The 50-year history of Redd Kross, the influential LA punk band, is tracked with new and old footage of brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald and friends in Andrew Reich’s wonderful documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story. Now on Blu-ray and DVD from MVD Visual.
Coming into Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story, my knowledge of Redd Kross was rudimentary. A band I knew of more than knew more directly, hearing songs and seeing the names pop up across the depth of pop and punk culture. But that’s what I love about watching documentaries, delving into subjects I know a modicum of or even nothing about, and coming out with an appreciation and love for those the lens is aimed at. How well did Born Innocent work with Redd Kross upon me? Well, friends, I immediately went on ebay at bought Neurotica, their 1987 album. Andrew Reich’s documentary is a joyous celebration of a music and an era, a great band and its central brothers, and is an all-around entertaining and enjoyable documentary.
For a quick primer of Redd Kross: taking a cue from the teenage Runaways, brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald of Hawthorne, California (same homebase as The Beach Boys), formed The Tourists at 11 and 14, respectively, in 1978. From there, they’ve been active as part of the punk scene of Los Angeles and beyond, working with and around The Go-Gos, The Ramones, Black Flag, and others (Steven was with Tenacious D and The Melvins at various points). Their approach takes a more pop method, often referred to as the Partridge Family of Punk or similar monikers, lovingly riffing on their genre, mixing their love of pop culture into the music. The band never became a household name, but helped bigger bands find sounds, leading to the grunge era bursting from Seattle and more. But I’ll let the documentary give you the rest.
It’s interesting to jump into the subject of Redd Kross just a few months after The Secret Lives of Bill Bartell, another fantastic documentary of the same scene. Many of the same people, places, bands, stories, and more appear in both, a cross-pollination of the character of each documentary. Together, they help build the world, informing viewers and reminding none of us live in a bubble, but in a spiderweb. Between watching that film and this, I finally saw Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization (all three parts); nice to get a deeper understanding of time and place in music I like but don’t have a deep knowledge of. Fun to bookend the grungier Decline with more fun and witty Bill Bartell and Redd Kross documentaries. Being a big fan of that Bartel documentary and finding him specifically notable, I kept an ear open for a sighting of the enigma. His stage name was mentioned once, I recall, in the documentary, along with his band White Flag featuring prominently on a t-shirt. He comes up a few times in the special features. [While we’re talking new and amazing musical documentaries, might I also suggest Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements about the band of the same name?]
Andrew Reich structures the documentary in the straightforward birth, reforming, second birth, loss, return, etc, making it easy to follow the ups and downs of the band across the decades; the brothers’ lives in and out of the scene. But note no death up there, while they did suffer losses in deaths and other life events, Redd Kross took breaks (some longer than others) but never truly died; and even found a recent revival as the creation of this documentary reawakened their creative juices, leading to a new album, tour, and oral history book, Now You’re One of Us [I just put this on hold at the library].
But in that standard structure, I dug how he approached the crafting of the whole. This may be director Andrew Reich’s first film, but his long career in producing and writing TV and film (his executive producing of the whole run of Friends gets him some friendly elbowing by his subjects) allows the skills to transfer into the new medium. New interviews mix with old; A continuity of person but not time can tell a single story can stretch from the 1970s to a few years ago, often with different secondary subjects (whether it be the other McDonald brother, a (former) bandmate, or another in the circle. Mixing in with the timeless interview methods, Reich joins musical performances from across the 40 years, giving a flow and evolution of style and attitude. Interviews with friends and bandmates widen the world. In a fun touch, noting to the ever-shifting line-ups of long-running bands, the order of various roles: Black Flag singer #3, Redd Kross guitar #6, for example, sometimes within the same room, or are the same person, as Redd Kross was often a feeder band to Black Flag and others. Particularly of note with Redd Kross has had more drummers than Spinal Tap. If I recall correctly, the last number we see for Redd Kross within the special features is #76. No worries, the series of percussionists didn’t all have life-ending accidents.
The McDonald brothers are wonderful subjects to work with. They are gregarious with their stories, fun guys, open to their own humor and foibles. Quick to smile and tell an interesting story, they are even great storytellers with a wonderful memory between the pair, even on the darker patches, such as drug addiction. Makes it much different than watching the darker and more “fuck you” attitude of Decline or what one might think of punk. Particularly fun when they argue over a point, in a lovingly prickly brotherly way. Especially when it cuts to someone else who refutes both of them. Both are so watchable, there’s a charisma that shines through, which likely stands to their continued popularity and collaborations.
