Band's film reveals 'something from nothing' idea

Russell Bell PHOTO/FILE

I was challenged by a friend last week to list my top five TV shows.

It was a question which was difficult to answer - I am something of a TV addict, so when pushed a top five couldn't easily come to mind. Outside of The Wire, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad it all gets a little murky.

But it is a little easier when it comes to documentaries where real stories resonate more and five quickly stand out.

Some of them are business-related - The Smartest Guys in the Room about the collapse of Enron is excellent. Another standout is When We Were Kings about the Muhammed Ali-George Foreman fight.

Right now, to coincide with the release of a new album, I am watching the Sonic Highways documentaries which explore the creation of the new Foo Fighters offering - the premise being that eight songs were written and recorded in eight cities.

The documentary takes a high level look at the music scenes and their evolution in those cities. The story of Seattle, for example, will feature the evolution (and abrupt end) of Nirvana, the grunge scene (of which Mrs Bell has purged all remnants from our wardrobe) and the story of the Foo Fighters.

The series reminds me of Dave Grohl's own biography and how so many artists' experiences can be chronicled as a "how to" manual of dealing with adversity. Having a clear goal and vision being critical to translating that goal, skills and determination into an extremely valuable commodity.

Last week I wrote about the "something from nothing" concept in the context of a client now blazing a trail in the United States. Where once there was an intangible idea now they are creating something. Until Dave Grohl went into Robert Lang Studios (Seattle) and recorded some of the first Foo Fighters songs, there also was nothing there. Look at the value now.

And it is no surprise that Something From Nothing is the name of the first (and best) song on the new record.

What is clear from Sonic Highways is that none of these eight works would have been successfully created without a clear and precise definition of the project's vision and ensuring that the environment in each city was fully understood. After all, reputations were at stake and Grohl has taken quite a risk in trying to accurately reflect the views of a wide and varied group of musicians in eight different cities. However, he appears to have pulled it off, with the eight songs reflecting the experiences of the artists in each centre.

It's also important to remember that to successfully achieve his vision he needed to communicate the vision to the band, studio executives, production companies, the musicians in each city ... (you get the idea).

To get "something from nothing" Dave needed to have a plan. That plan was precisely defined so that everyone involved had the best chance of successfully achieving it.

-Russell Bell's Zenith Strategic Solutions is a specialist Wanganui business advice and consultancy practice - 021 2442421.