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Born
in the Basement shall serve as a lesson on how to function as an
independent force, on how to act on ingenuity and build one
self’s musical career on pure DIY fashion. Born in the
Basement is not necessarily the early story of New Jersey thrash
metal band Overkill, though it definitely documents the band’s
inception, it is more about Rat Skates, this semi professional
teenage skater who got seriously into drumming and together with
bassist DD Verni (who initially went by DD Blaze) formed the
pre-Overkill punk rock band The Lubricunts. It was the late
70’s/early 80’s, and times were a changing. As punk dawned and
exposure to the NWOBHM influenced them the next logical step was
to move onto heavier more spectacular things. So via Skates’
hard work, new members were recruited and then exchanged, a name
from a Motorhead record was stolen, a logo was created, black
leather was adopted as garment of choice, Iron Maiden, Judas
Priest, Motorhead, Black Sabbath and Dead Boys covers were used
as part of the play list, milk crates were handily turned into
drum risers, a creepy stage set (yes, including an upside down
cross) was used as a prop, show ads were drawn (quite badly) and
black and white make up was donned for greater effect and so on.
Eventually all the hard wok paid off. The Overkill name got
around, there was buzz going and the band landed a terrible
record deal.
One shitty
record deal later, Overkill finally falls in the hand of John
and Marsha Zazula, the flea market record store owners who would
go onto form Megaforce Records, the label that would launch the
career of many greats, among them Metallica. With a professional
label backing the band and a merchandising company in tow, much
of the work was lifted off Skates’ back. Tours in Europe and
across the US are booked, a professionally filmed video is on
MTV rotation, and a couple of albums later, Overkill seemed to
have the kind of career many thrash bands would have wished. So
as Skates states, ‘ I love the journey, I hated the
destination’. The man got burned out too early and felt
discontent with not getting any money. Not only that but the
comfort of a tour bus and borrowed stage hands provided him with
too much free time on his hands, something he hadn’t experienced
during all those years of busting his ass for his band. So in
1987 Rat Skates quits the band he worked so hard for. To some
it may make little sense but apparently for Skates it was time
to move on.
And this is
where my issues with this documentary come on; where is the rest
of the band? Could they have interviewed at least one more
person from that circle that was around at the time?
Insight outside of Skates’ own would have given us a better
perspective. Also, there is a scene after Skates talks about his
decision of leaving the band when he states, ‘years later I
realized I did make a mistake by turning my back….’ And then
the picture and the audio fade. What the hell did he say? And
why is this sound bite left in the documentary? Then there are
slices of the interview with Skates talking about the band not
taking care of him the same way he took care of them. He is
obviously talking about money, much of which was surely acquired
after he exited the band when Overkill released more successful
records. In other words, I would have liked more dirt.
As a special
feature we get a very good interview with Billy Vector, the
vocalist of The Lubricunts. He tells a couple of good stories
(he refers to DD Verni as a ‘Fonzi-ish hoodlum guy who
manifested a whole lot of African genetic characteristic for an
Italian guy’.) one of which involves a member of The Dead
Boys. Then there is also an interview with Riff Thunder, the
first Overkill guitarist, who first befriended Bobby Blitz
Ellsworth and who tells the same story and about how Overkill
was inspired by Twisted Sister, and how they went about the
image, etc, etc. These two interviews are pretty insightful and
Rat in the Basement would have definitely been a better film had
they been used in the documentary. |
