Interview: Pat Spurgeon of Rogue Wave

Pat Spurgeon is the most recognizable member of Rogue Wave and is the subject of a new documentary, D Tour. The film documents Spurgeon as he awaits a kidney transplant and tours the country on dialysis. D Tour also features extensive footage from a benefit show featuring Rogue Wave, Ben Gibbard, Nada Surf, John Vanderslice, and the Moore Brothers, and as the film progresses it becomes more about larger issues. D Tour is screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival beginning this Friday at 9PM. That screening will be followed by an acoustic performance from Rogue Wave. The film also plays May 4 at 3:15 and May 7 at 5:15pm. All shows are at the Kabuki Theater. We spoke with director Jim Granato earlier in the week and today we are pleased to present our interview with Spurgeon...

Seeing the completed documentary, what kind of emotions arise? Is it difficult to relive much of this time?
It's hard to say what emotions come up. The whole process (dialysis to transplant) was relatively short. This coupled with the fact that I was busy with the band during most of this time kept me from dwelling on my health problem.

There is one section of the film that is always difficult and that is the passing of our former bass player Evan. He was a good friend way before he joined the band.

As the doc shows, Rogue Wave had to endure some tragic and difficult events that would break many bands. Did these make you stronger as a band - both in your relationship with each other and in the music you make?
I know the issues that each of us had from 2006 on had a huge impact on the band. It kept us all happy to be able to be touring, recording, having people come to shows and be just as enthusiastic as we were to be there playing.

Personally I went on quite a roller coaster ride during 2006. We were on tour and I got a call saying that when I got home I needed to start dialysis, so that was kind of a freak out to put it lightly. We weren't sure what was going to happen. The possibility of getting a drummer to sit in while I was on dialysis was proposed. I knew the band needed to keep going, but since I had no idea how long I was going to be on dialysis I thought that could be the end of my time in the band. That alone made me excessively determined to make touring and dialysis work. My transplant happened in January 2007 and we were in the studio February working on Asleep At Heaven's Gate (our third record).

Watching the benefit show, there is just an amazing show of support from both the artists involved and the fans. How did that help everyone cope with what was happening?
The benefit helped me realize that there is a strong and caring music community here in the bay area. There were benefit shows held in Seattle and Chicago and there were donations pouring in from all over the country, so that music community is actually everywhere and it is nice to know that Rogue Wave is part of that.

With all the stress of what was going on plus the fact that you were still a band trying to "make it," what was it like having everything documented during that period?
I never minded all the filming while we were on tour. Let me explain dialysis real quick, which will help explain the reason for the film and why I didn't mind the all the filming.

There are two kinds of dialysis, Hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Both are effective, but one allows much more freedom as far as active lifestyles go. With hemodialysis you have to go to a clinic several times a week and hook up to a machine that cleans your blood through a filtration process. The other (peritoneal) you do yourself at home, or on tour in hotel rooms. This isn't to say that one is better than the other, but I have done both and for me peritoneal worked the best for me. If I did hemodialysis I would have had to give up the band, period, without a doubt.

This brings us to why we wanted to make this film. Simply, to raise awareness of the different types of dialysis, but also to raise awareness about the need for organ donation weather you are a living donor by giving one of your kidneys to someone, or by filling out your donor information when you get your license.

How involved were you in the film and with the director?
My involvement at first was filming bits and pieces of the band on the road. I would bring Jim tapes whenever we got home from tour and he would then archive them. I thought this was going to be years in the making, so I didn't put much into it at first. I would film a little here and there, but Evan Farrell our bass player at the time did a majority of the road footage. This film really became a group effort due to the nature of the whole thing. I was the subject, so that made it hard to capture certain moments.

For example, Jim was out of town when the call came in from UCSF Medical Center that they had a kidney for me. It was called a "zero mismatch", which is pretty rare. This kidney was such a good match for me that it shot me to the top of the list. That night Zach (Rogue) and Jenna (Feldman) stepped in and took over filming.

When we first started this project we had no idea that it would end so quickly. By that I mean I was looking at a long wait on the donor list (5 years), which ended up being only a year due to the kidney that came through for me out of the blue.

Over the last few months of editing I was working with Jim quite a bit mostly by being available to be in front of the camera for additional footage, but also by contributing music, and helping with sound editing.


