Win Tickets to 'Lightning Bolt: The Power of Salad' in NYC This Weekend

Lightning Bolt live, via

We can't seem to learn our lesson about brunch. We think it should be a moment in your life when you crank up eardrum-splitting hardcore and noise-punk while tossing back eggs and bloody marys. Nerds seem to imagine the institution as a calming activity, during which one can ease the pain of a headache or the crushing guilt of who you may have porked last night. Last month, when we screened American Hardcore over breakfast tacos and mimosas at Nitehawk Cinema, it seemed like the perfect combination, so this weekend we decided to do something similar.

This weekend, Noisey and Nitehawk's collaborative screening series "Music Driven" continues with a screening of our favorite movie about Providence's kaleidoscopic noise-punk oddballs Lightning Bolt. The movie is called Lightning Bolt: The Power of Salad and Milkshakes, and it was directed by Peter Glantz and Nick Noe back in 2002. It follows Lightning Bolt on eleven shows across this great nation, as they pummel their audiences into submission with crushing rock 'n' roll weirdness. They're one of our favorite bands, and we're proud to screen this fantastic film.

Both screenings will feature Q&As with Peter Glantz, as moderated by Noisey's Editor-In-Chief Benjamin Shapiro, who grew up in Providence and is therefore completely biased towards Lightning Bolt. Both screenings are at noon.

Not only that, we want you to win tickets. We're giving away a pair to each screening, and you can win them by . Then your computer or phone will magically send us an email saying you'd like to win—just let us know which day you'd like to attend.

If you need any more of a reason to attend, here's a little Q&A we did with Peter. Enjoy!

Peter Glantz and his bird alter ego

Noisey: A lot of people refer to the art and music scene happening in Providence at that time by just sort of saying "Providence… Yeah…" That doesn't really explain anything. Can you tell me a bit about what it was like out there around that time?
Peter Glatz: I think everyone has their unique experiences, so I can only explain how I experienced it. It was a return to the playground. World building as instinct. Fort Thunder was the nucleus in many ways, but in it's building and across the street where I lived there were dozens of spaces, some with names, some without, but each one inhabited by some troll, hermit, or dragon who if you happened to know the password you might be allowed in for a cup of gruel and an introduction to their universe. From the outside the buildings were large, maybe 100,000 square feet, dilapidated mill buildings with trees growing on the roofs. But inside it was a labyrinth to explore. Like Legend of Zelda. Many of the inhabitants were students or recent dropouts or grads, but transients from around the country could also decipher the code of entrance. Turn-of-the-century Providence has become a touchstone in art and music history and some of it's denizens celebrated by name, but for me that is part of the rubble. Being there was about so much more than those who happened to be artists and musicians and gained national notariety in the years since. It was about the unspoken communal decision to create our own world. Turn of the century providence remains wherever fun is had and worlds are created without regard for external judgment or explanation. Unfortunately, the physical part of those worlds often get torn down leaving only things like the Lightning Bolt movie, art textbooks, Noisey articles, and 100’s of posters and zines as windows into that time.

Whoa. Do you even rememeber the first time you saw Lightning Bolt?
I was doing sound effects for a play and the director invited different bands to play during the intermission. Lightning Bolt was the band one afternoon matinee. They played on a platform on the back of the performance area about 30 feet from the audience, who were sitting on risers in folding chairs. There were about 80 students, parents, and teachers who just kind of stared at them (many holding their ears) for about 10 minutes. But every second blew my mind. Chippendale’s wild, fast, pounding drumming and Gibson’s stoic face while dropping heavy riffs. I loved them. I'd never experienced anything like it and I wanted more.

