ERIC FENNELL / SUPERTOUCH Documentary from I DRINK MILK #3
Interview by xBobex - 2008
IDM: Supertouch is one of the best bands ever. How did you get into contact with them? Did you know them, you contacted them, or it happened the other way around?
Eric: I had known Andy the drummer years before Supertouch. I remember talking with Andy and rest of the band about shooting photographs of the group for their upcoming record and for publicity. I also would drive their Chevy van that they had purchased at some point on long distance roadtrips for those far away gigs up and down the coast. Before the van I would sometimes help Andy and the other band members haul instruments and equiptment in this huge 1965 Chrysler 300 that I owned at the time. The 7'' back cover photo that I did shows the part of the Chrysler in the foreground with the band members standing behind it. A lot of the memories are kind of foggy, but I do remember meeting the three other members of the band and started photographing them during the second half of 1988.
IDM: Have you got this car now? What happened to it?
Eric: I do not have that car (the 1965 Chrysler) anymore. I had to get rid of it about 14 years ago because the engine was ruined from a bad oil leak.
IDM: What do you like in their music? Have you got a favourite Supertouch song? Which persons did you make friends with during the shooting?
Eric: I liked Supertouch because they were raw and not over-produced. Their music also seemed a little more positive than the usual ' I'm Screwed, You are Screwed, the World is Screwed' type of stuff. I can not say that I made any friends while working with Supertouch. The band member interviews in the documentary say it best. Most of the band members said that when not playing music together they really do not hang out together. The music aspect of their lives was on the same page while other aspects were totaly on different pages. Sometimes they got along great while othertimes they could be totaly pissed at each other. Sometimes I felt welcomed and sometimes I did not. Either way, they were always nice to me even at the moments when they did not feel like being filmed. They were not arrogant or pretentious like some bands can be. However, Jon the guitarist was the least pretentious and the most open minded and easygoing as far as the documentary was concerned and also about things in general. He told me at one point that he liked the idea of the documentary because it was good publicity for the band.Also, I was older than the Supertouch band members and in some cases a lot older than some of the fans that saw their shows. That could be another reason why I did not make many friends or connections while shooting the documentary.
I liked the song Engine but I can't say it is my favourite.
HOW DO YOU FEEL? / Live at CBGBs - from the documentary "Supertouch And Other People"
IDM: Did you have to do anything with this music? How about now? What kind of music do you prefer?
Eric: I have always liked Rock n Roll, but I am also into Jazz and Blues and some Classical music too. I had mentioned that I like music raw and not overproduced. Supertouch and some of the other Hardcore band were like that. I am so busy these days and I don't have much of a chance to listen to music. However, when I do get a chance I listen to Jazz. I like Mingus very much. I still listen to some of the good older rock n roll bands but not too much. I do not know any current hardcore bands and I can't say I know what the scene is like now. In the years after Supertouch, I started managing bands and booking shows in clubs and even promotedtwo small Rock Festivals which included 8 bands and some accustic acts in 1994 and 1995. These events were not harcore related but these were some good rock n roll bands which I had hand picked for the festivals.
IDM: How did you begin filming? What was your motivation to this documentary?
Eric: Aside from publicity, the main reason for doing the documentary was to show a genre of Rock n Roll that did not seem to be talked about so often.
I liked the controlled chaos of the kids in the audience slamming, stage diving, yelling along with the band and then at the end of the song they stand there and politely clap their hands as if they were listening to chamber music. I also liked the fact that kids from all backgrounds and races would go to the shows and enjoy the music together. At least thats how it was at the shows that I saw when I was filming Supertouch.The earlier Punk era seemed to be less inclusive.
Another motivating factor was my health. I knew that doing a project like that would help me both mentally and physically. I needed to improve both of those issues at that time. I was also busy with other things but adding on the Supertouch documentary helped me to focus more on trying to keep both physically and mentally fit. I don't think any of the band members knew that they were helping me stay alive by letting me film them.
IDM: How did making this film happen? Did you have any problem during the making?
Eric: The main problem was the equiptment. I was used to working with film but working and editing with video tape was a bit different. At times, the tape would be somewhat unstable. At one point I had lost the image on a couple of cassettes. The audio was still there but the image was just snow. I used some angry words that you would not want to print here when this happened. Once I began to edit I was able to use some of the audio from these tapes and my anger went down some 60%.
I think that also one of the cameras that I used broke down. Remember, this was almost 20 years ago and even the earliest DVD camcorders were still a few years away. If you were doing a low budget home made project like I was, you just did not have the greatest equiptment to work with. I would take suggestions from anyone that wanted to give one.
IDM: Directing involves that in the film appearently your choices are made (choosing the photos, places, pictures) or could the band have a decision on these questions?
Eric: I don't think the band members had too many things to say when we were shooting. They were mainly concerned about their music. Locations and most other film making choices were pretty much up to me.
