Yeah, the other team's tough They've been playing Since '83 But I'm not afraid I'm an athlete In the highest degree And I gaze down the lane Second arrow in sight I throw big 16 With great speed I'm Striker I'm the greatest In the league I'm Striker... >> Welcome to Director's Cut on location at the Sett Rec Area in Union South on the beautiful UW-Madison campus. Hi, I'm Charles Monroe-Kane. That was a great clip from "Striker." It is '80s style heavy metal hair band, set in a Watertown bowling alley. And accompanying the video is an amazing one-hour documentary, "The Making of Striker." I'm joined today by Brian and Dan, the makers, directors, writers, and everything in the film. Welcome guys, how are you? >> Fantastic. >> Thanks for having us. >> I've got to ask you this question. It's an '80s heavy metal band video set in a bowling alley, for 12 minutes. Why? >> I think, all I can say really is I have problems.
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I have problems! I always have crazy ideas going through my head. It started back with your brother and I, actually. We were, uh, I don't want to get into it because it's kind of embarrassing. Okay, I'll just say it. We're in our 20s. We're sitting on his front porch and we are carving sticks on the porch, making little swords. I held it up and I said, "Dagger of Justice!"
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And that's where it all started. >> Warrior Squadron was born. >> The genesis! >> That was it. And we didn't know that it was born at that point. >> You said "Warrior Squadron" was born. That is the fictitious band that you created to be in the video. >> Yes, imaginary band. >> You're the guitar player in the band. You're playing it for real. You're singing. >> Oh, absolutely. >> Do you guys bowl? Are you bowlers? >> Not at all, really. >> We bowled when we were kids. We took lessons. >> I'm really curious. So, you guys are hanging out. You make up a fictitious heavy metal band. I can relate to that. But then you make a step to make a video, and not just a video, like something for fun, but a serious one with real money. Then on top of that, to make it in a bowling alley, but you're not into bowling. What, like, you just were drunk and said hey, let's make it in a bowling alley? What happened? >> Well, he was in a singing competition two years ago. >> Yes. >> He decided to record the song "Striker" that he had written. >> I wrote it while on break at work. My 15-minute break, I was just sitting in the break room. I wasn't planning to write a song. I just, lyrics started going through my head about bowling. I'm like why? But this is awesome! So I just went with it. >> It's an idea. Then you guys talk and hey, let's make a video. >> He emailed me and he's like, okay, let's make a music video, and let's do it in a bowling alley. >> Where do you work? >> I work, I don't know if I'm allowed to say. I work for a company that works with people with disabilities. >> You're out for a smoke break or whatever, and you write an entire song about a heavy metal guy bowling. Then you call him up and say, let's make a video. >> That's it. >> It was actually after the singing competition. >> Yeah, the singing competition, usually there were themes, but this week was do whatever you want. I'm like, you know, I've got this "Striker" song in my notebook. I didn't have any music for it. I'm like, I'm going to really push myself here and see if I can write and record this song in a week and then perform it like karaoke style, which I did. It was so well received, I'm like hey, you know what, let's take this thing a step further, and I emailed him. >> We're going to roll a clip, and see a clip from "The Making of Striker." But before we go, if you could just do one blast out. Can you do a little part of the chorus for us before we go out? >> Absolutely. I'm Striker I'm the greatest In the league I'm Striker I'm the envy of the team >> Perfect. Let's do the clip. >> I've got to cut apart my professional storyboard paper, because apparently it's easier this way. We can non-linearly edit the papers if they're cut out. Random chorus, bull crap. Random strike. Okay, so we talked this. We talked about that. >> That's your slashes? >> Maybe. >> Slash "X"s. >> Okay, we've been down on our luck. Players out with injury. >> That's a shot moving in toward you. >> Then I come over and put my foot up on the chair next to him. "Don't you worry, my friends." They all feel better then. >> Ah! >> And I put my arm around him. I go, "I'm not afraid. I'm an athlete in the highest degree." >> Okay, and then it would be, "And I gaze down the lane. Set the arrow in his sights." >> What do you have in your head for the bridge? You said you had other ideas. >> It's the bowl-wop, the ultimate bowl-wop. My whole idea here with this, this is like the end of a sports movie, where the good guys are just about to win, and everything is in slow motion. It's really