:: Garage Days

Garage Days is a fresh-faced and funky expose on the dizzying highs and the dank lows of rock stardom. Opening with a bang, the film takes us on a journey with Freddy, (Gurry) a rock star wannabe determined to hit the big time with his four-piece indie rock outfit. With Freddy on vocals, Tanya (Miranda) on bass, Joe (Stiller) on lead guitar and Lucy (Sadrinna) going nuts on the kit, the group are desperately seeking the one thing that separates the doers from the dreamers: a gig. Adopting a style described by director Alex Proyas as ‘beatnik punk’, Garage Days offers audiences an insight into the frustrations of cutting deals within the ever elusive music industry and has much to say about the imminent death of Australia's live music culture.

Despite enlisting manager, Bruno (Dykstra), to help them hunt down a venue keen to have them play, the band has little luck and gradually the ties that bond them begin to fray. Joe's father Kevin (Anderson), an ex-rocker himself, serves as a kind of mentor to the group allowing them to rehearse in the empty loft of his warehouse style abode whilst offering advice as someone who has been there and done it all before. Yet, for Freddy, fame and fortune keeps its distance. When through sheer coincidence Freddy finds himself in the same room as Shad Kern, the manager of one of the most successful groups around, he steps up his campaign to bag a gig, and learns an important lesson about the jet set crowd. Containing scenes from Sydney's 2001 Homebake Festival and a killer homegrown soundtrack, Garage Days is a lighthearted comedy sure to please even the most contemporary of crowds.

If you've ever dreamt of being a rock star, this film will probably ring more than a few familiar bells. Don't set yourself up for a rag to riches story though, there are lessons taught and learnt within this film underneath its glossy overtones. Keep your eye out for the hilarious dinner Tanya hosts for her parents and be sure to hang around long enough to see the Drew Careyesque dance number during the closing credits. Definitely a film for a Saturday night with your crew, perhaps best washed down with some bevvies at your local. Enjoy!

Screening on general release