There's a bigger story here which makes us think about the health care crisis we have in this country - did the film change your perspective on this in any way? or make you think about it more?
This could get long. Basically there is no health care system for uninsured people unless you are poor and can to go to a free clinic, or sit for hours at the emergency room and even then you won't escape the bills that seem to come in even long after you paid what you thought was your bill. The way the system is set up you either have to have a job with benefits, you have to be married with someone who has insurance, or you have to be able to afford a private policy. Bands, especially bands at our level, are not rich, so that kind of just throws us to the wolves. It can really make you feel like you are wrong for doing what you do.

This is a mountain of a question. My perspective on the health care system in our country are pretty negative.

Let me give you an example: D-Tour had played three times so far and each time people have asked me about the health care system and how they can get insurance. I have no answer. There is no answer, unless, like I said above, you get a job that provides insurance, pay for private insurance, get married with someone who has it, or have kidney failure. Then you can get benefits through the government, but there is a catch. They consider transplant a "cure" and will drop you after a certain amount of time, unless you stay poor. I could go on, but let's not dwell on the negative.

With the doc out now, what is in the future for Rogue Wave - new album? Are you open to being the subject of a documentary again?
We are working on a new record as I type this with Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse, The Hives, Elvis Costello, Ben Folds, Timbuk 3) and I have to say it going well. Hopefully it will be coming out in September.

As far as being the subject in another documentary, hmmmmmm I will have to see the script.

Interview: Jim Granato (director of D Tour)

Yesterday, we posted the trailer for D Tour, a remarkable documentary that chronicles Rogue Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon's battle with a failing kidney. The film follows Spurgeon's journey, including a Rogue Wave tour while on kidney dialysis, a benefit show at the Independent in San Francisco, and the tragic death of his friend and bandmate Evan Farrell (who made significant contributions to the film). D Tour is screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival beginning this Friday at 9PM. That screening will be followed by an acoustic performance from Rogue Wave. The film also plays May 4 at 3:15 and May 7 at 5:15pm. All shows are at the Kabuki Theater. Director Jim Granto was kind enough to answer some of our questions...

At what point did you want to make this film, and what kind of relationship did you have with the band?
The whole thing started when my good friend Pat Spurgeon called me up and asked if I would be interested in doing something, perhaps a short video, about his return to dialysis. This was right afer he found out he would have to start dialysis again, and the second time for him in his life that he had to deal with kidney failure (Pat's first kidney transplant was 13 years prior). Pat thought it would be interesting to capture his process of performing peritoneal dialysis and share its existence with other patients who were dealing with kidney failure. Apparently its not very common for patients to perform perioteneal dialysis on themselves which allows them to be more mobile rather than the more well known hemodialysis where you must go to a clinic x times a week. I don't think either of us at first saw Pat's role in the band being a big part of this "video" until of course the tour schedules started to come in and that it became apparent how critical this was about to become.

My relationship with the band at first was pretty minimal. I was already friends with Pat, and knew Evan Farrell a little bit from years before. Over the course of the first year or so I started to know Zach and Gram better.


Did you find the band and Pat in particular open to being the subjects of a documentary?
Yes. Of course Pat was open because he initially called me with this rough idea. As long as I've known Pat music has always been the most important thing to him. Establishing Pat's passion for the life of a musician was obviously important. So right away I gave Pat a cheap consumer video camera to capture as much footage from his point of view as possible. There was no funding for this project so I couldn't just go on tour with them and start filming. Pat got a little lazy out there with filming or he just didn't recognize what was important to capture and what was not. I cant blame him because filming yourself and your bandmates with all the mundane activities day to day just doesn't sound too appealing to oneself. Anyway, Evan saw that Pat was slacking a little and decided to shoot a bunch of stuff as well. Between the both of them I got some really good stuff of themselves, the rest of the band and life on the road.

There was a good deal of uncertainty going into the project about what would happen, and then there was a tragic death along the way - how did that change the story, and did it change anything about your approach?
Well, things certainly played out not the way any of us thought it would have. Just like life. And this is a story about one's life. Not only how to survive it with some dangerous risks, but what one does with it, and goes through to keep oneself happy. And then it became a story about death. For awhile we weren't sure if death was going to pop up in this story. And it did twice. Its hard to explain without giving away too much but you never know what you're going to get with documentaries when the story unfolds every day. In our case we thought we had a pretty straight line until it totally took a left hand turn. You just try and deal with it respectfully and with sensibility in regards to the story and issues involved hoping your audience will understand the choices you've made.

