To be honest we generally avoid talking about Kickstarter projects. There’s so much up there worthy of funding if it doesn’t bankrupt you it’ll depress you. That said, we can’t avoid giving support to this documentary that we feel will be an essential record of an oft-overlooked area of “Music 101”.
This came through to us via Jimmy Monsta Funk, who was tweeting about an old Joe Meek film he found online, garnering an instant response from the production company behind the soon-to-be documentary A Life In The Death Of Joe Meek:
“@PalmDoorFilms You should also check out our more well rounded and insightful documentary on Joe Meek http://kck.st/SyKsgd”
Needless to say he put his money where his mouth is and threw in to the kitty. Palm Door Films is in fact Susan Stahman and Howard S. Berger, New York natives who’ve spent almost a decade sweating it out in a hope to bring their feature length Joe Meek doco to life, having funded it to date entirely off their own backs, even selling their cars in the process.
If you’re already familiar with the legacy of Joe Meek then you probably know how important it is that he’s not forgotten, and you can go straight here to check out there Kickstarter page and donate: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joemeek/a-life-in-the-death-of-joe-meek
Cue the subject bio.
Who is Joe Meek?
Born in 1929 and raised in rural Newent, England, Joe Meek spent his youth working on his family’s farm while dreaming of recording sound, creating music and making records. Realizing that he didn’t fit in, either socially (he was a closeted homosexual) or professionally, Joe eventually made the necessary move to London to explore his true, driven ambition.
By the mid-1950’s, Joe Meek was one of the UK’s most requested recording engineers (working for producers like George Martin) – an upstart talent who refused to play by anyone else’s rules in an industry that was ALL rules.
By the end of the decade he had broken away from the major studios and did the unthinkable: he became England’s first independent pop record producer. By the early 1960’s, he was recording #1 chart hits from a converted home studio in a then-dodgy area of London – including his masterpiece, TELSTAR; to this date the most successful pop instrumental ever recorded.
Considered a Svengali by some in the industry, Joe nurtured hundreds of teen artists such as Jimmy Page (later of The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin), Steve Howe (of Yes and Asia), Ritchie Blackmore (later of Deep Purple and Rainbow), session guitarist extraordinaire Big Jim Sullivan and Chas Hodges (of Chas ‘n Dave) that helped define new, exciting, commercial sounds and produced pop/rock records that were the first specifically targeted at the post-WWII teen market.
By 1967 he was dead.
I wish we were reviewing it now instead of still asking for it to be made. Susan and Howard are in the league of film makers we love; doing it for the right reasons, using every DIY trick in the book to get it done. Pure passion driving this, which we have massive respect for. Check them below talking about their film A Life In The Death Of Joe Meek after the rough trailer.
Spread the word, let’s try and get this thing made. More info on the perks of donating and where the money will go at the main page here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joemeek/a-life-in-the-death-of-joe-meek