Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson’s Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is a gonzo doc that completely displays its trio of carpe diem stars — fun-loving musicians who reside in a bachelor pad within the hedonistic San Fernando Valley (aka the capital of porn). That Swamp Dogg, Guitar Shorty and Moogstar additionally occur to be within the AARP demographic (two of the three octogenarians) solely provides to the unconventionality of all of it.
As does the filmmakers’s option to forego the same old biopic route, which they clearly might have taken. The titular star, born with the way more staid title Jerry Williams, has spent the previous 65 years as a singer and songwriter, performer and producer (and A&R man), incomes him revered cult standing within the music trade. Indeed, Swamp’s additionally been known as “the soul genius time forgot,” although the OG Dogg most likely couldn’t care much less about being “forgotten” — he’s too busy jamming together with his pals and hanging by the pool with “neighbors,” followers like Johnny Knoxville and Mike Judge who swing by unannounced. (And, sure, that’s the pool that’s being painted.)
Instead we’re handled to non-public reflections and heartfelt reward from Dr. Jeri Williams (Swamp’s neurologist daughter) together with a collection of gloriously batshit scenes: an infomercial for Swamp Dogg’s cookbook “If You Can Kill It I Can Cook It” (1-866-DOG-FUD); Guitar Shorty killing it on “The Gong Show”; Moogstar relaying a goofy story, rendered as a Scooby Doo cartoon, about visiting Evel Knievel’s grave with a gaggle of strangers after a gig that develops into one thing way more poignant. (And additionally weirder as an opera singer bursts into music, and a unadorned girl cavorts in a waterfall at McDonald’s.)
Just previous to the theatrical launch of Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted (May 2nd in LA, May ninth in NYC), Filmmaker caught up with director-writer Gale to be taught all concerning the years-long collaboration and cinematic celebration. As effectively because the movie’s charismatic protagonist whose secret to life is, “Overall, just be cool. And it’s also fun just being yourself. That’s fun like a motherfucker. But you got to find yourself.” (Here’s hoping for a Tao of Swamp Dogg sequel.)
Filmmaker: You famous in your administrators’ assertion that “this film has been a labor of love for over six years,” which made me curious concerning the manufacturing itself and the way structured it may need been. How a lot time was really spent capturing with Swamp Dogg and his roommates? What was off limits to the digital camera? What boundaries have been set?
Gale: We started filming in 2018 with the poolside conversations and preliminary interviews with the housemates. Just getting a really feel for the place and the way everybody dealt with being in entrance of the digital camera. It actually helped that Ryan and Swamp Dogg already had a friendship and musical collaboration going again a pair years earlier. Nothing ever appeared to be off limits to us, however I additionally suppose the model of movie we have been making wasn’t making an attempt to be invasive in any approach.
The filming itself was positively unfastened, and that was a purposeful aesthetic. We had some concepts as to what we wished to seize however we have been additionally open to any surprises. And that led to some nice moments. All instructed it’s onerous to say precisely how a lot time was spent with Swamp on the home — fairly a bit.
There is a heavy archival component within the movie, and it took us awhile to determine how massive the scope of it was. There have been days spent digging by way of Swamp’s closets full of tapes, photographs and all types of random stuff. That actually opened up the movie in completely new methods. It gave us an actual feeling that we should always pursue the challenge turning into a feature-length doc. Whenever we might discover a strategy to go to LA and examine in on the home, every time there was extra music being made, we tried to be there. So we continued filming on and off till the autumn of 2022.
Filmmaker: The movie appears to have nearly a “potluck” aesthetic, with the visuals and sound design as assorted and unpredictable as Swamp Dogg’s musical profession (and Swamp Dogg himself). So what knowledgeable your inventive selections? Was the method a collective effort? Something that was pre-planned or developed organically?
Gale: I believe the inventive selections are totally impressed by Swamp Dogg himself: His album covers, his character, his humor. Sometimes we have been capable of put collectively a shoot for a scene that was extra polished, however a whole lot of the time we have been as scrappy and DIY as we wanted to be. There wasn’t anybody checking in on what we have been as much as, so we adopted the Swamp Dogg compass and felt free to check out concepts.
“Potluck” is a very nice descriptor! Everybody who seems within the movie, and everyone who labored on this movie, are pals or friend-of-friends. They all got here to Swamp Dogg’s pool occasion and introduced their well-known dish, and all of the dishes one way or the other match collectively on a plastic folding desk.
My buddy Joe Midthun got here in to do the hand-painted conventional animation that illustrates Moogstar’s tales. He lives two blocks from me and takes care of my cats once we’re gone. Then there have been our good pals Seth Rosetter and Molly Kroeten. Seth’s a musician and coder, Molly a superb comedian artist and designer. Seth got here to Minneapolis for every week and helped us construct the datasets and arrange your entire course of for the psychedelic picture move within the intro of the movie. Molly made a bunch of graphics for the doc. It goes on and on, your entire credit of our movie actually.
