Cut Down | Blackwater's FREE Digital Release

Personally I have to say 2010 has been an exciting and productive year on the creative front for me working with some great people in the media field and a whole range of talented individuals in the music industry.  One of my highlights of the year so far has been the opportunity to work with the Australian rock band Blackwater, not in my normal role in front of the camera however but, refreshingly behind the scenes and behind the camera.  The band put the feelers out to see how I felt about the digital release project of their latest single "Cut Down" and were interested to know if I wanted to work on some of the marketing material they envisioned for the track.

Obviously I jumped at the chance to work with them again, having done so a few months ago when I was travelling in Adelaide.

The latest project brief was to supply CD Single cover art for the song in keeping with the mood of the lyrics. "Cut Down" takes a stab at corporations, questioning the morality of the leaders and decisions to quote bass guitarist and singer Ben Baumann's words . . .


" In an effort to increase the riches of the wealthy, some companies provide no loyalty to the hard-workers that drive the company forward, instead using them and spitting them out. The leaders give false hope to employees then fight to take everything from them. "Cut Down" asks the question "Why don't you care?" "


Now admittedly I am already a keen fan of Blackwater's music, ( in fact HighRPM utilised partial Blackwater tracks in one of the videos from their motorsports channel features I present ), so obviously it was exciting to get a sneak preview of the song to get inspiration from, and I certainly got the inspiration needed in the form of "fast paced heavy rock riffs and a punchy groove".

The cover, it was decided, would be the inner reflections of a dejected victim of retrenchment, the portrayal of the hopelessness, desperation and betrayal felt when the means of ones livelihood in todays society is suddenly removed.  I asked one of the HighRPM general ground crew members, Damien Freddi, to pose for the cover shots on this one and spent a couple of afternoons scouting for locations to use.  

Obviously we were trying to keep the schedule as tight as possible owing to the incredible heat and humidity combinations here in Darwin during the latter months of the year, combined with the fact that Damien would have to be clothed in business attire suited more to the much cooler southern climate.  I am unsure if the discomfort due to heat lent itself to the moment but just about all of Damien's shots perfectly conveyed the message we were trying to achieve.

Details on where to download the MP3 of this free release are on the band's Facebook Page and their Official Blackwater site.