When Wendy Schneider began brainstorming ways to promote the Jan. 18 release of American Noise: Vol. 2 — a limited-edition vinyl-only release featuring bands that independent record labels sent to record at Madison’s heralded Smart Studios — she wanted to celebrate the uncompromising spirit of that bygone era.
To that end, the Barrymore Theatre on Jan. 26 will present a double feature of crowdfunded, female-produced independent documentary films that capture a critical period in recent rock history, when a band’s success relied almost solely on newspapers, magazines, handbills, phone calls and local radio support.
The Smart Studios Story, directed by Schneider and returning to the Barrymore screen for the second time since its sold-out 2016 release at the Wisconsin Film Festival,
Front cover of American Noise Vol. 2
chronicles the work Butch Vig and Steve Marker accomplished within the crusty walls of the rundown DIY analog studio on East Washington Avenue. Smart was founded in 1983 and eventually played a major role in such pivotal albums as Nirvana’s Nevermind, Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish and L7’s Bricks Are Heavy. The Smart Studios Story was a nominee for South by Southwest’s Gamechanger Award, which honors outstanding female directors. The second film, 2016’s L7: Pretend We’re Dead, will make its Madison debut and spotlight the pioneering all-female grunge band that recorded at Smart Studios. Vintage videos of local bands will play during intermission; the fun begins at 7 p.m.
“This event is like a buffet,” laughs Schneider, who owns Coney Island Studios, located just down the street from the Barrymore; the theater hosted many bands that recorded at Smart over the years. “I’ve never done anything with this many headlining elements.”
American Noise: Vol. 2 picks up where 2016’s Vol. 1 left off, with a dozen fuzzy, ballsy Smart-recorded tracks by the likes of TAD, Laughing Hyenas and Urge Overkill. The first volume featured early Smart recordings by local indie bands.
“The music we recorded at Smart blazes on because it’s evocative of a time and place,” says Vig. “The Appliances, Killdozer, Tar Babies, O’bros, Rousers, Spooner, L7 and Nirvana, to name a few, were part of an artistic underground looking for a way to make music that was reflective of the times. Mainstream music had become stale; all the music you could find on the dial was corporate and predictable. The artists that came through Smart were trying to find ways to express themselves that didn’t fit into the mainstream. Smart helped them find an audience for their voices.”
“We were in Madison in winter, and I remember it was very cold and we rarely saw the light of day,” says Donita Sparks, L7’s vocalist and guitarist, recalling the recording of 1992’s Bricks Are Heavy. “Everyone at the studio was nice, yet I could sense that they were somehow terrified of us, with the exception of Butch. Butch was always encouraging of creative exploration and of supporting whichever way we wanted to roll with it. We were lucky to have him at that turning point in our career.”
“We’re not continuing to beat a dead, grungy horse,” Schneider says about the event at the Barrymore. “There is value and honor in this part of Madison’s history.”
