My Documentary Interview
Film: Electric Purgatory - Fate of the Black Rocker
Interviewee: Director Raymond Gayle
Interview Date: January 12, 2010

Dixon Christie discusses Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker with director Raymond Gayle. They discuss the circumstances and challenges that inspire a film maker to become the voice of the unheard.

Check out www.ElectricPurgatory.com for details. To order the DVD online, go to http://www.microcinema.com/ or you can buy it in stores everywhere.

MyDocumentary.ca:Alright, great. So, we first like to have our directors introduce themselves and give us a little bit of an idea of what inspired you to tell this story?
OK. I'm Raymond Gayle. I've been in and out of theindustry for I guess the last...15 years. And this is my first feature, I guess documentary. I guess what inspired me to do it was, I`m a fan of all the bands and I was just kind of curious as to why most of them didn`t really get the, I guess the acclaim that matched their musical prowess. And so, it kinda lead me to you know meeting with some of them, after shows, and kinda actually forming a brotherhood so to speak, I guess was the thing with the bands.

MyDocumentary.ca:Are you familiar with James Spooner?
Yes, I am.

MyDocumentary.ca:Yeah, we've had the chance to talk to him a couple of times and I know that you guys probably would have a lot to talk about. What part of the country are you in?
I'm in Texas.

MyDocumentary.ca:Yeah, so he's in New York and he's shared your, your reverence for the cultural, well for the impact of black musicians and also the irony of having built up rock and roll and yet not really received the acclaim that white people seemed to have taken for it.
Absolutely.

MyDocumentary.ca:Yeah so, tell me. Being from a film background yet not having directed any films; tell us about some of the challenges that you faced, you that you knew you were going to face when you started thinking about making this movie?
Really, I was just wondering actually about the financial aspects. Because we tried to get started on this I guess in what I want to say was '02. And this was right after of course, post 9/11 and of course, the ENRON debacle affected a lot of the non-profit entities. In Texas especially. For whatever reason, funding for the arts really wasn't available when I first started. So that was a challenge, a major challenge. And the other thing was, initially just trying to cover all of the bands that I wanted to cover. And, you know, the logistical challenges that was encompassing them. Actually, I got lucky because some of the, you know basically I bi-passed a lot of the management and went straight to the artist. So, that was a big help in getting things done in a timely fashion. Um, let's see. In terms of after, it was basically just getting a lot of the clearances for the media and some of the video footage, that was tough. A lot of research and I was pretty much doing that on my own basically.

MyDocumentary.ca:I'm about to ask you a bunch of that and I'll get into the details of it. Once you started how long was your shoot schedule? Or did you really have a set, definitive you know time frame to make this movie?
You know at first I was, you know pretty naive, I wanted to get everything wrapped up in a year. But of course as you know, we began principal photography and that was just not going to happen so, at that point I just wanted to make the best film I could make and I didn't really worry about putting pressure on myself to complete it. I just wanted to make sure I was thoughrough enough, you know, and covered as much area as I could. Be true to the message in the artist. So, basically I guess, after the initial wake up call I kinda didn't worry about time or schedule at that point.

MyDocumentary.ca:Knowing who would be watching your movie and again having such a respect for the people, and your heritage I suspect, which, I mean who could find a subject that they would want to respect more? Tell us about some of the challenges in being historically, and you know being accurate throughout the movie?
Yeah, that was tough. You know, I mean I wanted to be fair and I didn't want this to be you know, construed as angry black men sounding off at you know, the path you know that was given them as they go on in their careers. That's why I tried to go find people who were scholars in their area of you know, knowledge pertaining to you know African American events. It was tough you know but basically again it was journalists and musicians and they assure you and you pack and do the research yourself and see if they're legit. And I just really got lucky [laughs]. Those were the people who really knew what they were talking about and it made my life a lot easier.

MyDocumentary.ca:Once you started putting together your final cut did you have an advisory committee or a review board to make sure you know, those intelligent people you had spoken to had been 100% accurate? For example you might have gotten a quote from someone that they believe and you believe to be right and then later discover that indeed that wasn't the case?
You know to be honest with you I didn't really have an,well I guess the advisory committee would be my wife [chuckles] you know.

MyDocumentary.ca:[chuckles]
And anything that strayed along the lines of, "should I keep this in" or "is this sectionally correct", I tried to stay away from. Because a lot of things; there's a game of you know he said/she said, you know its tough. It's tough to kind of dispel some things or you know, prove or validate. I just tried to stay away from the grey areas as possible, so I could avoid all that, you know?

