Felix Sarco’s music returns in film

More than seven years ago, a local band called Felix Sarco’s Polar Power Manifesto Magnet Supernova embarked on a mission to destroy conventional rock n’ roll with a psychedelic sound and groove like no one before them had. Felix Sarco produced two albums and a die-hard fan base that still recalls their often epic live performances and huge impact on local music.

After three years and several side projects, members of the band will make Sarco’s music live again through the premiere of “Crescendo,” a short film that chronicles the exploits of a band much like their own, but with a much darker edge, and features music from Sarco and other side projects.

The film with be shown at the Vintage Theater, 119 Penn Ave., Scranton, on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m., and will feature two additional short films, “The Exchange” and “Avarice,” and a Q&A with the creators and actors after the screening. Admission is $5.

The film’s main character, Kevin, is played by Sarco’s former frontman Gavin Robb. Kevin is the passionate singer in an up-and-coming experimental rock band. When he realizes that not all members of his audiences appreciate or understand his art, his enthusiasm for his work begins to take over his life, leading to shocking consequences.

“Crescendo” was written by Kipp Reynolds and R.J. Placko, drummer for Felix Sarco, who also edited and co-starred in the film. Justin Kraky, Sarco’s guitarist, also makes an appearance as Kevin’s boss at his daytime job.

Placko’s new real-life dayjob is as a teacher of film post-production at the Boston University Center for Digital Imaging Arts. As a student there, he and Reynolds filmed “Crescendo” as their final project, although Placko hesitates to call it a “student film.”

After working in audio post-production for a few bands, Placko wanted to get out of music and follow some of his other artistic interests, although his passions continued to intertwine.

“Music was just my life for all those years. I needed to pursue something that was similar, but a little bit different, which ended up working out because now I do a lot of projects that are music related, like ‘Crescendo,’” he explained.

“Crescendo” is influenced by the band members’ experiences in Sarco, but Placko stressed that in no way does the story actually detail the real-life break-up of the band.

“It’s more about how difficult it is to be in a band together, to create original music, and to also live a ‘normal life’ outside of it. I think that’s really what ‘Crescendo’ is all about. Gavin’s character, Kevin, really can’t maintain that balance,” he said.

The film took about four months to complete, including time spent to connect with former band members who moved across the country and to record new versions of Sarco’s songs.

“It was a lot of fun. It was the best creative experience that I’ve had since Felix Sarco broke up.”

A DVD printing of “Crescendo” will be available at the screening. Placko and Reynolds plan to follow up their first film with a web series called “Nathan Be Damned.”

For now, Placko hopes that there’s still an interest in the dance rock outfit he used to drum for.

“I’m in the area very infrequently, but often I’ll meet somebody new and they’ll start reminiscing about the Felix Sarco days. A lot of people still contact us and kind of miss the days that we were around, that it’s left a hole for them musically,” he said. “I think everyone remembers, but is that crowd still in Scranton? I don’t know. Are they still following what the members of Felix Sarco do? I really have no idea.”

Placko, now living in Boston, confirmed that there have been talks of a reunion show for years but admitted that it may not happen any time soon. With members of the band currently residing in at least three different states, not only would the timing have to be right, but the performance would have to be worthy of their local legacy.

“We feel that when we were playing, we never gave anybody less than 110% per show, so we don’t want to just throw together five of our most popular songs and just slop them out. We definitely would want to plan out a production that was the size of what we used to do,” Placko said.

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