Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story gets release date

The documentary Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story will be released on DVD March 15, 2011 by Universal Music Enterprises packaged along with two CDs of music written by Wood, including unreleased Malfunkshun material.

The film is a look into the life of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood and it includes live footage from both MLB and Malfunkshun, the band he was in with his brother Kevin prior to joining Mother Love Bone. There are also interviews with grunge figures including Chris Cornell, Stone Gossard, Jack Endino and other details about Wood and his impact on local music.

Although it has a tragic ending (Wood died of a drug overdose in 1990 and the film begins with his father reading his eulogy at Wood’s funeral) it shines a mostly positive light on Wood’s life. Aside from concert footage and hearing Cornell, Gossard and others talk candidly about Wood, highlights include seeing Mother Love Bone in the studio and getting a glimpse into the glam rock side of Wood. Most all grunge enthusiasts will especially enjoy watching Wood work with a group of children while recording “Stardog Champion”

The film has only been shown publicly twice. It debuted at the Northwest Film Forum in 2005 and was screened at Hard Rock Seattle earlier this year. It’s on par with Hype and Tad: Busting Circuits and Ringing Ears as one of the best documentaries focusing on the local scene I’ve watched.

For more information about the film, listen to this interview with Kevin Wood I conducted earlier this year.

About Travis Hay

Travis Hay is a music journalist who has spent the past 20 years documenting and enjoying Seattle's music scene. He's written for various outlets including MSN Music, the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, Seattle Weekly, Pearl Jam's Ten Club, Crosscut.com and others.

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2 Comments on “Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story gets release date”

  1. It actually world premiered as part of the Seattle International Film Festival in 2005. It played at the Neptune on 6/4. I caught the showing at the JBL theatre at EMP on 6/6. Most of Andy’s family was there for that show. I remember being surprised bumping into Eddie Vedder walking out after the film.
    Glad to see it will finally come to DVD as it was hard to fully soak in the first time I saw it.

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