What was your process like editing this story together?
At first I was doing everything myself. Shooting, producing, editing. After almost two years of this, off & on, I was starting to burn out. I had edited more than a hour of scenes and a three and a half hour concert film from Pat's benefit show. More things were coming up and I had a sense of what the structure would be but it was becoming overwhelming. I soon hired my friend Richard Levien to co-edit the film with me. He jumped on board immediately understanding what I wanted, and making some great suggestions. He provided such a breath of fresh air into the project and it became easier for me to focus on the other hats I chose to wear as well. We really got cookin' and completed several rough cuts. We screened two of them for audiences recieving enormous helpful feedback. We took some suggestions from people and left some. After a bit of this the final shape had become clear and we were done editing the film after 8 months together.


The great thing about this film is that it isn't just about music but raises bigger issues - was the fact that there is a health care crisis in this country an influential factor for you before making this film?
Yes, but we never wanted to go in and bang people over the heads with it. Audiences are smart and most realize what's going on. With D Tour we just wanted to open the door a bit more with that issue and start the conversation or keep it going.

From your observation, what did this whole experience do for Rogue Wave - I think it would break most bands, but it seems to have made them stronger?
I certainly think it's made them stronger. Sure lots of bands would implode over something like this. Of course we've all seen or heard stories of lots of bands that have imploded over far less important things. Rogue Wave is one dedicated band that treats each other like family. They're certainly not perfect and have to overcome certain obstacles like any of us but they know show biz is not easy. As serious as they all are about achieving success together the more they try to hold on to each other as the momentum picks up.

What kind of emotions arise from screenings of this film? What does it mean to have it screening in San Francisco with the band playing afterwards?
Well, its a very emotional film. Not just for the people involved but for our general audiences as well. So far audiences have responded to the film with a lot of gratitude and some with a change of mind. The organ donation issue is exemplified bigger than anyway we imagined it would be. And so far it has really resonated with people and I've already had many folks coming up to me and telling me how they're going to go and get that little dot on their drivers license. Its been pretty amazing to hear that and so much more.

For D tour to take part in the SFIFF has been pretty special. I've been living in the city for about 13 years going to the festival now and again always having a large appreciation for it. And for my film to make its official SF premiere at the festival is a real honor. All I can say is May 1st will truly be special with Rogue Wave in the house! John Vanderslice is also expected to take the stage and join those guys that evening. I'm so excited.

One of the quotes you have from Pat early on is that he did not want to have an excuse of fallback from following his dream - how do you apply that to your work as a filmmaker and how is that something we can all learn from?
I've got to admit I've subscribed to the same motto- "No back-up plan. If you have a back-up plan you'll take it." Well, there are a lot of choices you can make in this world and there are certainly a lot of pressures coming from all directions. All I can say is that if you love something so much you have to keep it going. Your passion will help you find ways to keep it all afloat. Not everyone is so lucky, but you have to try. Even when it gets really risky.

What upcoming projects do you have?
I've got a couple of ideas I want to work on. There are more documentaries in my future for sure, but as a filmmaker I don't limit myself to one particular genre or type of film. I want to finish writing my screenplay this year and hope that my return to narrative filmmaking will be a welcoming one.

Video: D Tour Trailer (Rogue Wave doc Premieres This Week)

D Tour is a new documentary that chronicles Rogue Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon, while he waits on a kidney transplant. The film follows Spurgeon's journey, including a Rogue Wave tour while on kidney dialysis, a benefit show at the Independent in San Francisco, and the tragic death of his friend and bandmate Evan Farrell (who made significant contributions to the film). D Tour is screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival beginning this Friday at 9PM. That screening will be followed by an acoustic performance from Rogue Wave. The film also plays May 4 at 3:15 and May 7 at 5:15pm. All shows are at the Kabuki Theater. Read reviews at The Bay Bridged and ipickmynose. We will have interviews with Rogue Wave and director Jim Granato later this week.