Kurt Voss

Kurt Voss
Born Kurt Christopher Peter Wössner
September 15, 1963
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Film director, screenwriter, musician, songwriter
Years active 1987 – present
Spouse(s) Sara Ashley

Kurt Voss (born Kurt Christopher Peter Wössner; September 15, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician/songwriter. Voss has written and directed a dozen feature films, including Will Smith's debut "Where The Day Takes You"; the Justin Theroux, Alyssa Milano and Ice T action film "Below Utopia"; actress Jaime Pressly's debut feature Poison Ivy: The New Seduction, the romance Baja starring Molly Ringwald and Lance Henriksen, and numerous rock and roll related films including the films Down and Out with the Dolls[1] and "Ghost on The Highway: A Portrait of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club."

Career

Film

Voss has frequently collaborated with fellow UCLA alumnus Allison Anders.[2] Working together over twenty-five years, the duo created a trilogy of rock films: Border Radio (1987), a portrait of the L.A. punk scene featuring such stalwarts as John Doe ("X") and Dave Alvin ("The Blasters") and published by the prestigious Criterion Collection; the Sundance-premiered Sugar Town (1999), featuring John Taylor ("Duran Duran") and Rosanna Arquette; and Strutter (2012), a Kickstarter-financed independent film.[3]

Strutter was released theatrically in Japan on September 14, 2013.[4] It awaits digital distribution in the U.S., although as recently as July 2014 it has screened at repertory theaters, often with Voss and Anders in attendance to discuss the film's production methods and the viability of crowd source financing.[5]

Anders and Voss also co-wrote Things Behind The Sun (2001), which was awarded a Peabody Award in 2002.[6]

Music

In addition to his film work, Voss is a founding member of the West Coast punk band The Hindi Guns, an outfit which produced three highly regarded albums. The First, "The Hindi Guns" (2004, French Fan Club Records) inspired Rolling Stone magazine's Senior Editor David Fricke to write, "I've already found one of my favorite new bands of the year: a rough, bewitching four-piece from Portland" and "'I Don't Want To Drink Mercury" is your best ticket into these ten tracks: a bluesy crawl set in dub-like darkness, like early Hole produced by Lee Perry."[7] Early vinyl pressings of the album found their way into the hands of the late and legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ, John Peel, who put three of the album tracks into rotation on his BBC program.[8]

The album was supported by a 30 city U.S. tour, the West Coast portion of which was filmed for a short film which can be found on Youtube. The Hindi Guns second album, Rarities (2009), was a collection of EP material, B-sides and studio outtakes. The album was reviewed in Record Collector by British punk critic Kris Needs, who gave the record four stars, writing, "Anyone who dedicates a song to 'Instant Karma and The Peel Sessions' must have their heart in the right place. The late DJ was a fan and it's not hard to see why...[9] After the departure of original singer Dee Dee Cheriel, the founding members of Hindi Guns made a farewell album, entitled Do Or Die (French Fan Club Records, 2009). The CD featured a photo of a sword-wielding Yukio Mishima; the back cover of the record depicted a photo of the author's severed head. The album received extensive college radio play, and an honorable mention in the annual roundup of "Year's Best" by ex-Times pop writer Kevin Bronson [10] But by then the group was disbanded. Voss went on to spent the next twenty-four months involved in the production of the rock film Strutter (2012).

In July 2014, Kurt Voss announced via his Google page [11] and via a new band website [12] that he and wife Sara Ashley were commencing upon a new music project entitled "Sadistic Hands".[13]

Personal life

From 1990 to 1993, Kurt Voss was married to British actress Sammi Davis, with whom he made the film Horseplayer.

Voss married actress Sara Ashley in May 2012. The two met while on set of Strutter, a film in which she acted, and Voss co-directed. The two debuted a new band entitled "Sadistic Hands" in the Spring of 2014.[14]

Filmography/writer

Filmography/director

Discography

References

  1. ↑ Eddie Cockrell (30 July 2001). "Down and Out with the Dolls (Review)". Variety. p. 20.
  2. ↑ "Alumnus Kurt Voss' New Film Epitomizes the Independent Spirit". UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. 4 April 2003. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  3. ↑ Steve Appleford (13 April 2013). "Allison Anders and Kurt Voss Keep the Music Playing". L.A. Times. p. 3.
  4. ↑ http://www.tokyoweekender.com/2013/09/september-movie-releases-in-japan-wolverine-unforgiven-and-more/
  5. ↑ http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/07/strutter_screens_this_saturday_at_the_frida_an_interview_with_allison_anders_and_kurt_voss.php
  6. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245501/awards
  7. ↑ David Fricke, Rolling Stone Magazine March 4, 2004, p. 65
  8. ↑ BBC RADIO ONE - home page - Peel Tracklistings http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/tracklistings/peel_archive_shtml.shtml?20040302
  9. ↑ Kris Needs, Record Collector Magazine, Sept 2009, p. 84
  10. ↑ Hindi Guns in Buzzbands, 2009 http://www.buzzbands.la/2009/12/22/popular-with-me-2009-my-favorite-albums/
  11. ↑ https://plus.google.com/100599123206694498828/posts?hl=en
  12. ↑ http://www.sadistichands.com
  13. ↑ http://www.sadistichands.com
  14. ↑ http://www.sadistichands.com

External links