Support a Doc on the 90s Post-Nirvana Underground Bands

In the 1990s after the grunge/alternative explosion when Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and others completely reshaped the music scene and pop culture in general, major labels were on the hunt for the "next big thing." They were eager to mine blood from a stone, promising to help break new bands while cashing in on their talent.

In the wake of this sudden shift, a plethora of bands graduated from the hardcore punk movement that was a reaction to the Reagan-80s and an inspiration to the likes of Nirvana and others to a number of other blossoming sub-genres, such as post-hardcore, noise rock, the earliest murmurs of emo, and more.

One of these bands was Girls Against Boys, a DC-turned-NYC-based act largely involved with the legendary independent label Touch and Go after their members' former band, Soulside, worked with another legendary independent label, Dischord, run by Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi and his crew.

I happened to grow up on all of this music in the 90s. I had just turned eleven when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became a hit and broke the world. From there my interests branched into bands that Nirvana was influenced by and affiliated with like the Pixies, Jesus Lizard, Big Black, etc., and from Jesus Lizard bled into the Touch and Go catalog as well as that of other labels like Matador, Merge, Kill Rock Stars, K Records, and more.

In my late-20s, when I was finally in bands of my own, I started my own label, Volar Records, following the model as I could of those that I was raised on.

I also got to know and work with some of the folks who made the music that raised me. Members of Girls Against Boys, Drive Like Jehu, Unwound, and others--we ended up in each others' orbits and I worked with them when I could.

I've been trying to kick off my filmmaking career for a while now and happened to move to LA to try and do so days before the pandemic hit.

A lot has happened in my life since, so here I am trying to finally get things going.

I want to make a documentary about the post-Nirvana 90s and the experimental and noisy bands that were just as good as them but never crossed the bridge into mainstream success. Specifically, Girls Against Boys, a band that, at the time, was both my favorite in high school and the band openly talked about as the actual "next big thing," if they were willing to ride the Corporate Major Label wave.

The band signed to Geffen Records in 1997 and released their LP Freak*on*ica a year later in 1998.

The album did well and the band toured with hot act Garbage, but following corporate restructuring, they hung in limbo for a few years.

But they kept going, recording the LP 'You Can't Fight What You Can't See' four years later in 2002 and then the EP 'The Ghost List' in 2013.

Their legacy lives on following a successful reunion tour in late 2022 in support of the delayed 25th-anniversary release of their trilogy-capper 'House of GVSB'.

I wrote a piece about that record after a lengthy interview with singer/guitarist Scott McCloud in 2019.

https://www.treblezine.com/girls-against-boys-house-of-gvsb-blueprint/

Even though I've been pushing for more fictional-narrative projects, it would be my dream if my first feature film was about my favorite band in high school that was part of a major time in music that highlights the dangers of corporate greed.