emotional. >> It would be cool if you beat your opponent just by a little bit. >> Yeah. >> The tension is going to be, you need to get Turkey. >> Yeah. >> If you could get two strikes, Turkey wouldn't matter. Turkey is like this big moment in the song. >> Yes, definitely. >> That's why you repeat it three times. >> One of the things that I find fascinating about this, the making of, the documentary, is how the community was involved in this film. You did it in the bowling alley. I assume they didn't charge you for the bowling alley. You have a lot of people in this film, people doing lights, and stuff. You didn't pay anybody. Why do you think people wanted to do this? Other than you two. >> Well, most of them were friends of ours. We've known them for years. And some family. I think there's just something about being in a video. People want to be in it, and people were jumping at the opportunity to help us. >> Plus a lot of people, actually, we recorded the song at his studio, made a studio version of it. We sold the single to raise money for the video. People were giving us money for this single. They already felt like they were a part of it. They knew the song. They liked the song. >> About the video, "Striker," there's this amazing thing in the video "Striker," where you're obviously-- Okay, this is like a setup for people. You're the heavy metal guy. You're the Striker guy, right? That's why you're called Striker. It took me a second to get there, I don't know what my problem was. You're bowling against this other guy, right? >> Yeah. >> Who's obviously the town guy. He looks like a local guy from Wisconsin. There's this huge battle of the two of you bowling, as the song goes on. Tell me about that guy, that character. He's a real bowler, right? >> Absolutely. He is actually a bit of a bowling legend in Watertown, Wisconsin. I believe, yeah, he's one of the better bowlers in town. He's been doing it forever. He's actually my uncle. That's how we got hooked up with him. He was thrilled to do it, because he's interested in writing and the creative side of things like that. >> When you guys were doing this-- The opening to your documentary has this amazing open, which basically says, "We don't know what we're doing," and I'm paraphrasing. We don't know what we're doing. We've never done this before. Here you go. I'm like, okay, you know. I watched it, and it doesn't look like you don't know what you're doing. How long did it take you to do this? How much money did you spend? >> It was less than $1,000. >> And $250 of it, we made off selling the single, which was awesome. We were super pumped about that. >> You have a lot of interesting stuff going on, like you bought wigs and you bought certain costumes. At one point in the documentary, you mentioned that the wigs cost $250. You spent a fourth of your budget just on wigs. >> Yep. >> Authenticity, I like it. >> I wanted to look good, you know? >> I noticed that it wasn't your boom mic, but it was your light where you moved the camera, it looked homemade. Was it homemade? >> Oh, yeah. The crane that I made, and the track and dolly, I made that all by myself. >> You made the track and dolly and crane? >> Yep. I actually borrowed 80 feet of conduit from the place I work to roll the camera along. Actually, the most money I spent on any one single item, either the crane or the track and dolly, were the skateboard wheels.
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The bearings were like $80. And you know, I made the base of the thing for like $20. >> You still have all this equipment. >> Yeah. >> I use my crane for weddings, actually. >> So, it's good. We're going to do another clip from "The Making of Striker" documentary. We'll come back and talk about it some more. I feel like making him sing before we go to the clip again. Or should I just go to the clip, what do you think?
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>> One more line? One more line. Um... Turkey Turkey, Turkey Oh, that was bad. I'm sorry. I apologize, that was terrible. Let's see another clip.
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>> I was looking for something kind of like that. I noticed that one cool one sitting on the end. >> Yeah, I don't know how much that one is over there. >> I think it's $79. >> $79? Okay. >> Yeah, why don't you...? >> Try it on and see what it looks like. >> It's like...
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When you're trying on shoes! >> Looking good.
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>> All right. So, remember that. Well done, Paul. >> I'm going to totally screw up my hair. >> Okay, now you sound like the last prima donna I had in here!
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>> I'm having flashbacks. Wow, it's amazing how well it fits. I feel like I actually have long hair. It's awesome. >> It does look pretty darn good on you. It looks pretty natural. >> There you go!
