There's a Kickstarter for the World's First Documentary About The Slits

In the same way people will remember the NHS in ten years time once Cameron has sold it off and the days of not having to pay to have a mole checked become a wistful memory, The Slits are a goddamn national treasure. Not only were they the first "all girl" punk band, thus breaking the societal conventions of what was expected of them as young women in the 70s, but they were the first punk band to integrate reggae, thus breaking the musical conventions of a genre that had been constructed exclusively by men.

In a personalized glimpse into the formation and reality of The Slits, guitarist Viv Albertine's memoir Clothes, Music, Boys was one of last year's biggest publishing success stories, gathering acclaim from John Lydon to Nigella Lawson. But that is one of the few first-hand accounts of their legacy. Despite being one of UK punk's most seminal bands, there is no official documentary traversing The Slits' legacy. But Ari Up - who fronted The Slits throughout their entire career, including the reunion years - had been speaking with her friend Jennifer Shagawat (from Starcleaner Records and Shellshag) about making one. Ari died of cancer in 2010, but for the last two years Jennifer and William E Badgley (director of the cult documentary, "Kill All Redneck Pricks: A Documentary Film about a Band Called KARP") have been working together to make 'Here to be Heard: The Story of The Slits'.

Featuring input from The Slits and their extended creative family (which includes members of the Sex Pistols, the Raincoats, Siouxie and the Banshees, The Pop Group, Bratmobile, and Vivienne Westwood among others), the documentary will piece together the story of a band that was not willing to be contained within a gender, musical style, time period or art form.

The documentary is in it's final stages, which is where the general public comes in. According to the Kickstarter page.

"The film is shot, nearly finished with the edit, and amazing deals have been struck to include an incredible amount of absolutely beautiful film footage of the band from the 70' and early 80's and a lot of it has never been seen before. Not too mention music! And Pictures! Now they just need the money to seal these deals and include the archival."

Check out the Kickstarter page here, and watch a trailer above.