- Country: UK
- Genres: Documentary
- Release: 2020-06-01
- Director: Michael Cumming
- Writers: Stewart Lee
- Language: English
- Stars: Stewart Lee , Frank Skinner , Robert Lloyd
- Runtime: 90 min
- Awards: 1 nomination
- AKA: King Rocker (United States of America) , King Rocker , King Rocker (United Kingdom)
- Plot:
How does a working class autodidact, with no visible means of support, maintain his role as the leader of a cult British underground band into its fifth decade? Comedian and writer Stewart Lee, director Michael Cumming and James Nicholls investigate the mysterious existence of Robert Lloyd, Britain’s ultimate post-punk survivor. Robert Lloyd’s Prefects played with The Clash on the White Riot tour in 1977, and their ongoing incarnation, as Birmingham’s Captain Beefheart suffused post-punk poets The Nightingales, recorded more John Peel sessions than any other band. Ever. But what were the social, cultural and economic circumstances that enabled and sustained such outsider artists in the punk and post-punk eras, and how has the world changed to the point where such figures are unlikely to flourish in the same way today? Lloyd’s own odyssey echoes how abstract notions of social mobility, of the value of culture and music, have changed in the last five decades.
- IMDB:tt10451082
Michael Cumming
Director
Stewart Lee
Himself
Frank Skinner
Himself
John Peel
Himself
Robin Askwith
Himself
John Taylor
Himself
Nish Kumar
Himself
Nigel Slater
Himself
Paul Morley
Himself
Kevin Eldon
Himself
Danny Fields
Himself
Paul Putner
Himself
James Brown
Himself
Adrian Edmondson
(archive footage)