While the Grateful Dead‘s 50th-anniversary Fare Thee Well shows in 2015 may have signified the end of an era for Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann, it meant something else to the drummer’s son Justin Kreutzmann. For the first time, the father and son were able to step out from underneath the traveling three-ring circus that was the Grateful Dead. Justin, a documentary film director, had questions for his dad, some of which he attempts to answer with his new film, Let There Be Drums!
Set to hit theaters on October 28th via Greenwhich Entertainment, Let There Be Drums! features conversations with some of the world’s foremost rhythm makers and their families. The film contains one of the final recorded interviews of the late Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) in addition to appearances by Ringo Starr, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Stewart Copeland (The Police, Oysterhead), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), Jay Lane (Primus, Dead & Company), Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses), Adrian Young (No Doubt), Kreutzmann and Hart, and many more. The feature also utilizes archival footage of Keith Moon and John Bonham as Kreutzmann investigates the drive to drum and interviews the women and children behind these artists who get caught in the balance between fame and family.
“The idea of doing the movie Let There Be Drums! really came to me as a gift. Literally,” Justin Kreutzmann said in a statement. “It started Christmas Day, 1977 when I was given a Super-8 film camera. The first home movies I filmed were of my Dad on stage at Winterland in San Francisco. They were shot from my perspective, sitting right behind him on the drum riser so he could keep an eye on me during the Grateful Dead’s performances. Drums, and the drummers that play them, have been a major component of my entire life.”
Related: Justin Kreutzmann To Direct New Feature Documentary On Jerry Garcia
The documentary is a production of AOMA Sunshine Films, the production company behind the acclaimed 2017 Martin Scorcese-produced Long Strange Trip Grateful Dead documentary. Hart and Bill Kreutzmann also share executive producer credits.
Check out the trailer for Let There Be Drums! below.
Let There Be Drums! | Trailer