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A proper story of rags to slightly shinier rags is that told by San Diego's Kut U Up on their first eight-week stint across the good old US of A supporting their long-time chums and pop-punk giants Blink 182 (annoyingly pronounced throughout as "Blink One Eighty-Two"), as well as their childhood heroes Green Day, and Jimmy Eat World on the Pop Disaster Tour.
Packed into a glorified Ford Transit van with their gear in tow, the lads booze and cruise their way across their home nation in true delinquent style, annoying tour managers, eating animal faeces and pushing each other down hills whilst throwing up.
In somewhat Godfather fashion, Blink's Mark Hoppus and Tom De Longe seem to treat the whole thing as an experiment in initiation for their young friends, encouraging their outrageous behaviour every step of the way, as if trying to relive their early days before a smelly dented van turned into luxury tour bus complete with groupies.
The soundtrack to this gig of a lifetime comes courtesy of legendary hardcore acts like Refused, household punk and emo names like Alkaline Trio and The Movielife, and on to rising stars such as Further Seems Forever.
Interspersed with uncensored antics (which actually end up being fairly tame and juvenile) are live performances from Jimmy Eat World, Blink and Green Day. The live shows look very impressive, with pyrotechnics, revolving drum kits and lots of sweaty punters. Despite the fact that Kut U Up's set resides either outside the main venue or on a second stage, their endorsement from the Blink camp seems to win them many friends and fans along the way.
There are of course the ups and downs of being stuck in a 15-foot van with five other young men for weeks on end, and tensions show themselves with more gritty reality than Big Brother, although the closest we get to a proper scrap is a tearful argument and a thrown bottle. Honestly, where's the footy hooligan genes in them yanks?
Through the good and the bad you start to care about the boys, their little tantrums and the hard life of waking up at noon and drinking endlessly just because they can. Ah, bless the little ones. High points include the boys visiting their first "alternative" bar, where a transvestite by the name of Darlene makes them all feel at home; the band's constant obsession with meeting their heroes Green Day, (which they seem to treasure more than any of the punters!), and the regular Jackass stunts of vomiting endlessly, pointless vandalism and, oh yes, eating dog poo!
Even if you know nothing of the band whatsoever, as was the case for most of the world prior to this tour, the film makes classic "rock 'n' roll dreams come true" viewing, with the newly signed foursome not quite sure how they even ended up getting on the same bill as their idols, let alone playing to crowds who cheer them on.
Worth a look.
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