Girls Dreams

“Nothing’s changed,” says Marky Ramone over the top of "A Band of Five," the fourth and final installment of the Converse Rubber Tracks series on Noisey. “There’s still war, problems with politics, homeless people, problems with boyfriends, girlfriends. Nothing changes. Only technology.”

The legendary drummer, in his Brooklyn drawl, says this to offer some context for the work of Chinese punks Pumpkins, a band hungry and desperate to tap into these essential, basic human struggles. This, after all, is a band that have battled adversity and overcome it. They still carry the talisman of their fallen lead singer with them on stage, making sure to keep his spirit alive after his death in 2013.

Now their current vocalist has been denied a visa to travel to Germany and record at Berlin’s world famous Hansa Tonstudio, so he’s not there for Marky Ramone’s hands on production advice, or for the intoxicating artistic nature of Berlin. Rather, he’s in a studio back in Xinxiang, laying down vocals while the band tear through their track thousands of miles away.

Oliver Würffell’s chopped direction flits back and forth from Xinxiang to Berlin, effortlessly creating the tension and space for the band’s story. It’s a masterfully constructed, often experimental technique and, combined with his lush cinematography, it perfectly captures the band’s inherent energy.

"Band of Five" is the last of four short films in the Converse Rubber Tracks series airing on Noisey each week, following the stories of four artists as they travel to world famous studios to work with legendary artists. 

Watch the first episode with Brazilian band Water Rats in Seattle with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore here, the second starring rapper DAP and Mark Ronson at Abbey Road here, and the third featuring Brighton band The Magic Gang in Jamaica with Sly and Robbie here.

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