We’ve already discussed Rory Sullivan-Burke’s biography of the crucial Post-Punk guitarist John McGeoch which appeared last year. That was a cause celebre as far as we were concerned, but the book managed to reach the eyes of Scot documentarian and co-director Nicola Black, who then reached out to her friend and fellow co-director Paul Sng to collaborate in bringing McGeoch’s story to film. Mr. Sng has already dazzled us recently with “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché“so we anticipate great things from the film of “The Light Pours Out Of Me.”

We’ve beaten the drum for the astonishing career of McGeoch for the breadth of the thousands of posts here at PPM. His CV as a guitarist is such that we own every album he played lead on and his important contributions to the body of Post-Punk made him the first “Post-Punk MVP” we honored here at PPM. His music career ultimately saw him step back from the tensions of playing and touring to utterly change his life; ultimately training and becoming a nurse to Alzheimer’s patients in middle age.

When we lost him in 2004, after he died in his sleep, we lost a player who was the measure of any guitarist who strove to modernity following the cleansing fires of Punk. His daughter Emily lost more than that. She lost her father, who ultimately and wisely removed himself from the destructive rock treadmill so that he could be a presence in her life. Long a custodian of his legacy, she has now figured in the cinematic retelling of his story.

KICKSTARTER

The campaign to fund the film will begin today, November 6th, 2023, and continue until Friday, December 8th, 2023 with numerous levels of buy-in for the funding fans. Each level of funding reward gets the title of a McGeoch classic song.

Fireworks | £10 | Limited edition John McGeoch plectrum

Hong Kong Garden | £15 | Limited edition John McGeoch badge

Melt! | £25 | Named in the Thank You credits

Christine |£50 | Limited edition John McGeoch tote & named in the Thank You credits

Fade to Grey | £100 | Limited edition tote bag, plectrum and badge & named in Thank You credits

Voodoo Dolly | £200 | ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ authorised biography signed by writer plus all items in the Fade to Grey package

Halloween | £250 | Invite to the film premiere in the UK plus all items in the Fade to Grey package

Castles in Spain | £350 | One-off John McGeogh memorabilia. Set of pins from Banshees tour & named in Thank You credits plus all items in the Fade to Grey package

Night Shift | £500 | John McGeoch unique memorabilia. Tour t-shirt worn by John, provided by the McGeoch family (authenticating photograph of John wearing item) plus all items in the Fade to Grey package

Arabian Nights | £750 |Original, John McGeoch leather jewellery worn during gigs & tour t-shirt, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package

Happy House | £850 | John McGeogh tour t-shirt + authenticating photograph, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package

Spellbound | £1,000 | Presentation box with John McGeoch memorabilia, including John’s tour t-shirt, PiL tour cap, copy of ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ signed & dedicated by author, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package & Special Thanks credit

Shot On Both Sides | £3,000 | Associate Producer credit

The Light Pours Out of Me | £5,000 | Logo sponsorship in end credits

It’s amazing that some might get some of John’s personal artifacts for a particularly generous contribution. This is a particularly tight time for me right now, but in a perfect world, I would be honored to have the PPM logo onscreen for a £5K pledge. As it is, I’ll be lucky to be able to at least find a spare £25.00 to support at the “Melt!” category and put my money where my mouth is. No matter how it all turns out, I strongly encourage any who held McGeoch in the sort of esteem that I did, to kick in and see that this necessary film gets the widest possible audience.

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