Yidio Exclusive: Interview with Haven Lamoureux, Director of the Upcoming Blink-182 Doc 'The Blinkumentary'
by Allie Basilica
Blink-182 announced their reunion at the Grammys in 2009, and ever since they’ve been hard at work on a new album. For their still-rabid fans, the band completed an American tour and a European tour, making the reformation real.
Enter Haven Lamoureux and his production company Handsome Randsome (HND$M*RND$M). After years of working alongside Blink drummer Travis Barker, Lamoureux approached the band about filming a documentary to capture the resurrection of this timeless, intriguing band. Thus “The Blinkumentary” was born.
I sat with Lamoureux, the film’s director, to discuss the documentary from conception to near completion. Blink-182 fans rejoice, because the film is just edits away from release, and it sounds like we are on the cusp of something epic.
The band got back together after being apart for years. Why did you and your production company think it was worthwhile to make a documentary of the new tour?
HL: When I found out about the band getting back together I was already working with Travis Barker and had gotten to know Mark Hoppus, Blink vocalist and bassist, really well. Then, I got to meet Tom DeLonge, vocalist and guitarist, and I saw it. We saw what made the band really important to a lot of their fans and I also saw where they were at in their careers.
I pitched them the idea of me telling the story of them becoming a band again after their break up and after some very serious incidents that brought them back together. They were all receptive in their own way and I started going to tour rehearsals and I just started rolling the cameras.
Was the band on board right away?
HL: It took a little convincing but they were. I just showed them the way we wanted to tell the story through some edits. My producing partner, Matt Edwards, and I cut together a few different looks of how we wanted to show it - basically the style. I brought it into a rehearsal one day and I said, “This is my direction and this, stylistically, is how we're thinking about it.” After that I think they were fully on board. That’s when I just started running with it and being at rehearsals every day and prepping to go on tour with them.
Can you give us an overview of the focus of the film?
HL: It touches on a lot of different aspects of where the band is currently. It gives a back story on what led them to where they are; a little bit about the break up and Travis’s crash. It’s about them getting back together again and moreover about them becoming friends again within that. So, it shows them reforming as Blink-182 but also becoming bandmates and friends throughout the course of them prepping for this nationwide tour and then eventually the European tour.
The film has been years in the making. How has the vision changed over the course of time, if at all?
HL: I think that in any documentary you have an idea that you set out to capture and you have your route that you want to take but you can never really plan a documentary film. From my experience or from the few documentaries that I have been associated with, it takes on a life of its own.
Once you plant the seeds you’re not really sure how the limbs are going to grow. They could go directly up or they could bend to the right or to the left so you just kind of follow the growth, it’s an organic experience. So yeah, it has stuck to the core idea, which is to tell the story of the reformation of the band but then it kind of took on a life of its own and you just go with it.
What was it like to travel with Blink, to be behind-the-scenes?
HL: It was like nothing I have experienced before. I actually get goose bumps thinking about it.
You actually have goose bumps!
HL: Yeah I do. It was a really enriching part of my life and it was really impactful for me and my career. It was amazing being able to have the access and the ability to go out there and set up four cameras a night for every show and shoot every show and then be backstage and catch all these moments, all of these little idiosyncrasies that they granted me the access to.
I think that a lot of that has to do with my relationship with them, that I had been friends with them for years before I pitched this. I didn’t come in as someone just with an idea, not knowing them, and I think that is to the benefit of the film. I think they allowed me inside more of the intimate situations because of our relationship and that is just thrilling to me because it let me tell a more honest story and they can trust me on that and I can trust them on my end.
There is nothing like setting up your cameras and you look behind the curtain and there are anywhere from twenty thousand to one hundred thousand kids waiting to see these three guys do their thing. There’s nothing like it, unless I was the guy on stage about to play my guitar. That’s different. But it was like nothing I have ever experienced and it happened every night.
I’ve noticed other videos coming from HND$M*RND$M and some of the Blink guys. Will you continue to work together?
HL: Yeah, our relationship is very strong. We were contacted to do a commercial that Travis was a part of. The brand hired our production company to cover it and that was a really fun experience. We did a proper add campaign for the first time in our careers, so that was great. So in the future, post “Blinkumentary,” I continue to want to work with the band because I really do enjoy these guys.