MyDocumentary.ca:Now you've got interviews with Fishbone and other great artists but I'm just wondering about Little Richard or Prince did you try to get out to those guys?
Yes, actually I interviewed Little Richards drummer. And of course he gave me the contact. Well actually first we stopped Little Richard and I was denied due to the fact that they wanted a considerable amount of money upfront for him to do a sitdown interview and then of course after that they wanted a percentage of the gross. You know before he would even blink at me. I kind of had to go in a different direction with him and so I got his drummer which, you know, he kind of shook around some things. It wasn't you know, little Richard but again I reached out to him. As far as Prince, he's a mythical creature, hes tough to get ahold of and I went through several of his subordinates and that didn't happen. I know he seen the film and I know he apparently doesn't have a problem with it. He's very...how should I say this? He's very...you now in terms of his image and likeness he likes to stay on top of that, he likes to make sure things are presented in a, you know, a light that he approves of I guess. You know, like I said, trust me he was one of the main ones that I wanted,Lenny Kravitz was another one, his people actually denied me. They said he didn't have room in his schedule to do this film but, I reached out to people, definitely.

MyDocumentary.ca:Did you see the interview Prince has done? like I haven't really seen many interviews but I'm trying to find the interview that he's done with Tavis Smiley? He's done a couple amazing...
Oh, absolutely. Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah. I have every Prince interview he's ever done.

MyDocumentary.ca:Oh you do? OK.
I'm a fan. [Laughs]

MyDocumentary.ca:Alright. So, let's look at that for a second, there's Little Richard who has you know not been shy about saying that Rock & Roll owes him billions and you know he's only going to talk about that if he's getting paid and...I mean, there's an irony in that isn't there?
You know, exactly. And being a black man, that kind of rubbed me the wrong way 'cause you know, here I am; I'm putting my livelihood on the line to shine the light on this important topic and you know, at times I felt I didn't really get a lot of support from people who should have been 100% behind it, you know. You know, it's so cliche "Oh, I`m an artist and I don't do this for money" but realistically, do I want the film to be a success? Of course! But I didn't really go in thinking that, I just wanted to tell the story of what's been going on, the artists and everything else would be gravy as far as I was concerned and I, again when you reach out to certain artists and they don't find it compelling enough or they don't take time to you know devote to the project then it's a little disheartening because I'm fighting for them, you know? And everything that they are talking about, I was fighting for in the film, so.

MyDocumentary.ca:I think I totally feel what you're saying, but in their defense I think its always a matter of 'show me'. I believe when you do part II or whatever, you send them a copy of the DVD and they're going to, they're really going to see what you're doing is real, they're gunna feel it. Like you say about Prince, if he doesn't know, I know he knows that going on Tavis Smiley he's going to be represented the way that he wants and otherwise, he doesn't care right?
[Laughs] He ensued me you know, so that's a good thing. I mean he's quick to really, stay on you know his image on the Internet and you know just in media. And I've heard from his people that you know, he dug the film and that's great I mean, you know, because I consider him truly like a brother I never had. And I'll always look up to him and he was actually the first artist,that was the first concert I went to; Purple Rain concert. I think that was '86, '85? I was probably 7th grade; 12-13 years old. Changed my life forever.

MyDocumentary.ca:Have you considered the irony of Prince's success as its just opposed to the subject matter of your documentary? I mean really he is out of hundreds of thousands of examples you could make he is the one super...he`s the complete and polar opposite to the unsuccessful, so many unsuccessful African American bands and look at what happened to him and what he had to do with it. Becoming a slave...considering himself a slave to his record label and turning his back on the labels, essentially, eventually pushing the industry to really change?
You know, I think...Well I can't really speak for him you know I think for someone like Prince its a little more disheartening to see bands, like U2 for example to really expand their sound and take you know chances; musically. And have the support of the label and the media at large. And you know, when [Prince] tries to deviate from you know what's expected, then all of a sudden hes crazy and hes you know not putting out good material and... you know its a little bit of a double standard. I mean, you know Sting? You got to love sting to death, hes got a hell of a policy but Sting, when he did his jazz album; The Dream of the Blue Turtles, and Nothing like the Sun. To me, that was like the critics you know favorite album at the time and you know Prince put out a Jazz CD I think it was N.E.W.S., people try to tan it, you know they're all "what is he trying to do?" you know and "his hearts not in it". Its just, its just difficult. It was difficult for Prince I think to really kinda branch out like with something contemporary and you know theres really no reason why he can't have the same liberties as some of his peers.

