Stephen Malkmus
In an age where cult indie band Pavement could become one of the biggest hits of TikTok, it only makes sense that their life and history receive the big screen treatment. Now, we can see the trailer for this ambitious undertaking.
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Pavement played what is ostensibly their final performance back in October, as part of the New York premiere of Alex Ross Perry‘s experimental biopic/documentary, Pavements. The film has been in the works for some time now, with its roots tracing back to Perry’s 2022 production, Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical.
However, those hoping for a biopic in the style of the recent A Complete Unknown will be disappointed, with the film taking on an approach as avant-garde as Pavement’s music often was. Perry referred to the film in 2022 as a “semiotic experiment,” and reviews of its 2024 premiere have since seen it referred to as equal parts, documentary, mockumentary, biopic, musical, and a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette.
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In keeping with the unique focus of the wider film, a trailer has now been shared for the film-within-a-film biopic, Range Life: A Pavement Story. Presented by the fictitious Paragon Vantage, and soundtracked by Pavements’ own songs “Here” and “Shady Lane,” the trailer stars Stranger Things’ Joe Keery as frontman Stephen Malkmus as it focuses on the band as they grapple with success, record label intrusion, and their infamous 1995 mud-laden appearance at Lollapalooza.
“Progress is predictable and predictability involves science. I want nothing to do with science,” notes Keery as he lifts directly from Malkmus’ own words. “This is music — if it’s fun, it’s fun, if it’s work, it’s work, and that’s not fun.”
The trailer also features Nat Wolff as Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg, Fred Hechinger as Bob Nastanovich, Logan Miller as Mark Ibold, Griffin Newman as Steve West, and Jason Schwartzman as Matador Records’ Chris Lombardi.
Pavements is scheduled for release later in 2025, though a specific date has not yet been announced.
In real life, the California band were initially active from 1989 until 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners, which gave the group their highest-charting U.S. release when it hit No. 70 on the Billboard 200.
The group initially split in November 1999, with the previous month’s Major Leagues EP serving as their final piece of original material. Since then, the band’s members have been intensely active on other projects, including a run of reissues that complemented their original albums with a myriad unreleased and rare tracks.
In December, Kannberg revealed in an interview with the Kreative Kontrol podcast that the Pavements soundtrack will also feature the first new song from the band in more than 25 years.
“There will be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack, that’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I just heard a mix of it today, and it’s pretty good. It’s not a big deal, it’s just cool because it’s something different and it’s a song that we all kind of loved playing.”
Fans of indie rock icons Pavement are readying themselves for the first piece of new music from the band in a quarter of a century.
The California band were initially active from 1989 until 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners, which gave the group their highest-charting U.S. release when it hit No. 70 on the Billboard 200.
The group initially split in November 1999, with the previous month’s Major Leagues EP serving as their final piece of original material. Since then, the band’s members have been intensely active on other projects, including a run of reissues that complemented their original albums with a myriad unreleased and rare tracks.
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While Pavement reconvened for a reunion tour in 2010, another hiatus occurred before announcing their second reunion in 2019. These dates were delayed until 2022, with the band’s most recent (and ostensibly final) performance taking place in October of this year as part of the New York premiere of Alex Ross Perry‘s experimental biopic/documentary, Pavements.
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Initially premiering at the Venice International Film Festival in September, Pavements is readying itself for a wider release with a movie soundtrack also set to accompany its arrival.
In an interview with the Kreative Kontrol podcast, Pavement’s Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg spoke to host Vish Khanna alongside Perry and producer/editor Robert Greene about the film before turning his attention to the upcoming soundtrack. When asked about current Pavement activity and the band’s future, Kannberg explained that a new track from the band will also be featured.
“There will be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack, that’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I just heard a mix of it today, and it’s pretty good. It’s not a big deal, it’s just cool because it’s something different and it’s a song that we all kind of loved playing.”
According to Kannberg, the as-yet-unnamed track began life during reharsals of the band’s recent reunion, though previous setlists indicate it didn’t receive a performance during any of those shows.
Currently, the official status of Pavement is unclear, with their recent New York performance seeing percussionist/vocalist Bob Nastanovich telling the crowd it would be their “last show for a long time”. That same month, vocalist and guitarist Stephen Malkmus began live performances as one quarter of the indie supergroup The Hard Quartet alongside members of Chavez and the Dirty Three.
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