I
magineanalternateuniversewhere
humanity’ssinsarecausedbySatan’s
evil guitar. In thisworld,Godsaves
mankindby taking theevil guitar
intoHeaven, and theEarthbecomes
aPuritanwasteland,withnoplace for rock ’n’ roll.
Now imagine IggyPopasan insanely ripped fallen
angel calledVicious;GraceJonesasanAfrican
goddess fromHell;HenryRollinsasasinisterPuritan
priest; andQueensof theStoneAge’sJoshHommeas
Deatharmedwithabazooka.Throw inMotörhead’s
Lemmyasaderangedgeneral leadinganarmyof
rock ’n’ rollersandEaglesofDeathMetal’sJesse
Hughesasabountyhunterwhokillssound for
money, andyouhaveSwedishdirectorandartist
BjörnTagemose’s
Gutterdämmerung
,possibly the
mostepic rockprojectofall time.Thecatch? It’sa
(mostly) silentmovie.The twist? It’s the loudest
silentmovieonEarth, adark fairy tale that’sequal
partssecretcinema, gigandavant-gardeartwork.
When it starts touringearlynextyear, itwillbe
unlikeanyothercinemaexperienceon theplanet,
withastandingaudience, a livebandandonstage
narrationbyHenryRollins,whoco-wrote thescript
withTagemose.
Theproject isnamedafter
Götterdämmerung
,
the 1876operaticmasterpiecebyRichardWagner,
whoTagemose reveres
as thefirst composer
tobringoperaticworks
to life inavisualway
–somethinghewants
Gutterdämmerung
to
do for rockmusic.The
original apocalyptic
operachronicles the
OldNorsemythof
Ragnarök–aprophesied
waramonghumansand
gods that results in theburning, immersion inwater
and renewal of theworld. “Ifyou lookata lotof the
oldoperas, theywereverysimpleandsymbolic,”
saysTagemose. “Our story for
Gutterdämmerung
isveryclassicandWagner-esque. In it,wewant to
createanewversionof the rock ’n’ rollworld.”
Tagemose–who’scurrentlybased inAntwerp
andproduced thefilmwithhiswife,Katarina
Vercammen–conceived the idea in2008whenhe
designedashow inBarcelona forSwedish rockband
TheHives.Aseven-minute introductoryfilmwas
projectedonto four screenssurrounding thecrowd,
and followinganexplosiveconclusion inwhich it
seemed that thestagewasblownaway, theband
appeared toemerge through theflames. Someof
Europe’sbiggest rockpromoterssaw theshowand
approachedTagemose tooffer their support should
hedosomethingsimilar in the future. “I thought,
Damn, there’ssomething to this,”hesays. “I started
thinkingaboutmy ideal scenarioandwho Iwould
want tobeapartof it.”
On the list?Someof thebiggestnames inmusic,
includingFrenchelectro legendsJustice, Slayer’s
TomAraya, andSlash. Itwas relativelyeasy toget
access to them forTagemose,who’sanestablished
photographerandcreativedirectorwhohasdirected
multimedia rockand fashionshows, plusmusic
videos for the likesofGraceJonesandDavidGuetta,
andhadsoloshowsatStockholm’sKulturhusetand
theLouvre inParis.
“Iworka lotwithGraceJones,”Tagemose
says. “Around2010, I started to talk toherabout
it, and shegaveme thecourage todo it, and so I
started seeingwhomightbe interested.”He soon
hadJones,Rollinsand IggyPoponboard, and the
wordwasout about thecrazilyambitiousproject,
with thebignamesattractingmore stars– like
JoshHomme,who isabig fan
of IggyPop, andLemmy,who’s
good friendswithSlash. “I really
wanted thesepeople, andweirdly
enough theyareall partof it
now,” saysTagemose. “There
havebeen somanymoments
when I’ve slappedmyself in the faceafter recording,
askingmyself if this is reallyhappening, orwhether
it’sall sciencefiction!”
Alongside the rock stars,TagemosecastOlivia
Vinall, ayoungBritishstageactress, as the“purest
girl in theworld”,who is taskedbyRollins’sPuritan
priestwithdestroyingSatan’sevil guitar, and
»
Above
⁄
IggyPop
playsa fallenangel
calledVicious
Left
⁄
TuesdayCross
asadarkheroine
Below
⁄
Slashstarts
thequest forthe
“phallictoolof
eternal torment”
040\
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