Hard Core Logo

In the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap comes this alternately achingly funny and poignant Canadian pseudo documentary about the farewell tour of an aging Vancouver punk rock band. It is the third in director Bruce McDonald’s rock & roll road trilogy (Roadkill and Highway 61 came first). Though the band “Hard Core Logo” is utterly bogus, real West Coast punks including Art Bergmann and the Modernettes make cameos. It begins as thirty-something aged members of Hard Core Logo prepares for a reunion benefit concert. Their performance is so successful that they decide to launch one last tour of western Canada in a ramshackle van. Filmmaker Bruce McDonald comes along to document the occasion and provide a biography of the band. “Archival film-clips” provide much of the background. McDonald also interviews each of the members. Comic highlights include the visit to their former manager in which film crew, roadies, and band members take acid for old-time sake. Psychedelic chaos ensues. On the serious side, the film does make some sobering points about the realties of being an aging punk and the darker side of touring. Producer Peter Moore composed the soundtrack and performed it with the band Swamp Baby., A punk rock band makes a tense but hilarious reunion tour across Western Canada.