Starring: Andrew Newcombe, Courtney Taylor
Director: Ondi Timoner
Run Time: 105 minutes
Rating: MA 15+

Apparently 2003/2004 was “the year of the documentary”, but if DIG! is anything to go by, 04/05 might be shaping up to be the year of the rockumentary. With End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones garnering rave reviews, and Metallica – Some Kind of Monster doing the same, enter DIG! , the story of a successful American indie band and their largely unheard-of (ex-)buddies.

7 years in the making, and culled from 1,500 hours of footage, DIG! follows indie outfits The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre through the wilderness years and beyond as they attempt to propel their bands into the rock pantheon without compromising their art at the altar of commercial success. If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard of only one of those bands, so the stage is set for the tragedy that is Anton Newcombe, singer-songwriter behind The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Both bands moved to San Francisco in 1996 and met at the Dandy’s first show that year. Lead singers Anton and Courtney Taylor bonded immediately over their love of the 60s and their idealistic visions of success without conformity. However, while Anton is resolute in the purity of his vision, it’s Courtney’s pragmatism that sees his band propelled to commercial success while Anton’s continues to struggle.

There’s more to it than this though. Anton is unflinchingly non-conformist, but also extremely unstable with an equally unwavering belief in his own talents, not to mention a voracious appetite for heroin. Putting the “mentalist” into multi-instrumentalist, Anton shows us plenty to explain why his band has gone through more than 50 members in its eight year history. Whether it’s a fear of “selling out” or a fear of failure, Anton sabotages every potential big break his band is given.

Courtney, on the other hand, has his eye firmly fixed on getting a record deal and making money, but is equally determined that his band not lose the “cool” that Anton’s band so effortlessly radiate.

DIG! works so well because the dynamic between these two characters can only lead to conflict, but also because of the excellent supporting cast of characters (band-mates, exasperated managers and video-producers, etc) who are caught in the middle of these two whirlwinds of ego.

Often hilarious, sometimes sad, DIG! is never anything less than totally captivating. Some reviewers have criticised it for being unbalanced by using Courtney as narrator, but his frequent smugness when discussing his one-time friend means he doesn’t come out unscathed by any means.

It’s testament to the film that first thing I did when I got home was to hunt down The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s tracks online, which, incidentally, are all available to download free on Anton’s official site. How rock n’ roll is that?

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

DIG! is released nationally on April 14th.