Who are the Chesterfield Kings?

After the last musical stinker we watched, we used Chesterfield Kings: Where is the Chesterfield King? (2001) as a palette cleanser. It was much more to our liking. First, it was cheap, loud, and stupid. Also, the music was better.

First, who are the Chesterfield Kings? We didn't know either until Netflix started pushing this movie on us, but they are a psychedelic garage band from the 1980s psych-rock revival. Somewhere along the line, they decided to make an aggressively low-budget black and white sci-fi movie. It looks like it was made by an Ed Wood wannabe, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. It features aliens from outer space who plan to subjugate the world by replacing the Chesterfield Kings' drummer. The alien has a weak understanding of English and the human world that he hides with his catch phrase "Yes, I understand."

The Kings all seem to live in this trashy apartment with a magic door that can open anywhere in the world. One day Mark Lindsay (lead singer for Paul Revere and the Raiders) walks through the magic door and they do a number together. When their drummer disappears, they go through the door to search for him in London, Tokyo, Holland, etc (via what looks like home movies they made on tour). But most of the time they hang out in the apartment and read Donald Duck comics and talk about how they should be rehearsing.

And they actually don't talk about it, they shout. My guess is that, because they can't act, the director (?) told them just to shout! Their personalities don't really come across much - are they friendly like the Monkees? Surly like the Ramones? Ironic like the Beatles? I would say, stupid, and maybe add shouty.

The movie is mostly fun although it gets a little boring here and there. The music is great though. Mostly it's hard-edged psychedelia, like Their Satanic Majesties Request. But one of the band has a dream with a full-on Beach Boys rip-off song, so that's not all they can do. In fact, my main complaint about the Kings' sound is that it comes too close to parody. This could have been a Spinal Tap movie, but I'm pretty sure they are sincere. After all, they got Mark Lindsay to cameo.

And their gear - they have a Vox Continental organ, a Rickenbach 12-string and a turquoise Vox Mark III teardrop guitar. Can't get much more psychedelic than that.