Vancouver punk pioneers D.O.A. in Bloodied But Unbowed.

Credit: Bev Davies

MOVIES: DOXA keeps the beat alive

There was nothing there,” says Joey Shithead, frontman of seminal punk band D.O.A., about Vancouver in the late 1970s. “We had to make the scene for ourselves.” Fighting against small-town mentalities, draconian liquor laws, and overzealous law enforcement, D.O.A. and a handful of other bands created a movement that put the city on the punk-rock map.

Bloodied but Unbowed, Susanne Tabata’s documentary exploring punk’s short, bright flame in Vancouver, consists of intimate one-on-one interviews with former and current punk rockers from Shithead and cohort Randy Rampage, to Henry Rollins and former Guns N’ Roses drummer Duff McKagan, interspersed with archival footage in the form of home movies and clips from Nite Dreems, a pre-MuchMusic Sunday night TV show.

Nearly 35 years later, local bands are still echoing sentiments similar to Shithead’s. Melissa James and Kate Kroll’s No Fun City looks at the effect of three decades of Byzantine planning laws on the city’s live-music venues, in particular the 2009 closing of Main Street’s Cobalt, due mostly to noise complaints from condo owners who had recently moved into the area.

Shifting between outspoken former Cobalt manager wendythirteen’s efforts to keep her club open, the growing pains experienced by promoter Malice Liveit and entrepreneur David Duprey as they attempt to get the Rickshaw Theatre off the ground, and illegal venues set up across the city, No Fun City paints a grim present and even grimmer future for local bands and their fans. Yet despite the film’s dour tone, James and Kroll hold out hope that things will change, and have invited Mayor Gregor Robertson to the film’s premiere to see firsthand what they believe a raft of antiquated laws is doing to the city’s music scene.

The world premiere of Bloodied But Unbowed screens as part of DOXA on Thursday, May 13, at Granville 7 Theatre (855 Granville), 8 pm. No Fun City screens at Pacific Cinémathèque (1131 Howe) on May 10, 9 pm, and May 16, 4 pm. Tickets $10 from DOXAFestival.ca