MyDocumentary.ca:Now you spoke earlier about some of the licensing challenges. Tell us about licensing and about specifically, Hendrix... the Hendrix and Prince footage that you managed to include.
Well basically before I you know got a lawyer, you know people were just trying to go through the roof with prices in terms of the licensing. Once I got an attorney, all of a sudden things were a little bit more manageable. In terms of the Prince and Jimi Hendrix footage; first off I got the full support of the Hendrix Foundation. I  mean his nephew is actually attended Morehouse, we had a screening there I think it is in '07, and he loved the sound. His mother is the one that.. Janie Hendrix, she controls the estate. You know, they totally you know, support the film and asked me, you know told me if I needed anything let them know. So with the Prince footage I mean I went through Historic Films and got that secured and did all my music licensing through Diamond Time. And again there was a process, a tedious process, but you know it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's just a lot of negotiations and I'm an artist, not a business person persay. And I mean, you know...and its very...that's not the most enjoyable process [laughs] of film making; to deal with all the negotiations. I mean its tough but you know, you have to do it, it has to be done so. If I could give I guess any advice to film makers out there then I guess its just to you know, just make sure the business side is taken care of, so you can sleep at night. And like I said, getting a lawyer really kinda helps you negotiate the minefield of licensing [laughs]. Just kinda simplifies it and makes things a little bit easier.

MyDocumentary.ca:You chose the release the movie on YouTube. I'm not sure where else you've released it but, its had 330,000 views and while your getting your message out there do these views affect or impact one way or another recouping your expenses?
Sure, basically you know I went, lets talk about distribution. When we were finished with the film and did the festival circuit and that, you know, we were inundated with several offer from traditional distributes and they were just really ridiculous. Bad deals, I mean just things like rights for 10 years you know they wanted rights across the board, broadcasts, you know home video. They had everything without any advance and no guarantees. So I was contacted by Cinetic Media , which is not film fest, but the cinematic, they're a powerhouse in distribution in Hollywood and they were checking into film, and they had a unique marketing strategy in terms of releasing films in the digital realm and that excited me. We were selected by YouTube for their Screen Room, which is a, you know quite an honour. We were featured during black history month. I guess it was February of last year. We do get a percentage, you know of revenue comes from the hits. Its  really an afforded expense for the much needed exposure in my opinion. But actually, to continue, we are actually having a world wide release now on DVD and signed with MicroCinema Int'l. And they are releasing it to ALL retail outlets, so I'm excited about that.

MyDocumentary.ca:So tell us about some of the added value on the DVD? So, when people go and pick it up, what can they expect in the way of bonuses and features?
Well I think the big thing is we have an exclusive interview with H.R. of BadBrains. And for those people who are fans of that great band, then H.R. is a you know, an unique individual and he rarely does interviews and he was willing to you sit down and discuss you know the bands history and such which I am very thankful for and... We also have deleted scenes and we have extras, concerning some of the bands, with a section called The New Breed and theres spotlighting of some bands that we feel will make some noise in the future. Bands that are called, God forbid. Mark on Your Mirror, you know,  they're like the [laughs] the new version of Metallica they come out and they`re hungry and they're like mean and hungry and rough and you know, I love them. Great gig, watch out for them.

MyDocumentary.ca:What surprised you most in making this movie?
Oh, what surprised me most? Um...You know i just think how personal some the artists got with me during interviews. I mean, you have to understand, I mean doing this... I mean I'm like interviewing like people I grew up you know idolizing. You know, I mean these are like heroes of mine; Fishbone and 24/7 Spyz are really calling me. These are, you know, I listen to their albums and CDs and what not and to be able to go in their homes and be treated like family and have them open up to me. That was, you know, that was the really the most surprising thing. They rally, everybody really accepted me and really supported you know, what I was trying to do. So I guess that was surprising. So i guess they're just every... you know they're just regular people like you and me you know, they have families and they have problems. So that kinda opened my eyes to a lot things. like wow you know, but that would probably be it.

MyDocumentary.ca:OK, well we've got a couple of questions we like to ask all our filmmakers and one of them is: What camera did you shoot on and what software did you use for editing?
Sure. Basically I used the XL1 and PD, I think PD150. And I used a TRV900 you know for some last minute interviews, and the platform, editing platform was Final Cut Pro, all the way.

MyDocumentary.ca:All the way. Absolutely.
[Laughs] Yeah, I'm a Mac guy. I'm a little disappointed in the new MacBook pros though. Only 1 firewire port, that's unbelievable but yeah.

MyDocumentary.ca:Yeah, I know. The one I have I bought a year and a half ago. The new MacBook pro is actually not as good as the old one.
Not at all! I don't know what they were thinking? Really, I mean [laughs] I don;t know if they were trying to simplify or what? But I'm a little disappointed.

MyDocumentary.ca:I guess they are going to be releasing a new webbook pretty soon. Like a new 10 inch screen or something. Did you hear about that?
Didn't hear about that, but hey its you know, I've, mac's are the first computers I grew up on. You know and I just kind of stuck with them. And they're just kinda grabbing back at the forefront now, because you know windows you know, no not windows...yeah windows and PC s they just kinda took over for awhile there and, but, so its nice to see them making some noise.

