Airing on WRFA, and streaming on wrfalp.com, the radio documentary, entitled 10,000 Maniacs: Can’t Ignore the Train, lives up to its billing.

The first episode laid the foundation of the rich history of how the band began its mission. It’s the real deal.

The documentary brought back memories of when I was a student at Lincoln Junior High School in the late 1970s and a student at Jamestown High School in the early 1980s. And during my time at JHS, my guitarist friend Paul LaPlaca, who I have written about before, used to talk about the band and liked the members spirit, and the fact that musicians from Jamestown helped usher in what has been referred to as alternative music.

Emily Drew, and her late husband Aaron Perez, and their company Crying Out Loud Productions, produced the documentary along with WRFA. Emily is the daughter of keyboardist and one of the founding members of 10,000 Maniacs, Dennis Drew. Emily Drew said the documentary begins by illustrating the environment of the Jamestown music “scene” in 1978 when The Ramones and The Runaways arrived in Jamestown. Then through interviews with the band’s peers and early collaborators, it details the subsequent six years including 10,000 Maniacs’ journey in and out of Jamestown through different sounds, identities, and lineups, culminating in the Maniacs first major label record release with The Wishing Chair.

Steve Gustafson and Dennis Drew of 10,000 Maniacs are pictured with some of the band’s materials from their early days.

“I think what the Ramones proved to a lot of the local musicians is that you don’t have to be able to shred and play long (guitar) solos,” another founding member, bassist Steven Gustafson said in the documentary.

Everyone you hear on the documentary sounds like they are speaking directly to you – one on one.

To hear the stories told on the doc are both intriguing and fascinating. Dennis Drew and Gustafson were students at Jamestown Community College and worked at WJWK, the college radio station. WJWK, I think, plays a very pivotal role in the band’s journey. Because the college radio station received recordings from many labels, the songs aired on WJWK exposed

JCC students and area listeners to several genres of music. Where else could one hear songs that weren’t mainstream or Top 40? WJWK was a new music haven.

“The radio station was a magnet for all the cool people in town. …College radio was important through the late 70s and all through the early 80s. We felt that about us. We were the captain of the cultural shift – for the underground and the young people at the time,” Dennis Drew said.

Steven Gustafson and Dennis Drew of 10,000 Maniacs search through hundreds of the band’s tape recordings. The band is launching an effort to create digital archives for the preservation of its legacy. P-J file photos by Timothy Frudd

Dennis Drew added in the documentary that some of the local bands during that time had a “new wave” ethic that was a do-it-yourself attitude.

“It was so new wave, it was like a magazine came alive in Jamestown,” Dennis Drew said in the documentary.

If you can, you should listen to the rest of the episodes.

Other episodes will follow on Friday, Aug. 9, and Aug. 16 on WRFA.

Following the final episode, WRFA will host a live event 10,000 Maniacs Can’t Ignore This Train: Conversation and Reflections with the Founding Members. The panel discussion with founding members Augustyniak, Dennis Drew, Gustafson, and Lombardo, will dive deeper into the band’s genesis and early evolution. The discussion will take place at the Reg Lenna’s media arts studio at 7 p.m., and tickets will allow access to a prepanel reception with archival content view. All proceeds to benefit WRFA. for more information on the discussion visit wrfalp.com.