Pitchfork

In the mid-to-late eighties, as the story goes, a number of bands based primarily in the UK took their guitars and looked forward-- by looking down.

Shoegazers, as they came to be known (at first derisively), utilized noise and distortion and anything else their amps and pedals could conjure to seek a higher musical truth, and the resulting touchstone records-- My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything and Loveless, the Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy, any number of Cocteau Twins LPs, and others-- have cast a significant shadow of influence over countless acts in the ensuing 20-odd years.

It's this fertile period, during which shoegazers honed their craft and the genre found its voice, that first-time feature director Eric Green intends to address and celebrate with his documentary Beautiful Noise.

Queens-bred, L.A.-based Green and partner/editor Sarah Ogletree conceived of Beautiful Noise as "a celebration of these records," as Green told Pitchfork recently.

"It's basically about the Cocteau Twins, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine, and what an indelible impact they had on modern music.

"The bulk of the movie is in the late 80s-early 90s, which is a pretty interesting time period, because a lot of these groups were picked up by major labels in the U.S. Around 1990, people thought that this was going to be the next big thing. And then there was a huge backlash, and [shoegaze] was turned over for, let's say, more press-friendly genres.

"But I think this music had a lasting impact on me and other people," Green says, "and I think it's important that a story from that time period be told."

To help tell that story, then, Green went straight to the sources, interviewing on camera pretty much anyone who's anyone in the genre: My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields and Debbie Googe, JAMC's Jim Reid and Douglas Hart, and Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde, as well as Robert Smith (the Cure), Neil Halstead (Slowdive), Mark Gardner and Andy Bell (Ride), Emma Anderson (Lush), Adam Franklin (Swervedriver), Toni Halliday (Curve), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), David Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack), Ian Masters (Pale Saints), Martin Carr (the Boo Radleys), noted producer Alan Moulder, and Creation honcho Alan McGee.

Green also sat down with noisemakers who owe a debt to shoegaze-- such as Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, and Wayne Coyne-- as well as contemporary bands still tapping into the genre's essence, like Asobi Seksu, Serena-Maneesh, Ladytron, and Autolux, among others.

Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie

Talking to Shields was particularly revelatory for Green. "He has to be one of the most fascinating people I've ever met," the director enthused.

"He really lived up to all the expectations. He's amazingly warm and generous. He doesn't just talk about music; he's very well-read about politics and science. Part of him is amazing, genius-- the other part of him, he's really a down-to-earth, friendly guy."

In all, Green has already laid 47 interviews to tape. And while the film itself is more or less in the editing stages, Green says he's "99% there" with interview footage. "There [are] still people out there that are still possibilities, and I don't want to write anyone out until we're all stitched and edited."

Green can't say for sure how soon the documentary will be completed. "I've been on it for two and half years. When it seems we're getting closer and closer, things come up. But, we're getting close-- it could be a couple weeks, it could be a couple of months."

Green says Beautiful Noise is "definitely for" longtime fans of the shoegaze genre. But he also "hope[s] to appeal to the person that may not have heard of these groups and hasn't heard too many of their records. [Perhaps] if they see it they'll want to go out and buy a few records by some of these groups. I think these are amazingly influential bands that had some popularity, but weren't as popular as they should've been."