Customer Reviews

Back to the Disaster (Bonus Dvd)

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Sugarcult's latest offering, Back to the Disaster, can best be described as a compilation to reward their fans for their dediation. While a person new to the band could be turned on to them by this collection, it's the fans that have been with the band for years that will get the most out of this two-disc set.

THE DVD - "Back to the Disaster":
The menu is pretty confusing so here's how it goes:
The first screen is "Reel One" which is Back to the Disaster, the feature documentary. Reel Two is a collection of music videos(Memory, She's the Blade). Reel Three more behind the scenes stuff, and reel four is about overseas tours in Europe, UK, and Japan in 2003. Reel five is a couple live performances of Memory and Bouncing off the Walls in 2004 at Warped Tour(Damn, why didn't I go, they were in St. Louis...!), as well as Champagne, You're the One, and Worst December at Starland Ballroom. Reel Six is a photo slideshow if you're into that sort of thing. Also, if you keep pushing left while looking at all the reels, it shows you an easter egg about Tim's reaction to Markko leaving the tour to have his baby... anyway...

The DVD sheds a lot of light on the band, letting you get to know each member of the band, and how they relate to eachother, and their fans. Like many DVD documentaries like this it consists of a lot of interviews as well as random candid bits.

My personal favorite part of the disc was their video about touring Japan with Green Day. It shows a lot of cool things about Japan; architechture, food(live fish?), and the crazy fans. An interesting glimpse, I thought.

The DVD can be most appreciated by already-fans of the band, as it lets you get a little closer, and shows you some angles you'd probably never thought of. It's amazing what happens on tour.

Also, cool glimpses into why things are the way they are, such as, where "Palm Trees and Power Lines" came from. Also, at the end when the credits roll, a great acoustic version of Memory.

THE CD - "Live at the Starland Ballroom":
I loved the CD! Having seen Sugarcult live at Pointfest(Summer 2004, UMB Bank Pavilion, St. Louis, MO), I can really appreciate the disc - for anyone who's seen them live, it's like an instant flashback to the mosh pit.

It's really noteworthy that Sugarcult's live performances really don't lose anything in translation from the studio to the stage. In fact,they gain a lot of energy from the crowd when performing, as many bands do...

If you've ever seen them live, I reccommend picking this up. I wish it was longer!

OVERALL:
****-

Great compilation. I give it four stars rather than a perfect five because while fans will enjoy hearing the music, the lack of new content might be a turn-off. Also, as far as the audio portion, I can not understand why they wouldn't just record an entire show, as opposed to only nine songs and thirty minutes. Very good, but too short! As far as the DVD, I dont think there's much room for improvement. Again, some new songs would have been nice - stop teasing us with talk about the new CD!

As a Sugarcult fan since Start Static nearly five years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed Back to the Disaster. Especially since it's a bargain at the price. Well done, Sugarcult. Can't wait until the next real album.

I LOVE this cd. I listen to all the songs. One of the songs has a 404 playcount on my itunes. If you love sugarcult, get this cd. It is much better than their newer stuff.

Recently many bands have taken a part in releasing either a live album, or a DVD accompanied with a collection of live tracks. Granted, while this is nothing new, there have been quite a few bands to have done this as of late; Green Day, Maroon 5, Simple Plan, even Slipknot. The latest of these is Sugarcult's documentary, Back to the Disaster (the name of which, is taken from a lyric from their 2004 single, "Memory").
The package includes a DVD with the documentary on it, some music videos, a photo gallery, live performances, the stuff typically found on a release such as this. The bonus audio disc, "Live at the Starland Ballroom" is just what it sounds like, a handful of songs taken from a show performed at the Starland Ballroom in New Jersey.

The documentary itself doesn't really bring much new to the table. The band members are introduced to the viewer, you get to see what their personalities are all like (the jokester, the musically intelligent, the ladies man, the natural promoter, and so forth), what they think of being on the road, going on tour with a band they grew up listening to (in this case, Green Day), the usual stuff you hear bands talk about in their documentaries about themselves. There's even interviews with original drummer, Ben Davis and how he feels about the band.

However, just because the documentary doesn't bring anything new to the table doesn't mean it's not entertaining to watch. I think everyone would be surprised to discover what drummer Kenny Livingston keeps under his pillow in the tour bus, feel sympathy for vocalist/guitarist Tim Pagnotta when his "disaster" (as the DVD chapter calls it) forced the band into playing only acoustic sets, even hope that guitarist Marko72 would make it back to America in time to see his son be born.

In addition to the documentary, the DVD also boasts music videos for Memory (both the original and the animated) and She's the Blade (as well as a behind-the-scenes look). There are live performances of the band on the Warped Tour, as well as some from their show at the Starland Ballroom, all of which can also be found on the bonus disc sans the visual. The photo gallery is a nice plus, if you're into looking at pictures of the band.

The "Live at the Starland Ballroom" disc is a very nice addition to the DVD. While Sugarcult's live performance has a bit of a different sound to it (the chorus to "Memory" in particular), they don't get sloppy, which is always a good sign. Of notable mention, seconds into the first track (the Start Static hit, "Stuck in America"), Tim shouts at the crowd in a very Billie Joe-esque manner, showing even more of Green Day's influence on the band, as mentioned in the documentary (make that three for the number of times Green Day has been mentioned in some way or another in this review).
My only real complaint with the disc is that it's a bit too short (only 30 minutes in length) and you'd wonder why they just didn't put their entire performance on it, seeing as how there's definitely room for it.

Overall, while Back to the Disaster doesn't bring anything new to the world of bands releasing documentaries about themselves, it does give fans of Sugarcult some insight on the band members, as well as something new to play over and over until the new album comes out (hopefully sometime in 2006).