WHAT YOU COULD NOT VISUALISE directed by Marco Porsia (Canada, 2022)
It takes a special kind of music obsessive to contemplate making a documentary about an obscure indie band who released just one four-track EP and only played about a dozen live shows. There are no videos or live footage of Rema-Rema. Even in Simon Reynolds’ definitive study of post-punk, ‘Rip It And Start Again’, the English band are only mentioned in passing to say that Marco Pirroni played with them.
Rema-Rema’s ‘Wheel In The Roses’ EP was the first release on the esteemed 4AD label jointly founded by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent. On the 4AD website, Watt-Russell describes hearing the band’s demo for the first time as a kind of epiphany: “It was the first point I knew that we were actually doing something serious.”
The distinctive cover shot of African tribesmen was the main reason why many bought the EP in the first place. The sleeve gives no other information other than to list the musicians: Gary Asquith (guitar/vocals), Marco Pirroni (guitar), Mick Allen (bass/vocals), Mark Cox (keyboards) and Dorothy Max Prior (drums).
Rema-Rema were apparently named after a Polish machine manufacturer (don’t ask!) although it’s probable that it was picked because had same catchy resonance as The Kingsmen’s rock standard ‘Louie Louie’.
Turin-born director Marco Porsia (now based in Canada) has already gained the esteem of serious music lovers through his brilliant documentary charting the rise and rise of Michael Gira and Swans – Where Does A Body End? (2019). It was no coincidence that Swans were playing in Bologna the day after his attendance at the screening of ‘What You Could Not Visualise’ at the city’s Cineteca. (Swans’ drummer Phil Puleo was sitting in front of me in the audience!)
In the film, guitarist Marco Pirroni is the off-stage villain of the piece. Pirroni left the band abruptly to seek fame and fortune with Adam & The Ants. The remaining four members could not contemplate carrying on without him. Their story could have ended there but in researching this film, Porsia found to his surprise and delight that he was not alone in regarding Rema-Rema’s 1980 EP as a treasured artefact; a kind of holy grail of post-punk.
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