David Chase, the creator of the award-winning TV series “The Sopranos,” has now spoken about his debut as a feature-film director with the music-oriented drama “Not Fade Away,” about a group of young Rolling Stones fans in 1964 New Jersey who start their own rock band. Chase also wrote the movie and is one of the film’s producers. “Not Fade” Away” is Chase’s first project as a director, writer and producer since “The Sopranos” ended in 2007.
“Not Fade Away” is also the title of a 1957 song originally recorded by Buddy Holly’s band the Crickets. The song was made more famous by the Rolling Stones, who recorded a hit version in 1964. The Rolling Stones also performed “Not Fade Away” as the opening song on the band’s “Voodoo Lounge” tour in 1994 and 1995.
The cast of the “Not Fade Away” movie includes James Gandolfini, John Magaro (who plays the band’s lead singer), Jack Huston, Will Brill, Bella Heathcote, Brad Garrett, and Christopher McDonald. Steven Van Zandt is one of the executive producers, and he produced the “Not Fade Away” soundtrack.
“Not Fade Away” will have its world premiere at New York Film Festival in New York City on October 6, 2012.
It has not been announced yet which Rolling Stones songs are part of the “Not Fade Away” soundtrack. The movie opens in limited release in the U.S. and Canada on December 21, 2012.
Here is an excerpt from a recent interview that Chase did with MTV’s movie blog:
When did plans for “Not Fade Away” begin to come together?
After ‘Sopranos’ was over, I had several ideas written down on paper. One of them just said ‘band from New Jersey.’ I had tried to be in a band, when I was in my late teens, early twenties, and we never played one single gig anywhere. I guess you could call it a band, three of us, four of us sometimes. We played in this guy’s basement. We were so good that we decided not to play any place. That’s how good we were. We were like a super group, even though nobody knew about us. We decided that we weren’t going to waste our talent playing a bunch of high school gyms and things, so we never played anywhere. We were delusional.How much of the film is inspired by your life?
It’s a personal film in that I love that music, and the songs in the film are very important to me. The covers that are done and what the band attempts, these are songs that I really loved. It doesn’t really pull from events in my life, expect there’s a storyline about a kid and his father. James Gandolfini plays a dad kind of like my father.
December 3, 2012 update: The “Not Fade Away” soundtrack set for digital release on ABKCO Records on December 18, 2012, and will be available at iTunes and all other digital download stores. The Rolling Stones songs on the soundtrack are “Tell Me” and “Parachute Woman.” Other artists on the soundtrack include Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Sex Pistols, James Brown, The Rascals, Van Morrison, Robert Johnson and Elmore James.
According to a Paramount Vantage press release: “The film’s soundtrack includes music from the Rolling Stones, and many others. The soundtrack album also includes several songs performed by the band members portrayed in the film by actors Magaro and Huston, who cut their own vocal tracks, which were produced by Van Zandt.”
Here is the track listing for the “Not Fade Away” soundtrack:
- “There Was a Time” – James Brown
- “Tell Me” – The Rolling Stones
- “Ride on Baby” – The Twylight Zones*
- “Bo Diddley” – Bo Diddley
- “Bo Diddley” – The Twylight Zones
- “Subterranean Homesick Blues” – The Twylight Zones*
- “Parachute Woman” – The Rolling Stones*
- “Go Now” – The Moody Blues
- “Time Is on My Side” – The Twylight Zones
- “Dust My Broom” – Elmore James
- “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart” – The Rascals
- “Good Morning Blues” – Lead Belly
- “Train Kept a Rollin’” – Johnny Burnette & The Rock N’ Roll Trio*
- “Train Kept a Rollin’” – The Twylight Zones
- “Pretty Ballerina” – The Left Banke
- “Down So Low” – Mother Earth
- “Itchycoo Park” – The Small Faces
- “Me and the Devil Blues” – Robert Johnson
- “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” – The Twylight Zones
- “T.B. Sheets” – Van Morrison
- “Some Velvet Morning” – Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood
- “Bali Ha’i” (From South Pacific) – Original Motion Picture Cast
- “Road Runner” – The Sex Pistols
- “Pipeline” – The Twylight Zones
- “She Belongs To Me” – Bob Dylan
- Digital Bonus Track: “Surgical Supply Jingle”
Executive soundtrack album producer: David Chase
Soundtrack album produced by Steven Van Zandt
Original Musical Performances by The Twylight Zones: Bob Bandiera, Gary Tallent, Max Weinberg, Steven Van Zandt
Arranged & Produced by Steven Van Zandt
