The Slits launch Kickstarter for new documentary

Documentary makers are hoping to raise $30,000 for the final stages of 'Here to be Heard: The Story of The Slits'

The Slits have launched a Kickstarter funding page for a new documentary on the experimental punk band.

Here to be Heard: The Story of The Slits features unseen film footage of the band through the ’70s and ’80s plus contributions from associated bands and friends including the Sex Pistols, Culture Club and PiL.

The film has been put together by Executive Producer Jennifer Shagawat, the band’s friend and former tour manager. She began compiling the film with frontwoman Ari Up before her death in 2010.

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“Ari became more and more obsessed with documenting the band in hopes that she and Jennifer would be able to release a film documenting their art, spirit, and their struggle,” the funding page reads. “What no one knew at this time was that Ari was very sick and slowly dying of cancer.”

According to the page, the documentary has been shot and the edit is “nearly finished”. Shagawat and co-creator William E Badgley are hoping to raise $30,000 (£19,500) via the crowd funding platform by June 7. A series of rewards are on offer to backers of the campaign depending on the amount they are willing to donate, these include signed drumsticks and limited edition t-shirts.

“Without your help it will be increasingly difficult for this project to live up to it’s full potential,” the page continues. “Not just in terms of it’s story, ethos, music and message, but in terms of all the hard work and talent that has been poured into this project already.”

Ari Up formed The Slits in 1976 at the age of 14. The band supported The Clash on their 1977 White Riot tour and went on to release two albums, 1979’s ‘Cut’ and 1981’s ‘Return Of The Giant Slits’ before splitting up in 1982. The band reformed in 2005 without original member Viv Albertine.

The Slits frontwoman Ari Up died of cancer aged 48 in October 2010.

Viv Albertine is currently writing a sequel to her memoir Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys, which was named Book Of The Year at the NME Awards 2015 with Austin, Texas in February.

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Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys has now sold nearly 50,000 copies. The book detailed her experiences in The Slits, as well as her friendships with a host of rock icons, including The Clash’s Mick Jones, Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten and The Heartbreakers’ Johnny Thunders. The sequel is due for publication in 2016.

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