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February 10
Eagles of Death Metal : Nos Amis ( Our Friends )
Directed by Colin Hanks Unrated at Press Time
Colin Hanks directs this documentary that follows American rock band Eagles of Death Metal as they recount their experiences before , during and after the tragic terrorist attack during their concert at Le Bataclan Theater in Paris on November 13 , 2015 – a heinous act of violence that claimed 89 lives , including one of the band ’ s crew members . Financed by Live Nation , this is the first film project from that company ’ s Live Nation Productions film unit .
According to the official synopsis , the film spotlights the deep bond of friendship between co-founders Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme ( Queens Of The Stone Age ), as well as the intensely personal connection that EODM have always had with their devoted fans . That relationship , coupled with a profound sense of responsibility to help the Bataclan survivors cope with their physical and emotional wounds , inspired the
band to return to Paris : first to perform with U2 at a rescheduled concert three weeks after the attacks , and later to finish the ill-fated Paris show for their fans - many of whom survived the Bataclan massacre . Hanks has been friends with Hughes and Homme ( who was not at the Bataclan that night ) for over 10 years and wanted to do something to help the band and their fans heal . “ It ’ s about that first step in trying to put life back together ,” said Hanks in a November interview with Deadline . If you can ’ t catch this in limited release at a theater near you . It also premieres February 13 on HBO .
L toR : Jesse Hughes , Josh Homme and Colin Hanks
February 16
The Great Wall
Directed by Yimou Zhang Rated PG-13
The first English-language production for Zhang Yimou ( Hero , House of Flying Daggers ) tells the very complicated story of European mercenaries ( Matt Damon , Pedro Pascale ) searching for black powder that are captured and imprisoned within the Great Wall of China . They meet others who have been imprisoned far longer ( Willem Dafoe ) and
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there we moved on working with him on numerous things , not just DevilDriver records but also a lot of the one-off stuff that we did like the Iron Maiden cover . Working with him this time around we got to experience different emotions from each other . And it was definitely interesting for sure .
IE : On Trust No One , Dez Fafara DevilDriver sounds like DevilDriver . Did you keep things organic or did you want to experiment with different elements ? Dez Fafara : It ’ s kind of weird in DevilDriver . We ’ ve got seven records , but every one of those records are so different from one another . For us , we don ’ t stay true to a formula , but we do what we ’ re feeling . As long as it ’ s aggressive , it ’ s got groove , hooks and it ’ s hitting hard , that ’ s what we go for . This record was all about keeping it heavy and not going the route that a lot of bands are going right now as far as trying to get radio air play . We wanted to do what felt natural . It ’ s the highest-charting record we ’ ve had . And that ’ s a pretty interesting thing to say after seven records you charted the highest you did after changing two members . So something is working incredibly correct within DevilDriver at the moment .
IE : There ’ s some great guitar solos throughout the album . Mike and Neal really let loose on this one . Dez Fafara : Neal ’ s been playing guitar since he was four years old . He ’ s one of the most accomplished songwriters I ’ ve come across . Not only that , but we hung out for two or three years before he joined the band and a lot of people don ’ t know this but I had a side project with Neal that we were working on under cover . So just that open candle , we slotted him into DevilDriver and he was happy . And Mike ( Spreitzer ), that guy is incredible . And his sense comes from a real dark atmospheric feel . Some of the best solos I ’ ve ever heard from these guys are on this record for sure .
IE : Any news on Coal Chamber ? Dez Fafara : No , no news . We got together and we did a record and it did well for us for being gone 13 years . We did a tour that was basically sold out all around the United States , and all the shows in Europe were sold out . But there ’ s nothing on the table as of now . The inner workings of that band is very particular and we ’ re dealing with it one thing at a time . That band doesn ’ t work like normal things . So we ’ ll see .
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38 illinoisentertainer . com february 2017