A true band of holy joy.
(2018) Music Documentary (Abramorama) Lee Bozeman, Chris Foley, Jamey Bozeman, Glenn Black, Matt Hinton, Amy Bozeman, Wayne Everett, Matt Goldman, David Vanderpoel, Jeff Wickes, Brandon Ebel, J. Edward Keyes, Carrie Foley, Sheila Aldridge, Taylor Muse, Doug Andrews, Nick Purdy, Alex Johns, Andy Prickett, Josh Jackson, Reid Davis, Kate Bozeman, Jessica Inman. Directed by Matt Hinton
The world is full of great bands. Some manage to find that connection, the one where millions of people find themselves able to relate to the songs and voilà, a star is born. Most of the time, these bands toil in obscurity until they collapse out of frustration or lack of inertia.
Luxury was an improbable band from the get-go. They came together in the Northeast Georgia town of Toccoa – more specifically at Toccoa Falls College, a Christian institution of higher learning. The initial band members – vocalist Lee Bozeman, drummer Glenn Black, guitarist Jamey Bozeman and bass player Chris Foley – wanted to play loud rock, music along the lines of DC punk icons Fugazi and A Minor Threat. Lee Bozeman was more of a Smiths fan and became almost instantly a compelling frontman, with sweet high-pitched vocals, intelligent lyrics, and almost effeminate movements onstage. The band was often described as “sensitive” and fans of other bands in the Athens scene (where this band basically cut their teeth) ruefully remember that the really gorgeous women tended to attend Luxury shows.
The band began to attract a whole lot of notice for their live shows which were described as wild and passionate. They were signed to indie distributor Tooth & Nail records, whose clients have included MxPx, Starflyer 59, The Juliana Theory and Underoath. The distributor mostly moved their albums through Christian bookstores and although the music wasn’t overtly Christian (although all four members identified as Christian), the marketing went on as if it was. The lyrics often had content that could be construed as referring to gay sex which certainly didn’t endear them to the Christian community. Nonetheless, the band had a huge buzz about it and many thought they would be the next big thing.
That literally came to a crashing halt when on the way home from a gig at the Cornerstone Christian Music Festival their van crashed, leaving three of the four members hospitalized. Members of the band Piltdown Man were also travelling with them and while there were thankfully no fatalities, given that three people involved in the crash ended up with broken necks it was a minor miracle none of them wound up paralyzed.
The band’s next albums showed a deeper, more reflective bent than their earlier music; there was also a tendency to more musical complexity. Dissatisfaction with the way Tooth & Nail was handling their promotions led to the band not renewing their contract with them; they made another album on the Bulletproof label before breaking up in 2005. They have since reunited for an album slated to come out in June of 2019.
Interestingly, three members of the band (Foley and the Bozeman brothers) went on to become ordained priests in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In a lot of ways, the band has come full circle. The excerpts of songs from their forthcoming album sounds like the band hasn’t lost any of their edge or their stark beauty.
Hinton tackles the film from an insider’s perspective; he became the band’s second guitarist in 1999. Much of the footage is home movies here both of shows and of studio time. There are some overt music videos from the era as well. Hinton animates the lyrics which aren’t super helpful – Lee has a clear voice that is easily understood – but still is gratefully received.
The two main questions about the band – why didn’t they succeed and why did 3/5 of the band become priests – are teased at but not really answered. If anything, Hinton is a bit coy about it, essentially saying that the latter situation was essentially inevitable but being in a band that likes to, as Jamey Bozeman put it “take the piss” from the Christian right, well, there just seems to be a story to be told there.
The music is amazing and it certainly led me to run right out and buy some – okay, buy some online which entailed no running whatsoever – an I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of you reading this are motivated to do the same. This is a band that in some ways did everything they could to keep from being big but in some ways that isn’t a bad thing. It gave them the opportunity to pursue their calling and at the same time pursue their muse. Not many get to do both.
REASONS TO SEE: The story of another great band you’ve never heard of. Their story is a most unusual one.
REASONS TO AVOID: Most viewers won’t know what to make of this band.
FAMILY VALUES: There are some profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The band was originally known as The Shroud and didn’t change their name until just before their debut album on Tooth & Nail came out.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 5/17/19: Rotten Tomatoes: No score yet: Metacritic: No score yet.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
FINAL RATING: 7/10
NEXT: Trial by Fire
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