Dave Ellis
In the heart of Albert Park, filmmaker, founder of Chocolate Studios and sometimes-jingle writer Dave Ellis lives with his family in a classic yet contemporary home.
Photography by Lara Cooper
As the founder of Melbourne creative agency Chocolate Studios, Dave Ellis is surrounded by creatives all day long. In fact, Dave founded Chocolate 30 years ago to do just that; create a creative hub where incredible ideas could be brought to life. Dave’s creative pursuits aren’t just his directing and cinematography work - he also composes jingles and riffs for clients, building on his lifelong love of playing guitar.
Back at his heritage-listed Albert Park home, it’s easy to see Dave’s love of music on display throughout the home, as well as an appreciation for contemporary furniture design. Dave’s home is a place where he can embrace his own musical interests and even more importantly, share them with his family.
Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.
Dave Ellis: I work in advertising and production, but I also adore playing guitar. It’s been that way through phases of my life—I adored them when I was young—maybe grade five—because even though I hated school my hero school teacher played an Ovation guitar and that really made me want to be a rock ‘n roller.
My mum and dad saved to buy me my first guitar and get lessons, and by the time I was around 14 or 15 I was spending most of my time playing in pubs and bars—now I look at my daughter and think about how strange it would have been for my parents!
But it paid off, because now I play music semi-professionally, creating jingles and music for our clients at Chocolate.
Who else lives in this house?
My wife Sara and our daughter Izzi, she’s thirteen and also heavily into music like me - we can’t get her to stop singing.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I get up around 5am and do a bit of exercise, then I wake Izzi up and push her to get out the door to school. Then I head to work via a favourite local coffee shop and get into the office about 730am. I try and get in early and do my work before the rest of the team arrive because once they’re in it gets crazy, so I usually do my main work between 7:30-8:30 and then as everyone else arrives I’ll get pulled into other meetings and discussions.
During the day itself, well there’s really no typical day working in the film industry as every day is different; some days we’ll be shooting at 4 or 5 in the morning, some days I’ll spend in the office writing up ideas and other days I’ll be number-crunching or talking business. If I’m not on location or at a client event I try to get home by around 6:30 to 7pm most days to spend time with my family.
What do you love about your home?
I love the solid structure of it, particularly being a very classic, very structurally sound home. We’re working on a renovation at the moment and we want to ensure the new part of the home has that same super structural, high quality foundation to continue the legacy of this house. It’s timeless and beautiful.
Do you have any daily or weekly habits or rituals around music in your home?
I don’t really do habits—it’s probably why I love work so much, because every day is completely different. If I had to play guitar at 730 every day I’d treat it like a chore, so I’m more likely to pick it up when I’m in the mood—when we’ve gone on holidays or are away for the weekend. I do like to take it down to our beach house, light a fire and play guitar—that’s really fun.
If I’m playing at home I love to play in our music room because of its hard walls and floors—it just sounds good with a natural reverb. Up in the bedrooms it sounds muffled and flat, but in the classic, front rooms of the house it sounds amazing, even without an amp.
Tell us about a time when playing guitar has positively impacted your life, or a highlight of your guitar ‘career’?
When my daughter was born I got heavily back into playing guitar and playing music to her. It really brought playing music back into my life in a big way and hasn’t stopped since.
Do you feel like your taste in music has changed over the years?
Not one millimeter. I’m exactly the same guitarist I was at twelve, I still love listening to rock and riffs.
My love of riffs has helped my career too; because I listen to so many riffs and melodies I find coming up with jingles stems from that same music approach, looking for a hook or to make things catchy.
I’m not a great lead guitarist, I prefer to be the rhythm guitarist.
You’re at a party and get corralled into playing your guitar for the crowd—what do you play? Do you have a go to song?
Probably a great blues riff—it’s simple, you sound far better than you are and when you know a few guitar tricks you can sound like a legendary guitarist.
Tell us about your guitar—where did you get it and what do you love about it? What makes it special to you?
When I was younger and single I lived on my boat for about four and half years in St. Kilda Marina. While I was living there I ended up finding the exact Ovation guitar I’d always wanted—the same Ovation guitar my old teacher used to play—second-hand at a local music shop. I snapped it up and started playing a lot and found the process of playing really calming in a different way to how I had before, even when I was playing heavy rock and loud music. I’ve treasured it since then.
What's an album you never get sick of?
People like Bowie; I never get sick of pioneers like him. You pull up the acoustic version of ‘Heroes’ or something like that and you just enjoy it in a new way each time.
And your favourite album cover?
Hard question! Bowie had some outstanding ones, but even Gary Glitter had some standout album covers, and you can’t go past Dynasty by KISS—that’s about as iconic as it gets.
Any great resources, lessons, books or tips and tricks for learning guitar?
Youtube is a great way to do little short lessons, particularly when you’re building your experience in things like chord structure. I’m always telling Izzi to go to Youtube because she’s better off finding and learning that herself. Using all the digital tools you have available.
What inspires your writing or influences your music composition?
I don’t really write music—I used to when I played in bands but now it’s more about finding the riff or the hook and expanding that into something that’s 20, 30 seconds or so. I guess creating jingles makes me to go that anyway.
What keeps your musical spark alive?
Silence. I love silence, and I think music should always be purposeful, so when things have been quiet and I find myself craving listening to music I always appreciate it more. It’s about creating space to let the ideas and inspiration come in.