Pavement were, by turns, snarky, surprising and unapologetically ramshackle. So why should we expect “Pavements,” a documentary about the band directed by Alex Ross Perry and rubber stamped by the members themselves, to be a standard rock doc?
“It would have been kind of boring for us if it was just a basic documentary,” says the group’s drummer Steve West, a native of Richmond who is making an appearance at a special Byrd Theatre screening of “Pavements” on Friday, Sept. 12. “We always tried to challenge our records to be different every time and challenge our audience and ourselves.”
“Pavements” starts off as a standard music bio of the band — identified as “the world’s most important and influential band in the world” — which formed in Stockton, California by guitarists Stephen Malkmus and Scott Kannberg, and would include another former Richmonder, percussionist Bob Nastanovich. The cinematic formula will seem very familiar, mixing archival footage of the band during its ’90s heyday intercut with new footage of the older unit preparing a reunion tour while appreciative talking heads blather on.
But soon “Pavements” begins integrating footage of an off-broadway theater production featuring Pavement’s songs, “Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical” – essentially, a slacker “Mamma Mia.” There’s also behind-the-scenes coverage of a Hollywood bio film, a la “Bohemian Rhapsody,” documenting the group’s career. It features a hilarious performance by “Stranger Things” actor Joe Keery as he impersonates mercurial lead singer Malkmus. Along the way, we also see TV news coverage of a glitzy New York opening of a Pavement museum, featuring artifacts, ephemera and celebrity guests.
How much of this is real? That’s the question for viewers. But even with the purposeful confusion, “Pavements” manages to do the job that a music documentary is supposed to do — it captures the essence of this singular group. The fact that it also sends up modern rock star hagiography, tongue firmly in cheek, is a delightful bonus.
Style Weekly recently talked about “Pavements” with West, who lives outside of Lexington, Virginia and still plays with the reunited Pavement while also leading his own bands, Unmastered Masters and the Darlington Pairs.
Style Weekly: You grew up in Richmond. Where did you go to school?
Steve West: I went to VCU for college at the art school there. And Bob [Nastanovich] and I went to a private school called Trinity [Episcopal]. That’s where we met when we were about 13 or 14 years old.
Did you guys play music together back then?
We went to see shows in Richmond, different local bands. And we were really big fans of the radio station at University of Richmond. We had a friend who had a show there. So we would go and visit him and see how it all worked. And Bob would come and bang on my drums in the basement, you know, whenever he came over to my house.
Bob joined Pavement first. You came on board after original drummer Gary Young left. Did Bob help you get the gig?
In a way. I also worked as a security guard with David Berman [of Silver Jews] and Stephen at the Whitney Museum [in New York]. So I think I was introduced as one of Bob’s buddies, but when I worked with those guys in New York City, we got along really well and that was like the key that unlocked the door. I got to meet everybody. Because they went to UVA and I went to VCU, I didn’t see Bob in college. I was playing around Richmond, sometimes in Charlottesville, but I didn’t see Bob but one or two times in the four years I was in college.
“Pavements” plays fast and loose with reality, and with the band’s history. Was that always the goal?
Well, at the beginning, Alex called each one of us individually and kind of explained his idea. And I definitely think Stephen was like, avoid the typical legacy documentary thing as much as you possibly can. And there was a lot of the fake news going around and it was like, okay, well, [let’s] make up stuff and have it be this kind of ménage of reality and fakeness and a ‘what if’ type of thing where it makes it more interesting rather than just documenting.
Did the band have any input into the script?
When we talked to Alex five years ago, and he called each one of us, we would talk at length about things that we thought would be interesting or fake, you know, jogging our memories, trying to give him ideas of, you know, things he might want to put up there that would be real as well as some fake stories. And then by that time that he was actually filming, you know, we were just concerned about playing our [reunion] shows and doing well and getting through it. It just kind of went over our heads at that point. And then two years later, it comes out as a movie.
It seems like several films in one. One is a straight rock doc, and another is a look at your reunion tour in 2022, and integrated into those are all of these fantasties.
Right. I think Alex definitely wanted to make something that was much more challenging and interesting and then, when he collaborated with Robert [Greene] in the editing, the editing was really where it all happened because they had so much footage of us rehearsing for those [reunion] shows in ’22, as well as footage that they’ve been able to dig up from other producers and video people from our earlier years.
I was told that the band was kind of tricked in some of these scenes — like the hiring of TV news people who were actually actors, interviewing you.
Yeah, when we went to that art opening, that one who interviewed us, she just seemed like she was straight out of MTV, you know, from the ’80s and the ’90s. Right. That’s cool. I don’t know who she is, but that’s great. Nobody really even questioned whether she was an actress. So, yeah, we were tricked, but at the same time, it was so overwhelming, that whole museum part. That was the least of our worries or concerns is whether somebody’s an actor or not.
What did you think of the musical that is featured in the movie, “Slanted! Enchanted!”? I have to say that I enjoyed it very much.
I loved it. At first, I was, like, ‘my god!’ (laughs) I’m not a big musical person. But as it went along, each time I saw the different edits, I started to grow more affection for the dancers and the singing, and that extra stuff that was put in the songs, It gives it a whole other level of clarity that I find really interesting. And it’s just fun.
Now that you’ve reunited, what’s the status of the band right now?
Well, we have two shows in Texas coming up in Dallas and Austin. And then we’re playing in Mexico on Nov. 1. So basically, we take it one month at a time. We’ll see how the movie does and whether there’s the desire for us to be out there. Everyone enjoys playing the songs right now and we are just kind of just glowing in the fact that people care about us after all these years.
You will be back in town at the Byrd Theatre introducing the film. What will you say?
I’ve done eight of these [introductions]…. quite a few with Alex and he’s pretty much like, ‘It is what it is, guys, here we go.’ You know, real brief. I’ll try to give more of an introduction. I don’t want to be too long-winded or anything. I mean, I’ll tell them that there’s a lot of real stuff that’s fake and fake stuff that’s real and it’s all real now that it’s a movie. So try to enjoy it and get back with me.
“Pavements” will screen at the Byrd Theatre on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. $15. At 5:30 p.m., there will be a meet and greet with Steve West that includes a signed poster and a ticket to the movie. $25. https://byrdtheatre.org
