The artistic stylings of local heavy metal band Nuse and 624 Productions, LLC collaborated this past spring to create a music video for Nuse’s new single “Swept Away”.
The music video for the song that revolves around depression, anxiety, anger and suicide was released on July 21 and recently received an award for its portrayal of the song and its meaning.
Last week, Nuse and 624 Productions were informed that their project won the award for Best Music Video at the Independent Shorts Awards, an international film festival that is associated with the international movie base website IMDB.
Lead vocalist/guitarist Mike LaMastro and his Nuse bandmates Mike Wilday Jr. and Bob and Eric Mangual were “over the moon” when they found out the music video won the award.
“We’re all very excited about it,” LaMastro said. “Definitely very rewarding to be recognized for it.”
Bringing awareness to families and people dealing with suicidal thoughts and depression is the most important message of the song and music video, LaMastro said.
The song hits home for all the band members, especially LaMastro, who based the lyrics of the song off a person he knew personally that was diagnosed with a terminal illness and trying to show his family that he was staying strong but on the inside, was dealing with anger, depression and suicidal thoughts.
LaMastro mentions that there is an incredibly high rate of suicide in terminally ill patients, most occurring within the first year of the diagnosis.
“If the video can bring awareness to one person or a family dealing with suicide, depression, or any other issues, that would be fantastic,” LaMastro said. “We hope this video can help anyone dealing with depression and thoughts of suicide.”
LaMastro depicted the background of the song to Tom Baldinger of 624 Productions when the two Hillsborough residents met up earlier this year.
Baldinger went right to work to create a storyline for the music video from the information he received from LaMastro and got his production crew and actors in place to shoot the project in May.
The music video was shot in LaMastro’s house in Hillsborough with all of the scenes of Nuse performing the song being filmed down in the basement.
Woodbridge native Ronnie Marmo of “Criminal Minds” and “General Hospital” fame stars in the music video alongside Janella Gaeta.
The two daughters that appear in the music video are Hillsborough residents Kaitlyn Curcy and LaMastro’s daughter, Isabella.
At the end of the music video, Marmo stands with Nuse to deliver a public service announcement about suicide and encourages people with suicidal thoughts to call the suicide hotline number that is shown on the screen.
LaMastro said the band had a “great experience” being able to collaborate with Baldinger and 624 Productions on the music video and added that the local connection to the project made getting the award “even sweeter”.
“It was awesome,” LaMastro said. “It was a huge production. Everyone was very professional. It was a great experience.”
This is the second time Baldinger and 624 Productions have won an IMDB shorts award. The film production won an award for its short film titled “HOOK’D” last year.
“Getting an award and bringing awareness to this topic of suicide is a great feeling,” Baldinger said. “It’s very exciting. We’re all really pleased with the exposure of it.”
This is only the beginning of more projects to come between 624 Productions and Nuse.
The two are getting set to shoot a music video for the song “Scoundrel” from Nuse’s new album Evilution-Volume 1 later this month.
624 Productions just wrapped filming of its new potential TV comedy series called “UN$UITED,” which they hope to get picked up by a streaming platform soon.
Baldinger said 624 Productions will also start shooting a new short film entitled “American Boy” in November that was written by Hillsborough resident Salman Jaffri.
“This award in conjunction with wrapping the pilot is good stuff and great for our team,” Baldinger said. “It’s a kudos to everyone involved. We want to keep this momentum going.”