A documentary chronicling the rise of punk music in Washington, D.C., in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Punk the Capital, will be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in the United States on June 12 and in the United Kingdom on July 12.
The U.S. release coincides with Record Store Day, an annual promotion launched by independent record stores and rapidly gaining ground with the resurgence of the vinyl LP.
Punk the Capital features musicians such as Bad Brains, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye and Jello Biafra. Created by James June Schneider (co-director, editor), Paul Bishow (co-director) and Sam Lavine (associate producer, co-editor), Punk the Capital was released theatrically released in the United States in May and garnered rave reviews from the press and fans alike. Many of the screenings became special events, with Q&As with the directors and Pete Stahl of Scream, Chris Stover of Void, Nicky Thomas of Fire Party, curator/publisher Roger Gastman, and Hudley Flipside of Flipside fanzine, just to name a few.
Co-director Schneider said in a statement, “The final version of our film that we’re releasing now is just the intense tip of the iceberg — our first cut was seven hours long. In the end, we wound up focusing on the untold and improbable story of punk rock’s beginnings in Washington, D.C., that happened concurrently with cities across the western world.”
The film is being released in the United States through Passion River and in the U.K. through Wienerworld. A portion of all DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales through Dischord Records will go to the Washington, D.C.-based charity We Are Family, an outreach and advocacy organization serving low-income seniors in the North Capitol and Columbia Heights neighborhoods.
The Blu-ray Discs and DVD contain more than 50 minutes of short films from the archives of Punk the Capital:
- “Scream Meets The Hangmen”: Featuring all of Scream including Dave Grohl;
- “Void and Friends”: A portrait of the cult hardcore band from the D.C. suburbs;
- “The Seminal WGTB Concert”: D.C.’s legendary first punk concert, featuring The Cramps;
- “The Slickee Boys”: Extra material on the band that got D.C. punk off the ground circa 1976.