“A dysfunctional celebration of life” – Craig Setari (Sick Of It All, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Youth of Today, Straight Ahead)

For those of us who grew up loving, and still worship, New York Hardcore, CBGB’s became our mecca. It was the stuff of legend, the source of a rich mythology that formed around, and became entwined with its fate, thanks to it becoming, after the demise of A7, the locus of the NYHC scene. At the Matinee is the shared story of New York Hardcore and CBGB’s and how both flourished during the eighties thanks to their dependency on each other and how the evolution of a city and a scene eventually led to the demise of Hilly Kristal’s world famous club.

The New York scene thrived, in no small part, thanks to the Sunday Matinees that were a regular fixture in CBGB’s. Those of us who lived thousands of miles away dreamt about those shows, about being able to be there in person and meting the people who were a fundamental part of the scene and Matiness regulars. Giangiacomo De Stefano’s film, At the Matinee, charts the history of the scene, the club and the shows from their beginning through to the latter’s ignominious end and is both a wonderful celebration of what was and a heart-breaking document of everything that has been lost. 

Guided by Walter Schreifels, who acts as sort of unofficial MC of proceedings, At the Matinee explores the rich past of the music, bands and club that became the home of the scene through the stories of the men and women who lived for, and spent their weekends in the shadow of, the shows that transformed a small, insular scene into a global phenomenon. An oral history told by a who’s who of New York Hardcore, At the Matinee is a glorious, and to quote Craig Setari, dysfunctional celebration of a scene, the individuals and bands who made it what it was and the place that they called home.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (especially during the last five, poignant minutes) and you’ll remember exactly why it was that you wanted, more than anything else, to be At the Matinee.  Tim Cundle

Find out more about At the Matinee here