How did you end up meeting them?
I directed a show in college that was super fantastical called Wallpaper Forest that the theater establishment really didn't like even though lots of students did. I was kind of bummed. I wasn’t part of that program, but you know, I wanted them to get my world. One night all these dudes with botched haircuts and one pant leg came to the show. I didn't know who they were but I noticed they had piled all their bikes on top of a fence together to lock them up. Only a member of the gang could untangle it. About a year later a friend brought me to the Fort and promptly disappeared leaving me in the kitchen with Brian Chippendale. He was making tofu wrapped in seaweed. He said he had been part of the bike gang at Wallpaper Forest and his face awakened and he started talking to me. I felt like that was my password and I suddenly realized this place was some kind of fantasy home and it was welcoming. They had shows there. I could have shows in places like this. It was inspiring. I asked Brian what he was making and it came up he was vegan. I asked him how he got his protein if he didn't eat meat. He said he ate a lot of nuts and seeds. About a year later Lightning Bolt called one of their songs "A Diet Of Nuts And Seeds." I think when I heard that song title I first really got to know Chippendale. Everything he does is folded into creating his world.

That was kind of a long answer so I'll say that I know Gibson because he lived in the same warehouse as me and was friends with my roommates. Then, you know, we made Power of Salad.

Can you tell me a little about some of the other bands featured in the film?
I haven't watched it in about ten years so the only other band I remember prominently featured was Pink and Brown. Pink (Jon Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees) has a viciously quick wit. He would simultaneously mock and celebrate what was going on at every moment. Brown (Jeff Rosenberg of Lavender Diamond) was a perfect foil, like Winnie The Pooh in his big brown outfit. They were a two piece guitar and drums band who would wear full body Pink and Brown outfits. They pop up a lot in the movie. We made a choice not to include any other actual music besides Lightning Bolt in the movie. This may have been out of necessity because we had one camera with a single battery that lasted an hour so we wouldn't turn it on until Lightning Bolt started playing.

Oh, I now remember there is a moment where you see a 16-year-old Vice Cooler from XBXRX run into frame and put one of Chippendale's earplugs back in. There's also a shot of Leif Goldberg from Forcefield saying Lightning Bolt is very loud and Jim Drain from Forcefield mooning the camera. Sorry, guys, for not showing your music.

What was your involvement with Fort Thunder?
Mainly as an entertainer. I first got involved by participating in the wrestling nights as a member of a tag team of "killer cooks" who would blow flour in our opponents faces. I then started collaborating with Brian Ralph, a comic artist who lived at the Fort, when we hosted a radio show called "Spookcity Radio". I was Dr. Maccabre and he was Baron Von Evilstein. The Fort guys listed to Spookcity Radio and would call in. I also was making weird performances and throwing stuff like Halloween weddings in a space with some friends across the street from The Fort. I also made a living by selling used cars out of the Fort Thunder parking lot, which I think intrigued them.

What made you initially want to make a film about Lightning Bolt?
After being evicted from my space in Providence, I moved to LA to work as Roger Corman's assistant and later a writer and story editor. In the meantime, Nick Noe (who co-directed Power of Salad with me) had the idea to make a film about Lightning Bolt and convinced Load Records to support it if Lightning Bolt agreed. I knew Nick a bit and he visited me soon after I left Corman’s and asked if I would co-direct the movie. Lightning Bolt was the best band I had ever seen live. I love their music. Even though working for Corman was great—he was independent and got stuff done—I was frustrated with LA and the movie business after I left him. I wanted to reconnect with my friends in Providence who just made shit because it ruled. So I agreed to make it. Then, I asked a friend their advice on making a documentary and he said "get a lot of B-roll… shots of the key starting the car and stuff." Armed with that knowledge and how to turn on a video camera I jumped in the van with Brian and Brian. I remember sitting in the van trying to get a shot of the key and suddenly knowing how to actually make the movie: edit it into a single show that travels around the country. Make it like the viewers are at the best Lightning Bolt show ever. So I guess that when I got the idea of how to make it because that's basically what it is, I think.

Lightning Bolt: The Power of Salad and Milkshakes is playing at Nitehawk on Saturday, August 10, and Sunday, August 11. Both screenings are at noon, and you can buy tickets right here. Nitehawk Cinema is located at 136 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg.