No Room for Rockstars

Parris Patton's documentary, which follows four performers on the 2010 Vans Warped Tour, is a study in contrasts between art, artifice, and commerce. Mitch Lucker, singer for hardcore band Suicide Silence, screams his lyrics and describes the group's sound as “inciting mayhem.” Living with OCD, Mitch feels safe onstage and is grateful for a job that has allowed him to buy a home for his family. Nineteen-year-old high school dropout Christopher Drew Ingle of Never Shout Never is jaded, bitter, and bored, seemingly resentful of his admirers, many of whom are weepy teenage girls. On the other hand, Mike Posner, who had a single climbing the Billboard charts when he joined the tour, tells an interviewer at a meet-and-greet that the fans “sign my checks…the least I can do is say thank you.” Completely out of place at the largely hardcore event, Posner starts out with tiny audiences but pulls in bigger crowds over time. Finally, Forever Came Calling aren't even on the tour; they're following it in a van, selling their CDs outside the show to people in line and circulating a petition to try to get a shot at one of the California gigs. When singer Joe Candelaria approaches tour founder Kevin Lyman to ask for a slot, he almost faints from nervousness, but the outcome is worth it. Offering little in the way of performance footage but taking an unflinching look at the state of the music industry today, No Room for Rockstars is highly recommended. (H. Seggel)