BOB NALBANDIAN – Inside Metal: The Pioneers Of Los Angeles Hard Rock And Metal Documentary
1. How did you think the idea of making this documentary?
Bob N: “Well, I had been doing the Shockwaves podcasts on HardRadio.com and on Roadrunner Records site and also the Shockwaves videocast on YouTube so I’ve always had an interest in doing a full on metal documentary on the LA scene, since I grew up in LA and I had already interviewed many of these artists in the past. And 2 to 3 years ago I did a Podcast on the topic of Producers with guests Joe Floyd (I was always a huge fan of his band Warrior), John Bush and a few other guests. And at that time Joe mentioned to me that he was planning to co-produce a documentary on the LA Metal Scene with his business partner Warren Croyle and they needed somebody to direct the film so he asked if I’d like to be involved. Later that week I had a conference call with both Joe and Warren and we all shared the same ideas about the movie and how we really wanted to give a true representation to the Los Angeles Hard Rock and Metal Scene during it’s heyday. And it just progressed from there.”
2. What is the concept of the movie?
Bob N: “It’s actually a documentary series titled INSIDE METAL. The first title of the series, which will be hitting select US theaters this November and coming out on DVD worldwide the first of the new year, is titled ‘Pioneers of LA Hard Rock & Metal’ and it caters to to early years of the LA Hard Rock and Metal Scene, primarily from 1975 to 1981. The second title will be the followup, ‘The LA Metal Scene Explodes!’ and the third will be titled ‘The Rise of LA Thrash Metal.’ The Inside Metal series will be an ongoing Metal Documentary series from Metal Rock Films and will not only be on LA, but other major cities throughout the world!”
3. How easy or hard was to find the appropriate persons for interviews and the appropriate video material?
Bob N: “It wasn’t all that difficult really, since I had a strong reputation as a metal journalist since the early ’80s (I published a metal zine back in ’82 to ’85) so I knew a lot of these artists personally and many I’ve interviewed them in the past so it was just a matter of meeting them while they were in LA. Most the interviews were shot at Joe Floyd’s studio.”
4. Did you come across of any “rock star egos” or rip off persons while researching for your topic?
Bob N: “No, not at all. The cool thing, particularly about this era of hard rock and metal, it was before the big LA metal explosion and the big MTV era etc.. so these artists didn’t get caught up in that side of the business as much and they were all very humble.”
5. Is there any material that you did not include in the movie?
Bob N: “Yes, tons of material. We usually shot between 30 minutes to an hour of footage for each artist so we will have a lot of ‘bonus’ material that we may be using on specialty packaged DVDs and the Metal Rock Films YouTube page.’
6. How do you intend to fund your movie?
Bob N: “The actual filming of the movie was funded by the executive producer Warren Croyle. It was not a big budget movie by any means, it was very independent which worked out really well as the filming and editing of the movie comes across very authentic to that era. As far as the theatrical screening we’re doing in November, we have put together a Fanbacked crowd-funding page with the help of Doug Kluthe, Bob Chiappardi and Chip Ruggieri. So fans that want to help support this movie can make donations and in return receive limited edition Metal Rock merchandise. Just visit: MetalRockFilms.com.
7. How do you think that your documentary is going to affect the popularity of the 1970s hard rock in Los Angeles?
Bob N: “Well I think it will definitely give exposure to many of these great bands that perhaps were ahead of their time, before MTV hit big and the major labels went on a signing spree for metal bands (which occurred primarily happened in the mid/late ’80s.” So hopefully it will not only bring some recognition to many of these great bands but also an awareness of a vibrant rock and roll scene when the metal club scene was just thriving!”
8. Why did you choose Los Angeles as the place of filming?
Bob N: “Simply because we (Joe and myself, along with co-producer Carl Alvarez) lives in LA and we all grew up in the LA hard rock/metal scene.’ Not to mention, arguably LA is where the whole ’80s metal scene, whether it be hair metal or thrash, pretty much originated.
9. Do you have any proof why most of the obscure bands of your documentary did not really made it to become top selling bands?
Bob N: “Well, you’ll have to watch the movie to see and hear about that. There’s many great stories in this documentary.”
10. Do you think that there is a profitable market share for documentaries such as yours? What are your expectations in terms of profits?
Bob N: “I don’t really have any expectations as far as profits are concerned, my goal was simply to make the best possible documentary i can make. And I had a great team of producers and editors behind me and I think we made an incredible movie that will stand the test of time. I do believe documentaries, particularly music docs, are a hot commodity these days, so many great documentaries out there that are doing very well. I think many people are fed up with all the fake bullshit reality shows and they want to watch movies with substance, culture and history. And documentaries such as ‘Pioneers of LA Hard Rock & Metal’ have just that. I’m very proud of the movie and really look forward to working on the future titles.”
11. How do you intend to distribute your movie?
Bob N: “At the moment Warren is working with several different distribution and marketing companies regarding the release of this documentary series. The demand is great so I’m sure we will have the DVD distributed in stores worldwide the beginning of the new year as well as in all the major digital formats as well as cable TV.”
Info:
https://www.facebook.com/InsideLAmetalMovieDoc
http://www.fanbacked.com/c/inside-metal-pioneers-la-metal/
