In Loving Memory of
Giles "The DeVille" Shepherd
In 1999, Giles would learn from his son the rumour of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" syncing up to "The Wizard of Oz". So enthralled with what he saw, he decided to take things a step further and make what he would call the "perfect" version of the sync. Thus, The DeVille and The DeVille's Workshop were born.
The DeVille would pair The Wizard of Oz with the 5.1/Alan Parson's mix of the album which had not been tried before then and created a DVD of the sync which was available to purchase, but he didn't stop there.
With help from friends and family, he would go on to discover more and more syncs, as varied from The Matrix, Aerosmith, Atreyu, Radiohead and his sons' two bands, downcruv and CODE*ATOM. He would ultimately make 21 Sync movies with "Break the Butterfly" (Staind's "Break the Cycle" with "The Butterfly Effect") being his last one.
These syncs from the previews alone were insanely cool, you'd swear they had to be have been intentional, The DeVille called it "The Rainbow Connection" what is that?
This video from him explains what that is:
His syncs would soon garner attention from those not just in the sync community online, but from outlets relating to music and of course, stoner culture (as syncs are seen as a "stoner hobby"). Ranging from Skunk Magazine, The High Times, and even Rolling Stone Magazine.
As he was from Atlanta, Georiga, he also got the attention of the classic rock music station 96Rock, were they interviewed him probing him about his sync work.
This wouldn't come without some issues, however, The DeVille would every now and then get copyright claims or cease and desist orders from the film companies and records, which would make selling the DVDs harder, to the point where his Paypal would be blocked from him using it again.
He did show his work to some people who were involved in the films or music. George Romero himself was so impressed with the "Night of the Living Zombie" Sync (Rob Zombie's "Hellbilly Deluxe" with "Night of the Living Dead") he said to Giles "Get these legaled up!".
His syncs would not be forgotten, as many sites that would talk about "Dark Side of the Rainbow" would always bring up a few of The DeVille's syncs in the same breath, I happen to own a magazine about Pink Floyd where it has a page dedicated to it and brings up The DeVille's syncs.
So how did I discover him? It was one night in high school while I was looking at stuff relating to the "Paul Is Dead" urban legend, I wanted to search for more music-based urban legends, one of which was Dark Side of the Moon syncing to Wizard of Oz.
Looking up "Sync Movies" I came across his site, saw the previews and it prompted me to look into it more. Trying to discover combos for myself after trying Dark Side of the Rainbow by myself.
I soon found The DeVille on Facebook and gave him my praise.
I tried his sync of Led Zeppelin IV with The Lord Of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring, to no avail, as I didn't know the whole PAL v NTSC thing at the time. I alerted him of this and he sent me a DVD copy of his sync.
I was blown away by what I saw and made me want to find more and more of my own syncs.
He would give me prompts and hints in movies I was trying, so in a sense, he became a mentor to me in finding syncs.
I would keep connecting with him with more and more syncs I'd make, as well as show him my photoshop covers for some of his syncs (some can be found on this site).
A lot of my syncs would be "sister syncs" to his, I'd use the same albums but with different films.
Being interested in syncs led me to make friends I wouldn't trade for the world, I showed some syncs to some of my high school teachers, one, in particular, thought it was the coolest thing, and I got some friends into doing it as well. A fun hobby leads me to make friends and have so much fun.
On the 7th of January 2023 (Australian time), his son Rey made a Facebook post claiming Giles had gone into Comfort Care. A Few hours later it was confirmed Giles had passed on.
I felt shocked and saddened by the news, my friend who got me, a music nerd into the coolest activity and helped shape my music tastes to more alternative rock and alternative metal was gone.
So I felt it only right to make this page dedicated to my sync teacher, Giles.
As he went by "The DeVille", and I go by "Sam the Angel Fox", it's fair to say...
It was a "Devil" who taught an "Angel" the magic of synchronicity.
Rest In Peace Giles, the world will be less in sync without you.