It was an eclectic crew that got here collectively in an natural approach. (And it labored. We all nonetheless like one another!) Ryan and I had an total imaginative and prescient of what the movie might be, however everybody performed a novel function in filling within the numerous elements. We hope the enjoyable we had making the movie proves infectious to the viewer. That definitely appears to be the case to date.
Filmmaker: There’s additionally a working motif of superstar “neighbors” stopping by to take a seat and chat with Swamp by the pool (one other motif), serving as prompts down reminiscence lane. So how did you give you this concept? How did you resolve who to forged?
Gale: The thought for the movie got here after a music video shoot that Ryan, our co-director David McMurry, and I did in 2017 for the music “I’ll Pretend” off Swamp Dogg’s Love, Loss & Autotune album. The very first thing we shot was Swamp sitting on the fringe of his dried up, damaged down pool. During that journey we heard him asking our buddy Jesse Willengbring, a gallery-represented high-quality artwork painter, if he knew anybody who painted swimming pools. (He’d apparently requested him a number of occasions earlier than as effectively.)
On our strategy to the airport from that shoot, we felt impressed by Swamp and the home. We actually simply wished to maintain hanging out with Swamp Dogg and listen to extra tales. The complete factor form of popped into view, title first: Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted.
The movie performs round with time, the construction is free flowing. The pool is the anchor level to actuality. We might spin off into any story thread, again or ahead in time, go down wormholes that don’t really feel actual, and are available again to the pool being painted. We tried our greatest to maintain the blokes in the identical outfits, in order that the pool portray appeared to happen abruptly. (It actually took round 5 years. We got here again and did a shoot, and Swamp had misplaced slightly weight, and we seen within the edit that his hat match completely in a different way.)
Everyone who seems within the movie is a buddy or fan of Swamp Dogg’s. We hadn’t finished very a lot analysis, and solely knew that Swamp Dogg had produced and recorded some superb music. So we might ship individuals to take a seat on the desk and simply discuss no matter they wished to speak about. If it bought awkward we might attempt to throw out a immediate, but it surely actually by no means bought that awkward as a result of Swamp is such a pleasure to speak to. He’s consistently establishing a punchline that takes you abruptly. He’s a terrific storyteller. I believe everybody concerned simply actually wished to be there. I hope that feeling comes by way of within the movie.
Filmmaker: What have been a few of the challenges you confronted, each logistically and emotionally?
Gale: One of our largest challenges was portray the pool. It wanted a whole lot of work, and we might solely actually guess whether or not it could be a functioning swimming pool on the finish and never some type of chlorinated paint soup.
After it was repaired, and Jesse completed portray it the primary time in 2018, we employed somebody that instructed us we should always seal it. They put additional layers of sealant over the mural for cover. The sealant destroyed your entire portray — it turned white and disappeared. It was a fairly large blow, that appeared to be according to different world occasions, and we weren’t capable of get again there to color it once more till 2022.
That passage of time was each logistically and emotionally troublesome. I’ve by no means labored on a challenge that has taken this lengthy earlier than, so maintaining the themes and ourselves excited and satisfied that it was nonetheless occurring was an enormous problem. There have been a whole lot of plans that have been ruined by the pandemic. We couldn’t exit to the home for a 12 months. John Prine handed away in 2020. Guitar Shorty had been out and in of the hospital, and he handed away in 2022. We knew there was a ticking time bomb on the coronary heart of the challenge, that Swamp Dogg was going to show 80 that summer time, and we wanted to discover a approach it doesn’t matter what to complete the film.
Filmmaker: Swamp Dogg and Moogstar each appear to be fairly concerned within the promotion of the movie, which makes me curious to listen to what their hopes at the moment are that it’s being theatrically launched. Do they plan to play concert events? Sell cookbooks? What’s subsequent for all of you?
Gale: Swamp Dogg and Moogstar have been enjoying superb exhibits, most lately at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN. The band is crushing it proper now at each present I’ve seen. There appears to be plans for them to maintain touring, generally together with screenings of the movie. I hope the doc helps get extra Swamp Dogg albums into report collections all over the place.
The cookbook will probably be launched by Pioneer Works Press a number of weeks after the movie’s theatrical premiere. That’s been so enjoyable to be a small a part of for us, to observe all of it come collectively on this stunning ebook. There will probably be a full episode of the cooking present that’s introduced as an infomercial within the movie.
As for the remainder of the movie crew, hopefully we will hold the band collectively for extra tasks. I’m so pleased with everybody’s work on this, I can’t actually think about working with anybody else. But if that is the final movie ever as a result of the world ends or one thing, I received’t be shocked. I’ll be glad we went out with a bang.
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