“Early D.I.?! Oh fuck, I gotta see this!” And it is every bit as good as I was imagining on the drive home from the Razorcake Norad-styled bunker. Filmed by the Flipside staff in 1983, all shot on one camera at their (D.I.'s) practice space at Sherpa Studios in Fullerton, CA. The performance is energetic without being forced. There's a certain looseness to them, but not in sloppy way; more confident, and sure than anything else. They run through ten songs, most of them which appear on their first record, which was released shortly after this video was shot. As well as the Suburbia movie. Casey Royer paces back and forth, using hand gestures and in-between song banter to keep the energy going. The songs are well executed, and the audio is good as well. You can hear everything, and for being shot on a single camera it's better than you would expect.
Speaking of the single camera; in many instances such a set up could spell disaster. Here, you won't really notice it. Whoever shot this kept the camera moving from member to member, sometimes focusing in on a guitar neck, running along that to end up with the drummer in view, for example.
There's also an interview on here recorded on the same day and at the same place. The mood is light, and mostly full of jokes. You do get some bits of information here and there. However, the audio is pretty poor. There're drop outs for long stretches, and at times distortion, so the voices sound like they’re gurgling.
Other than that, this is a great DVD and one worth picking up. –M.Avrg (Flipside / MVD Visual, www.mvdvisual.com)