Visit ‘UNDERGROUND INC’ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/undergroundincorporated
The Subject
It was the early 90’s – seemingly out of nowhere, a little grunge band called Nirvana began outselling massive commercial artists like Michael Jackson. This immediately caught the attention of the giant record companies. These small underground bands branded as ‘alternative’ or ‘post-punk’, went from being inconsequential to being potential behemoths in record sales – and the hunt began.
Hungrily sweeping for the next Nirvana, a buying frenzy ensued as small indie labels were bought out by the commercial labels on a never before seen scale. A&R execs would see random alt-rock bands perform in a bar and appear after their set offering unheard of financial offers and immediate global exposure. It seemed these band members were set for life – so what happened?
Business dealings, egos, ridiculous amounts of money and a hopelessly out of touch music industry, lead to a lack of awareness of some of the most important artists of the 90’s, and robbed global audiences of these massively talented acts. Artists possessing the obvious appeal and musicianship to match their contemporaries, now largely forgotten. Underground Inc. will be taking you through the scenes outside of Seattle to look at what else was going on musically, during a period that was already pulsating with great alt-rock acts.
The Documentary
The circumstances surrounding this fascinating era is the subject of our investigative documentary, ‘Underground Inc’, which is now completely filmed!
Made by multi-award winning director Shaun Katz, “Underground Inc.” will dig beneath the manufactured truth to explore what really happened and expose viewers to an amazing catalog of rarities and inspirations.
Go behind the alternative rock revolution and hear the stories, tragedies, triumphs and anecdotes reported with candid insight by a multitude of voices who lived it. “Underground Inc.” is destined to be the ultimate look at the 90’s and a must see for serious music lovers.
Who’ll Be There: Comprised of original interviews and footage with the influential to the well regarded. Iconic players from White Zombie, Primus, Queens Of The Stone Age, Sepultura, Ministry, Bad Religion and many more, have given us their time. From members of groundbreaking acts like PUBLIC IMAGE LTD and BIG BLACK, to the unpredictable crunch of Helmet, Quicksand, Clutch, Jawbox and tons more, exploring some sonically powerful music that was breaking new ground in the 90’s.
From forward thinking bands like Failure and Course Of Empire, as well as some of the biggest record producers in the game, like Matt Wallace (Faith No More), Steve Albini (Nirvana) and Alex Newport (At The Drive-In), who reveal their experiences and observations with insight and a rare honesty. Discussing largely ignored yet excellent bands like Cop Shoot Cop, Handsome or Sugartooth. We can promise you that this film will be the real deal!
Who The Hell Are We!
Let’s start with names that have already been in lights that you are sure to recognize and respect as much as we do. We are thrilled to say that the UNDERGROUND INC. music and sound department is made up of PETER MENGEDE (Helmet, KRS-One, Handsome), the Grammy-nominated record producer ALEX NEWPORT (Mars Volta, Bloc Party, Death Cab For Cutie) and MARK BRADRIDGE, who will collectively be creating an original score & sound design for this film.
The international crew behind UNDERGROUND INC. is led by multi-award winning Australian Director/Producer SHAUN KATZ (SLEEPING IN BLOOD CITY – https://vimeo.com/48055278 ) whose work has been in festivals worldwide including Cannes Film Festival. For Shaun Katz’ full bio click here: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1475123585/about
Serving as Co-Editor/Co-Producer with Shaun, JB Sapienza works out of New York and was the Editor/Co-Director of the prize taking documentary MY NAME IS JONAH as well as a host of notable music videos and animated shorts. You can watch his latest film here: http://mynameisjonahfilm.com
Regular collaborator ADAM LOVETT is a Boston based Writer/Producer and freelance film journalist, who has worked with Shaun on multiple successful projects including the much lauded short film SLEEPING IN BLOOD CITY.
Risks and challenges
This team of professional filmmakers are highly passionate about their music. We are obsessively committed to delivering a mind blowing film, but some practical challenges still remain.
Filming is complete, post production is approaching its conclusion and the final edited footage is almost in the can. Now it’s time for the biggest gamble of all when commerce engulfs our art and the pitfalls of the business side take precedent. We’re talking things like outstanding music clearances so these tunes we all love can drive the cinematic experience and reach their hungry audience. Video licenses so the full blown energy, mayhem and raw showmanship can be visually unleashed. Money for image rights, color grading, sound mixing and other critical incidentals, all these things come at a price that currently exceeds our ambitious grasp.
Only with your help will the funds raised through this Kickstarter campaign fuel us successfully to a fully market ready film. If you want UNDERGROUND INC. to hit the festival circuit and then wider so you can all finally witness its almighty power first hand (and we know you do) then these are the obstacles we can only overcome together.
Let’s make this happen for the artists. For the fans, for the uninitiated, for the generations to come that will be able to be inspired by this until now untold history of some of the greatest music ever amplified on the planet Earth.
