Costa Botes/NZ/2006; R4
NZ$39.95 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

THE INFAMOUS provocateur (along with Peter Jackson) behind the glorious Forgotten Silver, Costa Botes’ latest documentary charts the career of local band The Windy City Strugglers. Formed in the late 1960s during the tail-end of the height of blues in popular music (eg. the British Invasion), The Windy City Strugglers aimed to capture a bit more of an authentic blues sound, harking back to the jug bands of 1920s America.

This documentary covers their career through interviews and live performances. There is also some interesting 8mm footage from the late 60s too, briefly incorporated. The scope of the documentary covers their original beginnings to the current status of ‘outsider’ music. It’s true that the blues certainly has been relegated to the fringes of popular music, though it’d be fair to say the Windy City Strugglers weren’t aiming to be New Zealand’s equivalent of the Rolling Stones. In fact, this is the strongest element of the documentary, when the band confronts their relegation to minority music. It would have been nice to have seen these threaded through the documentary more – perhaps the conflict could have helped add a bit more drama. Though seeing founder Bill Lakes wandering around doing his post run with the camera following was entertaining.

It’s a comprehensive documentary on the subject. While it doesn’t have the bitchiness or chaos that has made the most memorable music documentaries (of course, none of the members has gone crazy or have had Hells Angels man their shows), it is quite a nice, touching piece of filmmaking. To be fair, this documentary will be of biggest interest to the fans of the band (who regularly play around town). It may struggle to bring in the casual music documentary watcher, as it does seem to suggest a certain foreknowledge, or at least, being a fan of the music. On the plus side, there is some very good concert footage there to help.


THE DVD’s extra features include even more concert footage (30 minutes), which is an enjoyable element to it. There is also a music video for the band directed by Costa Botes, which frankly, is a little strange.