Nash the Slash Rises Again!

NASH THE SLASH RISES AGAIN! is a documentary feature film about the ground-breaking electronic music genius. We need your help getting it finished. Everyone who donates gets a thanks on social media, and their name in the credits.

If you've clicked on this link, you probably already know who Nash the Slash is. If you don't, Nash was a unique musician who straddled the worlds of punk rock, prog-rock, classical and industrial (before it had a name.) He is considered a groundbreaker in contemporary music circles. Nash passed away in 2014 after a 40 year+ career.

We are determined to bring his story to the world, but we need your help to do it.

Photo by Paul Till.

Debuting in 1975, Nash the Slash used (then unheard of) tape-loops, a drum machine run through fx pedals, a glockenspiel, and an electric violin and mandolin to create a live score for the legendary 1929 Salvador Dali/Luis Bunuel surrealist film, Un Chien Andalou.

Nash's set-up circa 1978.

His mysterious persona intrigued audiences world-wide, an analog one-man band that proved his creativity. He had fearless integrity: when Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour offered to lay down a guitar track for Nash's 1980 release, Children of the Night, Nash's reponse was "No guitars!"

Liner notes from 1980's Children of the Night. There are no guitars.

He loved collaborating with other artists. His Two Artist shows with painter Robert VanDerhorst drew thousands of people who watched Nash interpret the surreal paintings live; he inspired comic-book artist Matt Howarth's creation The Simultaneous Man ; Creem writer Jeffrey Morgan used artistic licence to help Nash spin his mythology; artist Jungle Ling always snuck an image of Nash into his public murals; and photographer Paul Till was Nash's personal photographer for his entire career. Toronto promoter Gary Topp was a creative partner who helped invent the mysterious persona, and visual artist Stephen Pollard designed his eye-opening sets and played a huge part in the look.

Behind the scenes: Maskedinsanity performing Nash's "Lost Lenore" for our soundtrack.

”Mowitzer” by Robert Vanderhorst.

Panel by comic book artist Matt Howarth

Section of a mural by Jungle Ling.

Set design by Stephen Pollard; photo by Paul Till

Nash was the first musician in Canada to create his own record company, self-manage and self-promote. He conjured up an allure of mystery by managing to keep his true identity a secret known only to a few trusted people from 1978 until the interent spoiled it in the '90's. He had others secrets that were more personal. He wowed influential musicians like Gary Numan and Iggy Pop, and toured the world. He was a founding member of the influential prog-rock-electronic band FM, releasing Black Noise, an album Rolling Stone listed as one of the top fifty prog-rock records of all time. Infamous US music critic Lester Bangs has declared "Nash the Slash is the kind of opening act that makes the headliner work that much harder."

Take a look at some clips from the film. We'll be changing them up every couple of weeks, so check back in.

Here's some behind-the-scenes footage, and what it looks like in the movie.

Gary Topp, Patrick Cutney and Nash talk about the start of Nash the Slash.

Gary Numan tells of stumbling across Nash in Toronto (re-formatted and edited for TikTok.)

Martin "Youth" Glover of Killing Joke talks about Nash (re-formatted and edited for TikTok.)

Executive Producer/co-writer Colin Brunton (Schitt's Creek, Cube, Highway 61) was a close friend of Nash: they met when Colin was an usher at Toronto's rep movie theatre, The Original 99 Cent Roxy, when Nash lived in an apartment behind the projection booth. He hooked up with Side Three Media to bring Nash's story to light.

Production has been ongoing for six years. $50K from an original crowd-funding campaign and $25K from The Slaight Family Fund has got us to near completion. We need your help to finish it.

We need $75,000.00

This is how it breaks down:

Music rights $5,500.00

TV/Film licenses $34,621.00

Sound design $1000.00

Post picture lab/sound mix $17,125.00

Legals $6541.00

Publicity $3891.00

Insurance $4321.00

Accounting/audit $4200.00

As our campaign progresses, we'll update you on exactly how we're spending your donation. It pretty much goes in order of the list above: i.e. once we get $40K, we can finalize music rights and licensing agreements for footage; the next $18K would go towards the picture and sound mix, etc.

This campaign is just one way we're trying to get our completion funds. We’ve also been applying to arts councils and broadcasters.

Any donation you can make gets us closer to the finish line. And gets your name in the tail credits.

Please consider helping us.

Sincerely,

Colin Brunton

Kevan Byrne

Leanne Davies

Tim Kowalski