RW II

ROMANTIC WARRIORS II
ABOUT ROCK IN OPPOSITION

Five Bands: ‘Five rock groups the record companies don’t want you to hear’. This was the tag in the poster of the first RIO festival in 1978, symbolizing the anti-commercial stance of these bands and the ‘uncompromising’ character of their music. RIO bands embrace musical styles such as progressive rock, Zeuhl, improvisation, noise, avant rock, jazz, classical, folk and often extreme experimentation.

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United in their opposition to the music industry and the pressures of compromise over art, this collective of progressive bands started a movement that remains one of the reference points that many listeners, musicians, and distributors use to describe a cooperative approach of making and distributing non-mainstream music.

 

Even when RIO as a movement was short lived at the time, it spearheaded the creation of its own progressive music subgenre, a category called RIO/Avant Progressive that is being used to label contemporary bands from across the world.

The film also highlights eleven active RIO/Zeuhl/Avant progressive music bands from North America, Europe and Japan:

 

  • Aranis – Chamber Rock (Belgium)
  • Guapo – Zeuhl/Post-Rock (England)
  • Hamster Theater – Avant Folk (USA)
  • Magma – Zeuhl (France)
  • Miriodor – Avant Rock (Canada)
  • Present – Heavy Chamber Rock (Belgium)
  • Ruins Alone – Avant Zeuhl (Japan)
  • Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – Avant Metal (USA)
  • Thinking Plague – Avant Rock (USA)
  • Univers Zero – Chamber Rock (Belgium)
  • Yugen – Avant Rock (Italy)

Interviewed musicians that were active in the 70s include Chris Cutler (Henry Cow/Art Bears), Gerard Hourbette (Art Zoyd), Marc Hollander (Aksak Maboul), Christian and Stella Vander (Magma), Giorgio Gomelsky, Roger Trigaux (Present), Franco Fabbri (Stormy Six), Lars Krantz (Samla Mammas Manna), Ferdinand Richard (Etron Fou Leloublan), Bruno Meillier (Etron Fou Leloublan), Michel Berckmans (Univers Zero), and Daniel Denis (Univers Zero).

In addition we’ll hear the opinions of many younger contemporary avant-progressive musicians that are members of some of the bands mentioned above, festival organizers, label owners, and fans of the RIO/Avant progressive scene.

“Romantic Warriors II is an outstanding piece of filmmaking in its own right, with the potential to kindle the interest of any lover of the tenth Muse.” Raffaella Berry, Progmistress.com

“It’s a VERY documented and interesting RIO document! Absolutely to be seen, even if you don’t talk English (a lot of French bands are interviewed in their native langage like MAGMA, UNIVERS ZERO, PRESENT, etc.). STUNNING DOC!”  Renauld Oualid, editor of Koid’9 magazine.

“DVD showed up in the post a couple of days ago. Really enjoyed it. Highly recommended. There really isn’t anybody missing…” Aymeric Leroy, Progressive Music Specialist.

 

“I picked this up from the film makers Jose and Adele and it is just magnificent. So much fantastic history and live bits are here. This is some of the most daring “progressive” music around and this DVD is an ear opener!”  Sean Tonar, founder of THE ONLINE FORUM for 21st Century Progressive Rock ‘ProgressiveEars’.

”Believe it or not, there is much more to progressive music than can be covered in a ninety-five minute film.” H.T. Riekels, Bodhisattva Beat blog

“This is a very well done documentary. I knew a lot about RIO beforehand, but I still managed to learn quite a bit watching this. Definitely a must see for any fan of innovative, forward-thinking and challenging music.” Rok Podgrajšek, editor of the Rocktologist

“Overall, the movie is quite inspiring and informative for those interested in exploring the outer edges of rock music. Romantic Warriors II certainly has a place in any library supporting popular music studies.“ Vincent J. Novara, Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland