After 25 years as a band, there was nothing that the members of Alice Donut could say about the experience that could surprise each other.
“We spent so much time in the van together that eventually the only thing that changed was descriptions of our bowel movements and dreams,” says drummer Stephen Moses. “That’s basically it.”
For fans and the uninitiated, “Freaks In Love” relates the band’s history through interviews and a wealth of archival concert footage dating back to their early days at legendary CBGBs. Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra and the Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood chime in with praise, while the filmmakers try to put the Donuts’ fiercely independent, eccentric path through the punk world in broader perspective.
“I don’t know if our experience had anything at all to do with the history of the underground independent scene at that time,” shrugs guitarist Michael Jung. “But the film gives a larger picture of the music industry while we were doing the daily grind.”
“Freaks In Love” will screen on Saturday night at Invincible Pictures as part of the second Philly F/M Festival — a citywide music and film fest running through Sunday — and will be followed by an increasingly rare live performance.
They stay at it, Moses says, because: “We love what we do, we love each other, and we want to continue doing as much as we can without losing our jobs.”