Mark Sandman’s Cure for Pain

by Brett Leigh Dicks

In the credibility conscious world of independent rock where legacy is currency, few bands had the bargaining power of Cambridge, Massachusetts ensemble Morphine. Formed in 1989 by Mark Sandman and Dana Colley, the band fused together elements of blues and jazz within their rock aligned arrangements. Sandman’s deep wallowing croon combined with slide style of bass playing to generate a low-end sound, or “low rock,” that came to define the band. Across their ten years of existence, Morphine released five albums with their final release, 2000’s “The Night,” being released after Sandman’s untimely death the year prior. Sandman died on a heart attack while performing on stage with the band at a festival in Italy at the age of 46. Fiery private about his personal life while in the music spotlight, a documentary directed by Robert Dralver and David Ferino and titled “A Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story” will be one of the musical highlights at the 2012 installment of the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Not only does the film traces the legacy of Sandman’s critically acclaimed band, but also a troubled upbringing that saw him lose his two brothers and suffering a violent assault while working as a taxi driver. Robert Bralver enlightens Music! The Sounds of Santa Barbara into his motivation for making a film about one of the most dynamic American bands to ever find success in Europe and Australia while having it elude them in their homeland.

How did the idea of undertaking a posthumous documentary on Mark Sandman eventuate?

I had heard of Mark’s music when I was younger. I remember hearing it on soundtracks and that, but the reason I became more interested and got to know more about him and decided to do the documentary was because my roommate in college, who is the producer of the movie, was a second cousin of Mark. So he was aware of the personal history and the back story as well as being a big fan of his music. We got to talking and stuff and that whole part of history came out and he thought someone should do a documentary about it and since no one had, here we are.

While he was commercially neglected, Mark made a significant impact upon music in terms of critical acclaim and his influence upon other artists. What was the journey of discovery like for you?

I was always into it, but over the course of working on this film, I have obsessively become a gigantic fan. While we were making this film I think we listened to every piece of music Mark ever made, from the time he was a teenager until when he died, and one of the great things that came of this was getting together catalogue of everything he ever did. There was definitely a lot of discover involved.

Did you enter the film we the story completely mapped out? Or did it evolve along the way as you encountered people and stories?

We knew what we wanted to include. All the way from childhood through to death, there was a succession of pivotal moments in his life, so we knew that they were going to be keys points. It was impossible to include everything. And we knew that a lot of the emotional stuff outside of the music is what would help the wider audience get into the story so that threw up the question of how to present everything in a way that will be accessible to anyone that isn’t a diehard fan. So we front loaded the movie with a lot of music and talking heads stuff with more widely known musicians talking about Mark’s style and how big of an influence he was so you get a little bit of basic music appreciation up front. We jump back and forth between his family histories and how his biological family dissolves because of his terrible relationship with his parents and the forming of what was essentially a surrogate family. It’s a story of losing one family and replacing it with another one. So the film jumps around chronologically, but it does make sense.

Making a film about someone who has left this tremendous legacy, but has passed on, must have been somewhat of a strange experience. Kind of like walking into a party just after the host has left …

In some ways it was like that. It was really difficult to try and make a film out of it because there wasn’t a lot of footage and what we had we had to really stretch out what Mark was in because the film is all about him. And it was strange because we didn’t ever get to meet him and we all fell in love with him over the course of the making the film. You really feel the grief of the people who were there and lost him. Especially the other guys in the band, because the way he died was so unusual and unexpected.

What do you consider to be some of his greatest attributes?

His creative attributes are quite apparent and that’s what attracted me to him initially. But some things were more difficult for the people closer to him creatively. Like any band or any artistic endeavor, when someone had the role that Mark had, of being the leader, there are a lot of egos involved and a lot of the time he was the one that got it his way and that bothered a lot of people too. As many great relationships and friendships he formed along the way, there’s a big part of the movie about all of the people that didn’t feel so hot about him.

In delving into Mark musical achievements, do you think he was ultimately pleased with what he had accomplished in his career?

Although it took a long time, and it wasn’t easy, Mark finally achieved what he wanted to achieve, which was being a musician of some renown. And whenever anyone wants to be a creative professional, there’s more often than not people telling you that it’s probably not the wisest idea and it’s not going to be very easy. And seeing his story evolve and him achieve what he ultimately wanted to, we took a lot of heart from that. Along the way a lot of people said ‘why are you making a film about that?’ and ‘who will want to see it?’ But on the simplest level, it is a great story of following your heart no matter what else, I found that very inspiring.

What do you think is the ultimate message of the film?

It’s an amazing story about an amazing guy and in the time of his death he shouldn’t be forgotten about. People shouldn’t forget about someone like Mark. You get a lot of retrospectives about the same musicians and this seemed like a guy who really deserved a more lasting testament. He had a very sad and troubled life, but was also an incredibly talented guy.

You guys are emerging filmmakers. Mark’s story, and how he manage to overcome his demons and find creative success, must have been quite inspiring for you …

Without over stating it, the three of us that made the film started this when we got out of college and I think that’s a stage when you’re still finding yourself a little bit. Like any kind of rise and fall of a musician story, the movie is somewhat of a coming of age story and I think that’s something we could all relate to at that time. Without being pretentious about it, it did feel that way. I think anyone that sees this can find parallels. Everyone can relate to some part of it, whether it’s not having the best relationship with your dad or losing a family member or any number of other things.  And we certainly felt that while making it.