Watch a taster of the new Pavement musical

A taster clip showing a behind-the-scenes look at the Pavement musical Slanted! Enchanted! was recently shared with fans – watch below.

• READ MORE: Pavement on ‘Harness Your Hopes’ going viral: “It breathed new life into the band”

Following US screenings of Pavements, the unorthodox film that combines elements of biopic, tour documentary and more, the team behind the film has shared new footage of the jukebox musical that’s spliced into it.

The film was first announced in 2022 by Alex Ross Perry – the filmmaker who also directed Slanted! Enchanted!, which premiered in New York in 2022. According to a New Yorker profile shared that year, the project is based on a somewhat confusing directive from Pavement bandleader Stephen Malkmus.

While the band wanted a movie, Malkmus didn’t want to hire a documentarian – he wanted to hire a screenwriter, but did not want a screenplay. The newly shared clip features insights from Perry, as well as choreographer and musical co-director Angela Trimbur, and actors Michael Esper, Kathryn Gallagher, and Zoe Lister-Jones, who touched on the challenge of bringing Pavement’s lyrics to a new format.

NME gave the film four stars, with Matthew Turner writing: “The behind-the-scenes footage (some of it scripted, some of it not) frequently features Keery preparing for his role as Malkmus, and becoming a little obsessed, whether it’s perfectly recreating 1990s photographs of the singer (an original way of presenting archive material) or, in the film’s most obviously mockumentary moment, taking a photograph of Malkmus’ tongue, so as to work on the accent properly with his voice coach.

“In short, this is a thrillingly creative music documentary that serves as a loving tribute to the band and the sense of fun that Perry is having behind the camera is both palpable and infectious.”

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Speaking to NME in 2022, the band touched on their resurgence after ‘Harness Your Hopes’ went viral on TikTok.

Malkmus explained: “It was a weird event of where your music goes; this can happen,” with guitarist Scott Kannberg adding: “Yeah, it took it in another direction which is amazing.”

Malkmus added: “It was a weird cultural thing, but by putting yourself out there, you have the opportunity for that to happen, even if you’re insecure or think your music is crap. You go ahead and do it, and then the world sees you. That’s a pretty fun part of doing any art, but specifically ours.”

He told NME: “It made me feel bad that I didn’t put it on the album. Like, nobody said, ‘That’s a great song’ or something.” Kannberg responded: “I’m sure I did!”

Pavement embarked on a huge reunion tour in 2022, including shows in the UK, Ireland and Europe. They kicked off their first run of gigs in 12 years by headlining Primavera Sound Barcelona and Porto.

The post Watch a taster of the new Pavement musical appeared first on NME.