Tony Murnahan, the stealth director!

By James Johnson

In our first issue we’d done a story on neo-soul artist Sir Ben Marx, in which we posted up a new music video from the soulful singer, that upon further inspection we realized was filmed in our own neck-o-the-woods, Fayetteville North Carolina (recognizable landmarks such as the Capital building and the inside of the Rock Shop were dead giveaways). Our curiosity led us to the video’s director, none other than the founder of Stwrongtone Media, filmmaker Tony Murnahan.

Murnahan, who is originally from Jacksonville NC moved with his wife of 7-years to Fayetteville after she had inherited a house from a relative in the area. Though Murnahan has only been in the area for a few years, he has already made a difference in the local music scene through his filmmaking.

“I’m mostly self-taught,” Murnahan admitted. “I have a mentor named Joe Stauffer, who works with Broken Wings Productions. Joe has really been a lot of help to me. He is based in Wilmington.”

Murnahan was once a musician himself, as a member of the math rock band the Kickass, Murnahan toured the United States until finally becoming burnt out on the rock star lifestyle.

“They’re still together, I actually filmed some of their live shows since leaving the band,” said Murnahan.

So far Murnahan has created videos for local artists Sir Ben Marx, Schmegma, Vegas Masquerade and Critical Assault, among many others, and is currently working on a project with local hip hop artist Cardiact.

“This is going to be a full production,” said Murnahan. “We’re doing it in Wilmington right now. I’ve listened to his album, and yeah, he’s got big plans.”

On the set, director Tony Murnahan walks softly and carries a big boom mic.

Besides directing high concept music videos and filming multi-camera live shows, Murnahan has tried his hand at short films as well, such as the entirely improvised movie “Eight ball,” or his short film, “a Chapter from the David Long Story.”

Currently Murnahan is looking forward to doing more high concept music videos for artists who he feels are serious about what they are doing.

“If you’re just doing music and you’re content to just play a few bars every now and then, that’s fine, but who I want to work with are people who are serious about what they are doing,” said Murnahan. “Not someone who waits around for something to happen. I like people who take immediate action. I’ll work with just about anyone’s budget.”

For more information on Stwrongtone Media and to see more of Murnahan’s films, click here.