In 1994, filmmakers Suki Hawley and Mike Galinsky, in true punk spirit, decided to drop out of film school and make their own movie. Aiming to realistically render the underground music scene they were a part of, the pair cast their musician friends as themselves and went on the road with a 16mm camera, filming in Kentucky and Tennessee over 10 days. The end product was Half-Cocked, a microbudget document of ‘90s ennui and counterculture full of charm and deadpan humor. Hawley and Galinsky capture both the transcendent highs of playing live music along with the quieter moments that stoke feelings of nostalgia, like the late-night conversations that take place at a stranger’s house after a gig.
Tara Jane O’Neil, from the post-hardcore band Rodan, plays a fictional version of herself as an aimless and uninspired youth living in a slacker group house in Louisville and working the ticket booth at a local movie theater. After an altercation with her pretentious wannabe rock star brother Otis (played by an unsurprisingly charismatic Ian Svenonius), Tara impulsively steals Otis’s band’s touring van full of instruments and equipment and convinces her friends (also members of Rodan) to hit the road with her. Officially on the lam and without money or food, the group concocts a plan to pass themselves off as a touring band called Truckstop and manages to talk their way onto a bill in Chattanooga as an opening act. Since they don’t know how to play their instruments, their set is a cacophonous mess that sends most of the crowd to the exits, but funnily enough, their discordant chaos is music to the ears of the more avant-garde noise rock appreciators in the audience and Truckstop finds encouragement to keep going. The band continues on the road, practicing, playing live, crashing with people they meet at shows, and scrounging up just enough cash from their gigs to drive for just another day. However, for all the romance of the road, there’s equal amounts of boredom and frustration as they navigate financial hardships and interpersonal dynamics in their pressure cooker of a van. Faking it until they make it with the police on their tail, Tara and co. accidentally become a pretty good band, trying to ride the agony and the ecstasy of life on tour until their luck runs out.
When it was released, the closest Half-Cocked had to a theatrical run was at Alleged Gallery in the Lower East Side. Hawley and Galinsky have since screened the film at rock clubs and DIY spaces as if they were a touring band themselves. However, the bands that make up the cast and the incredible soundtrack (Rodan, The Make-Up, Unwound, Polvo, and more) have had a long-lasting impact on underground music and their involvement has led a cult audience to the film over the years. Yet it's the sincerity and authenticity exuded in every frame that makes Half-Cocked remarkable. As active participants of the scene they’re documenting, Hawley and Galinsky render its lifestyle onscreen with such texture that it will instantly feel real to any viewer who has ever toured in a band.
Half-Cocked screens this evening, June 19, and June 27, at Spectacle. Director Suki Hawley will be in attendance for Q&As at both screenings.
