Nash the Slash Rises Again!

NASH THE SLASH RISES AGAIN! is a documentary feature film about the ground-breaking electronic music genius.

We've worked on this for six years now, and have raised (and spent) close to $115K, but we need your help getting all of the post-production done: sound design and mix; colour correct; and some more licensing. Everyone who donates gets a thanks on social media and their name in the credits.

You have a chance to make a real impact, and once the film is finished you can honestly say that it couldn't have happened without you.

You probably already know who Nash the Slash is. He was described by a UK journalist as "classical punk," a term Nash loved.

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.

Here's a teaser from our film:

Photo by Paul Till

Here's a scene from the film:

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.

Photo by Paul TIl

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!"

Photo by Paul Till

He loved collaborating with other artists. And artists such as the mysterious Virgil Pink, continue to, even though Nash passed away ten yaers ago. (Check out Virgil's YouTube pages for the films; he's made brilliant animated films for the likes of Nash, Laurie Anderson, The Residents, Brian Eno, and many more. It's a treasure trove.)

Virgil Pink's Animal Jamboree

Nash's 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.

Photo by Paul TIll

Nash the Slash 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.

All photos by Paul TIll

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."

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

Here's a "behind-the-scenes" from our shoot:

Production has been ongoing for six years. We raised $50K from an original crowd-funding campaign and got $25K from The Slaight Family Fund. This has gotten us to locked-picture, but we still need your help to finish it.

Here's an example of what we're doing with the donations. These are brief clips showing the before and after of restoration and 2K transfers. Best impact is to view them on a large screen.

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 applied to arts councils, but we're not banking on it.

Any donation you can make gets us closer to the finish line.

Please consider donating.

Sincerely,

Colin Brunton

Kevan Byrne

Leanne Davies

Tim Kowalski