I shot 90% of the documentary myself. I listed Mary Cahill who I knew from college as 'Camera' but she was there only for a few segments. She was always a little nervous and I hoped giving her a bigger credit would boost her confidence. I don't know if the boost happened, but she did a great job at the times she was there.
IDM: Why does the film begin with What did we learn, and why is it finished with Climbing aboard? (it is the other way around on the 7'...)
Eric: I thought What Did We Learn was kind of a good intro song because it tells a little something about the scene and the people with in the Hard Core scene. At least thats what I got from some of the lyrics at the begining of the song.
I liked Climbing Aboard at the end because it closes the documentary on a positve note and some good advice. You should always 'Fight Not To Be X'D'.
ON THREE / Live at CBGBs - from the documentary "Supertouch And Other People"
IDM: During the speech of the band members photos show up about them. Did you choose and made these photos?
Eric: I shot all of the photographs of the band that you see in the documentary. I shot most of them before I even thought about making the film. The film and tape footage was shot during the first five months of 1990. I shot the still photos during the period from late 1988 to 1990.
I remember that a reviewer at a fanzine thought the documentary was filmed over several years. He could not believe it was shot in just a few months. It took me just a little under a year to edit it because of the many hours of footage that I had to go through.
IDM: Where did you tape the restaurant scene? What was your goal with this scene? What is the meaning of the money in the end of the scene?
Eric: That restaurant was a roadside diner near the highway when we were driving back to New York from a show.I don't remember where the diner was but it was pretty far from New York and it was around 2:00AM or so. I thought the eating at a diner after a show footage would kind of tie in to Mark's opening words about how he wrote the song Engine very early in the morning. That is also why I showed the nighttime highway footage also as the band was starting to perform Engine. The money just showed that the meal was over just as the song was ending.
IDM: Why did you choose to name your film: Supertouch and other people?
Eric: The film was about Supertouch the band and the fans of scene the band was in. The people that came to see Supertouch play were an important factor in the film. For one thing, anyone seeing the documentary that knows nothing about hardcore can see that a lot of the people in the scene are not just a bunch of stoned out party people that just fight all of the time. However, you can find people like that in any group.
IDM: What is your job right now?
Eric: Aside from freelance photography and video, I do work in film and television as well as theater production.
IDM: I found an Eric Fennell, who was the production assistant for the film called: Doom Asylum. Are you this person? If you are, please tell me the story how it was being the production assistant for this film? Do you like the horror films?
Eric: Yes, that was me. That film was being shot in the Summer of 1987 and I was doing a bit of production assistant work on feature films and was a sound man on smaller productions at that time. I remember during the mid to late 1980's that I did P.A. work on a few of those low bugdet horror slasher movies. The stories alway involved a group of young people and girls in bikinis. The main thing I remember about Doom Asylum is that there was a 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertable on the set and that I was able to drive it to the near by town to pick up supplies and stuff. Sometimes I would get in to the car by just hopping over the door onto the seats. I wonder if I could still do that now? I'm not a fan of those horror slasher films, but it was interesting to see how they did some of the effects in that pre- digital era.
IDM: I saw your pictures and a lot of people made good judgement about your photos. I saw the Country Blacktop, the Loud, and the Untitled photos. what are the stories about these pictures? What was the inspiration?
Eric: I wanted to create something interesting to look at they you may not see every day. Sometimes the photo may tell a story but not all of the time. People are surprised and sometimes shocked when they find out that I do not use computers or photoshop when I create these images. The process is old fashioned non-digital photomontage. I shoot everything seperately and then combine the images. I never use photos from other sources. The cars, planes, and UFO's are miniature models. The landscapes that I shoot are real most of the time. I will shoot with black and white film and use models of antique cars and dress actors in old style clothes to create a look of another era. I do different types of photography but this is the stuff I do that gets into galleries and has been exhibited at different venues in the U.S. and Europe. I am always looking for new places to bring my work to. It is not easy to get a rep. for the photography or to be accepted for exhibits but I do not mind the struggle.
Ten samples of my work can be seen at http://altpick.com/ericfennell which is my web page.
SEARCHING FOR THE LIGHT / Toronto 2009
IDM: What is your opinon about the Supertouch and other people documentary? What became the fate of the film? And what happened between you and the band? How did you part with them?
Eric: Recently, I have been planning to re-release the documentary on DVD with some never before seen performances and segments.
I would like to try to do release the DVD this year but for now I can only say 'stay tuned'.
I know there are a lot of bootleg copies of Supertouch and Other People out there as well as segments on UTube. It would be nice if the fans of the band could have a better quality copy of the film. DVD copies from the original master tape should be much better than the oringinal VHS. Either way the documentary seems to have had a seperate underground life of it's own. I guess it is good that I did the film because photography and film and video is the only way fans of any type of music can get to see their favourite acts perform while the performers are still in their prime. This is the case until time travel becomes available.
I think Supertouch broke up just before I finished editing the documentary. I haven't seen or spoken to them in years.