Perkons
February 2018Why start a band? What’s music even for?
Whether playing for fun or fame or something else, most musicians maybe think about sound or genre, but don’t think too hard about outcomes. When he started the band that would dismantle the Soviet Union, Juris Kulakovs wasn’t thinking about it either.
It’s a story laden with pre-internet virality, human underground information sharing, and cobbled electronics from found parts — a story that must be told.
The film debuted at VivaTech in Paris, then toured Latvia, Belgium, Canada, Shift Film Festival in The Netherlands, Rolling Stone + 4A’s event in New York City, Walker Art Center and was a featured talk at MIT.
Rolling Stone magazine called it, “A moving and immersive work that demonstrates the power of music.”
Watch Perkons at Viva Tech.
Pērkons: A VR Rockumentary tells the story of how the Latvian rock band Pērkons shook the Soviet establishment with homemade instruments, a 2 KW sound system, and a hard rock sound. The band was banned by the Latvian government twice and many of their fans were arrested. But the harder the authorities tried to silence Pērkons, the more powerful their music became.