Rich Howells

ARCHIVES: Psychedelic spirit of Scranton rock band Felix Sarco revived in short film ‘Crescendo’

ARCHIVES: Psychedelic spirit of Scranton rock band Felix Sarco revived in short film ‘Crescendo’
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Over seven years ago, a local band called Felix Sarco’s Polar Power Manifesto Magnet Supernova embarked on a mission to destroy conventional rock ‘n’ roll with a psychedelic sound and groove like no other musical group Scranton had or has had since. In about four years, they produced two albums and a diehard fan base that refuses to forget the indelible mark the group made on the local music scene with performances that had to be seen to be believed.

Now, after three years and several side projects, several members will make Felix Sarco’s music live again through the Northeastern Pennsylvania premiere of “Crescendo,” a short film that chronicles the exploits of a band much like their own, but with a much darker edge, and features music from Sarco and other projects they’ve done since, such as The Future of Color. It with be shown on Saturday, Sept. 11 at The Vintage Theater in downtown Scranton and will feature two additional short films, “The Exchange” and “Avarice,” plus a Q&A with the “Crescendo’s” creators and actors after the screening.

The film’s main character, Kevin, who is played by Sarco frontman Gavin Robb, is the passionate singer of an up-and-coming experimental rock band, but when he realizes that not all members of his audience appreciate or understand the art he is trying to convey, his enthusiasm for his work begins to take over his life, leading to shocking consequences. “Crescendo” was written by Kipp Reynolds and R.J. Placko, drummer for Felix Sarco, who also edited and co-starred in the film. Justin Kraky, Sarco’s guitarist, also makes an appearance as Kevin’s boss at his daytime job.

Placko’s new real-life day job, when he isn’t freelancing, is a teacher of film post-production at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University. As a student there, he and Reynolds filmed “Crescendo” as their final project, although Placko hesitates to call it a “student film.”

Incorporating elements of musicals, documentaries, dramas, indie films, and avant-garde filmmaking, “Crescendo” is just as fresh and innovative as the music his band used to create. Despite moving on to a new art form, Placko didn’t leave the influence of Sarco behind. His first filmmaking endeavor was a video played during the band’s final performance at the Scranton Cultural Center in 2007, a comedic mockumentary piece covering the death of Felix Sarco as if he was a real person.

“It was this simply shot, creative piece about Felix’s funeral. My involvement in that initially was just assistant editor, and then after we premiered it at the show, I did some more editing on it, and that really got me interested in doing films,” Placko recalled.

After producing and mixing in audio post-production for a few bands, Placko wanted to get out of music and follow some of his other artistic interests, though his passions continued to intertwine.

“Music was just my life for all those years. I needed to pursue something that was similar, but a little bit different, which ended up working out because now I do a lot of projects that are music related, like ‘Crescendo,’” he explained.

The movie is clearly influenced by the band members’ experiences in Sarco, even incorporating their music into the plot, but Placko stressed that in no way does the story actually detail the real-life breakup of Sarco. Instead, it fictionalizes those experiences and expands upon ideas and feelings brought up by the band’s former members, including himself.

“[The main character] is extremely dedicated to his music, and he starts to lose connection with some of his fans. They’re getting violent, and he feels that there’s this huge separation between his music and the people that are enjoying it,” Placko noted.

“It’s more about how difficult it is to be in a band together, to create original music, and to also live a ‘normal life’ outside of it. I think that’s really what Crescendo is all about. Gavin’s character, Kevin, really can’t maintain that balance.”

While it is a short film, Placko said it took about four months to complete the entire project. Between the writing, editing, directing, and acting with Reynolds, then connecting with former band members who have since moved to states as far away as California to cut and record new versions of songs to fit into the movie, it was a difficult undertaking, but a satisfying one.

“It was a lot of fun. It was the best creative experience that I’ve had since Felix Sarco broke up.”

He and Reynolds have prepared a DVD printing of “Crescendo” as well that will be available at the screening, and they plan to follow up their first film with a web series called “Nathan Be Damned,” but that is still in its early stages of production. For now, Placko hopes that there’s still an interest in the dance rock outfit he used to drum for.

“I’m in the area very infrequently, but often I’ll meet somebody new and they’ll start reminiscing about the Felix Sarco days. It would be someone I never met at the shows or never realized came to all the shows, but they’re still talking about them and still playing the albums for people,” he shared.

“A lot of people still contact us and kind of miss the days that we were around, that it’s left a hole for them musically,” he continued. “I think everyone remembers, but is that crowd still in Scranton? I don’t know. Are they still following what the members of Felix Sarco do? I really have no idea.”

He does know, however, that Sarco left an impression on Scranton long after the band dispersed across the country.

“I’ve been hearing that there has been a lot more innovation going on in bands over the last few years. I’ve been out of the scene for a few years now, but everybody’s been telling me that from the end of Sarco, around 2006, to now, people have tried to be a lot more innovative. A lot of bands have moved to having synthesizer players, which I feel was almost unheard of in Scranton before Sarco, so I think we’ve had some impact. A few bands have covered our songs, which is pretty cool.”

Placko, now living in Boston, confirmed that there have been talks of a reunion show for years, but admitted that it may not happen any time soon. With members of the band currently residing in at least three different states, not only would the timing have to be right, but the performance would have to be worthy of their local legacy.

“We feel that when we were playing, we never gave anybody less than 110 percent per show, so we don’t want to just throw together five of our most popular songs and just slop them out. We definitely would want to plan out a production that was the size of what we used to do,” Placko left off.

“Maybe one day it would be great to get together, but not just yet.”

“Crescendo” NEPA film premiere
with additional short films “The Exchange” and “Avarice”
Location: The Vintage Theater (119 Penn Ave., Scranton)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 11
Time: Doors open at 7 p.m., first film starts at 8 p.m.
Cost: Admission is $5, “Crescendo” DVD is $5

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