MANILA -- Filipino filmmaker Dennis Bersales just finished working on American hardcore band Dead Cross’s new music video for “Obedience School,” the first single from their self-titled debut album that will be out on August 4.
Bersales, who previously directed a video for another hardcore band, Retox, once more got the nod for the first video of Dead Cross, the hardcore-metal supergroup whose members come from Retox (guitarist Mike Crain and bassist Justin Pearson), Faith No More (vocalist Mike Patton), and Slayer (drummer Dave Lombardo).
“Obedience School” brings the viewer front and center for a brutal cockfight.
“With regards to the video, it was a project idea that I had quite some ago,” related Bersales. “I even started out with a photo essay of the cockfights a few years ago to get a better idea. But recently Dead Cross contacted me to about creating a video for them for their debut album.”
Dennis Bersales
“I have worked on a number of projects for one of the band members before,” pointed out Bersales. “We brainstormed ideas together and settled on this. I was happy about it because I have been wanting to document aspects cockfighting for quite some time. The band was happy with the outcome and we will continue to work together. This was shot in Cebu and in documentary style. There will be follow up video soon but I plan to shoot more footage first and will edit it in a different style.”
The Academy of Art University (in San Francisco) alumnus previously directed Retox’s video for “Without Money, We’d All Be Rich” that featured some young Filipino kids watching two spiders fight in a cemetery.
For Dead Cross’s single, Bersales depicted, in stark black and white, a cockfight that matches the brutal music of the American band.
In an interview with American magazine Fader, Bersales talked about his unusual “subjects” for his music videos: “This is just one of the many quirks of the Philippines that I have been trying to share in my work these past few years.”
Bersales also directed a pair of videos for electro-noise outfit, All Leather, that featured Justin Pearson.
“Dead Cross” will be released by Ipecac Records that is co-owned by Mike Patton and recording label veteran Greg Werckman.