I’ve read about how mesmerizing and amazing it is. I’ve heard about its awesomeness from those who’ve witnessed it first hand. And now, thanks to Wilco’s new tour DVD, Ashes of American Flags, I’ve gotten a small taste of Wilco’s live show.
The film was produced and directed by Christoph Green and Brendan Canty, capturing various stops and moments from Wilco’s 2008 U.S. tour. As Canty explains, the tour doc was made with a “terrifying lack of planning”, which produced a simple, real, and effective final product that gives a brief but in depth look at one of the most interesting rock bands of the mid-90s and early 21st century.
Wilco is a band with a rich and diverse musical catalogue that is a result of the band’s selfless devotion to their music–a dedication that stems largely from their genuine appreciation and respect for the art of sound. This selflessness was seen when lead singer and songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, convinced the band’s former label, Reprise Records, to release the double-album, Being There, at a single-album price. In order to do this, Wilco had to give Reprise their share of royalties, which reportedly cost the band $600,000 by 2003. It’s never been about fame or fortune as Tweedy notes when discussing the “realistic expectations” the band was founded on.
“From the beginning it was, ‘Maybe we can get a gig. Maybe we can get a gig in St. Louis.’ And then it was, ‘Maybe we can get a gig in Columbia, Missouri. Maybe if we bought a van we could start touring around to places that are three hours from our home and play college towns.’”
Since it was never about money for Wilco it is easy to see how the falling out with Reprise happened when the label’s parent company, Time Warner, fired 600 members of Warner Music Group, including Howie Klein, former president of Reprise and one of Wilco’s staunchest supporters.
In Klein’s place, David Kahne took over Reprise and assigned Mio Vukovic to oversee the production of Wilco’s most popular album to date, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Vukovic took offense when the band ignored his suggestion to create more commercially friendly songs, which eventually led the band to be dismissed from the label. Fortunately, Wilco was able to retain the rights to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot after forking over $50,000.
In order to combat the illegal sharing of low quality versions of the album, Wilco decided to stream Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on its website, which brought in 50,000+ hits the day it went up. They eventually signed to Nonesuch Records, another Warner subsidiary, which goes to show how convoluted the music industry can be.
That said, Reprise’s nearsightedness in trying to control and manipulate Wilco’s music backfired and is still considered one of the label’s biggest mistakes. When a band as talented as Wilco comes along it’s best to leave them up to their own devices, especially when the head of the band is someone like Jeff Tweedy, who has a deep and spiritual respect for music.
“I love that aspect of how music speaks and what music can do and how vividly it can paint those images in my mind. And I don’t find it arcane at all to aspire to that. I think it’s kind of the point,” said Tweedy during one scene in Ashes of American Flags.
He was commenting on the representational function of music, which causes music to be more than just an audible experience, but a visual one as well. Perhaps that is the most surprising thing about the minimally planned tour film as the scenes are beautifully filmed in high definition and compliment the 13 songs that were chosen from the 15 show 2008 tour.
The timing of the shot transitions works to create a powerful and surreal experience as seen and felt during Wilco’s performance of “Via Chicago” at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which comes after Tweedy’s comments on the purity of music.
“I think that music really only exists in that moment, and all the other stuff that you talk about and try and figure out and rationalize and philosophize about it always comes way after the fact, and at that point I just think you’re trying to catch the wind.”
The statement is contradicted by what follows as Canty and Green do a masterful job of capturing the intensity and scope of the performance. “Via Chicago” is a song that is both chaotic and numbing, depressing as well as liberating as it transitions brilliantly from a mellow shuffling to an overwhelming barrage of noise, which abruptly morphs back into slow strumming accompanied by the periodic whine of a guitar and beautiful piano playing, moving back and forth between the untamed spasm of sound and a barely there sense of control that is displayed during the tamer parts of the song. The keen eyes of Canty and Green manage to translate the emotional energy of the song into a visually moving sequence of perfectly timed transitions that capture the excellent lighting shifts, which not only draw the audience in but cause the band to adapt their performance as well–a performance that is far more intense than the recorded version of the song.
As a result of Wilco’s talent and Canty and Green’s eye for fitting images to compliment the music, Ashes of American Flags is an hour and twenty-six minutes of encapsulating musical performances and light-handed social commentary.
Shots of tiny, single-level homes in forgotten places, rain dribbling down the tour bus windows, empty highways, and the sun setting through leafless trees open the film while Wilco plays their song, “Ashes of American Flags”, to an empty ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Once sound check is complete, the film cuts to Pat Sansone (multi-instrumentalist) as he walks around Tulsa snapping Polaroids of the old and decaying downtown. As he describes it, he’s “capturing the little pieces of a fading America with a fading technology.” The somber tone of the song makes it a fitting lead-off track for the film as it matches the visuals that instill a feeling of abandonment, loss, and an America that has been reduced to a shell of its former self by what the band’s bassist, John Stirratt, calls the “Walmartarization” of the country. There is a reason why Ashes of American Flags showcases performances in cities that are very much an influential part of the collective character of the country.
New Orleans, Tulsa, Nashville, Mobile, and D.C. are the featured locations in the tour documentary that captures a band and a nation that is constantly in transition. With a roster that has changed multiple times with the exceptions of Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt, the lineup featured in Ashes of American Flags appears to be the tightest and most talented one yet. Each member contributes their own unique traits, talents, and passions to create a whole that is more cohesive than epoxy.
While enough can’t be said about Jeff Tweedy’s love and respect for musical tradition as evidenced by his varied influences and adept songwriting, two of the newer members, Nels Cline (guitarist) and Glenn Kotche (drummer), are stunning musical specimens. In the opening sequence, Nels’ hand turns to a fleshy blur as he elegantly moves through a solo that is so flawless and clean that it boggles the mind that his hand was moving so fast. Glenn, on the other hand, appears to never stop drumming as seen in many points in the film, most notably when he calls Nels from the bus to tell him how “pathetic and sad” it is that he’s still practicing even though the show has ended.
In fact, during one part of the film, which shows the band icing their limbs and getting checked out by a doctor post-show, Nels and Glenn appear to be suffering the most as Glenn dips his bloody hands in a bowl of ice while Nels nurses the whiplash he got from playing so intensely. He goes on to talk about his reoccurring neck problems that stem largely from his desire to play in a way that leaves him floating. As Cline notes, body damage is the last thing a person thinks about when it comes to music, but when a band tours as heavily as Wilco does, the bodily strain is just as much a part of it as the traveling and the shows.
For a film that was made with very little planning, Canty and Green do a wonderful job of keeping the interview parts from overshadowing the performances. Ashes of American Flags is a quickly flowing flick that is fortunately packed with plenty of extras, including an exclusive online download of the 20 live tracks from the film as well as an entire concert.
The impromptu nature of the film’s production created a film that is a genuine portrayal of a band who makes music not to become famous or to make a ton of money, but to play it live for people who share their love for carefully and thoughtfully created sounds.
Ashes of American Flags was released exclusively to independent retailers on April 18th in support of national Record Store Day, an event lead singer and songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, considers a “great day” as local record stores had a major impact on his music and life. A broader release will take place on April 28th, which gives you enough time to get down to your local record store and help contribute to their longevity.
Watch the Trailer: Ashes of American Flags Trailer
Buy the DVD: Goto www.ashesofamericanflags.com