The idea was to make a short film about a band but John Bowker ended up joining them too.
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Bowker, a member of Wollongong’s ARIA-nominated band Born Lion, has signed on for a short stint on bass for The Rockers.
The connection with the band started when Bowker – who works at Uniting Care as an “Ability Linker” helping with people with mild to moderate disabilities or mental health issues – was thinking about entering a film contest.
“I heard about this Focus on Ability film competition focusing on people who have disabilities and making films that aim to look past the disabilities and see them as people,” Bowker said.
He tossed around some ideas at work before remembering The Rockers, which includes members with an intellectual disability or autism.
There’s absolutely nothing pretentious about what they do.
- John Bowker
“It dawned on me that there were these guys called The Rockers,” Bowker said.
“We had them play at the Abilty Links launch a couple of years ago. I thought those guys would make some good subject matter.
“I was thinking of a mockumentary Spinal Tap thing but then it switched to a straight doco because the subject matter was interesting enough.”
Bowker brought in film-maker Brendan Blacklock to shoot the film, but that’s not where his work ended.
He also joined the band, found them a drummer and got them in the studio to record their “psychedelic fuzz rock”.
“The guys had never been in a recording studio before,” he said.
“We recorded seven tracks and the guys were pretty thrilled about it. The recording process was a matter of going through it once and then capturing it on the second take.
“The guys like to move on pretty quickly. They don’t want to stuff around. So it’s capturing the raw moment.”
The plan is to have the CD on sale at the band’s next gig at Rad Bar on June 21.
While Bowker is only a temporary Rocker, he said he’s been having fun in the line-up.
“I’ve really benefited from playing with the guys. It’s been really enjoyable for me,” he said.
“There’s absolutely nothing pretentious about what they do and that’s the really refreshing part of working with them.
“They do what they do and they’re not trying to project any sort of image at all.”