JASON AXEL SUMMERS
Director of Unknown Passage: The Dead Moon Story & 20 Years In The Crypt
As the red carpet rolls out on the new film, ‘20 Years in the Crypt: Embedded on tour with Dead Moon’, by Jason Axel Summers and Kate Fix at its Aussie premiere, courtesy of In-Tense Touring and the couples’ own Magic Umbrella Films, Bad Batch caught up with Mr Summers to discuss a fortuitous collaboration for the ages…
Back in 2001 filmmakers Jason and Kate joined forces with Andrew Loomis and Fred and Toody Cole, known to their legion of fans as legendary American Rock band Dead Moon, to film the documentary ‘Unknown Passage: The Dead Moon Story’. With so much footage gathered over the subsequent years, they’ve now been able to give the fans, not just a concert film, but so much more, “We had 180 hours of footage, and the shit was on mini DV tapes. I would go through and log it… If I wasn't working on jobs, I would be at home editing all the time, like 10 hours a day.” The painstaking hours of archival work have paid off in spades, with the new film delivering up Dead Moon performances peppered with intimate insights, captured during multiple tours across multiple continents. An access all areas pass to both the inner and outer workings of the Cole/Loomis clans.
So, how did it all come together in the first place?
“I got done with film school at the University of North Carolina and stayed here in town for a while and then started working on films professionally. Then I went up to New York in 97, when I met Kate.” Jason met his future wife and partner in crime in New York on the set of Jesse Feigelman’s ‘Snapped’. A film starring Seymour Cassel and an actor by the name of Johnny Alexander (AKA Johnny Zander), the inspiration behind Ben Stiller’s ‘Zoolander’. “We were into a lot of the same music, like, I love Crash Worship and Kate actually travelled around with Crash Worship in a rubber suit, and would throw shit on the crowd, like blood, and wine, and honey for them,” he says with a chuckle. “They're like The Butthole Surfers, but with heavy drumming.”
No slouch himself either, Jason also moonlighted as a radio DJ and musician, “I was in a band, called Minerva Strain, that was kind of like early Flaming Lips kind of stuff and I worked at a couple of the clubs here in town too, besides doing restaurant jobs like everybody else.” Fortunately, though, that movie industry stereotype was short lived, and in a sliding doors moment the auteurs found themselves presented with an opportunity to good to pass up.
“Kate was friends with Andrew Loomis, the drummer.” The two had met in Portland while Kate was studying at the illustrious Reed College, “We were out on the street in front of our apartment, and we saw a poster for Dead Moon playing, and it was their first gig ever on the East Coast - ever in New York. And Kate was like, ‘I know those guys.’ I was like, ‘Holy shit! You know, Dead Moon? I fucking love them.’”
At that show, introductions were made, friendships were sparked, and correspondence began between Fred and Toody Cole and the filmmakers, “They can't get enough of each other and yeah, they supported each other, and they shared what they had with people, you know, unflinchingly.”
Toody would always write back on her signature manual typewriter during those initial exchanges and a lot was learned and cultivated in the process. “[Their generosity and approach to everything they did was] hugely important and that's how they operated with everybody. They would always write back and respond, and we learned from them, how good that felt. And they did it because when they got shit on, when they were nobodies, that they vowed they would always watch the opening bands and give them attention, and anybody that interacted with them. And it's like, you know, you respond like that, and you aren't an uptight arsehole and the right people, the earnest right people, will find you.”
With solid bonds now laying the foundation, the natural evolution of the friendship was broached, “Because we were involved with Dead Moon, and they were as cheap as we were poor,” he smirks. “We were like, ‘You guys! We think this is totally stupid. We have no experience…’ even though we were already in the film business, ‘We want to do a film about you,’ and they were like, ‘That's fucken cool as shit! You guys are gonna be our roadies. You're going to get free hotel rooms, and you're gonna help us, roadie and shit. And you'll get free booze, free food, and you'll even get, you know, like a couple of bucks.’ So, they fucken totally hooked us up. And so, in fact, it was [cheap to do]. When does that ever fucken happen? That never fucken happens!”
The filmmakers were embraced wholeheartedly by the band as if they were family, quickly discovering that Dead Moon was uniquely authentic. Unlike many meticulously contrived bands, Dead Moon walked the walk and talked the talk - their public persona was not a performance, but just them. Their genuine passion was unmistakable, and through nearly two decades of stellar performances that forged deep connections with audiences worldwide, they transcended the music to become true Rock’n’Roll legends.
“It certainly wasn't luxurious; except we did get put up in some really nice hotels a couple times,” Jason admits. “But yeah, so it was like, so do-it-yourself-budget-Rock that it's not even funny. We weren't in a follow car or anything, we were just in their face. Literally two feet away from their heads, for 5 weeks straight. And then we toured the States with them and then went and lived with them at their house.”