It’s a shame Redd Kross never got the love their contemporaries received in overall pop culture. They’re given so much love and admiration from those groups, all who note just how freakin’ awesome they were (including but not limited to within the documentary members of Soundgarden, The Bangles, Veruca Lalt, The Linda Lindas, and Sonic Youth) stealing the show even if not the headliner; and the brothers worked with other luminaries, appeared on the late-night shows, signed with major labels, and all the works. It’s never too late, the Sparks documentary gave them a whole new generation of fans (btw, Steve toured with them, too); here’s to Born Innocent making some sort of headway. Of course, it’s not like they’ve been grumbling at a local level waiting to break, the brothers have found and produced up-and-comers, remain touring together and with others, and are godfathers of the scene.
Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story is a fantastic, energetic, and all-around enjoyable documentary of a great band, still trucking with wonderful quality and verve after nearly 50 years of music. Jeff and Steven make great subjects, and Andrew Reich proves to be a great documentarian in both putting this together and in working with subjects in interviews.
The Package
MVD Visual puts Born Innocent on two Blu-Rays. Each fits on either side of the Blu-ray case. The film disc features a collage of band images, and the special features disc says just that. In the case are two postcards of show ads and a booklet. The sleeve has a smaller version of the collage poster with a listing of interview subjects. It has an o-ring with the fuller poster, sans band listing. MVD also releases the film on DVD, but without the 2nd disc, so if you want the whole package, grab the Blu.
The Presentation
Reich’s film is presented solidly. It serves well for the purposes, especially in finding an essence with the myriad of archival elements. Those clean up well, with no jarring. Additionally, the sound is great, also with elements from across 50 years; nothing bleeds or is lost. In English, with subtitles.
The Features
Disc 1
Commentary
The brothers and director Andrew Reich are fun and insightful, commenting on their comments, giving additional depth to what’s going on on screen, especially in sequences without voice over, interviews, or the like (such as a concert sequence). It adds another layer to it all.
Trailer
Disc 2
Holy hell, my friends. There are 5.5 HOURS: 334 minutes to be specific, of additional footage and more here. I said in the review for the Secret Lives of Bill Bartell that I wish I had more than the 45 extra minutes. MVD Visual, which also put out that release, must have listened! Anyway, I won’t break down each part, but I did watch every last minute of it. Because I love you. And I loved this disc. But I will list each of the 22 supplements below. They range from extended interviews from the documentary, concert, and rehearsal footage, cut bits, and some errata. I highly recommend immediatly watching it after the documentary, as it’s even more eye-opening and forthcoming without having to edit to fit the 87-minute run time of Born Innocent. All in English with no subtitles.
- Beginnings (8m)
- Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and Lovedolls Superstar (15m) [side note: this duology of cult flicks featuring the brothers and other punk artists of the era is also coming from MVD this month on 4k]
- Digging in Jeff’s Record Closet (19m)
- Kim Shattuck Interview (32m)
- The McDonald Brothers Unplugged (41m)
- Neurotica Expanded (9m)
- The Naz Pad (2m)
- Naz Pad Rehearsal: Jan 1989 (53m)
- Polliwog Park concert (5m)
- The Posh Boy Era – Expanded (11m)
- Red Cross to Redd Kross according to Steve and Jeff; (9m)
- Redd Kross on Media Blitz (12m)
- Roman Coppola’s Original 16mm 1976 Music Video Footage (4m)
- Ron Reyes and Dez Cadena (5m)
- Santa Monica Pier Concert (4m)
- Santa Monica Post Screening Q & A (30m)
- Spirit of 76 – expanded (6m)
- Steve Breaks down every Redd Kross Record (28m)
- Teen Babes from Monsanto – expanded (13m)
- Third Eye – Expanded (2m)
- The Tourists Reunion concert (13m)
- The tourists’ reunion concern rehearsal (13m)
Booklet
In a four-page pamphlet, Andrew Riech writes his history as a long-time fan of the band, since 1981, mixed with photos.
Final Thoughts
Andrew Reich’s Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story is a great documentary of a fascinating scene. In addition, the special features are voluminous, with the commentary and over five hours of further footage. Recommended. Now released by MVD Visual.