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UNCUT: 7/10 - These Dutch punks were one of the most entertaining live turns on the planet!
Jimmy Is Punk tells the story of (arguably) the Netherlands’ first punk band, PANIC, via remarkable footage of an adrenaline-fuelled live performance unleashed in May 1978 on an unsuspecting venue in the provincial town of Gouda – ferocious guitars, flying fire extinguishers, subversive riffs on German philosophers and all.
Winner of the Best Music Documentary Award at DOC LA in Los Angeles and the Grand Prix at FAME in Paris in 2020, Duco Donk's film is a compellingly immersive and often very funny tale of a maverick band that roared to life in 1976 and vanished just two years later. Shot on 16mm and super 8mm analogue by a film crew the band hired especially for the Gouda show, and deftly resurrected, edited and reshaped by Donk decades later, Jimmy is Punk offers an authentic look at the spirit of youth and rebellion through the eyes of both performers and audience; a time-travelling visit to a night of glorious noise and (fortunately, well-insured) mayhem served up to a wide-eyed, sweat- and beer-soaked audience.
Led by the imposing figure of punk provocateur Peter Penthouse, PANIC were an Amsterdam-based punk band that toured the Netherlands from 1976 through 1978, appearing in the lineup of Amsterdam's first Rock Against Racism concert in 1978. As the first wave of punk was emerging in London and New York, PANIC were recording their first and only LP, “13” (all references to Jerry Lee Lewis intentional). In their heyday, the band were known for their sizeable cult following and deliberately chaotic performances – with the Gouda gig captured in Jimmy is Punk a thrillingly visceral example. Forty years later, PANIC would release three recordings of live performances from 1978 that still sound fast and furious; two at Amsterdam's Paradiso, then the centre of the city's burgeoning punk scene, and the third at the legendary CBGB Theater in New York, when they became the first Dutch band to play there.
Bonus Feature with all purchases - watch an exclusive interview with PANIC singer Peter Penthouse, hosted by John Robb
“Punk is full of great stories - most of them are beyond the narrative. We all know the Sex Pistols story, but the true mavericks and the true incendiary wild-eyed heart and soul exists in the wild outsiders and those compelled to perform. Jimmy is Punk tells such a story of a long-lost 1977 Dutch punk band, PANIC, whose shows would implode with the tightrope danger that Iggy Pop made a career out of." John Robb, musician and music journalist.
“With this film I want to take you back to the early days of punk with nothing but authentic images from the Seventies, packed with music and action. This is a punk story about freedom, rebellion and having fun,”
Duco Donk, filmmaker, musician and director of Jimmy is Punk.