The Murder City Devils

Rock & Roll Won’t Wait (MVD)
by Brian Varney

There was a time not so long ago when a full-length video release from a band was a pretty rare thing. These video releases, usually taking the form of documentary, live recording, or collection of music videos, were reserved for more popular bands, most of them on major labels. However, thanks to the relatively low expense of video recording equipment and DVD replication, music DVDs have become fairly common in the past few years. This has had many pleasant results, however, as is the case in damn near any endeavor, ease of production can also lead to an excess of lesser quality releases.

As an example of a band that’s benefited from these changes, let’s talk about The Murder City Devils. While I’ve heard the name plenty of times, I’d never actually heard the band until this DVD arrived in the mail. While it’s strange to watch a documentary about a band you know nothing about, I decided to give it a whirl, figuring that any good story will grab me.

Although the cover art very clearly described Rock & Roll Won’t Wait as “a documentary,” I wouldn’t classify it as such. Rock & Roll Won’t Wait offers clips of live shows, some typical band-on-the-road footage, and some interviews with band members, but not enough of any of these to form the basis of a story.

As I said, I came to this film a Murder City Devils novice. Having watched this, I can’t say I know anything more about the band’s history or music than I did before. Perhaps fans of the band will enjoy this merely for the live footage and the inside tidbits the interviews provide, but I can’t really say that my base of musical knowledge has been enriched in any way by viewing Rock & Roll Won’t Wait.
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