Torn apart by the violent sectarian divide known as The Troubles, Belfast in the 1970s was the last place you would have expected to see a musical revolution.
Enter Terri Hooley: founder of the Good Vibrations record store and label, which helped kick-start the bomb-ravaged city's punk scene. The film of the same name tells the story of Hooley's life and the bands his determination inspired, as directors Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn explain. “[Hooley is] an extraordinary man who had lived through extraordinary times,” D'Sa says.
“I think what really appealed to us about the story when we came across it, was that we realised that this was just not a story about a local legend, it was a story about music and youth in general; just that spirit of youth that won't be downtrodden. This was a time when young people wanted to be going out, meeting people and working out who they were, but it wasn't safe for them to be meeting their friends in town. It's a story about that compulsion, that determination to go out and live your life despite whatever dark forces are closing down the city you live in.”
While the Northern Irish conflict may not be widely known about or understood internationally, 'Good Vibrations' is a story with universal themes, says Leyburn. “I think there were a lot of things about this story that we hoped would have a universal resonance,” he says.
“Especially in the times we live in today. There's conflict all over the world, and there are kids and teenagers facing the same challenges as those in Belfast at that time. Our story is a positive one; one that we hope has been told with humour. We've been lucky enough to travel around the world to film festivals. It's been played in South Korea, the Czech Republic and the list goes on. A lot of those audiences have connected with it, and there's a resonance to their own recent histories.”
At 65 and retired, Hooley no longer owns the store, but was an active influence in the making of the film. “To tell the story, Terri had to be on board,” Leyburn says. “The fact that he was able to get to know us was important to him and to us. I knew of Terri and his legend; I'd seen him around Belfast and bought records from him, but I didn't really get to know him. Through the process of developing the script and the film I got to know him really well.
“Terri has a very unique way at looking at the world. He's a unique storyteller, and tells stories that are very vivid and interesting. I think for us to get to know him as well as we did helped us to bring a bit of his verve for life and telling stories to the screen. Also, just for the spirit of the thing; he came to the set and there was always an open door for him. You can't make a story about somebody who's still around and shut them out; I think that'd be the wrong way to approach it.”
‘Game Of Thrones’ actor Richard Dormer plays the title role, and was an easy pick for the job, says D'Sa. “From the very first stages of developing this film, we knew Richard was the actor we wanted to cast,” she says. “Not only is he a phenomenal, subtle actor, we knew he was going to be brilliant at inhabiting the role and soul of this character. He also understands the DNA of the place and the time. We did a pilot, and Richard kindly agreed to come and play the role in a few early scenes. That was job done; once we had screened the pilot to the financiers, any of their concerns seemed to wash away at that time.”
The story culminates with a huge punk gig, organised by Hooley to pay off the label's debts. Luckily, the directors were able to call on another Belfast band to help out. “We had a lot of support from Snow Patrol,” D'Sa says. “The guys put out a call on their fan site asking people to show up at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, dressed in appropriate punk clothing. Of course, within an hour, we had our 2,000 extras for the scene, and the treat for them at the end was that the guys would play a two-hour acoustic gig after filming. So, we had all these extras in punk clothing, the entire cast and crew was there, and it was a really joyous experience that felt like it channelled a bit of the original spirit of that gig.”
Good Vibrations is released nationally on June 12.
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