Interview with David Black from Darkness Visible Band

Interview with David Black from Darkness Visible Band
Musician, Producer and Narrator

Short Biography: 
David Black started his acting career by doing a role as a cult guard on horror feature movie, Cult Girls. It certainly was an experience too. David Black lived in St Kilda, Melbourne, from age 13 where he saw the early days of local Punk at the Crystal Ballroom, later known as the Seaview Ballroom. Although he was too young to be able to go into the venue, David was always loved horror related things, He had produced many Horror songs and shows and Narrated some creepypastas and also been a Cartoonist once. Darkness Visible is a breaking point to make him famous and He is currently the member of Darkness Visible Horror Band.
The Interview: 

Q: What inspired you horror acting?

I was invited to be an extra on a local horror movie called Cult Girls. I enjoyed the experience so much that I got the acting bug, As a kid, I loved horror movies although the tv channels all used to close by 11pm, on Friday the 13th, they would run horror movies all night and I'd be allowed to stay up.

Q: Do you believe in Demons or Ghosts? What’s your connection with paranormal world? Are you interested in paranormal stuff?

I've had a couple of paranormal experiences but I would say that my connection to that world comes from having once been a Buddhist Monk, when you go beyond the physical and start to look at the realms of mind and spirit, you start to cross into that world.

Lost Career as Cartoonist

David black with
Award for "Best Desert Island Cartoon" at Rothmans International Cartoon award.

Most of the busier streets in Melbourne were pole posted with his artwork too. He was given full license to go wild when designing fundraiser posters for Ska TV and 3PBSfm. These proved to be the most popular. Punkz eventually came to an end and David was hawking around an updated version, Punkz in Space, when he landed a job as the editorial cartoonist for the infamous tabloid, The Truth.  Although he was now making a living from his artwork David didn’t forget the Punkz in Space and eventually co-published a comic book with Melbourne artist, Peter Mathieson.

Download For Free - Punkz in Space

Sucess of Horror Band Darkness Visible

Darkness Visible started in 1994, so I probably gave up thinking it would be a career by 2000, and He produced 9nine music videos for Darkness Visible. The first 8 can be found on I Bleed Indie for free. The 9th one, Breaking Point, is soon to be released and you can find all the information on the Breaking Point page – https://www.facebook.com/BreakingPointVideo and wrote a number of stories ages ago that could be of interesting (Obsessions of a Shattered Psyche: Chapter 2)


Darkness Visible in 2017

   
Latest HORROR Music Video - Released on 27 December 2017
Breaking Point - Darkness Visible

Producing and Film business

Movie industry wise, I’ve produced 2 segments for Shane Ryan’s “Ted Bundy had a Son.” I wrote, directed, produced, filmed and acted in one segment. It was a found footage piece of a man going to his girlfriends place and the two finding all her house mates dead. The main filming was by Alex Zemtsov with my iphone footage being cut in. As a follow up, I co-wrote, produced and acted in another segment where the boyfriend is interrogated for the murders. This one was directed and filmed by Steve Russell.

After this, I wrote, co directed and was an extra in Dark Night of the Zomboogies. This was one of those things that I just fell into. It was intended to be a throwaway piece to be filmed at the end of the Boogie Nights movie industry night in Abbotsford. The idea was just do do a film shoot quickly there for fun in order to bring more people to the night. Well, we really did have to shoot the whole movie in just 2 hours, with lots of restrictions, such as not being bothering patrons — which means no recorded dialogue due to not being able to call “Quiet on Set.” Well, that one grew! We had a pro sound crew from Soundworks in India that wanted to do a sound track. It then debuted at the Warrandyte Film Feast, within a week of being completed and did well there. It also is going out as a bonus extra on SRS Cinema’s release of “Peek a boo, then I strangle you.” And if that wasn’t surprising enough, it is going onto a horror show that goes onto Foxtel and Ch 41 in Adelaide.

Other projects that I am working on are not finished yet, but there is Daemonic Twist – a coming of age horror/ comedy to highlight youth suicide. Drugs ‘n Dildo’s, a comedy web series about what happens when a retired horror actor moves into the Dunshaftin Nursing Home for retired Porn Stars. And last, a series of short movies called “Obsessions of a Shattered Psyche” that is based on the series of short stories of the same name that I had published in the 1990’s in Dark Angel Magazine.

I mentioned Cult Girls earlier and my band, Darkness Visible. Those two are linked. The director of Cult Girls, Mark Bakaitis, is also in a band called Psych Carni. I’d known Mark for years through his band. Our bands both played locally within the same scene and I’d probably booked them at a night I ran called “The 3rd Degree.” I didn’t know that Mark was even better known as a director and had made numerous movies, documentaries and music videos. Mark asked me to be an extra in his movie, Cult Girls, and that’s pretty much where it all took off.

There were earlier things such as doing extra spots for some tv shows that were filmed in my street in the 980’s and an extra spot in feature movie back in the 1990’s, but once again, I didn’t feel connected to anything from them.I just turned up, did what I was told and left. There were no explanations of the movie making process and no connections to anyone afterward. One thing hadn’t led to another either. Cult Girls really was the start of feeling that I was a part of the industry. It was where I met people and was offered more roles. It got the ball rolling and that ball hasn’t stopped yet.

Q: Focus on your career aspirations. Ten years from now, where do you see yourself?

Ten years from now, I'll be 63, so I dont see myself doing a lot of running and going crazy, So hopefully Horror House will have taken off and be big so that I can just be a horror show host, Although I do currently get bashed around quite a bit on that show.

Horror House

Opening theme of Horror House
Opening theme of Horror House

Horror House is a brand new a hosted horror TV show that will be marketed to Australian tv channels in 2018.  Imagine if Deadly Earnest and Elvira had hosted a show together and you will be on the right track.
Horror House is a half hour hosted horror show, starring David Black as the crazed Count Funghoula and Tritia Devisha as the delectable Mistress Boobiyana.  Together, they present the best of the short horror movies that have been made in Australia.  The principal photography on the series of six episodes has only just wrapped and soon, David Black will be approaching Australian TV channels and VOD sites to bring Horror House to you.

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“Horror Show isn’t just a rehash of the old shows though”, Black continued.  "We’ve seen the bar moved by “Game of Thrones”, “The Walking Dead” and “Outlander” over the last few years.“  From what we can see, he isn’t kidding either.  Horror House will not be for the faint of heart.  It is pure Ozploitation, complete with shlocky humour.  There are tasteless jokes, dismemberments, blood, guts and the spurting of every type of body fluid imaginable.

Narrations

I suppose the only thing I didn't mention is that I've done some narrations for an amazing creepy pasta channel called Thoughts

▶︎  What do you want to be remembered for?
I’m not worried about being remembered. I think that in a world of 7 billion people that anyone believing that they should be remembered after death is being a bit arrogant.Life is for living and if I make a movie that is enjoyed by people today, then that is enough.

 

Other Links

David Black
Darkness Visible
Thoughts Channel

 

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