This is one of those stories about a person who takes a massive risk and ends up seeing all their dreams come true, so any tall poppies reading this can kindly GTFO.
David Owen Blackley is the owner and director of a boutique Brissie-based production company called Her Name Is Murder, which has made a big name for itself over the past few years producing high quality music videos for bands across Australia’s heavy music scene, including The Amity Affliction, Thy Art Is Murder & Confession.
Watch: Thy Art Is Murder – Soldiers Of Immortality (Her Name Is Murder Productions)
Flash-forward to 2016 and Her Name Is Murder Productions has a base not just in Brisbane, but also London, Scotland and British Columbia, and is responsible for a forthcoming six-part documentary about Sepultura‘s 30th Anniversary tour.
So how did it all come about?
“By 2014, HNIMP were shooting one to two music videos a week,” Blackley explains. “Through doing what I loved, I was working all around Australia; meeting new people, seeing new places and creating exciting new experiences. My work allowed me to travel my country.”
But about 18 months ago, when business was booming in a very big way, Dave did something completely unexpected: he packed up and headed to the UK, where nobody knew his business from a jar of marmite.
“I’ve aways been romanced by the thought of travelling the world, especially with my passion, so it seemed like the next natural evolution for myself and the business,” he says. “Stepping out of your comfort zone and packing your bags for the other side of the world was one of the most rewarding and scary things I have ever done.
“But I haven’t looked back. It really felt like the right time to push the business to an international level and reach for the sky.”
And he didn’t just reach for it, he grabbed it by the balls.
One year later, Blackley was invited to join one of his favourite bands of all time, Sepultura, on tour to film a six-part mini-series chronicling their 30th anniversary tour.
“Sepultura were the reason I fell in love with heavy music at an early age,” Dave tells us. “Along with bands like Pantera and Metallica, they really shaped my musical taste during high school.
“To work with a band whose posters lined my bedroom wall is still a surreal concept to me, but more so it was a dream come true. I was aware to the importance of a project like this and what was required from me in order to create something that pushed myself as an artist and the stereotype of heavy metal documentaries.”
To film the doco, Blackley had full access to the metal titans on their four-date UK run, and got to camp out on their tour bus during filming.
“I always wanted to sleep in a bunk on a tour bus since watching music documentaries while growing up, so that was a really cool thing for me to tick off the bucket list,” Blackley says.
But the offstage shenanigans weren’t as hectic as you might expect from one of the biggest metal bands on earth: “It was the end of 2-year tour cycle and they all have partners, wives, kids, so we would just chill after each show on the bus,” Blackley says.
“[They’re] just a super hard working band, great to their fans and they have an amazing and dedicated crew that was more like a family.”
Epic time on the road with Sepultura and their amazing crew! Thank you for having us on your UK Tour – Documentary coming soon 🙂 #sepultura
Posted by Her Name Is Murder Productions on Saturday, November 21, 2015
The six-part doco is due to premiere soon, but you can catch the epic official trailer below.
Meanwhile, Sepultura have just announced that the follow-up LP to 2013’s The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart will be due out later this year after being helmed by Opeth/Amon Amarth producer Jens Bogren.
While Her Name Is Murder has another doco coming out soon for Snot, which was filmed during their main support shows with Korn in the UK mid last year.
Stay tuned.
Watch: Under My Skin: A Sepultura Documentary [Trailer]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXudM-bTqj4&feature=youtu.be
