Matt Hulse returns to Cucalorus film festival with the inklings of a new feature documentary project.The project is being developed in cahoots with US documentary maker Elizabeth ‘Roll Out, Cowboy‘ Lawrence.
‘The Hippies’ were a bizarre English punk band formed in 1979 by Matt Hulse (aged 11) and his siblings Toby (12) and Polly (8).
Their eclectic and eccentric cassette album ‘A Sound for the Future’ includes songs about fatal disease (‘Rabies’), assassination (‘Dallas City Ghost’), visions of dystopia (‘Terra Nova’) and a ska/rap riffing on Matt’s Chinese math teacher (‘Mr Poh’).
The Hippies’ DIY approach and domestic sound (Bontempi wind organ, cardboard box drum kit, jars of lentils, tape manipulation, Moog) resonates to this day with semi-ironic naive charm and offers a touching, comic insight into a time of personal and social upheaval – for the band, their family and also the wider, unsettled social landscape of post-punk England ’79. Sometimes the voice of children rings truest.
At a special ‘work-in-progress’ Cucalorus event, with Lawrence acting as provocateur, Hulse will talk about his ideas for the project and share extracts from the surviving media – songs, photos, objects, stories.
For a richer context, the film makers will also be presenting a selection of short films and animation focused on the spirit of the ‘musical maverick’, punk DIY aesthetic and outsider music, including work by Klaus Beyer, Ivor Cutler, John Otway and The Shaggs.
Joining the mosh pit will be musician Fred Champion, performing live cover versions of original tunes by The Hippies, to be filmed as part of the project’s wonky but practical first steps.
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