The documentary Bring Me Your Vultures
hits a salient, funerary stride when, two-thirds in, a dark organ
hymn accompanies a series of neck-down shots of trodden rock
musicians carrying guitar cases into Mohawk Place, and shots of
wristbands, cash drawer, set-up, sound-check, graffiti, shots of a bar
lined with shots, for the last time.
Should the late and hallowed venue need
a real introduction, Mohawk Place was a Buffalo dive bar/rock club,
active from 1990 through 2012, and a beacon for local and
touring rock acts, that signaled an end of an era of music when it
finally shut it's doors last January. It opened, initially, as a
rockabilly bar, but went on to become a springboard for punk, indie,
metal, and even hip-hop acts that were trying to get or maintain
their footing in a digital era where live music was simultaneously
growing more necessary, and obsolete.
High Watermark Films and Quiet Country
Audio have put together a documentary about the last days of the
club, titled Bring Me Your Vultures, which they will be screening at Town Ballroom this Saturday – and they let us take a sneak peek this
week. We should elucidate at this outset that the film is a must-see
for anyone who's been involved with live music, locally or at any
level, over the last couple decades. It ostensibly attempts to
present the venue in its death throes (as the narration disclaims at
the beginning, “This is not Mohawk Place A-to-Z, this is a document
of it's final days”), but it really encapsulates the vibes of a
municipal music scene, trying to make a Thing Happen, arguably
succeeding, and then collapsing in on itself.
The film features interviews with
bartenders, staff, promoters, and musicians, hanging out around the
bar like it's the end of any given show night, lamenting the loss of
a local holy land, smoking cigarettes inside (fuck it, we can admit
it now) and having their last drinks together. In the end, as the
building crumbled and costs rose, and even some hush-hush type rumors
of lawsuits (the film features shots of the infamous “No
Stage Diving, No Exceptions” sign, juxtaposed with shots of kids
stage-diving; fuck it, we can admit it now), Mohawk Place just
couldn't be a Thing anymore.
Back in the day, the venue hosted
up-and-coming acts like The White Stripes, Man Man, Grizzly Bear, and
Black Keys, who built momentum at the homely club, before returning
to town in big rooms like the Tralf, and then not coming any closer to
Buffalo than Toronto altogether.
In it's last days, Mohawk brought many
of its staple bands back for a series of farewell shows. Perhaps the
highlight of BMYV is the live recordings of these final forays,
captured in higher fidelity than any of the shows actually sounded in person.
Performances by Snapcase, Chylde, Girlpope, Johnny Nobody, BoBo,
Every Time I Die, Wolf Tickets, Such Gold, Pentimento, and Two Cow
Garage alone make this movie worth checking out on the “Big Screen”
this Saturday. See you there. And if you miss Mohawk, we'll probably
see you cry.
