The Braniac documentary film Transmissions After Zero celebrates the third anniversary of its pivotal tribute night at Brooklyn venue, The Bell House this week. The sold out evening featured a rotating cast of friends who’ve played alongside or were influenced by the seminal 90’s band, including a reunited Braniac, Girls Against Boys, Melissa Auf der Maur (HOLE), Charles Bissell (The Wrens), Travis Morrison (The Dismemberment Plan), and more.
Birthed from Dayton, Ohio in 1992, the band pioneered a raucous experimental sound loaded with tension and a sensational live energy unrivaled by many. The group was on the cusp of a crossover to the mainstream before the tragic death of frontman Tim Taylor in 1997 that shook the music world to its core. In honor of the group, Director Eric Mahoney and partner Ian Jacobs set about on a two year journey to uncover a mass of material to help bring the legendary story to the silver screen in 2019.
A swath of footage that didn’t make it to the film has been stored in the filmmakers archives over the years but in honor of this week they’ve decided to debut a live performance from Les Savy Fav’s mercurial frontman, Tim Harrington. Backed by supergroup The Heist featuring Eli Janney (Girls Against Boys), Seth Jabor (Les Savy Fav), Geoff Sanoff (Ensel), and Matt Schulz (SAVAK) performing a vibrant cover of Braniac’s “Nothing Ever Changes”.
Jacobs shares a statement on the piece:
“In a lot of ways that night at the Bell House kind of kicked the whole filmmaking process into gear, made it feel real and connected. But looking back at it three years later, I don’t know if we fully anticipated how cathartic some of the reunion events we did would be. Filmmaking completely aside, looking back, I just think those shows and those songs in a live setting needed to happen again. As part of the natural order of things and maybe some sort of closure. It was one of the coolest concert experiences I’ve ever had to be in that room.”
Watch the performance below, and you can purchase a copy of the documentary here.