The Heart Is A Drum Machine
The Heart Is A Drum Machine, a documentary film about music, featuring many musicians, directed by Christopher Pomerenke; was first premiered at the Phoenix Art Museum on Friday. Currently, it is being premiered in other places in the USA and, according to its producer, Ryan Page, as soon as it’s possible, a DVD with extras will be published.
Cast
John Frusciante
Ann Druyan
Maynard James Keenan
Juliette Lewis
Wayne Coyne
Elijah Wood
Matt Sorum
Milford Graves
Jason Schwartzman
George Clinton
Kurt Loder
Bijou Phillips
Bob Ludwig
Kimya Dawson
Fairuza Balk
John Doe
Nic Harcourt
Gene Hoglan
Becky Stark
Ivan Bjornson
Morton Subotnick
* This is the order of appearance from the film’s poster. There are more people featured in the movie.
Personnel
Original music by Steven Drozd
Written by Hans Fjellestad, Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke
Produced by Ryan Page, Hans Fjellestad and Joe Mundo
Directed by Christopher Pomerenke
John’s statements from the film
I think any music of any worth has been done by people who were very interested in the eternal process of their soul and their mind that’s taking place while they’re writing music…and emotions. Uh, there’ve always been people who’ve been concerned with the process of what they do and haven’t been very concerned with what the outer result of what they’re going to do is-is when it leaves their sphere. Um, and I believe the more….even a great musician becomes concerned with-with what it is when it leads their immediate sphere, the more…the less contact you have with what’s going on inside you, because you start to equate the music with the reaction that it’s supposed to…what it naturally is, which is a something that takes place inside you, that you have been given a gift of being able to realise and to bring it a manifestation.
A child has this relationship to a creative force, you know? Yeah, your parents gradually, you know, they gradually shove your face in the concrete, and so do your teachers and school system and…everything’s working against you, but…but…but the force of creativity nature is not working against you – it’s right there for you, at any time! You just…you know, you just have to be ready not to judge yourself and to be open to whatever’s gonna come through you and to-to be ready to not…to not…eeeh to not judge what comes through, but be alright with it, whatever it is, cause it’s just the universe of expressing yourself.
Media
This is a trailer from its official website. Please, go there to download it in full quality!
And you can also listen to low-quality mp3s of what John said in the film.
[xspf]_start(FALSE, ‘order=83&mode=2’)[/xspf] Download the 1st statement, downloaded times, 1.10 Mb, mp3. Listen to it above. [xspf]_start(FALSE, ‘order=84&mode=2’)[/xspf] Download the 2nd statement, downloaded times, 0.82 Mb, mp3. Listen to it above.Trailer stills
Some impressions from the premiere in Phoenix
As far as the directors’ words go, here’s an extended version of what was said earlier, from Phoenix New Times:
The experience of defining music confirmed all three men’s original impulse of what music is without contradicting any of them. But two people put their appreciation on a whole new level. One was G.E. Stinson, a white blues musician who was suggested by Fjellestad and the other was John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“He really floored us. We’d already gotten so many rich interviews, but he was . . . If music is here,” says Pomerenke, holding his extended palm over his head, “then he was underneath it from the get-go,” he adds, dropping his hand to his chest. “We talked to him for an hour and a half. We only got two questions in, but it doesn’t matter, because he gave us the best interview of anybody. He talked about his cats. He went to some analyst primarily because he was concerned about how his cats appreciated his music.”
“What his analyst told him,” says Page, “was that his cats probably get some warm, loving feeling from his music but [that] music is time-based and cats don’t have that understanding that it’s starting here and ending here.”
“Hans said we could probably make a movie just out of what he said,” nods Pomerenke.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for My Dinner with Frusciante anytime soon. The team’s follow-up to The Heart Is a Drum Machine has already been green-lit, a documentary on Maynard James Keenan’s winery. “We’re gonna be shooting there for a whole year straight. The whole harvest, from dormant to in the bottle,” says Pomerenke. “It’s called The Grapes of Wrath.”
I assume everyone here thinks that this would be a cool concept, though? Either way, you can read the whole article on the newspaper’s website.
John wasn’t there. Maynard James Keenan, Fairuza Balk, and Matt Sorum were. Of John related news, Emily Kokal makes a statement in the beginning of the film. Charlie Clouser, who did some programming on Shadows Collide is in the film. Before the Beginning appears at least 2 times in the soundtrack. For as much as the directors loved talking to John, he spoke for about 2 minutes out of the 73 on the film. So I would imagine they have more footage of him. He is one of the few that was filmed on location, not at a film studio. HOPEFULLY, when there is a DVD release, they will have complete interviews as an extra. he film overall, was truly incredible, funny heartwarming and thought provoking. Definitely of value to any music fan regardless of John’s contribution.
— Anonymous
So I did get a chance to go to the premiere, and man was it an emotional experience.. aside the chit chatter that occasionally went on from viewers. I’m not going into detail how great the show was because I can’t explain it in words… you’d have to watch it yourself and remember not to blink or steer away from it at all. Start to finish… no question about it…I got teary, and choked up throughout the movie. John killed the question asked (what is music?), but that is a given right… and out of the few people that received applause after their part, JF was one… pretty moving words I must say.
— Robert Carillo
A review written by a Phoenix New Times Blogger also describes how the audience loved what John had to say in the movie.
Links
The film’s official website
All the news items tagged with the film’s name
