A Conversation with CBGB Music Supervisor Brad Rosenberger

Interview by Johnny Zapp

Photos by Kimberly Annette

Producer Brad Rosenberger truly seems like the kind of cat you’d invite over to hang out and listen to records with all night long. You know, passing record jackets back and forth, discussing recording methods, guitars and just geeking out in general. The former senior VP of catalog development and marketing for Warner Chappell recently added film producer and music supervisor to his resume. Boy, are we glad he did! I mean, who better to produce (and supervise the music) on a tale of the legendary punk rock club CBGB, than a genuine rock-and-roll fanatic himself? Brad came out swinging with his feature film debut, CBGB, and he was happy to spend some time chatting with me about it.

ROCKRAG: Good morning, Brad. I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me this morning. I understand how valuable time can be.

BR: No problem.

ROCKRAG: Well first off, congratulations on the movie, I saw it last week. Good stuff.

BR: Thank you, thank you very much.

ROCKRAG: I’d like to know what led you to work on this type of project. I realize that it’s the first feature film that you’ve produced.

BR: Right, well, it’s kind of a funny story. I’m a music publisher by trade and I’ve been in the music business for over 30 years. The last 25 I spent running the film and TV department at Warner Chappell. The last year I was there, my job changed to where I was looking into developing properties that Warner Chappell owned and controlled, into something bigger than “Oh, let’s find a song for his movie.” So over the period of time I was there, I always thought the story of the Beach Boys’ drummer, Dennis Wilson, was a great story to tell as a movie.

I got together for dinner one night with Randy and Jody, the writer/producer/director/husband-and-wife team that I work with, and I told them what I was trying to do. Music publishers screw these things up with astronomical fees that indie filmmakers can’t afford, so I’m always trying to be proactive. I thought we had some great stories there with great music so basically they’re like, “Well, what are you passionate about?” I said, “We’ve got a ton of them, but I’m really passionate about Dennis Wilson. I think it’s sex, drugs and rock and roll, and it has really incredible and beautiful music that nobody knows.”

So a few months later, I got a phone call from them, and they’re just like, “We want to do this movie!” So I asked, “What movie? We had dinner a few months ago, and we talked about a million things.” They said, “Dennis Wilson.” So therein begins our mission, which was to write a script and make a deal with the estate. I was at Warner Chappell, so I was taking care of the music, and because of my knowledge of the subject matter, I became a producer for that property, and we were all set to go. We had our lead actor to play Dennis, Aaron Eckhart; we had Vera Farmiga to play Christine McVie; and we had Chloë Grace Moretz and Rupert Grint from Harry Potter.

So along the way in this incredible journey, Randy says to me, “What other ideas do you have?” I was still working at Warner Chappell, and I started going through the things we represented. I realized very quickly that we represented a lot of bands that started at CBGB. So I said I don’t know what the angle is here, but we have all these bands that played at this club in the Bowery, NY. There’s got to be some kind of a story here, let me do my research. So while we were working on Dennis Wilson, Jody, who was primarily the writer, started working on a script. She wrote it for Alan Rickman because they had worked with him on a couple other projects, and he wound up agreeing to play Hilly Kristal, which is awesome.

We weren’t expecting to do CBGB until the beginning of this year because we were going to shoot Dennis Wilson. So literally at the eleventh hour, I got a phone call from Aaron’s agent at three o’clock on a Friday. It ended up being that Aaron is not sure he can do this role. It’s an intense role. The script we wrote was about the last 10 years of his life, so it’s lots of ups and lots of downs. Anyhow, after he bailed, we spent like, literally five days, 24 hours a day trying to figure out how to resurrect this or move stuff or you know, whatever we could do, it became obvious that we weren’t going to be working on the project with him.

So we quickly shifted gears and instead of shooting Dennis Wilson on June 15, 2012, we shot CBGB on June 25, 2012. Fortunately for us, we had another project, because both of us had spent almost two years doing nothing but Dennis Wilson. Since it was my first feature, it would have been heartbreaking for me, having worked this hard, and come up with nothing. That’s really the genesis of it. It started with Dennis Wilson (laughter).

ROCKRAG: Well, thanks Dennis!

BR: Yeah, well, the funny thing about it was once we started working on CBGB, it dawned on me that we were working on two movies—one based in NY, one based in LA. They both took place at relatively the same period of time, and in a lot of ways, couldn’t be more different. You had punk rock: heroin and beer and the other one is rockstar: beautiful girls and cocaine. But they both centered on families and they both were musical. Dennis’ story is more tragic than Hilly’s, because obviously, he dies. Hilly’s story is more heroic, but there are so many similarities. Randy and Jody’s films tend to deal with family; heroic, and sometimes tragic, figures; so when you look back on it, it’s just like “Wow.” It sort of makes sense, even though it couldn’t be further from what you wanted to do. That’s the long story, so hopefully, the payoff was there, I mean we ended up making a movie!