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>> That was another clip from "Striker." Of course, you are now wearing the wig. What is the story of the wig? For some reason, I thought that would be like the most fascinating part of the documentary. Tell me the story of the wigs. >> We basically started looking online for somewhere to go. We found this place, Wigs Too, right here in Madison. We went over there. You were really nervous about going. >> I was really nervous about going in the store. But we went in and talked to the guy first. He said he was totally cool with it. >> Yeah, like we don't know if people go in there because they need to buy wigs because they have cancer, so we were weird about, you know. >> I was really weird about, like am I being disrespectful. >> Yeah, so we went in there and we talked to him. He was a little like, who the heck are you guys, and why. >> I can see you guys walking in and, hey, we're making a heavy metal video about bowling in Watertown and we need to buy some wigs. >> Yeah. So he was weird at first, but then he really loosened up. >> You're like, hey, I'm the brunette. I'm going for this one. >> Well, my brother has really curly hair, dark curly hair, so when we went to get his, we found one that matched. If he had long hair, this is what it would look like. >> We used to have long hair. >> We all had long hair. >> I also noticed in the video, you even have a friend who's a hair dresser then come and style the wigs into heavy metal, right? >> Yeah. The bangs were really thick, and we had to get them cut anyway, because they were hanging in our eyes. >> Very authentic. Another thing we have here, of course, we'll get a good shot of that. That, of course, is the skull, the awesome skull ball. Tell me about this skull ball. This has got to be one of the coolest props in the video world. Where did you get the skull ball? >> That actually was a last minute thing from a good friend of ours, Jim Hargraves. He was just so into this thing from the beginning. Yeah, Jim Hargraves, thanks a lot. He's in the video. He's one of the X-Force bowlers. His nephew had this ball. He called me up and he's like, "My nephew has this awesome bowling ball, do you want to use it, it's got a skull." I'm like, "Heck yeah!" >> Imagine saying no? >> I'm like, "Ah, no. No, no, I'm good." >> And it's like one of the signature shots of "Striker," with the ball spinning, with the striker next to it. That came from this, and it was totally spur of the moment. When we were done shooting, we were just spinning the ball. >> I love it. Another question I have from watching the documentary, which was so interesting, I'm glad you guys took the time to do the making of. We should all do "making of" of things, of everything we do. You didn't practice the song very much with the band. You practiced it...? >> Once. >> Tell me about that. That must have been-- Hey, we're making a video, putting all this money and effort into it, but we're only going to practice the song once. What was that like? >> Well, me and my brother Paul, we had gotten together to practice the song, so we knew how to actually play it, and I recorded the guitar. The only person who hadn't actually played it was the drummer. >> So he, you know, we gave him a CD. He pounded away a little bit at home and yeah, it worked out. >> You have all these props, and you spent $1,000. Everybody in the community is involved. What do you say to like a young person out there, or to any person out there, saying I have this idea that maybe it's stupid, or maybe I think it's lame. What do you say to them? Hey, go for it, or you know, hey, you need six months to do it, or what advice do you give? >> I say go for it. >> Well, just challenge yourself. Try to put something out there that people are going to say you're crazy, but. >> Absolutely. And another thing, too, if you have a really good idea and you believe in it, and you can sell that idea to people, like make them believe in it, I mean, you can find help within your community, you know, like people willing to give you money maybe, if it's a good enough idea. >> If you buy me a beer and say, hey, I'm making a heavy metal video set in a bowling alley, I would have been, yeah. >> You can use your brain a little bit, like the crane. I only spent maybe $75 on parts. I went online and found some plans. I modified them for what I could find at the hardware store. >> We're going to see another clip from "The Making of Striker." >> Okay, everyone, quiet on the set! I've been waiting my whole life to say that.
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>> I'm going to be really close with the tripod. Let's do it. This is where you're going to play for a little while, and get frustrated, get mad.
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All right, when this camera rolls by, watch. Normally, you wouldn't look in a camera, but this one, you're going to. You're going to look right at the camera as it goes by. Let's just do a practice. When you turn, turn your whole body. Turn like the whole thing. >> Yeah, and be like, "whoa!" >> Be amazed, yeah, yeah. Like, "wow."