MyDocumentary.ca:Did you do the post production yourself on your mac? Color and audio? Or did you send it out?
Yeah actually I did. And that wasn't through ego it was just out of necessity. I mean um, it wasn't dictated that I had to go ahead and edit it as well so then again most of the money went to getting it live and things and what not yeah I had to go ahead and do that. It was tough because there was not a bad scene for me, there was not a bad interviews, not a bad music footage and  just imagine trying to I think the hardest thing for me was cutting down the performance footage you know what I mean? During the Prince thing that he's doing that, that killer guitar solo doing, Why you wanna treat me so bad? Oh man! Originally I had it in there for like maybe 3 minutes?

MyDocumentary.ca:Yeah.
You know it was tough cutting it down to you know a minute and some change. You know I mean now that was tough.

MyDocumentary.ca:One of the questions that we ask all the film makers is how much film did you shoot? or video of course did you shoot and what  was  your final cut length?
Oh geez, I wanna say I had, God. Man, I wanna say I had over 78 hours of footage, I wanna say.

MyDocumentary.ca:OK.
Yeah you know, and now that, actually the ordinal cut, the festival cut of the film was about an hour and 20.. an hour and 37 minutes. And we chopped that up to an hour and 7.  So, it's brutal you know because like i said you don't want to cut out anything but you know at some point you just have to kinda walk away. You know that my wife, she was the producer on the film and she was really good at setting me straight, you know I'd get on my tangents. That's got to go, so its good to have someone with a fresh set of eyes that can give some guidance when we're at the editing station there.

MyDocumentary.ca:Alright. Last question, we ask everybody is: Intelligent design or evolution? and why?
That's a tough one. [Laughs] You got me on that one man. Intelligent Design or Evolution, Why? I would probably go with evolution just because in my mind its the natural order of things, natural progression. How about that? I'll make it easy for myself. You know, hey. I'm sorry man, that's one of those higher level, medieval, thinking questions there.

MyDocumentary.ca:What are you doing next? What are you doing next? What's happening, I know your re-releasing the DVD coming up, you have any other movie projects in the works?
Actually I do. I have several projects in the product line. But one that's close to me, My Great-grandfather founded a town, he bought a town. He basically had all his brothers, he got his freed all his brothers and sisters, paid for them and moved them to this town in Texas and I wanted to do a piece around that because you know, there's not a lot of heroes in African American cinema. And his story should defiantly be told. And I've been working on it the last, you know just researching the last 3 years for that. So, that's hopefully the next project I will do. Everybody's been calling for sequels to Electric Purgatory and that's also a possibility because some of the bands joined, I don't know if you've heard that 24/7 Spyz, Fishbone, Kings X, Sound Barrier, they've formed a group called ANM. This stands for Anti N***** Machine.

MyDocumentary.ca:Which is a band name that I shouldn't say.
[Laughs]

MyDocumentary.ca:We don't say the "N" word up here in Canada.
[Laughs] I understand, I understand. But yeah, they, they're apparently, I talked to Jimi hazel, lead singer and guitarist, founder of 24/7 Spyz all the time. And that's something that they have been shuffling around right now, and apparently they are going to drop something this summer so, I am hoping to document that because that's the main, you know, one of the goals of the film you know. Try to inspire some of these guys to #1 keep making music, but to maybe even you know join forces you know theres a segment that we talk about having a black Lollapalooza type event, where we get all the black bands together and they tour. This is in the same vein, I mean where all the bands are you know, coming together for the common good, and no ones worried about a percentage of this and that they just wanna do something spiritual with the music and that's a good thing.

MyDocumentary.ca:I was kinda wondering about Derrick Green from Sepultura, he's a gentleman of colour and...
I like how you said that, "Gentleman of colour"

MyDocumentary.ca:[Laughs] I'm a Canadian, what can I say? Anyway, you never got a chance to talk to him? I've talked to  him a couple of times and he's, he would be an amazing interview for you.
You know again, there were a lot of people who didn't get in the film and it wasn't because, you know we were trying to be rude. Its just that alot of times theses guys go over seas and they don't come back for awhile. And so you know in this case, I wanna say I did reach out to them, I cant remember oh no that was the guy from, I'm sorry, it wasn't him, it was the lead singer from sevendust. I'm sorry.

MyDocumentary.ca:Oh, Sevendust. I don't think I've ever talked to him.
We tried to get them, you know, but it didn't work out. There were a lot of bands that you know, we would love to do, but it just didn't happen.OK. I thought if the name, John Witherspoon, is the lead singer for Sevendust.

MyDocumentary.ca:OK.Alright, well hey thanks a lot for your time and best wishes to you.
Best of luck to you.

MyDocumentary.ca:OK.Take care. Peace.
Bye.

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