“Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury” chronicles the rise and brief glory of an indie punk/rock band that many cinephiles likely never heard of. Luxury, formed by four college friends —brothers Lee Bozeman and Jamey Bozeman; drummer Glenn Black and guitarist Chris Foley— from small town Georgia in the early 1990s, earned a loyal following for their original sound and for the Morrissey-like sexual swagger of handsome frontman and songwriter Lee Bozeman.
Matt Hinton, who later joined Luxury a guitarist, wrote, directed and edited the film which uses lots of performance footage and interviews to recount the band’s formation at tiny Christian college where, strange as it sounds, a punk band that did not play religious music managed to attract a loyal following. After Luxury made a splash at a Christian music festival, it singed with Tooth and Nail, a Christian label, which likely killed any chance for mainstream success. This is an interesting topic that’s examined in interviews with several music critics and fans. But Luxury suffered another obstacle when, shorty after the release of their second album in the mid-90s, the band’s tour van overturned on the highway. The horrific accident left band members and crew seriously injured. Though they all survived, nothing was ever the same. Luxury did go on to create what most view as more sophisticated music bolstered by deeper experience and Lee’s more poignant songwriting.
The film follows a “Behind the Music” style as we learn the backstories of the band members — Lee and Jamey were the sons of an evangelical pastor; Glenn Black recounts a harrowing childhood — that provides a rich texture. In a twist that may not be as crazy as it sounds, three of the four original Luxury members (Foley and both Bozemans) became Orthodox priests and now serve ministries in Texas and the Carolinas, though they reunite with Hinton and Black to record a new album. The priests consider a spiritual calling not unlike musical expression or performance. Luxury was, and is, a form of ministry, too.