Ahead of its worldwide VOD release on August 6th, Consequence is premiering an exclusive clip from the upcoming music documentary Don’t Go Gentle: A Film About IDLES.
Directed by Mark Archer, Don’t Go Gentle follows the 10 year rise of the Bristol band IDLES, from their formation in 2009, to their self-released debut album Brutalism in 2017, to their eventual global success. It explores the many hardships the band has endured and tries to understand how these experiences inform the unwavering humanity at the heart of their music.
The film is also just as much about IDLES as it is about their dedicated fan base. Specifically, it follows the AF GANG, an online community over 30,000 strong which started in 2017 as a place for IDLES fans to meet each other and share their experiences from the band’s concerts. Over time, however, it morphed into a site of community building on a massive scale, becoming a place where anyone and everyone could express themselves, heal, and find a trusted support network. The documentary promises to answer what it is about the band’s music and personality that speaks to so many people across the world.
The short clip embed below features an interview with Felix White, the guitarist of British rock group The Maccabees and the founder of Yala! Records. Over a series of shots from the band’s live performance at a Yala! Records club night, White sounds off praises for the band. “You see a band that are like the most fun you’ll ever have and really exciting, but also really stirring you,” White says in the clip. “And it can be funny and really moving and poignant and everything all at the same time.”
On the importance of IDLES’ connection with White and Yala! Records, Archer tells Concsequence, “At the time IDLES played Yala! — both the sessions and the club night in London — no one was really giving IDLES too much of a platform outside of Bristol. But Felix White understood what they were about. He saw their vulnerability on par with their talent, and I remember watching those Yala! sessions thinking that I hadn’t seen a band give so much within a studio session for a long time. For me, this was IDLES arriving onto the London scene with a new identity and the start of a new chapter.”
Don’t Go Gentle originally released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on July 2nd. It is set to release worldwide on VOD on August 6th, and on Blu-Ray and DVD on August 20th.
Get a first look at the clip below.
