Portsmouth music documentary, premiering at the New Hampshire Film Festival, recalls the glory days of local rock.

To Marc Dole, the Seacoast music scene hit its peak during a span of four to six years in the 1990s. A diverse range of bands were coming out of the University of New Hampshire, bringing musical influences from around the country. As those bands grew and toured around the region, they started reeling in friends from other states to come play gigs in the Portsmouth area. On any given night of the week, local music fans could select between several live rock shows at nearby venues.

“You could just show up to any music club, not knowing what band was going to be there, and see a great show,” Dole said. “There was just so much going on.”

Dole, the founder and owner of Hatchling Studios in Portsmouth, is at work on a documentary about the Portsmouth music scene. A short version of the film, titled “In Danger of Being Discovered,” will premiere at The Music Hall on Thursday, Oct. 13, as part of the New Hampshire Film Festival.

Directed and edited by Dole and co-produced with Michael Venn and Jon McCormack, the film focuses on the many young rock bands that were active on the Seacoast in the ’90s, a few of which garnered serious interest from major labels. They didn’t know it at the time, but they were approaching the end of an era, not only for the Portsmouth music scene, but for American music at large.

Dole started working on the film after rediscovering a cache of archived videotapes he’d long since stowed away. He found more than 30 hours of live concert footage he’d shot as a young video artist in the early ’90s—footage of bands like Fly Spinach Fly, Groovechild, Thanks to Gravity and Heavens to Murgatroid.

At the time, Dole was an aspiring music video director and knew many local musicians. He attended countless rock concerts with groups of likeminded friends, all equipped with the latest video equipment.

“I never went to a show without a camera on my shoulder, because I loved shooting it,” he said.

There was Percy Hill, Say Zuzu, Jupiter 2, Truffle, Choosy Moms, Gandhi’s Lunch Box and others. There was also a wealth of local punk bands like The Queers, The Bruisers and Scissorfight. Dole didn’t get to see all these bands, but he’s tried to incorporate as many as he can into the documentary.

“We’re trying to highlight as many as possible. I know whatever band I don’t mention I’ll be getting hate mail from,” he said.

The film also highlights a number of beloved local venues, some of which have since shut down, such as the Elvis Room. Founder and former owner Dawn-Marie Pierre traveled from Florida to give the filmmakers a 46-pound box of photos and videos from the downtown Portsmouth club.

At the time, before the Internet changed the face of entertainment and Napster made music a free commodity, live shows regularly drew packed crowds.

“There was just such a hunger for entertainment,” Dole said.

Bands like Groovechild and Thanks to Gravity came heart-wrenchingly close to signing major record deals, only to have them blow up in their faces or fall through the cracks. Then, in the latter part of the decade, the Internet exploded, and bands found themselves competing with new forms of home entertainment. Since then, it’s been more difficult to draw audiences out to live events.

“Local concerts just aren’t as attractive to people for their Friday night entertainment,” Dole said.

But the Internet has had some redeeming qualities for music, he added, and the quality of local bands has not declined. Both notions are exemplified by the RPM Challenge, which encourages musicians to record an album in the month of February. Since debuting in 2006, RPM has included hundreds of local participants. 

“Fan base and venues are really what have gone,” Dole said. “The musicians are still there, and the RPM Challenge shows that. All those guys are making new bands and new collaborations that never happened before ... but there’s less people out there listening to it live, which is really where you get pulled into the music.”

Still, the documentary is not a mournful elegy to the ’90s. On the contrary, some of the most prominent figures from that period are only now enjoying their biggest success. Drummer Jamie Perkins and bassist Mark Damon, for instance, are now members of teen queen Taylor Momsen’s band The Pretty Reckless. Keyboardist Chris Decato and guitarist Tim Theriault recently toured and recorded with Sully Erna, front man of Godsmack. Guitarist Adam Terrell, drummer Andy Herrick and bassist John Leccese joined forces with Strangefolk front man Reid Genauer to form nationally touring band Assembly of Dust. Al Barr, once front man of The Bruisers, is now the long-time lead singer of Boston-based punk band Dropkick Murphys.

Most of the musicians highlighted in the film are still active in the local music scene, and Dole has been encouraging them to get their old bands back together again and dig up their CDs. When he finishes the full 90-minute version of the film, he plans to host a premiere party at The Music Hall with live sets from a few reunited bands.

“There’s going to be a resurgence in all this music, and I really hope there is,” he said. “If I’m able to help the bands get new exposure on everything, even if I don’t make my money back, that is going to be huge.”

“In Danger of Being Discovered” pulls from more than 40 hours of interviews and six hours of new concert footage, along with Dole’s 30-plus hours of old footage and other materials submitted by the bands. The short version screening at the Film Festival will be 20 to 25 minutes long. Dole hopes it will draw interest beyond the Seacoast.

“We’re doing the project with no backing, and it’s been a huge financial hit for us. I think after we get this short version done we’ll be able to get some backing,” he said. “I think people will see that it’s not just about Portsmouth. Portsmouth just happens to be the setting for this film, but this story happens everywhere.”

That story, he said, is about passionate musicians changing their definition of success, not because they failed to hit it big, but because simply playing is enough.  

“When you’re 14, rock star success means jumping up on a huge stage and playing in front of millions of people,” Dole said. “When you’re 30, after you’ve tried this for a little while, success is just having 100 people show up to a show and love it. It really came down to that for everybody that we talked to.”

“In Danger of Being Discovered” will be screened during a block of short films between 8:35 and 9:45 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13, at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, 603-436-2400. For a full schedule of films, visit www.nhfilmfestival.com.