Throughout the weekend, Green Bay, Wisconsin will be in the national spotlight on account of the NFL Draft coming to Titletown for the first time ever. Around the same time names of second and third round selections are being read aloud to a worldwide audience on Friday night, a movie theater 120 miles away will be screening a documentary about how a passionate lot of people in the 1970s, ’80s, and early ’90s made the then-culturally devoid and artistically isolated city of Green Bay into an unexpected punk rock destination through hard work, resourcefulness, collaboration, and a little bit of luck.
Green Blah: The History Of Green Bay Punk Rock is a labor of love that was more than 15 years in the making. Co-directors and co-producers Christopher Pretti and James J. Baker—who each have direct ties to the subject matter as former Green Bay musicians and bookers—spent more than a decade interviewing close to 100 subjects and collecting thousands of photos, show posters, news clippings, radio snippets, live show recordings, and broadcast footage to tell the story of the city’s punk rock origins, its formative bands and supportive figures, its fallow years, its makeshift venues, and a Midwest mill town known only for its football franchise eventually hosting concerts featuring some of punk and hardcore’s most iconic acts.
In advance of Green Blah‘s Milwaukee Film Festival screenings at Oriental Theatre on April 25 and April 30, Milwaukee Record asked Pretti about the film’s inception, its collaborative spirit, what didn’t make the final cut, the interplay between the Green Bay and Milwaukee punk scenes, what the future holds for the documentary, and whether he’s still mad at Face To Face for that thing they did in 1995.
Milwaukee Record: If I’m not mistaken, Green Blah has been screened around the state a few times already. How has the reception been to this point?
Chris Pretti: Yes, we had our film premiere at the Tarlton Theater in Green Bay the weekend of November 1-3. We also had two nights of bands doing reunion shows. The audience reaction was fantastic and heartfelt. We sold out the Friday and Saturday evening screenings, so we added two matinee showings, which also sold out. We brought the film back for two shows at our annual Green Bay Punk Rock X-Mas Party and sold those out as well. Since then, we were screened at the Door County Film Festival and the Beloit International Film Festival. We had great attendance at each festival and enthusiastic reactions from viewers. My favorite moment was when Dan Dillon from the early Green Bay punk band, The Minors, gave me a very teary-eyed bear hug in the aisle after our November 2 matinee. Nothing is better than to feel the love from our fellow scene members.
MR: Running in some of the same circles and having a history of going to punk shows in Green Bay, I knew this project was in the works for quite some time. How many years did the film take from inception to completion?
CP: The inception goes way back to 2008. James Baker and I decided on making a documentary about the Green Bay punk scene then. We put together a 25th Anniversary Northside Bowling Lanes reunion show at the end of 2008. Unfortunately, each of us had major life events get in the way of launching the filmmaking at that time. We conducted our first interview with our friend Jim Runge of Green Bay hardcore band No Response at the very end of 2012. For the next two years or so, we interviewed nearly 90 others involved in the punk scene. Editing was a slow process with a very modest budget, changes in post-production personnel, and working part-time. But we got it done!
MR: It seems fitting that a documentary about a small-but-passionate group of people working together to make something bigger than themselves had so many people helping in terms of sending in old footage and recordings, photos, posters, and zines. Can you speak to the spirit of collaboration that seems to permeate the film?
CP: We had so much support when collecting materials for the film. We have created an actual historic archive of our local punk scene. We uncovered thousands of photos, flyers, fanzines, posters and archival video. We reached out to friends and family whenever we could. We also used the Green Bay Press Gazette newspaper and social media to reach others in the surrounding community. We would chase down the slimmest of leads! We even had 80 photos come in from our pal, Jamie Shimon of Depo-Provera, literally at the last minute, and they are amazing shots from the Labor Hall in Oshkosh and Northside Bowling Lanes in Green Bay circa 1983—including rare photos of Loud Fast Rules before they were renamed Soul Asylum. The film is really about the punk scene and its all of us trying to make our small corner of the world a better place. Our scene really came through.
MR: I really love how in addition to band commentary, Green Blah also gives ample attention to other elements of “the scene” at large, such as formative record stores and radio personalities, local zine culture, unexpected venues like bowling alleys and boxing gyms, and some business owners like Bob Kutska and who did more for a group of people than he ever knew. Was it important to you to shed light on the offstage elements that helped Green Bay’s punk scene function?
CP: We really wanted to paint a picture of what life was like in those bleak times during the late ’70s and early ’80s when you discovered something that was completely alien to typical Midwestern culture. Keeping in mind this was, pre-internet, pre-social media, and pre-information being available at your fingertips. You had to seek this music and lifestyle out. It was word of mouth. Meeting a like-minded individual looking in the same bin at the record shop. Tuning toward the left of the dial and finding college radio. Finding a small hall above a bowling alley to book your first show yourselves. We also really wanted to capture the story by interviewing friends who weren’t in bands—people who maybe just went to shows—to get their take on what the scene was.