ROCKRAG: Exactly, instead of being completely at a loss on the Dennis Wilson project, you had CBGB on tap.

BR: Yes, and we even brought Rupert Grint over from the Dennis Wilson project. We found out in the process that Rupert is a real music fan. We looked at him and thought, “Oh my God, he’s perfect for Cheetah Chrome!” Then, we found out that he’s a punk rock fan too, so we really got lucky. He’s actually an extraordinary actor. I think he did a great job with Cheetah, and you know, for a guy that’s had all that kind of fame and attention for half of his life, you cannot find a sweeter person and a nicer guy.

ROCKRAG: Isn’t that always a breath of fresh air to work with someone like that?

BR: You have to have them. It keeps you going because there are too many nutballs around that you have to deal with. But it’s funny, that guy doesn’t ever have to work again, but he loves working (laughs), and it’s great.

ROCKRAG: Given your extensive background in music supervision, there was something of particular note in CBGB that stood out to me. I, too, work in music for film and TV, so I have a good understanding of how these things work, and I have a hunch. The selection for the Ramones music in the film? A Joey Ramone solo track from 2002?….talk to me. Were there issues getting the rights to the authentic period-correct Ramones music?

BR: (Laughs) I’m always happy when someone asks me that. For starters, authenticity was certainly the most important thing to me and to the filmmakers. The Ramones thing was very difficult, and it really bummed me out, but we had to respect the voice of the representatives for Johnny and Dee Dee. We showed them the movie, and we tried our damndest to try to get them to be part of it. We thought we were making a sweet love letter to the likes of Hilly Kristal, who started their career. They are kind of attached at the hip. You can’t tell the story of Hilly without the Ramones, but you can’t tell the story of the Ramones without Hilly.

At the end of the day, it just wasn’t the opportunity for them that they wanted. So you have to go “What are my alternatives here, I’m totally f***ed, what am I going to do?” We didn’t have time to put together a band who could record covers of the early Ramones songs. We didn’t have the time or money for that and the reps for Joey Ramone’s estate kept saying “I’ve got these two Joey records, you should listen to them.” And I’m like, “Dude…2002? This movie takes place in the mid-70s.” I’m going to get killed. We have to keep pressing the Ramones. We did that. We showed them the film up until November of last year when it was practically complete, and they just couldn’t pull the trigger.

So ultimately, I found two songs on the first solo album Joey did that were not Ramones songs obviously, and I know that, but they seemed to capture the spirit of Joey, and ultimately it was Joey’s voice that we needed. It was loud and clear in there and I actually like the two songs I found to use. One of them is called “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up).” I felt it properly represented his spirit, and showed us a way that even though we could not clear the Ramones, they were important to our story, and we were able to keep the voice and themes they were about.

The funny thing about it is, there are people who will ask me the question you just asked me, but you would be amazed at how many people do not know that those aren’t Ramones songs. I had one writer ask me, and I could not believe this: “I want to know why you used the Joey Ramone song on the soundtrack album, but you didn’t use any of the Ramones songs that were in the movie.” I had to say, “There weren’t any Ramones songs in the movie. What you heard was Joey Ramone.” I figured if we can even confuse a music critic, I think we gave it the best possible shot we could give it.

ROCKRAG: Which is huge in itself. What I’ve found in reading reviews over the years is that oftentimes, the people writing these reviews aren’t necessarily fans of the subject matter. I just went to a Cheap Trick show to do a review for The Rock Rag, and there was another review published first thing in the morning. This guy had who sang which songs wrong, misspelled band members’ names, and clearly wasn’t writing an educated review in general. People need to do their homework on these things first. I won’t interview someone about their work without studying them first. Read their books, see their films, take in their music.

BR: I completely appreciate that. I can tell when somebody knows, and when they don’t know. This is the first time I’ve done something where my name is out in public, so to speak, and whether you liked the film or disliked the film, there’s a story we’re telling and this is how we’re telling it. It drives me crazy. Sometimes I just want to scream out, “You’re going to make that criticism? And you don’t know what you’re talking about?!” The sad thing is that it doesn’t make any difference. But there will be people who read it, ultimately trusting that the writer knows what they’re talking about and as we so often see, they don’t. Then they might not go see the film.

