Boy George and Culture Club : With humor, heart and a lot of glitz and glam, Boy George & Culture Club is an endlessly charming documentary that dives headfirst into the chaos, charisma and enduring bond of one of the most iconic bands of the ‘80s. Straight from the mouths of its four legendary members, Boy George & Culture Club is a love story about the undeniable fondness that flowed beneath the surface of these musical legends — and the drama and heartbreak in between.

Far from a typical music doc, Boy George & Culture Club is a riotously fun and unexpectedly tender film about a band that challenged the status quo of 1980s Britain and the world from its very outset. Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss come together to share their candid truths about the personal relationships behind-the-scenes and how they both fanned the flames of their creativity and almost burned it all to the ground.

 

 

 

Exclusive Interview with Director Alison Ellwood 

 

Q :  Was your Cyndi Lauper documentary like a calling card for you to land on this Boy George and Culture Club documentary because I’m curious how they allow you to film them.

Alison Ellwood: I interviewed Boy George for the Cyndi film, “Cyndi Lauper : Let the Canary Sing”(Which was also debuted at the Tribeca Festival in 2023). Eimhear O’Neill, one of the producers of Fine Point films in Belfast, reached out to the Culture Club crew and posed the idea they were open to it.

Q : I see.

Alison Ellwood: It helped that, Cyndi was happy with the film because she and Boy George are good friends.

Q :  It was intriguing to listen that Jon Moss(The Drummer of Culture Club) fell in love with Boy George, but they were hiding their relationship back then when they were popular. But Boy George was very radical in a music scene, if they came out as lovers back then, do you think it would made a difference? 

Alison Ellwood: It’s an interesting question. It’s hard to know, but I would like to thin it’s ok, it’s cleary, Boy George was flamboyant. People knew and he did the Grammys and he said he recognize a good drag queen when you see one. That was an acknowledgement. People thought he was gay. Hiding the relationship with Jon, I think it was a concern at the time that there might have been backlash. There was some backlash just because of Boy George. But still, even the fans that were against him, they just loved the music and would go to the show. So who knows.

Q : True.

Alison Ellwood: As Boy George says in the film, it’s mystifying why anybody cares about this then or now..

Q : Boys George mentioned in a different documentary that the London club scenes were like a surrogate mother to him because he spent majority of the time going to the London, meeting many new people, even though he was like an early teenager. So, do you think that in a way like developing his looks and eccentric lifestyle coming from those actually club scenes in London.

Alison Ellwood: Honestly, I think he started a little before that even, I guess he went the club scenes pretty young, he started dressing up at 14, 15, there’re even pictures of him as a little boy where he was pushing the envelope a little bit. I think the clubs exposed him to more and different looks that he incorporated and developed his own style out of. But I think it was inherently who he was to begin with.

Q : When Malcom McLaren(British Music Manager) drafted him into the band, Bow Wow Wow? He was sharing the vocals with 15 years old singer, Annabella, then he got fired, did he talk more in the film that ended up in the cutting room floor?

Alison Ellwood: Well, not really, his tenure was so short. I think it was like maybe only two shows. As Boy George said, Annabella felt Malcolm was doing it to piss her off. It was very short lived. I didn’t feel we needed to explore that any further than what we did in the film.

Q : Yeah, it didn’t need that…I’m curious about the production process of, often times, they came to the rehearsal room where Boy George was bringing a full of idea and humming the melody to them. I’m curious to know what kind of things that did you find about their production process of making music that surprised you?

Alison Ellwood: What was surprising to me was how quickly they would come up with ideas. Some songs they would put together in one or two jam sessions. Boy George would start, then Roy(Guitar and Keyboards), Jon and Mikey(Bass Guitar) would start with the rhythm and melody, Boy George would start spewing lyrics. Roy was describing in the Q and A after the film that Boy George would just come up with these lyrics like out of the top of his head. No one could understand how quickly he could come up with these things. So some songs they would just write on the spot.