MR: Since you have to cover a lot of musical ground in the doc, was there anything you ultimately had to leave out or trim considerably that you wish you could’ve given more attention to? Perhaps a specific local band, an iconic show, or short-lived venue?
CP: The film covers a lot of territory from the beginnings of punk in Green Bay in the late ’70s through the ’80s and into the early ’90s. We had a great segment regarding a brawl at a biker bar in Neenah where we booked a punk show. We would have liked to include more about the early punk shows in Oshkosh and Dan Burr who set up those gigs. We also had some very close friends who passed away and we wish we could have included their stories more. We had a number of clubs that hosted a handful of shows that we couldn’t squeeze in—one was Zomo which was a partnership with a UW-Green Bay art professor, which was going to be a venue/art space that really didn’t materialize, but the Necros played there!
MR: I had heard about the infamous Face To Face show at Kutska’s in 1995, but I had no idea there was footage of it. That paints the band in a different light to me. Do you forgive them for basically killing a beloved Green Bay punk rock mecca and do you think others in town might still be upset about it?
CP: Honestly, since so much time has passed, I think most have gotten over it. However, I don’t think most would go out of their way to listen to Face To Face. I’m sure getting the crowd pogo-ing was their thing at the time. Perhaps the floor was already compromised after years of use, but the band really did not need to go out of their way to instigate matters after the [compromised] floor was brought to their attention by security. It’s sad, as Kutska’s was a special and unique venue and Bob Kutska was very supportive of the punk scene.
MR: Can you talk about the connection between the Green Bay and Milwaukee music scenes? Though it seemed like there wasn’t lots of interplay early on, I feel like a ton of former Green Bay musicians now live here.
CP: In the early days of the hardcore punk scene in 1983, we reached out to Milwaukee bands to make the drive to Titletown for shows. The second Northside Bowling Lanes show featured Sacred Order and the third, we had Die Kreuzen headlining. Milwaukee bands were regularly featured over the years. Die Kreuzen played several times, but we also had Tire Buddiez, The Crusties, Liquid Pink, Nekormantx, Johnny And The Losers, and many more. When Concert Café was closed in the early 2000s, that started the diaspora or Green Bay scene members moving to Milwaukee, many of whom are still active in the Milwaukee scene today.
MR: What do you think the current state of Green Bay punk, or local music in general, is? I know Tom Smith and Rev. Norb are still living there and bringing music to the city, and Badger State Brewing puts on some great stuff.
CP: The scene has had many ups and downs over the years, mostly due to changes in venues over time. The great thing about Green Bay is it always finds a way. There’s a well-defined lineage of who’s booking shows there. You can trace this from the Minors and Tyrants booking Bernie’s Game Room to hardcore shows at Northside Bowling Lanes to Tom Smith booking gigs at Green Bay UFO Museum. There’s also no shortage of local bands to play these gigs. I think the Green Bay scene is thriving. Perhaps the venues are smaller, but the interest and attendance are alive and well.
MR: After the Milwaukee Film Fest screenings, what’s next for Green Blah? Any other festival appearances or notable one-off showings coming up?
CP: After the Milwaukee Film Festival screenings, we have one date locked in on our calendar. We have a fittingly-named “Green And Gold” double feature at Badger State Brewing in Green Bay on May 18. We’re teaming up with another notable Green Bay documentary, GOLD, which was also released in fall of 2024. We’re showing both films, plus we have two local bands, Holly And the Nice Lions and The Smart Shoppers playing the intermission. Green Blah is still waiting on other film fest selections, but notification dates aren’t until later this year—so nothing is confirmed yet. We are actively working on possible showings in Madison and Minneapolis, so more on those soon.
MR: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
CP: The film really shows how punk rock played out in a smaller Midwestern city primarily known for its NFL franchise. It’s not New York or London or L.A. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and we can laugh at ourselves. But we put ourselves on the map, we made Green Bay a destination point for punk bands on tour, and they genuinely had a great time visiting us. The scene had large all-ages venues and kids in the scene booked the shows. The scene was 100 percent DIY and so is our film. Thanks!
Green Blah: The History Of Green Bay Punk Rock will screen twice during this 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival. Showings will take place Friday, April 25 at Oriental Theatre’s Abele Cinema-Main at 8:15 p.m. and Wednesday, April 30 at Oriental Theatre’s Lubar Cinema-West at 8:45 p.m.