We are your insect uncles

I was finally able to watch John Edgington's Robyn Hitchcock documentary Sex, Food, Death…And Insects over the weekend.

The movie shows Robyn and his band the Venus 3 (Peter, Scott, Bill) rehearsing new material at his house in West London then playing a couple of shows at Maxwell's in Hoboken and the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. The sessions feature guest appearances by Morris Windsor ( Soft Boys/Egyptians drummer), John Paul Jones (of Led Zep fame), Nick Lowe, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, and Robyn's niece Ruby Wright (playing the musical saw). It's a fascinating look at Robyn and the Venus 3 writing and recording, interspersed with interviews of the participants.

It's also interesting to note that these sessions for his next album (the one after Ole! Tarantula) were filmed in the summer of 2005, nearly a year before Tarantula was released. Also during the tour footage, Robyn and the band (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, and Bill Rieflin) are riding together in a small van, and seem to be having a blast scaling everything down and breaking away from the R.E.M.-level excess. It's also great to see music legends like Nick Lowe and John Paul Jones let down their (gray) hair and just being regular guys.

The movie itself is highly recommended, but won't win any wardrobe awards. Unlike Stay, the clothing in Sex, Death.. and Insects was "worse than almost any other film". For Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Buck, every day is ugly shirt Friday (check out that polka-dot monstrosity that Robyn's wearing in the photo above)

Update: looking for when this movie is playing again, I came across this review:

There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when mentioning that you listened to Robyn Hitchcock was the easiest way to score a date with the artsy college girl of your choice.

The easiest way? I need to travel back in time to the 80s and 90s and try that line out on artsy college girls!