“The Blinkumentary” has been in post-production for a while. Can you pinpoint any challenges that have prevented you from getting it out sooner?
HL: I want to convey that both of us continue to work steady jobs on the side of us beginning to make our production company as strong as we want it to be so some of the time was us actually having to work. We are working stiffs too. This is a passion project for us to get out to the fans and it includes us taking time when we can, working nights, working ‘til 4 am, edits, becoming delusional because we are moonlighting to get this thing finished. Now it’s in the bands’ hands. We just have some technical things to finish, with the sound mix and the coloring and the mastering of the project.
To all of the fans out there anxiously awaiting the release of the film, what can they be excited about?
HL: One thing for the fans is that you will actually get to see a Blink-182 concert as if you were there. You get to see them perform their greatest hits. We really showcased that in all of our edits and in how we shot. We wanted to make it as real and as visceral as being at the show. So for fans that are in South America or Indonesia or that weren’t able to make it to the tours, it will be like you were there. As soon as the kabuki drops and “Dumpweed” comes on they will probably be moshing in their homes to this and I hope they are.
You and I are both from the same small hometown in Connecticut. How did you get your start in film?
HL: I have to say that I was an avid movie watcher as a kid but moreover the way that I got involved was through skateboarding and photography. I grew up watching a lot of skate videos and skateboarding myself and I was the guy who had the camera. My mom and I split a camera when I was a kid. I saved up some money, she split it with me and I just started shooting skateboarding. I did that for years.
I went to film school and studied film properly but all the while I was making skateboard videos with all the pros in Boston. My love just grew. I never stopped watching films. I never wanted to stop being able to progress and skating was definitely the catalyst that got me into shooting more and more and refined my skills as a cinematographer. Then I wanted to do more with directing and I did a lot of short form videos but I had never done a longer project and taken on the responsibility. This will be the first feature length one that will be directed by me and it’s kind of a heavy responsibility but it’s so exciting at the same time.
You mentioned that you are a working stiff. You have other things that you are working hard on. Can you give us some background on what else you are doing?
HL: My wife, Jill, and I have been playing music for the past three years together and we just put out our second album. Our group is called Wing and Hollow and our album is called “Frozen Trees.” We do kind of a rootsy-folk- indie thing and we perform in L.A.
If I had two night jobs, that would be the second of my night jobs. I find myself trying to find a balance and provide fairness to all the avenues that I am pursuing in my life. Music is a huge thing that I do want to pursue and we work on that hard and we take it seriously and we love to play music.
You’ve been at the Tribeca Film Festival this last week. Takeaways from that?
HL: I worked with a really good friend, Jared Freedman, who has a film that he did with Anderson Silva. Jared produced it, it was his idea and he reached out to Anderson because he wanted to tell his story. Jared saw value in his story about this misunderstood martial artist. If you don’t know about Anderson; he’s the middleweight champ in UFC, he’s undefeated. He has a great story coming out of Brazil.
Jared’s film was selected for Tribeca and he showed it here and it was very well received. It's in the top 10 in the fan voting on the films, it also won best director in the new documentary category. It’s called “Like Water.” It’s been a great experience. This is my first time here at Tribeca and helping do the cinematography for “Like Water” was a great experience. They are trying to get it out as soon as possible. Check it out.
Did you get a chance to see other films at the festival?
HL: I didn’t. We were so busy with obligations for “Like Water.” I wanted to see the Ozzy documentary [“God Bless Ozzy Osbourne”]. I love Ozzy, especially the Sabbath era. That’s what I hear the film focuses on and those were the years that I loved Ozzy.
Is there anything else you want to share about “The Blinkumentary”?
HL: As far as getting the film out, it's my hope that it will be ready for a summer release. I also want to stress that in the film there's a lot of story. It’s not just a performance documentary. It has a lot of story and a lot of heart and the guys really opened up and shared their experiences. There are a lot of candid, funny Blink-182 moments. I don’t want people to think that this is just a serious film. It has all of the grown up Blink but it also has the Blink from "Enema of The State.” I think it’s a great representation of the band, of where they came from and ultimately where they are headed.
Watch a trailer for “The Blinkumentary” now and stay tuned for updates on the release of the film:
To find out more about the director and the project visit: