An awesome video can really make a song and director Phil Mucci has probably worked on some of your favourite videos. Having worked with Stone Sour, Opeth and Korn (to name a few), this guy has raised the bar for metal videos. Loudwire caught up with Phil for a pretty interesting interview, see below!
I know youve worked with artists from all genres, but it seems that you have really made a home in the hard rock and metal world of late. Can you talk a little about your own metal background?
I was a total nerd in my youth, as I am to this day; my dad loved classical music, so I developed a real taste for that first, then movie soundtracks. Metal came in my early teens, when I started to get exposed to it by friends at school. First it wasOzzyandIron Maiden, which led me toBlack SabbathandJudas Priest. It was the Reagan era, so by the time I got to high school, I was all about rebellion. I got into punk and thrash then,Suicidal Tendencies, S.O.D., andSlayerI got into Slayer big time! That led me to more black metal I bought the first twoMercyful Fatealbums on vinyl! That was really just the beginning of the modern metal scene, so from there it took off and Ive been listening ever since. Lately I zone out to a lot of stoner/doom stuff while Im working Electric Wizard, Windhand, YOB, Cough, that sort of stuff. But to this day, I still think there are a lot of similarities between intense classical music and metal. Listen to Gustav Holsts Mars, the Bringer of War and tell me that isnt a sick riff.
In terms of what drew me to the current metal artists, it sort of worked the other way around. My first two short films were hybrids of the horror genre, so when I was starting out in music videos, those were what people saw. I basically got categorized from the outset as dark, so the only videos I got offered were for similarly dark acts, which was fine with me. Its very difficult to break through, so whatever works; what really did it for me was developing a strong relationship with Rick Ernst at Roadrunner Records. He was one of the first people to take a chance on me as an unknown director. Roadrunner really breathed down my neck on the first couple projects, but by the time we got toOpeth, Rick basically offered me the gig if I could come up with a concept thatMikaelliked. My good friend Dan Simpson at Flux Paradox in San Francisco showed the Opeth video toHigh on Fire, along with my short films, and they asked me if Id like to do a video for them. I was already a fan, so of course I said, Hell yeah!
With Pig Destroyer into High On Fire and Opeth and more recently with Stone Sour and Huntress, your videos began to take on a certain style of their own kind of a cross between Frank Millers Sin City and the black light posters of the 70s. Can you talk about some of the visual artists who have influenced your style?
Thanks! Yeah it was definitely an evolution. Again, it all kind of started with Opeth. Before that, I was shooting with larger budgets theKornvideo I did for Oildale had eight times the budget of Opeth and always with performance playing a central role. Those videos had different demands theyre more akin to commercials, where the label, management, and band all have a say in the final edit. Most music videos live in that world, so Opeth was a breath of fresh air. I had a much smaller budget, but I didnt have to shoot the band, and more or less had creative freedom.
The concept I got approved was one that I wasnt even sure how I was going to pull off! But thats how you grow you take on new challenges and when youre given creative freedom, the money doesnt matter so much. You just jump off the deep end and try to figure it out before you drown! And I almost drowned on that one it was stressful as hell, since I was learning on the job. But it was totally worth it; I learned so much on that gig that my work grew by leaps and bounds from that point onwards.
If I had to credit a main inspiration for the style as it pertains to the character animation, it would definitely be Ralph Bakshi. Id always been a fan, and then I watched a lecture he gave about how he developed his rotoscoping style by seeing how Walt Disney had used it in Cinderella shooting live actors and drawing animation on top of them, frame by frame. In the lecture, Bakshi basically said it was a technique that modern computers made easier, and he encouraged filmmakers to get out there and try it. So I did!
Other major influences would be the work of Richard Corben, Moebius, and a lot of the Heavy Metal magazine artists, as well as the seminal animated feature film of the same name from 1981. I think its hard to be totally conscious of your influences once you reach a certain point. It becomes sort of everything youve ever been exposed to, but Id say the work of filmmakers Mario Bava, Ray Harryhausen, Roger Corman, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jess Franco, Jean Rollin, and Dario Argento have all had an influence on my music video work.
Working with an artist like, for instance, Corey Taylor, who you know is well versed in comics and graphic novels and loves that stuff as opposed to an act who doesnt come from that background, does it make it easier or harder to achieve the final video vision?
Corey Tayloris basically a super-prolific, multitalented genius, so its hard to compare him to other acts, to be honest. My work for him was like none of my other projects in that he basically entrusted me withHISstory. My treatment for Do Me a Favor was just the Cliff Notes to his larger story. He was working on the graphic novel at the same time, so I didnt have a lot of that to go off, but Corey was super cool about it.
Id say what Corey brings to the table is the confidence of a guy whos making stuff all the time. He hires the right people to interpret his ideas, and lets them do their thing. Thats a total badass where I come from. Not a lot of people have the strength not to micromanage. In that regard, he was one of the easiest, most supportive guys Ive ever had the privilege to work with.
Jill JanusfromHuntressis another. She doesnt come from the comics and graphic novel background that Corey does, but shed seen my videos up to that point, and really responded to High on Fires Fertile Green. Id actually reached out to Huntress months before through my agent, after Id seen their Eight of Swords video, but their label wasnt very responsive. Then Jill and her manager Jackie Kajzer reached out to me directly, and it was on! Like Corey, Jill has a keen sense of who she is, and by extension, how I could contribute to the Huntress legacy. I mean, she reached out to me before she even recorded Starbound Beast, so it was a real honor. When other artists invest that kind of confidence in your work, it really brings out your best. Dave Wyndorf fromMonster Magnetknows that too, and the video were cooking up together for The Duke is gonna be off the hook!
These videos of late have a very cinematic feel to them and I know youve directed short films in the past. Would there be any thought to potentially directing some sort of music film with great visuals and music from some of todays acts, a la Heavy Metal or The Wall from our youth?
Actually yes, theres been plenty of talk about it. Various bands have approached me, and other potential interested parties. But talk is very cheap, and movies are very expensive! Doing the work that I do is creatively very fulfilling, but financially its a break even situation. Taking time out to do a film right now isnt really in the cards, but weve definitely got plans, and more than one potential project in early stages of development. But writing takes time, and so do my video projects literally 14 hrs a day, 7 days a week so it will be a while before I can afford to take the time off to do it.
The thing is, I originally came out to LA to direct my first feature; but that was in 2008, when the sky was falling, and things didnt work out. Doing music videos was basically the result of me scrambling to get work as a director when that deal fell through, and when most of the people Id just met in LA including my agent and manager lost their jobs in the recession. Luckily Ive been able to establish somewhat of a reputation even if its only in hard rock and metal, which I love, but which notoriously have the smallest budgets.
I think the upside of all of it is that since Im working with less money, Ive been forced to learn how to do more of the work myself, so Ive actually acquired a lot of the skill-set needed to make a low budget feature. Having worked to build a reputation in two fields now, I can honestly say that adversity breeds creativity, and many times the things you think are holding you back, are actually doorways to new modes of thinking . The fact that Im able to be a filmmaker, and get my stuff seen online and in film festivals even if its just music videos or shorts is all that matters to me right now. You have to understand that, as a photographer, I went for the commercial cash in a big way, and I paid a heavy creative and emotional price for it that effected all aspects of my life, so Im actually okay with being poor but fulfilled right now.
Read the rest of the interview at Loudwire
