''A Life in the Death of Joe Meek'' is a 2013 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the British record producer

Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...

. The film is produced and directed by Howard S. Berger and Susan Stahman.

Synopsis

Joe Meek was one of Britain's premier independent record producers of the late fifties and early sixties, renowned for his pioneering recording techniques and for the futuristic sound of the records he produced, but notorious for his eccentric personality. His biggest success was the production of

the Tornados The Tornados (The Tornadoes in North America) were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits ...

' 1962 worldwide #1 hit "

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fir ...

". After a long struggle with debt, paranoia and depression, he killed his landlady Violet Shenton and shot himself on February 3, 1967. The documentary was shown as a work-in-progress on the opening night of the 2008 Sensoria Music & Film Festival in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, on April 12, 2008. Later in 2008 it was shown at the

Cambridge Film Festival The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. The festival historically took place during early July, but now takes place annually during Autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambri ...

and the

Raindance Film Festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove to ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. A North American premiere of the film opened the

Chattanooga Film Festival The Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was chosen in 2019, 2020 and 2021 as one of the "30 Best Genre Film Fests in the World" by ''MovieMaker''. History The Chattanooga Film ...

on April 3, 2014.Chattanooga Film Festival Announces Feature Music Documentary For Opening Night
Retrieved May 20, 2014 The documentary contains over 60 interviews with Meek's family, close friends, associates, musicians and pop culture movers and shakers.

Interviewees

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to l ...

Keith Strickland Julian Keith Strickland (born October 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and one of the founding members of The B-52s. He was born in Athens, Georgia. Originally the band's drummer, Stricklan ...

Edwyn Collins Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh, Scotland. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in ...

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the ...

Huw Bunford Huw "Bunf" Bunford (born Huw Cennydd Bunford; 15 September 1967 in Cardiff, Wales) is a musician best known as the guitarist in Super Furry Animals. Biography Bunford studied at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) and worked as a te ...

(

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciaran ...

) *

Marc Evans Marc Evans (born 1963) is a Welsh director of film and television, whose credits include the films ''House of America'', '' Resurrection Man'' and ''My Little Eye''. Biography Evans was born in 1963 in Cardiff, Wales. He studied for a history ...

Jake Arnott Jake Arnott (born 11 March 1961) is a British novelist and dramatist, author of ''The Long Firm'' (1999) and six other novels. Life Arnott was born in Buckinghamshire. Having left Aylesbury Grammar School at 17, he had various jobs includin ...

*Mike Stax (

Ugly Things ''Ugly Things'' (''UT'') is a music magazine established in 1983, based in La Mesa, California. The editor is Mike Stax (born 1962 in England). The magazine covers mainly 1960s Beat, garage rock, and psychedelic music ("Wild Sounds From Past D ...

) * Liam Watson *

Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...

Chas Hodges Charles Nicholas Hodges (28 December 1943 – 22 September 2018) was an English musician and singer who was the lead vocalist of musical duo Chas & Dave. Early life Hodges was born at the North Middlesex University Hospital in Edmonton on 28 ...

( The Outlaws) *

Simon Napier-Bell Simon Robert Napier-Bell (born 22 April 1939) is an English record producer, music manager, author and journalist. At different times, he has managed artists as diverse as the Yardbirds, John's Children, Marc Bolan, Japan, London, Ultravox, Bon ...

Big Jim Sullivan James George Tomkins (14 February 1941 – 2 October 2012), known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English musician whose career started in 1958. He was best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of t ...

John Leyton John Dudley Leyton (born 17 February 1936) is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song "Johnny Remember Me" (written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek), which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart ...

* Dave Adams *Joy Adams *Doug Collins ( The Blue Men) *Dave Golding ( The Blue Men) *

Clem Cattini Clemente Anselmo Agustino Cattini (born 20 August 1937) is an English rock and roll drummer of the late 1950s and 60s, who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician. He is one of the most prolifi ...

(

The Tornados The Tornados (The Tornadoes in North America) were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits ...

) *Roger LaVern (

) *Pete Holder (

) *Roger Holder (

) *Robb Huxley (

) *Dave Watts (

) *Dennis D'Ell (

The Honeycombs The Honeycombs were an English beat group, founded in 1963 in North London, best known for their chart-topping 1964 hit, the million selling "Have I the Right?" The band featured Honey Lantree on drums, one of the few female drummers in bands ...

) *Honey Lantree (

) *John Lantree (

) * Bobby Graham ( The Outlaws) *Reg Hawkins ( The Outlaws) *Billy Kuy ( The Outlaws) *Gary Leport (

The Moontrekkers The Moontrekkers were a British instrumental rock band in the early 1960s, who are best known for their minor chart hit " Night of the Vampire", arranged and produced by Joe Meek, and for their peripheral involvement in the early career of singer ...

) *Ritchie Routledge ( The Cryin' Shames) *Ricky Winter ( The Saints) *

Guy Fletcher (songwriter) Mervyn Guy Fletcher (born 21 April 1944) is an English record producer, singer and songwriter who, in partnership with Doug Flett, wrote several hits for other artists. As a singer, he had a small hit in the Netherlands and other European cou ...

*Ted Fletcher * Mike Berry *Keith Grant *Adrian Kerridge *Jimmy Lock *Allen Stagg *Tony Dangerfield *David John *Charles Blackwell *Jason Eddie *Robbie Duke aka Patrick Pink *Kim Pavey *John Repsch *Barry Cleveland *John Cavanaugh *John Beecher *Mark Newson *John O'Kill *Eric Meek *Marlene Meek *Sandra Meek-Williams *

Alec Palao Alejandro "Alec" Palao (born 1962) is a British musician, music historian, writer, and reissue producer. In addition to his musical output with groups like the Sting-Rays, the Sneetches, and Mushroom, his works include hundreds of production cr ...

References

External links

*
The filmmakers' website about the documentary, on Myspace
Retrieved August 11, 2012
joemeekdoc.com The Filmmakers' website about the documentary
Retrieved May 20, 2014 2008 films 2008 drama films American documentary films Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Rockumentaries 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{Music-documentary-stub