Other times Boy George would write lyrics and have a melody in mind. Then toss it to those guys they’d go back and forth and usually they’d just get together and hash it out. And they were able to do it surprisingly, quickly.

Q : There are some of the lyrics that I find it a little bit obscure to the fans. I’m curious about how the band react those lyrics when boy George brought them, because some of the lyrics very obscure in a certain sense. I was just curious how did the band react back then.

Alison Ellwood: The band knew those songs were about the love affair with Boy George  and Jon. They just knew it. Sometimes even Jon says, I wasn’t quite sure what the words meant, but then I kind of did know what they meant, So I think it was like an inside code, if you will.

Q : I see.

Alison Ellwood: You have to ask them, I’m just projecting…but it’s based on what they were saying. I know the guys knew the lyrics, the songs were about the love affair.

Q : I’m curious to know how the girl perceived the band Culture Club in those day. He was talking about in the film that a lot of girls kind of pre-pubescent stage are attracted to gay men because they are not a threat to them, and Americans were also ok about alternative lifestyles as long as they feel safe? Do you think that’s true?

Alison Ellwood: Honestly, I believe those young girls had no idea about lifestyle. I think it was like Beatlemania, this character who was new different and outrageous, someone that they just adored. Truly like Beatlemania, nothing has been quite like that.

Q : True.

Alison Ellwood: Since the Beatles and Culture Club, nothing’s had that kind of frenetic and frenzy, passing out kind of behavior from young girls. I don’t think they were aware or even thought about he was gay and safe then. There’s that one girl in the film like, I love him, I love him, and she’s gonna pass out. But I wasn’t a pre-teen girl back then, so I couldn’t know.

Q : Particularly, the record company in those days, they make you(musicians) work like a donkey in a certain sense, a slapping them with leash, when they had a hit song, they worked tirelessly. They rarely have their own time. It might be difficult for Boy George and the band members. Particularly like Boy George, he had to look in a certain way all the time. It might take a toll on him. Do you think that lead to actually his drug issue?

Alison Ellwood: No doubt about it. Those first four years for the first two albums. And they were working constantly promoting, touring, and it was constant. Then, they were forced to put out a third album, way before they should have taken some time off. The third album came out and didn’t do as well as the first two.

Despite the fact there’s some really good songs on it, but it didn’t do as well. So then they start the backlash, are they over? That sort of thing. So there’s pressure there. And by the fourth album, which does have some really great songs. By the time that comes out, Boy George became a heroin addict within six weeks or something.

It’s crazy how quickly he did, and he hadn’t been doing drugs prior to that, the others had. But he had, they were always hiding their drug use. And so I have no doubt that the pressures of the record companies and having all that constant publicity, plus the relationship was volatile.

And when Jon became famous, Boy George felt that he was cared more about being famous and being in the relationship, which I don’t necessarily think that’s true at all. But Boy George believed it. And so I think all those things combined led to him going down a path that shocked everybody.

Q : I’m curious why do you think politicizing their music song like “A War Song”, it didn’t work like a happy pop song like a “Karma Chameleon” song. Why do you think that it didn’t work at all? I though it was a really interesting message but nobody wants that back then?

Alison Ellwood: It wasn’t really on brand for them to do that. This song has the Culture Club vibes or sound for sure. But it wasn’t really their brand, so people weren’t paying much attention to it. And also that kind of protest music was from an earlier decade, and the eighties were not about protests…lol. So I think it didn’t resonate with people, it did all right as a song. It wasn’t a huge hit for them or anything, but I think it was just off brand, honestly.

Q : It’s interesting, after Boy George kicked the habit of drag and he came back with a song that made into No.1 in the chart, but he said he got the No.1 song, because it was public sympathy? Do you think he became no.1 because people still love his music, or public sympathy?

