The latest information on cinema, festival, TV and web screenings for 'The Beat is The Law', plus special exhibitions, panels and other happenings. Updates to this page are announced via the Twitter feed so make sure you're following us @beatisthelaw if you're not doing so already.
Festivals and Cinemas - For information on obtaining screenings and accompanying appearances for film, please contact us via eve@thebeatisthelaw.com
As a supplement to our post on The Lost Tape, here’s the original interview with director Eve Wood that formed part of our research into this recently unearthed Pulp treasure. Found in Russell Senior’s attic during production of Fanfare for the Common People, an edit of the original footage forms part of Fanfare’s second disc of extras. We discuss its discovery, restoration and reception, the exclusive song ‘The Day that Never Happened’, how archives evolve, Thatcher’s Dead, and using video to visualise memories, amongst other things. This is the second The Beat is the Law podcast. Enjoy.
We had some great feedback from our Twitter-based Video DJ’ing on Wednesday, where we joined up with Playlist Club to explore Pulp’s influences, collaborations and provide a mental snapshot of a popstar adrift in a New York hotel on Christmas Eve 1996. Time for some housekeeping.
First up, thanks to Playlist Club for their hard work, great tunes and for introducing us to the magic of Storify, which we’ve used to put together a digest of links, photos, commentary and all the videos we played in the second half of the evening. Playlist Club have also put their setlist on Spotify so if you want to find out about Pulp influences from Iggy to The Fall this is a great place to start.
The event also saw the debut of a previously unreleased Pulp studio recording from the archives, ‘Rattlesnake’. Recorded at FON Studios in Sheffield as part of the band’s eastern European phase in the mid eighties and originally slated for release as a single, you can listen to it below.
Out of all the things we did for this, people seemed to enjoy the commentary from Playlist and ourselves the most. With a possible follow-up on the cards, we’ll be putting out feelers for guest curators and speakers over the next couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone who joined in.
This Wednesday we’re teaming up with social music mixtapers Playlist Club for a live Video DJ set on Twitter. Offering a phantasmagoric setlist that drops classic Pulp vids and key influences before delving into the darkest recesses of a popstar’s psyche – plus the premiere of a previously unreleased Pulp studio recording – this is a chance to experience all the fun and disappointment of a night down the Roxy without leaving the warm glow of your laptop monitor. We’re encouraging interaction, so if you want to make a request, announce the breakup of your relationship or attempt a virtual rush of the DJ booth go ahead. We’re also offering ‘best dressed’ prizes so now would be a good time to dig out that photo with the tweed-effect safari suit and jelly sandals.
‘Playlist vs Fanfare for the Common People’ starts at 8pm GMT on Wednesday 4th May. If you want to join in you can watch and interact at our #playlistvsfanfare Twitter wall at Tweetwall but you might also want to follow @Playlist_Club, who’ll be spinning the wheels of steel – as well as @Beatisthelaw if you’re not doing so already.
We’ll be dropping our own themed aftershow setlist – ‘Horror show at a Stagnant Water Bed’ from 10.00pm or thereabouts. We’re offering a prize for the best stab at guessing the tunes we’ll be playing (montage below). Email us listing your guesses from 1-15 (running in rows from left to right) before 8.00pm GMT Wednesday if you want to be in with a shout.