Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Garageland Trailer Released

Barroom rockers the Dragons feature prominently in SD’s rock history.
Barroom rockers the Dragons feature prominently in SD’s rock history.

“The music scene is going downhill. It’s gone downhill,” says former Battalion of Saints band leader Chris Smith in the opening seconds of the trailer for the coming feature film Garageland. Dated by his bottle-blonde punk mullet, Smith’s rant against commercial rock, culled from a 1981 KGTV channel 10 news feature sets the tone for a rockumentary about the history of the local underground music scene. “Styx, Van Halen, all that garbage that’s on the radio, you know?” says Smith. “It’s deteriorating your brain.”

Filmmaker Eric Rife has been working on Garageland for so long now that he fears people may have forgotten about it. “I’m hoping with the release of this trailer (it’s posted on YouTube) that it will rekindle people’s interests and I’ll start getting more contributions and materials.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Last year, Rife told the Reader that Garageland will include rare footage from latter-day San Diego luminaries such as the Zeros, the Dragons, Claude Coma and the IVs, the Penetrators, Rocket from the Crypt, Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver, and more. “Ultimately, what I want to do is include Garageland with outtakes and extended interviews and a coffee-table book and two compilation CDs of the music that is featured in the film,” he says.

The filmmaker would also like to see his project escape the gravitational pull of local music. “Garagelands exist all over the country, and that’s what I really hope to do. I wanna see the bands that came out of all those places. I wanna see all that other great music that I know is buried out there.”

Rife has invested his own dollars and about four years into Garageland thus far. He says he needs an infusion of working capital in order to finish the film to industry standards. “I still have this nagging fear that someone will say the format I produced the final version in is not compatible with anything and I’d have to start all over.” There has been funding aid interest from the California Council of the Humanities, he says, and from the Media Arts Center of San Diego. Rife thinks he may also need money to license news and band footage. “But, so far all of the bands have told me that I could use their stuff, no problem.”

The Garageland trailer states that “the garage will open in 2012.” “I’m leaving myself a lot of wiggle room there. It’ll definitely be in 2012 and, hopefully, this time next year. That would be ideal. It all depends on how quickly I can raise money,” he says, “and if I even can raise money.” So what’s left to complete? “I need to edit hundreds of hours of footage,” a project for which Rife may have some extra time. A librarian by trade, Rife says his work hours may be cut back yet again pending another round of city-council budget cuts.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Barroom rockers the Dragons feature prominently in SD’s rock history.
Barroom rockers the Dragons feature prominently in SD’s rock history.

“The music scene is going downhill. It’s gone downhill,” says former Battalion of Saints band leader Chris Smith in the opening seconds of the trailer for the coming feature film Garageland. Dated by his bottle-blonde punk mullet, Smith’s rant against commercial rock, culled from a 1981 KGTV channel 10 news feature sets the tone for a rockumentary about the history of the local underground music scene. “Styx, Van Halen, all that garbage that’s on the radio, you know?” says Smith. “It’s deteriorating your brain.”

Filmmaker Eric Rife has been working on Garageland for so long now that he fears people may have forgotten about it. “I’m hoping with the release of this trailer (it’s posted on YouTube) that it will rekindle people’s interests and I’ll start getting more contributions and materials.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Last year, Rife told the Reader that Garageland will include rare footage from latter-day San Diego luminaries such as the Zeros, the Dragons, Claude Coma and the IVs, the Penetrators, Rocket from the Crypt, Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver, and more. “Ultimately, what I want to do is include Garageland with outtakes and extended interviews and a coffee-table book and two compilation CDs of the music that is featured in the film,” he says.

The filmmaker would also like to see his project escape the gravitational pull of local music. “Garagelands exist all over the country, and that’s what I really hope to do. I wanna see the bands that came out of all those places. I wanna see all that other great music that I know is buried out there.”

Rife has invested his own dollars and about four years into Garageland thus far. He says he needs an infusion of working capital in order to finish the film to industry standards. “I still have this nagging fear that someone will say the format I produced the final version in is not compatible with anything and I’d have to start all over.” There has been funding aid interest from the California Council of the Humanities, he says, and from the Media Arts Center of San Diego. Rife thinks he may also need money to license news and band footage. “But, so far all of the bands have told me that I could use their stuff, no problem.”

The Garageland trailer states that “the garage will open in 2012.” “I’m leaving myself a lot of wiggle room there. It’ll definitely be in 2012 and, hopefully, this time next year. That would be ideal. It all depends on how quickly I can raise money,” he says, “and if I even can raise money.” So what’s left to complete? “I need to edit hundreds of hours of footage,” a project for which Rife may have some extra time. A librarian by trade, Rife says his work hours may be cut back yet again pending another round of city-council budget cuts.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Unitarian Universalism allows you to be exactly who you are in the moment
Next Article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.