IMDb RATING
6.3/10
4.3K
YOUR RATING
Five teenage friends will stop at nothing to attend a concert by their favourite band, The Stone Roses.Five teenage friends will stop at nothing to attend a concert by their favourite band, The Stone Roses.Five teenage friends will stop at nothing to attend a concert by their favourite band, The Stone Roses.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Robert James-Collier
- Mr Milligan
- (as Rob James Collier)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe actual concert with The Stone Roses was held on May 27, 1990.
- GoofsWhen Ibiza Ste is selecting a song to play on the jukebox, one of the options is "Ten Storey Love Song" by The Stone Roses. This song was released in 1995, but the film is set in 1990, 3 days before the Spike Island gig.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The Making of Spike Island (2013)
- SoundtracksShe Bangs the Drums
Written by Ian Brown & John Squire
Performed by The Stone Roses
Licensed courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd.
Featured review
Does Mat Whitecross' film Bang the Drum?
It's May 1990, Great Britain, and The Stone Roses are about to play a monumental outdoor gig at Spike Island in Widnes, Cheshire. A bunch of teenage acolytes of the band, aspiring musicians themselves, embark on a journey to Spike Island whist at the same time embarking on personal journeys of the real life kind.
Us Brits do like ourselves a coming of age drama set to the backdrop of musical importance. Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll) taps into the era of Baggy Manchester, of a Northern Britain dominated by pills, thrills and romantic bellyaches. To many of a certain age The Stone Roses were "their" Beatles, a power pop foursome that rocked it big time, their influence on the British music industry is still being felt today. This in spite of their relatively short life span. Re: The Sex Pistols at Winterland, see The Stone Roses at Spike Island (in other words it was a pretty awful gig all told).
However, the band are secondary to the teen angst narrative threads, to the scallywag japes and sexual growing pains. As Messrs Ian Brown and John Squire weave their chordal magic in the background, a bunch of spotty Herbert's with mad mac haircuts and iffy accents try and make sense of it all, of life, death, loves and hates. Music binds them together, but does anything else?
It's all very formulaic stuff, but for those of the time, or for those with a love for how music can define your life, or at the least shape its direction, then this hits the requisite chords. It's funny at times and the cast are ebullient enough to carry the clichéd and thin material home, but come the finale you will be remembering the soundtrack more than the story itself. 6.5/10
Us Brits do like ourselves a coming of age drama set to the backdrop of musical importance. Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll) taps into the era of Baggy Manchester, of a Northern Britain dominated by pills, thrills and romantic bellyaches. To many of a certain age The Stone Roses were "their" Beatles, a power pop foursome that rocked it big time, their influence on the British music industry is still being felt today. This in spite of their relatively short life span. Re: The Sex Pistols at Winterland, see The Stone Roses at Spike Island (in other words it was a pretty awful gig all told).
However, the band are secondary to the teen angst narrative threads, to the scallywag japes and sexual growing pains. As Messrs Ian Brown and John Squire weave their chordal magic in the background, a bunch of spotty Herbert's with mad mac haircuts and iffy accents try and make sense of it all, of life, death, loves and hates. Music binds them together, but does anything else?
It's all very formulaic stuff, but for those of the time, or for those with a love for how music can define your life, or at the least shape its direction, then this hits the requisite chords. It's funny at times and the cast are ebullient enough to carry the clichéd and thin material home, but come the finale you will be remembering the soundtrack more than the story itself. 6.5/10
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- hitchcockthelegend
- Mar 2, 2015
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Spajk Ajlend
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $157,036
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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![Lesley Manville, Elliott Tittensor, Nico Mirallegro, Adam Long, and Emilia Clarke in Spike Island (2012)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk2NjA2MDI4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTkxNzQwNTE@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR2,0,90,133_.jpg)