Fly in a Botttle, a film that takes a look into the minds and lives of Medeski Martin & Wood, will be released on DVD Oct. 25. The first feature film in the band’s history was directed by the trio’s drummer/percussionist, Billy Martin.
Working through a yearlong period of personal 16mm film and HD camcorder footage of MMW on the road and in the studio during the Radiolarians recordings, the film provides an intimate portrait of the band. It highlights the trio’s relationships with each other and with the music they have created over 20 years as a band.
Unique to the Radiolarians series, the band switched the order of conventional album cycles. Instead of touring to support a new release, MMW used touring as a way to compose and refine their music live, then took the material to the recording studio. This inverted process allowed them to release Radiolarians I, II and III in just two years, a rare feat for a recording artist.
In conjunction with Fly in a Bottle, the DVD will also include the music video for “Amber Gris,” the esoteric “Incant to Chantes Des Femmes,” directed by Grey Gersten, and an experiment with time-lapse film entitled “CW.” Directed again by Martin, “CW” is a metaphoric look at the evolving and intricate relationship between Chris Wood and John Medeski from Billy Martin’s perspective. Filmed on the tour bus, “CW” is set to the music of “First Light” and features excerpts of transistor radio as used in “Chasen v. Suribachi.”
