Christian Review Magazine Issue 2 - Jan/Feb 2015 | Page 25

MOVIE REVIEW “I never dreamed that it would get to a point where I could put out this many records, and God could use me to make this much of an impact.” - Brandon Ebel B Title: NO NEW KINDA STORY: THE REAL STORY OF TOOTH & NAIL RECORDS ased out of Seattle, Washington, Tooth & Nail Records is well known around the globe for housing widely regarded veteran bands such as Anberlin, MxPx, Living Sacrifice, and many, many more. This documentary, titled No New Kinda Story, is an in depth look at the rise, fall, and rebirth of Tooth & Nail Records. Rating: Starring: Brandon Ebel, Mike Herrera, Aaron Sprinkle Directed by: Jesse Bryan Genre: Documentary, Music Running Time: 71 minutes MPAA Rating: Not Rated Way back when, in the early 1990’s, Brandon Ebel was a young man with a strong passion for music and a desire to begin a record label. When no bank would give Ebel a loan to begin the label, his grandfather agreed to give him one (as long as he paid it back with 10% interest!). And thus Tooth & Nail Records was born. As a longtime listener of many Tooth & Nail bands and follower of the label, I found this documentary fascinating. It focuses mainly on the conception and early years of Tooth & Nail Records, as well as the early history of punk-rock band MxPx, and ska group The OC Supertones. Production Company: Belief, Work Of Self, Tooth & Nail Records Released by: Tooth & Nail Records Reviewed by: Leah St John Release Date: Available Now on DVD & VOD This film focuses mainly on Brandon Ebel, the labels founder, but there are also a good number of notable artists featured in No New Kinda Story. Some such artists include Bruce Fitzhugh (Living Sacrifice), Don and Ryan Clark (Demon Hunter), Mike Herrera (MxPx), Jason Carson (The OC Supertones), and Rob Walker (Wish For Eden). They each spoke about their experiences working in the music industry, working with Tooth & Nail Records, and the influence Tooth & Nail Records has had on them. During the course of the documentary, Brandon Ebel takes the viewer on a visual tour of some of the locations he talks about - places that played roles in the history of Tooth & Nail Records. In addition, there are archive videos of old shows, music videos, and interviews, as well as old photos that were featured heavily throughout the documentary, and older Tooth & Nail releases provided almost continual background music. The production and editing were great throughout (the archive videos were somewhat blurry, but hey, they are pretty old). I got so into the documentary early on, that I didn’t even notice the majority of the documentary was black and white until after I watched it. No New Kinda Story is a great film to watch if you are a fan of old-school Tooth & Nail bands, or just want to learn more about the history of an iconic label that has played a pretty big part in making the ‘Christian’ music scene what it is today. Today, Tooth & Nail Records and