Seattle Subsonic

Long Live The Gits

July 9th, 2008

So, I went to see the Gits documentary—succinctly titled “The Gits”—at the Northwest Film Forum last night. And it was easily well worth it (especially since I had a free pass courtesy of KEXP). If you fancy yourself a “Seattle music fan”, inwards and outwards, I implore you to take advantage of the screening currently happening, through July 14th, at the NWFF. Heck, if you’re simply a music fan in general, you should go see it. Or, alternately, if you want to be touched by the tragic murder of a supremely talented young woman doing her best to pave her own road, and the heart wrenching accounts of the people closest to her, then go see it. The NWFF is a local, community-supported, non-profit organization after all.

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It’s safe to say I watch a lot of movies—Netflix and I are on a first name basis—but I guess I don’t watch a lot of “rockumentaries” for whatever reason. I’ve seen a few; some of the ones I’ve enjoyed in recent years are DiG! (where I learned to admire the Brian Jonestown Massacre and despise the Dandy Warhols), Fugazi: Instrument (which was really more of a 2-hour artsy music video than a documentary), and LoudQUIETLoud (where Kim Deal and Black Francis taught me to agree to disagree). And now “The Gits”. I suppose I’m drawn to movies that highlight rock bands with some sort of no-nonsense, DIY philosophy. My point being, though, is that I’m underqualified to say if this was a good rock documentary or not. I do not, however, consider myself underqualified when I say it was simply a great movie about an intriguing local band’s life unjustly cut short.

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Many of you are probably already familiar with the rise and fall of the Gits (fun movie fact #1: their name comes from a Monty Python episode, where a ‘git’ is an obtuse geek of some sort—rad!). For those who aren’t, the band moved from Ohio to Seattle in 1989, quickly gained a cult following through vocalist Mia Zapata’s raw, bluesy style and the band’s incendiary, hard-hitting punk shows (fun movie fact #2: the band lived and played frequently at a Capitol Hill home known as “the Rathouse”). In 1993 following a night out with friends, just as the Gits were about to be offered a deal with Atlantic Records, Zapata was brutally beaten, raped, and murdered on 24th and Yesler. In the words of 7 Year Bitch drummer Valerie Agnew, “the world came crashing down.”

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The film continues on to show the ensuing investigation—which lead to nowhere until 2003—and successful trial where the perpetrator was convicted and sentenced to thirty-six years in prison. Obviously, the latter third of the film is an emotionally challenging one. But the first two-thirds of the movie are affecting in another way: the Gits’ music was/is phenomenal. No one in this town had seen or heard anything like them. Before Nirvana, before Pearl Jam, before Soundgarden—which bassist Matt Dresdner maintains musically “had nothing to do with them”—there was the Gits. Since the announcement of this film, directed by Kerri O’Kane, I’ve lamented the fact that I wasn’t cognizant of the band while growing up. Christ, the band was growing up itself right down the street from my house. I guess I gravitated more towards the heavy dude-rock popular at the time. Turns out headbanging to Dirt was an untold amount of fun for timid junior high boys.

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But listening to them now, with Andy Kessler’s (aka Joe Spleen) fiery guitar and Steve Moriarty’s militant drums, their impact on the local and national music scene is plainly evident. Effusive and passionate frontwomen like Karen O, Beth Ditto and Dita Vox simply wouldn’t exist were it not for Mia Zapata’s groundbreaking approach to lyrics, music, and life. What a terrible shame that this band was robbed of its chance to show itself to the world, but maybe this film reveals at least a modicum of that broken dream.

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Anyway, time to go get me some Gits records.

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Watch:

“The Gits” movie trailer

“Seaweed” live video performance

“Second Skin” live video performance