2. November 2013
Chris Leigh & the Broken Hearts: “If You Make It To Heaven”
By Walter Price
It’s no secret that as soon as I found my way to the sounds of Chris Leigh & The Broken Hearts I’ve been a die hard fan. Just something about his story, the honesty in his verses and the way he makes music in the grand fashion of times past and knowingly or not putting pop-tinged country music on notice.
Read my full interview with Chris Leigh, here!
Chris has just released his epic video for “If You Make It To Heaven” from his debut album Broken Hearted Friends. Good ole story video, a format that is being lost to some extent these days. Just proving the way Chris approaches music may be a bit old fashioned but right on time just the same.
I thought it would be a swell treat to chat with Chris about the new video and find out how it all came about.
Congratulations on the new epic video for “If You Make It To Heaven”…Can you tell us about the story behind the song first?
Thanks Walter!
Well, I wrote that song right after my divorce. I was in a really dark place. I was having a tough time dealing with it and ended up spending a lot of my time and money in strip clubs and bars. It was a real low point for me. It’s a pretty depressing song at least for me and I was kind of surprised that people liked it so much. Even my father liked it and he is a very religious kind of guy but I guess it struck a chord with some people. I guess most of us can relate to this feeling of despair.
How did the concept for the video come about? Not many videos like this are being made these days….
When we decided to make a video for this song, I made the choice to write a much bigger story around the song that evolved into a short film really. I actually spent a bit of my childhood in the church and farm where we filmed most of the video. Each of the characters in the video play an important role in my characters downward spiral.
I wrote a short story for the video and that what we are going to post on our website soon! I need to clean it up as it was written more like a script for the actors.
Also I was lucky enough to get a friend of mine from Hollywood, Wayne Shepherd of www.atthepost.com to do the effects and editing of the film. Wayne is awesome! He has worked on a number of films. Check out his cool website.
Yeah, this is probably a little to real and scary for most of today’s country. But I thought this was an important story and explains a lot about so many people I grew up knowing. Life isn’t always a party, sometimes it’s very real. The church we filmed in is reportedly haunted as well, so working there added a sense of eeriness to the film.
I see your name on the video not only as a performer, how much ‘hands on’ were you in the production?
I was very hands on! We were on a really tight budget so I wrote the story, created the props, found most of the locations and the actors and much of the film crew. I also had to pay for all of it out of pocket, hence producer role. It was close to $15K to make when it was all said and done. And that was a steal thanks to all my friends and family. It would have cost much more without all of them pitching in. It was an exhausting effort but I think worth it!
Not many churches are jumping at the chance to let someone make a music video inside their walls, how did this come about?
Yeah, I couldn’t believe the church allowed us to do it but my uncle ran the church for years and is very respected in that little town. They are all awesome and wonderful people!! We believe it was the first country music video actually filmed in a real Catholic church.
Who are the actors? Friends?
Most all the actors are dear friends and family. Even my children were involved. They played the role of me and Joy as kids.
Any other video coming our way?
We just made a live pub video of “Whiskey River” and will soon be working on “Ramblin Man”
Again, ‘killer’ video Chris! Thanks for filling us in on the behind the scenes! Oh, have you started the new album yet?
I’m also back in the studio working on my next album, I hope to have that out next year! Thanks again for all your support Walter!!
I look forward to the day when we can make it over to your part of the world and play live for you guys!
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