Who is Lydia Loveless? DELUXE DVD (with free bumpersticker)
NOTE: posters, stickers, and vinyl related to this film are available in others areas of this online shop...
Director Gorman Bechard believes in rock and roll; he's been proving it on screen since his fan-centric Replacements documentary COLOR ME OBSESSED. Follow-ups on the Archers of Loaf and Husker Du's Grant Hart (EVERY EVERYTHING) respectively captured the power of live performance and the intricacies of a creative mind. Bechard's latest does both, while tackling a complicated question: Who is Lydia Loveless?
Rather than taking a reverent look back at an established artist, Bechard's new film serves as an introduction of sorts to a musical life in progress, diving deep into the evolving career of the gloriously talented Loveless and the bandmates alongside her. Lydia and company may be on a familiar and oft-repeated journey--from tour van to rock club to recording studio and repeat--but theirs is a singular vision thanks to the genuine, honest, and charismatic woman at the wheel.
Though the movie spends some time on Loveless's past, from her musical upbringing to her younger days in family-filled bands, its focus is on the now: recent footage from a fierce, frenetic live show mixes with a revealing peek inside the studio as the quintet works on their next record. Interspersed are candid interviews touching on issues that many bands face, including the tricky economics of being a working musician, dealing with piracy and bad YouTube videos, and sexism in modern-day music media. Lydia's blunt, incisive responses and her band's special take on what she calls indie-alt-country may help answer the question posed by the title, but you'll leave wanting to hear more songs and find out for sure.
Bonus features include: Teaser Trailer, Original Trailer, 'Bilbao' music video, Who is Lydia Loveless? - Take One, Who is Lydia Loveless? - Take Two, 'Desire,' acoustic living room performance, Original opening scene 'Who is Lydia Loveless?', 'Out On Love,' acoustic living room performance, Gorman gets a Lydia Loveless tattoo video, Commentary with Lydia Loveless and director Gorman Bechard, Lydia and Gorman interview each other - March 2017, The History of The Cameltoe Troubadours
Review
The doc follows the Ohio native in the studio as she records her 2016 album Real. ''Lydia is the future of rock & roll,'' the director says in a release. ''She straps you onto an emotional roller coaster of love, lust, drunken mistakes, a little stalking, a lot of heartbreak, and you re left breathless, stunned, happy to have taken the ride.''
Loveless grew up surrounded by country music (her dad owned a country music bar) mixed with a hearty shot of punk, melding all those influences into her own distinctive sound: somewhere in between Loretta Lynn and The Replacements. She also covered the aforementioned Bieber hit song ''Sorry,'' so you can through some pop in there, too.
We chatted with Loveless about the doc and how it came to be.
On how she met Gorman Bechard... We were both into The Replacements. Obviously, he did a Replacements documentary a few years ago. And I think he was asking for music suggestions, and I was thrown in. And he really liked [my music]. We were basically keeping in touch on the Twitters for the most part. He ended up coming to one of our shows, and I kind of sensed that he was going to throw out there that he wanted to do a movie. And it just seemed like a weird thing to say no to. So I said sure.
On having the camera follow her... I should probably just accept that my life is just always going to be weird. After a while it didn t really seem like people were there filming anything, because you just go back to doing your job. I had made it really clear: I don t want this to affect anything that we re doing for our record. [The camera crew] definitely did a good job of blending in.
On watching herself on film... I ve seen it like four times because I had to help edit it. That was awkward and awful. But it got eventually better and easier to watch. It was almost like I was sitting in a critique of my own self. It was kind of like editing my own life.
My behavior and the way I speak... has never been my strong suit. And then I watched a two-hour movie about myself talking. But I guess it was kind of helpful. You could just kind of see discomfort, I thought, radiating off of me, like with just being myself. So that was something that was kind of jarring, and I ve been sort of trying to work on since then. Brenna Ehrlich --Tidal
''If there was any doubt that Loveless could carry the story for nearly two hours, this fear quickly dissipates. Her engaging and reflective thoughtfulness are juxtaposed with a natural ability to throw out hilarious one-liners. The narrative is hardly scripted and the story tells itself with Bechard's generous attention to Loveless' journals and notes and her openness to the camera that frame the larger stories the two want to tell. The movie's pacing allows the story to develop and you become immersed without feeling you're being rushed through it.' Steve Wosahla --No Depression Magazine
''Not just for fans of Loveless, but for anyone looking to see what the careers of non- millionaire musicians can really be like.'' Ken Sears --If It's Too Loud
NOTE: You can also chose the option to have your DVD signed by director Gorman Bechard.