TOWNCRAFT > Notes From A Local Scene

Label: MATSON FILMS
[Rating 3.5]

Documenting the DIY, underground music scene that emerged in Little Rock , Ark., in the late-80s and still dominates the small town two decades later, Towncraft has the makings of being labeled insider-ish. But, give it a chance, and you’ll find yourself getting sucked in, something writer-director-narrator Richard Matson accomplishes through intimate, off-the-cuff interviews with dozens of locals you’ll know by name by the film’s end. Towncraft tells the story of smart, self-aware kids, who when left to their own drug-free devices, found each other and created something that rivaled and arguably surpassed what was going on in the surrounding cities of Memphis, St. Louis, Dallas and Chicago. In the late-80s and early-90s, punk rock pierced the conservative town. Econochrist, Trusty and Chino Horde developed, evolved and influenced countless other bands over the next half-decade. The film follows the bands taking to the road and trying to “make it.” As Towncraft‘s characters age, bands break up as many kids go to college to pursue other passions. But by the mid-to-late-90s, other bands emerged and remain on the scene today. Slowly, the drive to get out of Little Rock is replaced with the pride of staying put. Towncraft successfully shows that while scenesters moved away, came back, got married and had kids, many of them continued to make music-and still do-on their own terms.