On June 8 at 7 p.m., Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum will premier a documentary that could very well blow your mind.

The film is called The Complete History of Seattle and, primarily, it revolves around a band called Raft of Dead Monkeys. With a title like The Complete History of Seattle, you might think it would be a boring historical summary of some people digging trenches, constructing a highway at some point, and some old white men claiming ownership over everything.

While this isn’t what the movie is about, explicitly, it is maybe metaphorically about.

Some young guys have started religious (read: Christian rock) bands – early, garage band type stuff. And in 1999 they broke up. Confused and angry, they start a new band (Raft of Dead Monkeys) and they parade around debaucherous on stage with high energy and fake gore. But that’s not the point of this movie, really.

The point is – at least for me – is seeing how Mars Hill started out of a dingy venue in the University District, some disillusioned kids with guitars and “Pastor” Mark Driscoll’s devious manipulation and proprietorship of the music and its large, young audience.

For those unaware, Driscoll is the pseudo hip, actually evil head of Mars Hill church, which practiced abuse and misogyny under the guise of family values. I’d always wondered how he got his start in Seattle and this movie displays it accurately and entreatingly through the prisms of music and broken religious idealism.

Check out the trailer for the film here and go see it June 8!