The Pitch

East Rock is one name for psychedelic and hard rock from the middle east and eastern Mediterranean primarily from the late 1960's, and 1970's. It is typified by fuzz guitar and an Eastern melodic sensibility. I first encountered East Rock through my search for similar tracks to Omar Korshids "Rakset el Fadaa". During this search I found the unusually titled "Turds on a bum ride" compilation featuring a track by John Berberian enticingly titled "The Oud and the Fuzz". I was so taken with the fuzz guitar solo in that track that I felt compelled to explore further.
What I discovered was that over the past decade many East Rock tracks has been restored from the original vinyl and tapes, and re released for music lovers and obscurantists alike. I also discovered that the majority of East Rock was produced by Turkish performers in Turkey.
My research lead me to a little known band out of Oakland(Bay Area), California, USA called "Shaggan" and their lead guitarist Nate Toleetha who is clearly the most enthusiastic exponent of East Rock in existence. After making initial contact I prepared a pitch for David Granato of Polygranate Productions. He liked the idea and gave the go ahead for me to begin preliminary interviews for a documentary which I believe will chart the rise to prominence of fuzz guitar driven rock where east and west unite.
So why blog the documentary process? The answer is laziness. This blog is in a sense 'the pitch'.