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The lasting friendship of Chris Pretti and James Baker traces back to their shared love of punk rock as students at Green Bay East High School.
Four decades later, and after 12 years of conducting nearly 100 interviews while digging through boxes of memorabilia and tape recordings from the era, their full-length documentary Green Blah! The History of Green Bay Punk Rock … The First Ten Years or So has finally hit the big screen.
Green Blah! dives into the surprising punk rock scene in the late ’70s and into the ’80s of Green Bay, a city mostly known as the home of the Packers. The documentary uncovers how the working-class city of under 100,000 people at the time birthed a fierce scene with a loyal community of concertgoers.
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The wild ride through Green Bay’s rebellious musical history features wonderful archival footage, interviews with musicians and members of the punk scene, many of whom showed up for packed and boisterous screenings of the film at the Oriental Theatre during the Milwaukee Film Festival.
It’s a full-circle moment for Pretti and Baker, who named their production company after their first band: A Buncha Morons.
The local punk rock shows became a way for those who were often viewed as outsiders by their classmates to meet other like-minded teens from other schools in and around Green Bay. Many of those who were part of Green Bay’s punk movement appear on screen to share their recollections, most looking today to be regular middle-aged adults more than the defiant leaders of the counterculture force they once fueled.
Inspired by bands such as the Ramones, the New York Dolls and Devo, the teens at the time snapped up what few records were available at local record shops and listened to punk music on WGBW, a student-run radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. They formed bands as an outlet to what they viewed as the humdrum existence afforded by life in Green Bay, especially for kids who had little to no interest in the Packers or sports in general.
The Green Bay punk scene was carried out as a DIY endeavor, leading to scores of gigs at venues such as Northside Bowling Lanes, dive bars, a boxing gym and eventually a spacious but dilapidated dance hall adjacent to Kutska’s, a tavern in the neighboring village of Howard.
Punk icon Norb Rozek (aka Rev. Norb of Boris the Sprinkler) is featured throughout Green Blah! In addition to being a musician, Rozek created a punk fanzine called Sick Teen that helped spread the word about the punk and hardcore scene in Green Bay.
Another of the punk rockers featured in the film is Bret Starr, son of famed Green Bay Packers player and coach Bart Starr. Bret played guitar in The Tyrants, an early band that shaped Green Bay’s punk rock scene. The band often practiced at the Starr family home. (Bret Starr tragically died of complications related to a drug overdose in 1988 at age 24).
The Green Bay punk scene thrived at such a level that it attracted national touring acts such as Dead Kennedys, Hüsker Dü, Black Flag and Fugazi, among others. The film features an interview with Dave Pirner, frontman of legendary Minneapolis-based alt rock band Soul Asylum.
In a Q&A after the film, Baker noted he and Pretti are working on a tabletop book and a possible soundtrack for Green Blah! A Blu-ray disc is expected later this year that will include complete edited segments that didn’t make it into the film.
The directors are also working on a second film related to the Green Bay punk rock scene.
“There’s a lot more to come, and it won’t take 12 years,” Baker said.
