Arlo Dean Cook masterfully paces Jebediah: Are We OK? from its frenetic start to the conclusion and cleverly incorporates the sound and vision into an excellently engaging film.
Written and directed by Adelaide’s Arlo Dean Cook (now Melbourne based), Jebediah: Are We OK? is a brilliant documentary that follows the 30-year history of the beloved alt-rock Australian band Jebediah. Not just for fans, although it is certainly a treat for followers, it looks beyond the songs and mythology surrounding the Perth band to focus on the four people who have been making music together since their teenage years.
Jebediah: Are We OK? is a superb story of mates who wanted to make music, through to the successes then the reality of that success, through to the personal crisis that threatened to rip them apart.
The first part of this outstanding documentary shows the early phase of the band through fabulous footage shot by members themselves and other archival material from when they first formed to play a show at their high school. The group was formed by friends Chris Daymond and Kevin Mitchell with Vanessa Thornton, who was in another band at the time with Daymond, they were a little later joined by Kevin’s older brother Brett Mitchell. Only ever considering one name they won the national Campus Band Competition, then they were signed to Murmur and their 1996 single ‘Jerks of Attention’ was played heavily on Triple J. This was followed by their legendary debut album ‘Slighty Odway’.
The band became one of the most hard working of its times leading to the second album and international support tours but after passing their tenth anniversary they went into hiatus. After which the other members found other jobs while Kevin Mitchell found success as Bob Evans. They got back together in 2010.
Arlo Dean Cook was commissioned by them to document their twentieth anniversary but then personal events of the members, especially Chris Daymond, meant that he would continue for eleven years before recently coming to the conclusion that the documentary had reached a natural end point.
Jebediah: Are We OK? moves beyond a normal documentary as Arlo Dean Cook becomes so embedded that he becomes considered to be a fifth member. So much so that Arlo Dean Cook, who is himself a musician, filled in for Daywood when he was unavailable for a period.
Jebediah: Are We OK? looks at more than the standard narratives focusing on the four human beings who started something phenomenal as teenagers but then had to grow up and face real life problems. As a tight group of friends they work through these problems and continue today.
Arlo Dean Cook masterfully paces Jebediah: Are We OK? from its frenetic start to the conclusion and cleverly incorporates the sound and vision into an excellently engaging film.
Jebediah: Are We OK? is premiering around the country associated with Q&A sessions, at the Adelaide premier both Cook and Daywood were in attendance.
Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating 5 out of 5
Distributor: Madman Films
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