As the Air Guitar World Championships begin in Finland tonight, documentary film-maker John Butlerlooks back on a summer spent following the US national competition
June 22nd, and, if it's Friday, it must be Houston. That's what they say in rock and roll. The automatic door on the cool air-conditioned tour bus hisses open, and we step down into the searing Texas sun. We cross the parking lot and enter the venue to meet the manager. He shows us around the cavernous space; I notice two stripper poles in the side bar, then the complimentary crates of beer in the green room. The rider has been provided, as requested.
We are a well-oiled machine by now. We run through a sound check, set up the cameras, check lights, then order some food. The bus driver comes in for his dinner and we all eat together, anticipating the night's show. In this moment of contemplation, each of us is aware that, while it's only fried chicken, in truth this is the land of milk and honey for any music fan. We are on the road.
I am part of a documentary crew following the fifth annual US Air Guitar Championships as they make their way across the continent. I am living on a huge, plush, 10-bunk tour bus for three weeks. At 35 years of age, I have come to accept that this is my only chance to tour America, as a small cog in a rock machine.
Already I have witnessed incredible performances on this tour. In New York, William Ocean leapt into the crowd at the Bowery Ballroom, and onto a surfboard held aloft, crowd-surfing his way to victory. There have been authentic rock and roll casualties, too. In Minneapolis, a performer jumped downstage from the drum riser and broke both his legs. The audience went wild as he lay on the ground, screaming in agony. Even as people rushed onstage and frantically signalled for help, no one bought it. After all, the guy's stage name was Prosthetic Illusion.
The aim of the tour is to find regional winners to compete in New York, for the chance to represent America at the World Championships in Finland. There have been some huge discoveries to date. McNallica will represent Boston - and the ladies - in New York. Rockness Monster won in LA. But the spirit of air guitar is not to be found in those who win, but those who fail and try, try again. The MC on the tour is Bjorn Turoque (real name Dan Crane), runner-up in US regionals a record five times.
Onstage, performers blend comedy, theatre and music into a kinetic show, and you don't realise how hard it is to combine these things until you see someone fail. As a pastime, air guitar lives at the intersection of absurd and deadly serious, because people love little with more passion than they love their music. If it's a joke, it's a hard one to tell.
Filming air guitar is like leaning over a barrel with a camera on your shoulder and shooting the fish swimming down below - unlike other gigs, when you struggle to set up interviews then pray for a usable response.
It's important to approach the funny stuff seriously, and the serious stuff with a sense of humour. In Texas, we visited the home of a competitor who did both. He had recently left New Orleans after losing his home and possessions in Hurricane Katrina, yet he kept playing air guitar using his pet dog as a prop and explaining his style.
This is assisted reality. As in Hell's Kitchen or Big Brother, lines are fed to interviewees and multiple takes ensure "spontaneity". Calling it fake is like slagging off boy bands for making bad records - it's beside the point.
The crowd has begun to arrive at the Scout bar in Houston. The merchandise girl has set up shop and business is brisk. Contestants have started to sign up, among them Ryan and Randy Strecker, two brothers who drove 800 miles from their native Denver, Colorado, to Austin. The brother known as Stryker first won in Dallas, and their air roadie has driven them on to Houston so that the other brother, Big Rig, can win and join his sibling in New York.
For these brothers, as for everyone on the bus, it is all about the journey rather than the destination. It is impossible to deny that the American heartland is a mythical place, and that the road is the governing myth of this land. Sometimes, when we stopped for gas and bathroom breaks, we never found out exactly where we were before we left again.
That night in Houston, Big Rig wins the competition. Drinks are taken as the bar transforms into a nightclub. The stripper poles are employed to comic effect by the two brothers, whose sobriety throughout all the shenanigans is becoming a mythic, otherworldly detail. Later in the parking lot, air groupies and partiers mingle on and off the bus, as we host our customary post-gig party. A van skids around the parking lot with the co-founders of US Air Guitar and the two brothers from Denver standing on the roof, playing air guitar.
The party ends at four am when Mike the driver returns from his sleep at the hotel. Incredibly, it's now the start of his working day. Interlopers are thrown from the bus, we get on board and hit the road for New Orleans.
What is it all about? Well, Bjorn Turoque makes a joke at the start of every show that air guitar can help bring about world peace, asking that you consider the facts. If you are holding an air guitar in your hands, it is impossible to be holding a gun at the same time. Therefore, if everyone in the world was to play more air guitar, there would be less war. When you hold an air guitar in your hands, it's impossible to feel any anger or ill will towards the citizenry of this planet. Put simply, an air guitar is an instrument of change.
Inside Info:
• USAir Guitar was co-created by Cedric Devitt from Dublin. At one point, he was the fourth best air guitarist in the world, and named Air Lingus
• Contestants are judged on the Olympic figure-skating template of 4.0 to 6.0. The categories judges consider are technical merit, stage presence and airness.
• "Airness" is the extent to which the performance transcends imitation and becomes an art form.
• Don't use the term imaginary - it's insulting to air guitarists. Air guitar does not involve the playing of an imaginary guitar, rather a guitar that is invisible. Guitars that can been seen are known as "there" guitars.
