like generic radio rock on air years later, maybe in part due to the influence of Warners NZ music manager James Southgate, an ex-pat Brit that likes overproduced, American accented radio bands that people will pay to see in a pub somewhere, but have about as much personality and zest as the plastic bags you use for weekly shopping.I can't stress enough how annoying Jon Toogood actually is: the frontman of the strident, earnest metal group later came across as a sort of charmless, macho New Zealand jock, annoyingly self assured, almost arrogant. The films raison d'être is ostensibly that they could have been huge in the US, but the stigma of the 9/11 attacks on US soil was too much of an issue for music managers at the time. NOT TRUE: in reality, dozens (in fact hundreds) of bands were submitting their albums, promo kits and demos to US record labels, trying to be the next "modern rock" band, a kind of macho, heavy-handedly earnest format that culminated in Nickelback, The Calling, Alter Bridge and other bands too vile to mention.Not that Shihad were a group that started playing to become that format, they started playing in high school circa 1988, and if they'd been documented in the mid-nineties, the nostalgia of seeing the item today would be relevant. As I suggested above, this 2012 release is some kind of cash-in, and one that sells a pretty mediocre retelling of their story to the public.

I'm not a hardcore fan of Shihad, though I was aware of them pretty early on as they got a bit of press in Kerrang! in the early 90's and they were featured on a few different magazine's cover CDs I picked up. 'Home Again' was on one of these, and a few others stood out (Earthtone 9 did a great cover of 'You Again' too) - but I never picked up an album I don't think. I did sort of remember them changing their name around 9/11 but I'd moved on by then.I watched this documentary hoping it would serve as a gateway into liking more of their stuff (as have done numerous excellent band docs - Mastodon, Cannibal Corpse, um, Anvil). It fails on one hand because there's lots of music but few tracks are heard fully or long enough to latch onto - that said most of what's here sounds good, maybe aside from the industrial stuff but that whole scene was always a mixed bag for me. Nice to see a bunch of down to earth and personable dudes who've grown up and can look back on their flirtation with fame with a wry smile - although you can tell some people still remember that joke at the showcase (the undoubted highlight of the film) with a little bitterness. The depth with which it goes into the family relationships does have both rewards - the drummer's (grand?)father still hitting every gig fearlessly in his 80's is great - and also feels almost slightly intrusive sometimes, like a professionally filmed home movie for family only. But it's honesty does make it stand proudly aside from the prolific "documentaries" that some "bands" release in theatres these days.So, I would've dug more tunes, but I heard the ones I knew and liked, and I'll probably download an album or two finally from itunes and give em a spin. Job accomplished. The ending was a bit abrupt. Are they still active or what? Wikipedia will tell me but whatever. Also - John Cusack called, he wants his head back.