By Elizabeth Jenkins
The nineties were a highly coveted decade of music in Olympia. Locals get that nostalgic glint in their eye when reflecting on that golden age, an uninhibited time of thrashing guitars and debauchery.
William Badgley captures that essence in his directorial debut, Kill All Redneck Pricks: a documentary film about a band called KARP. The film chronicles the journey of these local rock heroes from their alienated teen years in Tumwater to the creation of the band’s on-stage personas and ultimate collapse. Badgley, who made the trek from Yakima multiple times in the mid-nineties to watch the band perform, remembers that “the quality of [KARP’s] friendship was something that differentiated them from other bands.”
Taking this into consideration, he decided to “approach the film from the vantage point of the [band’s] friendship.” He interviewed predominant local musicians including Kimya Dawson and Calvin Johnson, as well as the remaining two members of KARP, Chris Smith and Jared Warren.
In the documentary, a former classmate remembers the band as “a bunch of nerds” eager to escape the redneck doldrums of Tumwater High. Awkward teenage photos flash onscreen as the band remembers uniting over a love for the Melvins and a disdain for jocks.
Tumwater is described in the documentary as a place where you couldn’t wear leather jackets or listen to Slayer, a wasteland of strip malls and fake cowboys. The band created a zine (Kill All Redneck Pricks) to thwart their tormentors and challenge the status quo. They would channel that same rebellious energy into their music and live performances, an element that the documentary recreates with painstaking detail.
It took 4 ½ years to make the film, with two of those years spent amassing footage and interviews. Through grainy recordings on VHS tape, Badgley creates a textural landscape that shows the band’s rise in confidence and popularity. The documentary’s use of raucous full-length performances “represent the [band’s transformation] at each juncture in the story.” KARP’s oddball sense of humor shines through as friends remember the band’s on-stage personas: a wrestler, a bad girl, and an all American lover. Badgley keeps the tone light while highlighting these funny, intimate stories. This was a band that could have a good time while rocking your face off.
Some of the more somber scenes in Kill All Redneck Pricks, like the retelling of a band member’s struggle with drug addiction, are voiced over reels of familiar places in downtown Olympia. Badgley says that to “communicate a certain idea or feeling,” the documentary couldn’t be limited to only band performances and interviews. “We really had to look outside the show footage in order to communicate that story visually.” The location and visuals have a simple emotional impact. It’s the image of the Martin Apartments, the Capitol Theater, or a lone maroon van traveling the highway that expresses a quiet intangible truth beyond the narrator.
The documentary had a successful turnout at the 2011 Olympia Film Festival. The packed theater was alive with the communal sound of laughter and applause. Several of the audience members had a personal connection with the band; others were featured in the film as interviewees. Audrey Henley, of the Olympia Film Society, says that there is a possibility the documentary will appear again “for a series of music related movies.”
Badgley’s directorial choices elevate Kill All Redneck Pricks beyond just a niche documentary for fans. The director says that after 53 screenings and 8 countries, the film holds its universality. “It’s just a tale of loving something and loving the people that you do that thing with.” ◙
To purchase the newly released DVD, visit www.karplives.com.