Alison Ellwood: I have no idea how public sympathy… Public is so wishy-washy, sometimes they are so supportive and cruel at the flip of a coin. I think he’s got an extraordinary voice, it’s stunningly beautiful.

Q : Sure.

Alison Ellwood: It had been a while since I’d listened to so much Culture Club music. And I was reminded how striking his voice is. So I would hope it was about the music, but who knows.

Q : If you were to choose one favorite song from the Culture Club, which music and why?

Alison Ellwood: “Church of the Poison Mind” is my favorite song. It’s stunning. Terry and George singing together is extraordinary thing, I just love the song, I love the lyrics. I think it’s a stunning and sophisticated piece of music. That’s my favorite. I also love “Mistake No.3” from I think it’s the third album.

Which is such a great song, but that music video they did, which is in the film with the rabbits, I mean it was such a nutty video that I think people didn’t take the song seriously and it’s a beautiful song.  I think that was part of the thing that their music videos were so nutty that if it wasn’t a big hit, they didn’t take those other songs seriously, ’cause the videos were so odd.

Q : Speaking of music video, they came out just as like MTV generation was emerging, so they had their critical moment just at the right time. Do you think that could they have a such a successful career if they came out at different time?

Alison Ellwood: I think they would’ve, because the music is beautiful and I think it’s some way quite timeless actually.

Q : I totally agree. That’s why we are still to listening to them.

Alison Ellwood: When the singles were first released in the US before they came to tour, there wasn’t a photograph of them. It was just a blank white.

Q : Oh, really? I didn’t know that.

Alison Ellwood: So most people thought they were this sort of reggae band and that everyone was black in the band. And so when they showed up and it’s all these this mix of people and then, and Mikey being the only black guy, people like,’Oh’? They were surprised.

Q : It was really interesting to listen to Roy, Mickey and Jon, show how they feel when Boy George became bigger than the Culture Club back then. Obviously, they are happy about their success, but struggling to maintain as a band because the people see Boy George is different.

Alison Ellwood: He was a flamboyant front man, he was great frontman for the band. Because he was smart, articulate, and funny. And he was a great spokesman for them, great frontmen, but they were right out of the gate at top of the pops.

All the attention went to George ’cause of how he looked, so it makes perfect sense there’d be a bit of resentment, not get any attentions, but the guys will be the first tell you that first album, George on the cover other guys on the back. They first to say that was not George’s doing. It was early marketing this phenomenon. They had nothing to do with it. This is again where the pressures of the industry. It’s affliction that it wouldn’t need to be there. None of them thought it was George’s fault, but it happened and had an impact.

Q : I’m curious to know that they had such a volatile history, so when they trying to come back, how they cope with that?

Alison Ellwood: I think the bottom line is..they’re professionals when they were on stage. But off stage, that volatility continued and still continues to some extent.

Q : Boy George created the musical “Taboo” using some of the music from the Culture Club. I’m curious to know how the band members reacted to that musical?

Alison Ellwood: I didn’t ask them about it, but I think if I had to guess, no such thing as bad publicity.

Q : Definitely selling more music for sure.

Alison Ellwood: None of them complained about it. They all talked about being in musical.

Q: I thought that was successful musical. I’m curious if they ever thought about making a feature film or something. Did he talk about that?

Alison Ellwood: No, he hasn’t talked about it, so I don’t know whether they’re thinking about it.

Q : You’ve done such a wonderful documentary, how do you want an audience to take away from this film about the Boy and the Culture Club?

Alison Ellwood: I want the audience to be reminded of how great that music truly is. How deep their catalog goes, even beyond the big hits, which get replayed even today. But there’s a lot of other music that they made that doesn’t have the right today that I hope that people go back and rediscover. I hope they walk away understanding how smart funny and incredibly talented those each of four men are.

Q : They definitely are. I’m surprised Roy doing more of a film business side and Mickey is doing all music publishing, so not just about Boy George. Thank you so much for your time, Alison.

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