Bottom line: A subtly hilarious tight-wire act teetering between rockumentary and mockumentary, between Diane Arbus and Elmore Leonard.
9-10:30 p.m. Monday, April 5 Showtime
This curious show about tribute bands starts out seemingly straight-faced as we watch a member of a Kiss copycat band called Larger Than Life standing under studio lights trying to get smoke to come out of his guitar like Ace Frehley.
The idea is to "do a photo shoot, shop it to clubs and agencies and see who bites," one member explains.
The guy playing Frehley has shown us how he can put the trademark black and white makeup on in 15 minutes, doing half the face first, checking "for quality control" and finishing with the other half.
Now he pushes a button on his instrument and waits for the smoke. No go. He shakes his wig and his instrument, altered to resemble a battle ax. Still no go.
"Did you bend the wires?" he asks an assistant. "Bend the wires! Bend the wires!" The guy does, and this time evil-looking yellow smoke comes pouring out as a Kiss tape plays.
Eventually someone actually does bite, and the bogus Kiss gets on some decrepit stage in some deteriorating burg, and what do you know? They sound good, or at least just as bogus as the real Kiss. Brave lads, you gotta love them.
The same is true of Bloodstone, a terrifying Judas Priest cover Sheer Heart Attack, which mimics Queen and Missing Links, which recalls the Monkees (which of course recalled the Beatles).
Producer-directors Kris Curry and Rich Fox ("The Family") and executive producer Steven Soderbergh make their hand-held way through this bleak world with an unblinking Wim Wenders eye.
The goodies are in the unexpected, unplanned visual moments: the sight of the Freddie Mercury Memorial Tree, for instance, a little humdrum black pine no taller than a recycling can. Or the Heavy Metal Mailman, who tells, as he drops his ordinary letters into a plain old mail slot, how is grand ambition was to be a Major League Baseball player.
And there's tragedy to overcome. The bogus Mercury in Sheer Heart Attack lands a role in a German company of "Cats" and has to split. A tryout to replace him "wouldn't look right in a tutu" and has to be rejected.
Plus a purpose in life. "If it wasn't for bands like Bloodstone, people would forget about heavy metal," someone says. "This brings back the faith in the old metal."
TRIBUTE: A ROCKUMENTARY Showtime
Credits: Produced and directed by: Rich Fox, Kris Curry Executive producer: Steven Soderbergh Associate producers: Stephen Mirrione, Phil Benson Edited by: Rich Fox, Stephen Mirrione Sound mixer: Phil Benson Music supervisor: Frankie Pine Original score: Brian Kehew and Mother Superior Cast: Sheer Heart Attack, Larger Than Life, Bloodstone, Missing Links
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