By summer of 1976, they were the biggest band in the UK. They played Hammersmith and seats got ripped up by a frenzied crowd. After two studio LPs, they got to number one in the charts with a live album, Stupidity. They quickly out-grew the pubs they were playing in. Wilko Johnson would act out the gunning down of the audience with his Telecaster and mad-eye stare, whilst Lee Brilleaux played the alpha male, growling out life changing songs in a dirty white suit. They were a formidable looking band with two gangster-like focal points. Whilst other musicians of the time rocked up at Wembley Arena in capes and wizards hats whilst exploring how pretentious a twenty three minute song with six movements could sound (answer: very), their three minute anthems shone like R&B pearls in a topographical ocean of progressive noodling. In the words of Julien Temple, Dr Feelgood “were four estuarine John-the-Baptists to Johnny Rotten’s anti-Christ”.įinding it tough to get booked in music venues without a record deal, they played in pubs, first in their native Canvey Island, and then in London. Rather than a mere music documentary, it is the story of the life and near-death of one man. This film is a companion piece, but also stands alone. It’s predecessor, Oil City Confidential, was a blazing punk-noir tour de force documentary about the rise of Dr Feelgood, those boys from Canvey Island, or the Thames Delta as they put it, who presaged punk and spearheaded a back to basics movement in the early seventies that the press dubbed “pub-rock”. The film, which will be officially released on 17th July, is another extraordinary piece of work by Temple. Wilko Johnson (centre) with Julien Temple (right) “This is the first time I have seen it and it doesn’t disappoint at all!” Indeed this was Wilko’s first opportunity to see the documentary. Last night was the film’s premiere at The Picturehouse in the West End, and both Julien Temple and Wilko Johnson were present to answer questions after the showing. Everyone’s going to have a friend or a relative, or themselves when it comes to that point, where this film will move them. Wilko was sentenced to death and the way he dealt with that….it’s not a rock n roll film, it’s a film about being a human being. ![]() That’s as much a part of the film as what it means to die. Incredible honesty about contemplating mortality, and in the value of being alive. Julien Temple: “I think there’s a lot of honesty in the film. That he lives to tell the tale is incredible. ![]() The way he embraced life from that point onwards was inspiring enough. About how a much loved British guitarist had enjoyed a renaissance in his career, only to be told he had terminal cancer. A story so incredible that, were it not true, might be dismissed as an “improbable fiction”. “The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson” is a new documentary, directed by Julien Temple, which tells the extraordinary story of the last three years in the life of former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson.
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