Everyone has a story to tell. We tell stories about ourselves, our friends, our families, our hometowns, our homelands — about what we love. We may use words, music, a camera, paint, ink, clay or stone, but the medium doesn’t matter. Just tell your story, even if just for your own sake.
Documentarian Charlie Berch premiered “The Rods: A Brief History” on Saturday at the Wellsboro Film Festival. The Rods, a heavy metal band, were formed in Cortland in 1980 and have weathered decades of music business success without much of the drama we’ve been conditioned to expect from other rock documentaries and biopics. Both the documentary and the band tell similar stories, but only Berch could make this documentary, and only The Rods could have ever been The Rods. (And thank the rock gods for that).
In 1983, Berch — who worked as a part-time photographer for newspapers, NASCAR and six Super Bowls for almost two decades — photographed The Rods in Rochester on his little film camera. He showed The Rods his film photos in 2023, when he interviewed them about a concert in Horseheads, and began work on his first documentary by researching, interviewing every living member, past and present, and including his own photography. The full version of the documentary will be finished by summer 2026, and will be between 90 minutes and two hours in length.
Meanwhile, The Rods are working on a new album, 45 years after they were formed by Dave Feinstein, Carl Canedy and Steven Starmer (later replaced by Garry Bordonaro).
Canedy’s biography, “Tales of a Wild Dog” by Canedy and Phillip Harrington was an important source for the documentary. Canedy told the Cortland Standard he was proud the band had stayed true to itself, and never compromised its heavy metal leanings for the sake of a buck. Or, in the parlance of their times, they refused to sell out. As a result, they’re looking back proudly on a nearly five-decade career without cringing at misguided career moves. That’s a big deal in the rock world — in certain circles, any mention of Jefferson Airplane’s brilliant “White Rabbit” is inevitably followed by a snarky reference to Starship’s “We Built This City.”
Apparently, there was also a lot of substance abuse in the entertainment industry. Who knew? But The Rods wisely steered clear of all that meshuga. We don’t doubt there was a certain allure, or mystery, or cache to that part of the scene — Charlie “Bird” Parker and heroin, The Beatles and LSD, the 1970s and cocaine — but as Bird once said, “Any musician who says he is playing better on tea, the needle, or when he is juiced, is a plain, straight liar. ... That way you can miss the most important years of your life, the years of possible creation.” Instead of disappearing into a bottle or a syringe, The Rods made their music.
Along the way, The Rods inspired. Berch’s future documentary wasn’t on his mind when he took those pictures in 1983, he was having fun at a show. More than 40 years and an entire career later, Berch has done something he’d never done before, and is embarking on a new career in filmmaking. And Canedy is taking his biography and turning it into a children’s book.
Art is funny that way: It creates new connections and finds new paths forward. But at its heart, creating art such as music is about sharing something of yourself. Authenticity isn’t just a buzz word for marketers — it’s the courage to tell your story honestly, and as only you can. The Rods have done that for nearly 50 years, and Berch has found a new way to tell his stories, too. Be inspired; be brave enough to tell your story, just as it should be told.
