Posted by Paul Devlin
I grew up near New Brunswick, New Jersey and a lot of my buddies were in bands. But I wasn’t a musician; I was into making films. The best way for me to participate in the music was to make music videos.
New Brunswick in the 80’s had an amazing music scene, especially with Rutgers University in the mix. Bands everywhere and lots of places to play. A champion of the music was WRSU DJ, Matt Pinfield, who later became famous on MTV and commercial rock radio. Rockin’ Brunswick was all about that scene. It was my first documentary.
I shot it all in one summer and then went back to the University of Michigan where I used the school’s equipment to learn how to edit video and put the movie together. Editing became a lucrative skill. I discovered it was much more useful getting me jobs on my subsequent travels than my English Lit degree.
This opening piece is by Crossfire Choir. They came up from Florida to be near New York, discovered New Brunswick and took the scene by storm. They got their big record contract with Geffen and toured with Culture Club, and Thompson Twins. But like most rock and roll stories, it did not end happily, and there were many rumors as to why…
Over the next few weeks we’ll post more videos by Crossfire Choir and the other bands in Rockin’ Brunswick and tell more of the back story, so stay tuned.
The DVD of the movie is also available here!
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