Filmage (Descendents documentary) secret screening in Long Beach

Last night, I was invited to attend the “family and friends” screening of Filmage, a documentary about the Descendents and ALL. How cool is that? The filmmakers were in attendance and so were many of the film’s local contributors and friends of the band. My friend Sandy Yang (Red Krayola) came along, too!

The first guy in line was Pat Hoed. Before I knew him as the KXLU DJ Adam Bomb or Fantasma from Brujeria, Pat was in Nip Drivers, part of the South Bay punk scene that the Descendents came from as well as New Alliance label-mates with the band. Later on, he also played in Dave Smalley’s post-ALL band, Down By Law, as well as Jaime Piña’s Punk Rock Vatos.

That’s Jaime on the left. His main gig was the Chemical People, a band I used to see at the Anti-Club with ALL two or three weekends every month. Wow. In the center is Robert Hecker from Redd Kross and It’s Okay. He has some great quotes in the movie, including one where he says the Descendents’ “Get The Time” is one of the three best pop songs of all time with “Hey Jude” and “Under Pressure.”

Dave Naz from the Chemical People with his wife Oriana. His band shared a practice space and often toured with ALL, and he has plenty of great quotes about the post-Descendents band getting by. Dave was cool and kind enough to invite me to the screening!

After the screening, the filmmakers came out for a short Q&A. I have probably seen the Descendents about 10 times, ALL at least 30. Of course, I own every album and know the songs by heart, but really had no insight into their evolution or struggles until seeing the movie. And even if you do know everything about the bands, the old footage and photos are incredible and the songs sound amazing on loud theater speakers. Enjoy!

If you didn’t win tickets to the Vannen, Epitaph, and Art Theatre-sponsored free screenings on Sunday in Long Beach, keep an eye on the Filmage site for future showings and impending release of a DVD with a ton of extras. Also, I wrote a longer review here…