snowboarderbo Fantastic interviews, freaking amazing people being interviewed and an excellent focus on the subject matter.I knew a lot of those names going in to this, but there were more that I didn't know. I thought that was great, getting to "meet" new people. I found out a lot about some people I had heard of, too, for instance: I knew who Jason Hook was because I've been listening to 5FDP since they started; but I didn't know his history, so it was cool seeing how he's a regular blue-collar guy at heart.In fact, that was the coolest takeaway for me, I think, was seeing how all these guys, despite their incredible and somewhat arcane skills, really are blue-collar-"working for a living" folks just like me.My favorite takeaway tho, is that Liberty Devitto is clearly one of the coolest mofoss on the planet in addition to being a kick-ass drummer. I wanna hang out with him, buy him a beer or something. If I thought he'd get any money from it, I'd go buy Billy Joel's entire catalog right now (relax; I know he wouldn't).Truly worthwhile, IMO, if you are a musician or just love music. Again, 10/10 rating from me.

newmountainmusic Forget about the guy who bitched about Steve Vai and wrote a whiny review. This documentary doesn't look at the most famous session players (Like Vai), it follows people you may have never heard of (but whose talents you may have heard). The depth and honesty of the documentary is palpable. The players it does focus on show just how high the highs and how low the lows are when you dedicate your life to playing someone else's music. A couple superstar artists come out looking like douche bags for the way they treat their side men, but for the most part, the documentary steers clear of drama.

pauloreis-1 I wanted to watch this documentary after I read that Steve Vai was in the credited cast because I'm a huge fan of his unique style and of his work throughout the years. In my opinion, he is the ultimate hired gun ever, being "used" by "gunslingers" like Frank Zappa (who used to call him "Stunt Guitarist" and "Little Italian Virtuoso"), Graham Bonnet, David Lee Roth and David Coverdale. And guess what? He barely talks in this documentary. I think that in total he has less than thirty seconds on screen saying a few thoughts of his about the business. It' so disappointing watching all the other musicians in this video talking about their adventures and misadventures in their lives while waiting for something that never takes place: Steve Vai's stories of his amazing career. Not to mention that exceptional hired guns like Joe Satriani and Steve Morse in Deep Purple or Yngwie Malmsteen in Alcatrazz are not even mentioned. The documentary is okay, but gets boring after a while. They aimed too low and missed a lots of great "shots".

Larry Silverstein This documentary focuses on what's called "hired guns", especially in the rock and heavy metal genre. Basically a "hired gun" is a super talented musician who can, at a moment's notice, play as a studio musician or actually join a band and tour with them. However, in the often cold and brutal musical world, they will have no tenure, receive low pay, and often get no credit for their contributions.As one sees in the film, some of the "hired guns" will emerge and prosper from their stints while others will not and even eventually experience tragic consequences. The film, directed by Fran Strine, jumps from one interviewee to another, and initially seemed disjointed, since I really wasn't familiar with most of the musicians and record execs. However, the power of the individual stories overrode all else, in my opinion, and I certainly not only was inspired by these tales but also learned a lot about a genre I knew little about.As I've read in some reviews this documentary can certainly fall into the category of such other movies as "20 Feet From Stardom", "The Wrecking Crew", and "Standing in the Shadows of Motown", except this doc centers on rock and heavy metal bands and players.