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All right. >> Okay, here we go. Look amazed. All right, I think we got it. All right. Another shot, buddy. >> Another clip from "The Making of Striker." I have a question. When you look back at this whole experience-- This must have been a crazy experience for you guys-- What was the hardest thing? Raising the money? A certain shot? Like what was the hardest thing you did, both of you? For you, what was the hardest thing? >> Finding time. I had a young daughter. Finding time to be away from her and my wife, which we're now getting a divorce.
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So maybe I didn't find a good enough balance. >> You should probably edit that out!
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>> And for you, what was the hardest thing? >> The hardest thing for me, just, uh... I think just the day of the shot or the shoot, the day of the shoot-- bleah, bleah, I can talk-- The day of the shoot was stressful. Very stressful. >> It seemed stressful. We got like two hours of sleep the night before. >> Yeah, I mean, just the mad preparation, making sure we had everything ready. >> You must've been thinking at some point, oh, my gosh, this isn't going to work. >> I walked out of the bowling alley the day of the shoot, telling him, this is the biggest failure I've ever been a part of. I walked away thinking I let everyone down. Like, I said I'll direct this thing, and I failed. >> And obviously, you didn't. >> Well, I started putting the clips together, and I started laughing, and like, oh, my god, I think this is actually going to work. Did you have a moment in filming that was just like, you know, because you're novices at this, you were like, man, that was hard, I wish I would've had a professional say, dude, you should've went left instead of right, kind of thing? >> There were a lot of things I would've done differently. >> But now you know. >> Yeah, now I know. But I had the schedule all worked out, and we were perpetually behind schedule all day. >> You were super organized though, from storyboards. That was good. Was there any particular moment-- Well, actually, I'm more interested in, there's this kid in the film who's really, I think the most interesting part of the whole documentary, not the documentary, of the actual video. He was like playing video games, and it kind of cuts to him watching the whole match. Who was he? What was he like? >> That was actually a good friend of ours, her son. He was just thrilled at the opportunity to be part of the video, so yeah. >> It's intense. In the documentary, he's playing pinball, and you've got the camera here, stuff on him, and lights. That must have been intense. What is he, nine or ten years old? >> He was ten. >> That must be a lot. What was he like working with him? >> He was really good. He did a great job of, you know, Dan said, "Make a face like 'whoa,' like you're really surprised," and he did it perfect. >> Yeah, and I mean, we chose him because we liked the way he looked. He fit, that was the idea, the way he looked-- I don't know what I'm saying. >> He looked like a kid who would be playing pinball in a bowling alley, because he is the kid who played pinball. >> We just, I mean, we had no idea if the kid could act at all, or how he would do, and he did a great job. >> He did excellent. We needed people to be on point. >> He was a frame, really. In many ways, he tied the video together. >> Yeah. >> That was good. We're going to show another clip from the making of. Then we're going to come back and talk a little bit more about some more serious stuff about what this means and what you guys are going to do next with it. Let's see another clip from "Striker." >> What's gonna happen, is I'm going to throw a ball. I probably won't hit many pins. But you're going to pretend I did. Then as soon as that ball hits one of those pins, you guys, yeah! It's going to be on me.
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That wasn't how it was supposed to happen!
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>> Nice. >> I should write a song about that! >> Ready? >> All right. >> Whoo! >> Oh, yeah!
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>> Turkey!
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>> That was another great clip from "Striker." So you guys, you have known each other-- Well, you guys met before the film, but you've known each other a long time. >> Yeah. >> We've known each other since we were three years old. >> Is this the relationship you've had, crazy guy, behind the camera guy. >> Absolutely. I stress him out with my ideas. Like I come up with these crazy ideas, and I'm like, "Hey Brian, let's do this!" And you're like, oh, my gosh. >> He comes up with the crazy ideas and I'm the one who has to figure out how to make it work. >> I can see you guys in high school, holy mackerel. >> We were in and out of bands in high school. >> I love it. You put your own money, a lot of your own effort, your own time, a lot of things into this. It's over now, right? You've had the premiere. The video's out. You've done this interview. How do you feel about it? Do you feel like, well, I'm depressed, it's over, what are we going to do next? It's like damn, that rocked! Like, where do you come out? >> I personally feel really, really proud. >> Yeah, me, too. >> We really accomplished something. We've had a lot of projects that we've tried working on over the years and never really finished. So this is one that from the beginning, we said we're going to do this. We're going to finish it. >> Now that you've set the bar up, okay, now you've done all these things, and you've done one that worked, I mean, what's next? Is it another project, learn how to build a car on your own? Are you going to make another movie? What is next for you guys to do with this? >> Well, we've got some ideas. A mixture of more videos, and he's got some. >> I've got a lot of ideas. I kind of filter them to him, like one at a time, because I don't want to overwhelm him.