ROCKRAG: I generally discount reviews, and see the film or buy the record anyway, to get my own perspective. Being a music fan, how many times have you read horrible reviews on an album, yet your gut tells you to take a chance on the record? You do, and that record winds up being one of your desert island favorites. Going back to the Ramones music for the film, I knew the decision to go with a 2002 Joey Ramone song had to do with a rights issue or you would have used something from the first Ramones record. A guy doesn’t just sign on to make a movie about CBGB if he doesn’t understand the heritage, the music and the necessity for authenticity. I think most moviegoers don’t understand that aspect and what goes in to it. All the legalities and hoops you have to jump through. You can’t just go and use a piece of music without obtaining and paying (sometimes handsomely) for the licensing.

BR: Yeah, it was really frustrating. When you tell a story like CBGB, I think the number-one thing is that you have to be authentic. The critics in NYC were like a crapshoot, at best. We’re dealing with a story that is very much owned by the residents of NYC. So it was our intention to always take that into consideration and be true to it. The two criticisms I see on a consistent basis are the Ramones and Patti Smith. The funny thing about the Patti Smith music was that basically Bruce gave us his blessing and Patti was ok with it, so we used the Patti Smith song written with Bruce Springsteen, “Because the Night.” At the end of the day, and I don’t want to put words in her mouth, but I think Patti didn’t want any of her masters or any of her other songs being used. I wanted to use “Piss Factory.” What happened is you have a film, and you have the opportunity to get rights to a song that wasn’t played at CBGB, but to a wider audience, it would mean something. That’s the other thing. We were making this film for a wider audience, not just the people who live in the East Village, because we think it’s a story that everybody should know. It wasn’t my first choice of a song, but for the good of the movie on a wider spectrum, it was the right way to go.

ROCKRAG: It is a great song!

BR: Oh yeah, I forgot. And it’s a great song!

ROCKRAG: That’s what matters, and by no means are my inquiries regarding those tracks criticisms. I was just scratching my head going, “There’s a reason why this was done. I want to find out why and share it with the fans.” Let’s talk about location. Now, the interior and exterior of the bar were located in Savannah, GA, correct?

BR: That’s right.

ROCKRAG: I know the John Varvatos building is occupying the location on Bowery where CBGB was, so that wasn’t an option. What led you to Savannah?

BR: We were going to shoot Dennis Wilson there. The reason Georgia was attractive to us is that it’s an incredibly beautiful state, and they have a lot of tax credits down there. We could have filmed CBGB at 315 Bowery, and it would have looked nothing like the Bowery. So we filmed in Georgia, and we used every effort to be as authentic as possible. We found a warehouse in New Jersey or somewhere that had the original bar, the original toilets and urinals, we had the original cash register, original desk and phone booth. A lot of stuff that was original, which we were very excited about. Our location scout he did an awesome job. The street we shot the club exteriors on is literally not even 100 yards down from Paula Deen’s restaurant. It’s crazy, but it was on that street. And yes, we know the streets were much wider in the Bowery than where we filmed, but you have people who say “the movie sucks because the real streets were wider.”

ROCKRAG: I think the location scout did a great job, and I thought the art department and set designers did a fantastic job on the authenticity in both the interior and exterior shots.

BR: Thank you. We worked really hard at that, and I agree with you. They did a hell of a job. And by the way, we actually used the front door of the club. Something else I’ve never told anyone in an interview: you know the part early on in the movie where Hilly can’t get out of the club because there was a dead guy at the front door? I was the dead guy!

ROCKRAG: Nice! The un-credited dead guy!

BR: We had a great crew; the actors and everybody. I’ve heard stories of different things happening, but this couldn’t have been smoother. The people we dealt with in Georgia were great with their arms open to us. I had a hotel outside of town and I stopped in this Starbucks every morning and I got to know them. They knew I was working on the film and would ask how it was going. It was really just a phenomenal experience.

ROCKRAG: It really worked well. I mean I knew it wasn’t the original location because of logistics and knowing what’s there now, but when watching the film, I was thinking “Where the hell is this?” I didn’t notice the streets being wider or not, I thought it looked pretty damn authentic.

BR: Thank you for that. That’s important to me because of how hard we worked on finding the right people and finding the right place. Our set designer was a genius. It’s funny because that club was my office for about two months. It sounds like a weird thing to say, but that’s where I went every day. I went to the club. I remember the last day when it went dark and they started tearing it down. It was really weird for me. CBGB-Post

ROCKRAG: Pretty bittersweet huh?

BR: Yeah, it was very bittersweet. It was like, I can’t go back there; it’s gone. It was very weird.

ROCKRAG: I think as artists, we form deep emotional bonds and attachments with our work, which is very different than say, an accountant. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a long and fruitful career for you producing films. Films and stories that you’re passionate about conveying to a wider audience as you’ve done here.

BR: We’ll see. I know I’ll always be involved with music and if it shifts over to a film thing, that will make me happy. But it will always be music with me, so whatever I continue to do will always be music-related.

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