A new film telling the story of a forgotten local band, Sentence, is due for release this November.
The Minute Men (The Tragic History Of Sentence) is a documentary narrated by Beeston born and now Armley local music legend Mik Artistik.
Sentence were a niche band who’s success and stardom was bright but short-lived. They were one of Mik’s favourite bands when he was a child and he was surprised as he grew how few people had heard of Sentence and of their influence on pop and rock today. Mik explains:
“I grew up on bands like Faust, Tangerine Dream and Cannon, really niche and unheard of, and yet, they make their mark and then are forgotten”
But Mik doesn’t want Sentence to be forgotten and so he embarked on this musical journey, with the help of some local film producers, to make this rockumentary about his favourite niche band.
The film is due to be premiered at Leeds Industrial Museum cinema on Tuesday 14 November 2023, just prior to the YouTube release on the 21 November.
The commercial rights to the music of Sentence are still owned at Sludge Records and as Mik explains:
“They have been very helpful with making this … I couldn’t have had the access to their old videos and the like…”
Sentence were the unlikely pairing of Brian Templeman and Loz Thompson a duo with an age gap of 25 long years between them. Brian had been in a band with Loz’s father until Thompson Snr passed away, and at that point the melding of two generations began.
Loz was seeking answers, and Brian needed a guitarist in his old band mate’s guise.
The band were signed to Southport label Sludge Records and began to build a following throughout the mid 1980s. Mik Artistik counts himself very lucky indeed to have stumbled across them and will be sharing the story over the next year, in a seemingly poetic period to the upcoming 40th Anniversary of the band’s demise in 1984.
You can see more on the band and the film on Sludge Records facebook page and here on YouTube
This post was written by Tony Lambert
Photo: Mik Artistik in a still from the forthcoming film
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