Do you see any difference between working on “Knives and Pens” where you collaborated with the band for the first time back in 2009 and working with them now?
Absolutely! Black Veil Brides is a constantly growing force of nature. I am thrilled to have been a part of Andy’s creative process since his arriving in LA. “Knives and Pens” was made with a modest donation from Andy’s folks who were just hoping for the best and putting their faith in Andy’s talent. We shot with a small crew of five people for a couple of days and created a video that has completely exceeded all expectations. And based on the success of that video I’ve been able to rejoin Andy and every lineup since. He’s assembled a band that holds so much talent across the board it’s kind of hard to believe. Our projects now consist of larger concepts, larger production crews, lawyers, managers, record labels; we worry about material leaking on the Internet, all sorts of distractions. But at the core, collaborating with Andy still has the same sense of hopeful anticipation we had with Knives and Pens. Richard Villa became a huge part of how I work with BVB starting with the Perfect Weapon video. His artistic talent is always setting the bar for where I need to be visually when working with BVB. His paintings and artwork are constantly creating a world that I get to visit whenever it’s time to make another video and I’m always shocked to see how far we need to go with whatever’s next, but that’s also what keeps it interesting. The three of us trust each other’s respective abilities and push each other more than we would ourselves as a result. It’s a very unique dynamic. I’ve also been able to collaborate with a producer named Vincent Palomino who has given our productions a level of professionalism that our current budgets wouldn’t normally allow otherwise.