# Music documentaries: Peter Frampton and supergroup Hollywood Vampires

- Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2026/10/10-lives-studios-music-documentaries-about-peter-frampton-and-supergroup-hollywood-vampires/
- Published: 2026-10-21T05:06:45-04:00
- Author: Max Hammer

If your idea of a good festival weekend involves guitars, band stories and a few
familiar names doing something unexpected, Orange County has a strong hand this 
October. Peter Frampton and Hollywood Vampires are bookending the [Newport Beach Film Festival](https://newportbeachfilmfest.com/)‘
s music-documentary programming. A short drive south, [Coast Film & Music Festival](https://www.coastfilmfestival.com/)
is preparing for Rainbow Body’s first gig, followed by Ben Harper and Amos Lee.

There’s a useful thread connecting the two festivals: musicians finding reasons 
to keep playing together. For Frampton, that means confronting physical limitations.
For the Vampires and Rainbow Body, it means discovering what happens when established
players form a new band.

[_Frampton_](https://www.framptonfilm.com/), directed by his longtime bandleader**
Rob Arthur** and produced by **Dan Catullo**, opened Newport Film Festival on October
15.

Its story reaches from the enormous success of _Frampton Comes Alive!_, career setbacks
and the_ inclusion body myositis_ diagnosis that now threatens his ability to play
guitar.

Arthur’s relationship with his subject gives the project an unusually intimate perspective.
Reviewing the film after its **Nashville** screening, Neil Pond called it [“a sprawling, emotionally rich salute”](https://neilsentertainmentpicks.com/2026/09/29/movie-reviews-frampton-breeder-i-play-rocky/).

Interviews with Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow, Cameron Crowe and others put that career
in context. Upcoming screenings include **Naples** on October 24–25 and **Rehoboth
Beach** on November 4.

[Watch the official Frampton trailer on YouTube.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grva6FtRVEo)

## Hollywood Vampires bring the closing-night noise

Catullo moves into the director’s chair for [_Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires_](https://nbff2026.eventive.org/films/6aa310251699924621fc70e0),
Newport’s special-event closing-night documentary. Its West Coast premiere is scheduled
for **Thursday, October 22, at 8:30 p.m. at the Lido Theater**.

Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and Tommy Henriksen are the central players.
The film follows the band’s evolution from early rehearsals and recording sessions
to huge live audiences, tracing its name back to Cooper’s 1970s drinking circle.
The appeal is seeing those famous personalities negotiate the ordinary business 
of being bandmates.

_Film Threat_‘s Michael Talbot-Haynes awarded it 9/10, writing, [“Catullo is a master at making the audience give a fuck.”](https://filmthreat.com/reviews/unleashed-spirits-the-rise-of-the-hollywood-vampires/2/)
For a taste of the music behind the story, revisit the Vampires’ cover of David 
Bowie’s “Heroes,” recorded at Berlin’s Hansa Studios. Depp takes the lead vocal,
and the official video has passed nine million views.

 [Hollywood Vampires — “Heroes,” from Rise (2019).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8VnYZLWr_s)

## Rainbow Body take their first songs to the stage

![Rainbow Body's six members stand outdoors in front of a mountainous landscape](
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fc956d1fcc9f4470e9a5790/c75f6596-
cccd-4cf9-9539-ca35ce6f0504/RainbowBody-Credit_Chris-Niswonger.jpg?format=1000w)

Rainbow Body before their live debut. Source: _Big Hassle Media_; photo by **Chris
Niswonger**.

Friday, October 23, brings a different kind of premiere at Laguna Beach’s Irvine
Bowl. [Rainbow Body](https://www.rainbowbodytheband.com/) play their first show 
on the day their self-titled debut arrives digitally. The lineup joins Taylor and
Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes, Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda, Eric Krasno of Soulive and
Lettuce, Ross James of the Terrapin Family Band, and Adam MacDougall of Chris Robinson
Brotherhood and Circles Around the Sun.

Written in Topanga Canyon and recorded at Flóki Studios in northern Iceland, the
eight-song album includes guests Nicki Bluhm and Oteil Burbridge. Lead single “Strange
Memory” runs six and a half minutes; _Atwood Magazine_‘s Mitch Mosk calls it [“bluesy, bold, and gloriously groove-heavy”](https://atwoodmagazine.com/wr-roundup-2026-10-16-1/),
highlighting its guitar interplay and psychedelic textures.

 [Listen on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/1qMzaGJ9mVjzF5NbWIbbgS) · [Watch Rainbow Body’s official “Strange Memory” video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4_Pc1isEQ)

“It’ll be so illuminating and satisfying to bring this material to life on a stage,”
Taylor Goldsmith says in the supplied announcement. Bluhm joins Friday’s show, with
Ignacio Maria Gomez opening.

**Ben Harper headlines Saturday, October 24; Amos Lee closes Sunday, October 25.**
Donavon Frankenreiter, G. Love and Lily Meola appear both nights. Between the documentaries
and that outdoor bill, there’s plenty here for anyone who likes following a band’s
story as closely as its records. [Coast’s website has concert tickets, festival passes and the current schedule.](https://www.coastfilmfestival.com/)