However, it wasn’t all beer and skittles filming on the road, “We never knew what we were going to get issued. And we had no budget, we were usually hungover as fuck and loading the gear. Loading their shit in and helping them set up and then setting our shit up and we would just… we would get… Every night you get fucked. Either the sound guy was an arsehole and wouldn't give you a feed, or the lighting’s fucked or something was wrong. So, it was hard to find, you know? Out of so many opportunities, only a few of them worked out well.”
“When Kate and I were shooting, there was just the two of us, so, we had no idea. You're just flying blind.” Not that there’s any sense of this when watching the film, with the inventive use of camera angles and kinetic coverage. “They were real supportive of us, so we felt comfortable getting up in their space.”
“The kind of ad hoc way we did it also kept it fresh, and if we’d have gone in with a big crew, if we had resources or whatever, that would have stifled everything,” Summers says by way of elucidating their process. “And they would have been uncomfortable, and I don't think they would have been as… I think they would have been more uptight or something. And so, the way we did it, it was like double dating with them really.”
After filming had wrapped up, they all stayed in touch, despite living on opposite sides of the country, “So, after the movie we became closer and closer with them. And then, when Fred was dying, we went out to see them with our [8-year-old] daughter… And Fred and Toody played their last five songs on the planet for our daughter in their bedroom,” he says mournfully. “That was the last time they played music together.”
“Fred was just so positive there. He had no hair, and he was just like, ‘Guys, I'm telling you, life is great, man. It's just fucking great. Yeah, you guys are so fucking beautiful and awesome. Just fucken, you just gotta keep going, man. Fuck it.’ Like, he was just excited, and that was when he was getting in the car to leave with Toody to go to a casino.”
Fred Cole would pass away just 2 weeks later, in November 2017 at the age of 69.
Fred and Andrew may be gone but there legacy, thanks to Toody, Jason and Kate, live on. Though, in an age of streaming platform oligopolies, things are becoming more difficult for the independent production houses to find an outlet for bigger projects such as this, “I think it's always been tricky, especially for no-budget nobody's like us. Nobody gives a fuck about us. But we're not just gonna give it away like everybody else. Everybody else just wants to have their fucking movie out there, so they give it away… But we're not interested in that. We’re do-it-yourselfers like Dead Moon. We did the first DVD, but I've recoloured, and re-audio mastered the original ‘Unknown Passage’, and we're sitting on it right now.” Like a lot of creatives and innovators though, Jason and Kate aren’t waiting around for the big wigs to catch up. They’re currently chipping away, simultaneously, at documentary projects on woodworking celebrities, musicians and C.I.A. spies, “I've got all kinds of projects I’d like to do. My grandfather was a glider pilot in World War 2… he was in the same squadron as the original Uncle Fester from the Addams Family, Jeremy Coogan. One of the Little Rascals. They were both fucken glider pilots and lived. I wanted to do a film about that, because that shit nobody knows about. So, I'd love to go big-budget-film on that,” he says, before rattling off an impressive list of other potential endeavours.
“There's lots of other projects we'd love to do, but you know, we need to find… I'd love to get grants. I don't know. With what Donald Trump's doing, there's not gonna be any grants for fucken anybody anymore. Except for rich people. So, I would love to get some kind of support somehow or something, but you know that's never come our way. No rich stockbroker wants to throw money at some dumbass like me. You know? So…”
Whilst we might have to wait some time for those stockbrokers to come to their senses, Jason Axel Summers and Kate Fix have us covered for the time being with their latest film, ‘20 Years in the Crypt: Embedded on tour with Dead Moon’.
From their formation in 1987 to their eventual demise in 2006, Dead Moon were the greatest cult rock'n'roll band in the world. The passing of drummer Andrew Loomis in 2016 and then of Fred Cole himself in 2017 has done nothing to dim Dead Moon's shining light. Indeed, they have more fans now than they had when they were around, and ‘20 Years in the Crypt: Embedded on tour with Dead Moon’ will provide new generations of fans with a chance to see the band they missed and old fans a chance to recapture the feeling of seeing this amazing band live.
“If you never saw the legend that is Dead Moon here’s your closest chance… If you did, it’s time to relive the experience!"
From all reports, the Adelaide screening was a resounding smash! Don’t miss your chance to beg, borrow or steal your way into one of the next two screenings…
EXCLUSIVE AUSTRALIAN SCREENINGS MARCH & APRIL 2025
Sunday March 30 - The Dendy Cinema, Newtown, Sydney
(w/ live solo acoustic performance by Blackie - Hard-Ons - before the film)
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Sunday April 13 - Cinema Nova, Melbourne
(w/ live solo acoustic performance by Joel Silbersher - God, Hoss, Tendrils, Fancy Weapon - before the film)
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