Takin' A Ride

Who was Bill Bartell? I’ll tell you: he was the Forrest Gump of punk rock. But with a 150+ IQ. He weaseled his way into a lot of backstage areas, was friends with many musicians, and had a big part in a lot of musical history. He saw and knew the Germs. He was there when KISS played Magic Mountain. He weaseled his way backstage to so many KISS shows, he got banned. He was friends with Steve Harris from Iron Maiden and gave them the idea to release the “Maiden Japan” live EP. He also named it. As Pat Fear, he was the founder of White Flag and released a dozen albums and tons of singles. He was instrumental in getting the Zeros back together in the ’90s, was part of the all star band Tator Totz, and getting the world to know about Shonen Knife and Os Mutantes.

I knew him, but only socially at the clubs when I’d see him at shows at Raji’s and Bogarts. Usually when the Muffs played. The last interaction I had with him was on Facebook, when he was mentioning that David Lee Roth was gay. I asked him how he knew this, and he then proceeded to tell me via IM that he knew this from “just all the people tat went to the gay after hours club Zero Zero he half owned, he was always ther picking up guys” (sic) True? Who knows? Who cares? I told him that he was probably there to pick up some coke. “um, well… ok“. But that was Bill: always having a go at people, tearing down idols, both his idols and other people’s idols, to get a reaction. He would interject half-truths (or were they whole truths?) into stories and factoids that would mess with your head and your preconceived notions. Now knowing that he was gay, was he just having a go at me to see my reaction? Or was he just telling the truth? Both? That is part of what this documentary questions, while telling us the fascinating story of Pat Fear.

Put together by acclaimed documentary and film directory Dave Markey (who also did “1991: The Year Punk Broke”). Tons of people make an appearance in this telling Bill’s story. Dale & Buzz from the Melvins, fellow bandmates including Duke, Bruce Duff, Steve and Jeff MacDonald from Redd Kross, Melanie from the Muffs/Pandoras, Robert Lopez from the Zeros, Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth, Fat Mike from NOFX, Ronnie from the Muffs, Don Bolles from the Germs, Tony from the Adolescents, and more. Even Kurt Cobain makes an appearance! 100 minutes of crazy stories about the enigma that was Bill Bartell. If you get the blu-ray, there’s another 45 minutes of stories that are just as excellent but didn’t make the cut, probably because there was no place to really put them in the actual movie. But there’s the Iron Maiden stories, more KISS stories, and well, just more stories in general of Bill’s fascinating life and experiences. Well worth it.

“The Secret Lives Of Bill Bartell” is available on the usual streaming services and now finally out on blu-ray and DVD. Recommended.

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