Collection: "Video Backlash" NOLA Metal Documentary - Art Prints and Merch

Video Backlash was filmed in Louisiana and Mississippi, primarily at the all-metal oasis that once was; the infamous Zeppelin's which was located in the Fat City district of Metairie, LA. This documentary features: ABUSE, Acid Bath, DOWN, CROWBAR, Soilent Green, CHOKE, Kurnel, Philip H. Anselmo and Doobie of Christ Inversion; and a complete walk-through of the New Orleans House of Shock ‘95. Other highlights include a candid and off-the-cuff Q & A with ABUSE as well as the original DOWN performing “Temptation’s Wings” to a sold out, hometown crowd for their NOLA album release and first show of the tour; shot live from the stage, shoulder-to-shoulder with the band; a truly crushing experience held at the former Rendon Inn, once located in uptown New Orleans! Now, you can enjoy this classic documentary for free on my Youtube channel and shop the official merchandise from this exclusive collection.

Yes, some notables of the day did not make the cut for one technical reason or another but, the bands that did were all extremely deserving and represent some of the most powerful shows I’ve ever had the pleasure of shooting; all on VHS tape! I’ve always been proud of the final cut and the scorching performances captured of every band.

Before this video was ever thought about, I had already compiled a majority of the live footage by virtue of living, literally two blocks from Zeppelin's in Fat City.

In the Spring of '95, me, my little brother, Jason and all the members of ABUSE collectively relocated from the Mississippi Coast to NOLA and took up residence at the Millstream Apartments on Division Street. Travis had his place downstairs on the front side of Division Street. Me, Jason and Jeremy had our apartment around the backside, up on the 3rd floor, #369, btw. Go figure! Brian and Phil shared a place in the front of the complex, closer to Vets.

So, in April of ’95, our NOLA adventures began! Hence, the reason Video Backlash spotlights 1995; that being when those Long Beach Mississippi boys moved to Fat City! I remember specifically, it was Jeremy's idea and insistence. "Dan, we gotta move to New Orleans!" My knee jerk was, "f**k yeh, how about in 2 month!!" Bam! I think I went job and apartment hunting that next weekend. Pretty amazing, actually how it all rolled out. After 3 years of news camera and editing work at WLOX in Biloxi, I followed my brother, Brian Garlotte’s lead and started dealer school and got into table games at the Grand Casino Gulfport. I did that for about a year and a half on the Coast before we moved so, had that experience, which landed me a job in Kenner at the Treasure Chest Casino at the end of March, ‘95.  Once that was done, I got the first apartment at Millstream and the rest of the crew followed, in rapid succession!

Zeppelin’s became our heavy metal clubhouse and every show there taught us something about the game. Guy and Joey absolutely adored ABUSE and treated us all like kings. Acid Bath and ABUSE began to team up quite a bit for shows and those guys would crash on our floors and we would have epic acoustic jams at our place or Travis's place. We literally had Dax and Mike working on new Acid Bath songs for PTT on acoustics in my living room. I should have been rolling more on THAT shit!

We also realized, you could meet or end up hanging out with ANY and all of the local Rock and Metal royalty on any given night of the week over at Last Stop or Zeppelin's: Philip H., Kyle and Kevin Thomas brothers, Stevie Blaze and Craig Nunenmacker brothers, Exhorder guys, Jay, Frankie, Vinnie, Crowbar guys, Sexy T, Kirk, Jimmy, Pepper, Ben, Sammy, Dax,... hell, I've been there on nights Dimebag and Rex came through. Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson were even known to pop in,... seriously, ANY legit, heavy metal rockstar could blow through the door at any time and just be like, "what's up!" That's what we had in Fat City. It's like Louisiana had it's own little sunset strip except gutteral, down-tuned, dripping in feedback and sonic majesty. 

Ciro became aware of my video work and approached me around Aug/Sept about making the documentary. The release of the first DOWN record was getting close; the album release show at the Rendon Inn, as well as Halloween season for The House of Shock was fast approaching. Ciro lined us up with permission to shoot both those events as well as the brief clip with Phil and Doobie. We did all the editing at a little place uptown called NOVAC, New Orleans Video Access Center.

I want to thank Jason Pizzolatto who originally uploaded Video Backlash to Youtube about 4 years ago. Proof, he must have bought it on VHS when Ciro was running ads in metal magazines and selling VHS copies with black sleeve and nice printed labels. I’m not sure how long he did that. He paid me on the front end for my time and I was fine with that. A few years after the video was released, Ciro got involved in church and I believe that’s when he stopped promoting it and Metal in general. Otherwise, there was no further promotion or sharing of it. Until... Jason! A true music historian and obvious lover of all things NOLA Metal, just by his posting, I saw how passionate and appreciative the comments were and that definitely motivated me to finally gather up the pieces for the official re-launch of this documentary  and website. 

I know I'm not the only one who holds such a high regard for Zeppelin's, the NOLA Metal scene of that era in general and the peak experiences we were having in life at that time, under that roof, in that smallish grey building. Prime example: I met my ex-wife at Zeppelin's and my two beautiful and amazing children came to be as a result! All because I was there, doing what I loved, shooting video for my bros in Kurnel. I'm sharing all this to explain that Zeppelin's was truly my personal ground zero and where some of my biggest life ripples were created. I'm thankful for all of it and regret nothing! The magic that occured on that stage... the friends we made, the amazing sound system and lighting we had access to in that place... This was truly an ORGANIC community in a bygone era, before Skynet! Man, we had it all! Guy and Joey did it right! In fact, Guy even gave us a video release night at the bar for Video Backlash, the first time, (around Dec-Jan of 2016) set up a huge TV on the stage and ran it together with the TVs over the bar; totally went out of his way to go to Radio Shack with me to get all the right a/v connectors so we could have a badass viewing party! If you were there; if you remember and love Zeppelin’s like I do, here it is. Claim a piece of the memory! This documentary and collection are for you. Viva the tribe of Rock Eternal!