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You know. Like, a lot of times, I've got to, you know, ask him again and again. Oh, yeah. Actually, I have about eight more Warrior Squadron songs in the works. >> Oh, for an album! >> I'd like to do an album. He's giving me some resistance, but I think if I keep pushing hard enough. >> You didn't say the word "tour." >> No, no. >> No plane ride. But we've got some pretty good video ideas. I actually want to try scaling it back, and not have 50 extras and cranes. >> I've got plans to shut down Main Street in Watertown. >> Yeah, I bet you do. You want to scale it up. What was interesting in the making of documentary that I really enjoyed is that at the end of the documentary, after you've seen this cool video, you've seen all this stuff, a lot of sincere things coming in, you have a premiere party. That was a party! There were loads of people there. Take me to that moment. What was that like? >> It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. It was different than playing as a band on stage, because we were able to just enjoy them watching it. Our friend Tony was videotaping the crowd. >> Yeah, it was super stressful, mostly because before we showed the video, like, we didn't know. I mean, we only showed this to a handful of very close friends. And of course, family and friends, they're like, "Oh, That was awesome!" So, we were going to show this to a bunch of people, many of them strangers, so I was just waiting to see the looks on their faces. >> They laughed at all the right places. >> Yeah, like seeing their reactions. >> I really wanted to ask this question earlier, but I wanted to save it for now, because it fits in at the premiere party. I would assume that for a lot of people out there, say this video could be exactly the same, and made from a couple guys in New York City, who've never bowled, never been to Wisconsin. They could've made this video in a sense, or somebody from Chicago or LA, there would have been a sense of irony in it, maybe, at best, or mockery at worst. But you could show that to the guy who was Mr. X, who is a bowling legend, and he wouldn't be offended by it, even though it's funny. How do you pull off being funny without being offensive? >> From the very start, when we were emailing, I definitely made a point to say we need to make sure that we're respectful to bowlers. We're not picking on them in any way. >> Especially, too, because Watertown, I mean, bowling is one of the big things to do in Watertown, so there were a lot of bowlers. We just wanted, I don't know, it was tough, you know, making a funny video and not poking fun at this community. >> To do it without being mean is tough. People do it really well, and it's not-- You guys pulled it off. It's so interesting to me. Do you feel, is bowling going to be the theme of all your other stuff, or do you have some others? >> I'm never shooting a video in a bowling alley again!
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>> This is the last time. >> This is it. >> No more bowling alleys! Maybe from an airplane while parachuting. >> A hot air balloon. >> Yeah, give me something good. >> Karate in the afternoon. >> Karate. >> Karate on a hot air balloon. >> Oh! Did you just write that? >> It's a new song I'm working on. It's called "The 24-hour Karate Showdown." >> This is what I have to deal with. >> I know, I feel bad. >> It's like, hey, check out these lyrics. >> He wants me to get a shot from a hot air balloon. >> Karate at the crack of dawn. Karate on the neighbor's lawn. >> When you guys are done, you come back with your karate in a hot air balloon, and we'll show it. And we'll interview from, right guys, a hot air balloon? Can we do that? >> Right on. >> I think that sounds great. >> I think it'll be great. For all you out there, thank you very much for joining us today. That was very fun. If you want to see this video or more information about "Striker," go to our website at wpt.org/directorscut and you can do that. You can also email us there, and I'll send you an email back. Thank you very much for joining us today. Check the gate. >> Do you think I got everything that we need? I don't know. You think so? So now what? Do we just drink beer for a little while before we have to go home?
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