Southern Spotlight: Stuart Henley-Minchington living life to the full after earthquake tragedy

Friday, 21 February 2020

Southern Spotlight is an ongoing series profiling a range of fascinating Mainlanders by VICKI ANDERSON. Stuart Henley-Minchington is four-time New Zealand drag racing national champion and member of multiple metal bands in Christchurch.

Christchurch metaller and four times national drag racing champion, Stuart Henley-Minchington, lives life to the fullest in honour of his friend and bandmate, Matti McEachen, who died as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes.

It's a golden Sunday morning in Christchurch. Casting a distinctive shadow in the dazzling rays of sunshine, Stuart Henley-Minchington stands, clad all in black, in a deserted field.

Removing his black shades, he rubs his eyes and leans against a sleekly impressive piece of horsepower.

Henley-Minchington has two passions in life – drag racing and music.

'Whether I'm driving or playing music it's all about speed for me,' he says. 'I like going fast … fast cars, fast music.'

* 'People do care': mental health project launches**

The drummer in death metal band, Plague of the Fallen, and black metal band, Voice of the Black Pharoah, Henley-Minchington is also the guitarist in the popular progressive technical death metal band, Blindfolded and Led to the Woods.

Pill Murray, meanwhile, is his 'psycore/experimental' musical outlet and, in December, he released his latest EP, The Mourning After Pill.

Not long before we meet in this Kaiapoi field, he'd performed a secret '300+ beats per minute' Pill Murray set at 7.30am in another field across town.

Stereotypes about metallers are generally not positive.

'I think a massive misconception is that we are dark, evil, people but in my experience it's the exact opposite,' says Henley-Minchington.

Henley-Minchington often asks people the last time they screamed at the top of their lungs.

'I write metaphorical lyrics about my life journey, the positives and the negatives. It's a form of musical expression that you can use as a tool for good mental health, releasing intense feelings that we know in New Zealand people tend to bottle up.

'Not only that but you get to deliver those feelings in a vocal style where you scream. It's empowering.'

Mental health is a subject he talks openly about.

Last February, he and friend, Ben Atkinson, launched Project 71 in Cathedral Square.

The week-long series of workshops was named after the latest suicide statistics at the time – of the 668 people who died by suicide in New Zealand in 2017-18, 71 per cent were male.

Although not mental health professionals, the friends wanted to help men open up about their mental health.

'It was a way of showing that people cared.'

Henley-Minchington often asks people to tell him about the last time they screamed at the top of their lungs.

'Go outside and try it, it's not as easy as you think. It takes courage and pushing through a boundary we have put on ourselves that we can be loud about how we feel,' he says.

'We are all going through similar experiences in life and most people don't realise that.

'However, in the metal community, people have the chance to relate to lyrical content in a way that can change them and empower them to do the same.'

Patting the sleek red car beside him, Henley-Minchington eyes light up when he talks about being New Zealand's four-time national drag racing national champion and 'record holder'.

'I am hoping for my fifth national championship this year. It's been an extremely competitive season, so I've had my work cut out for me. It's awesome.'

At Masterton's Motorplex International Dragstrip last weekend, he and his 'family team' The Anthill Mob, continued their success story.

'I won the national drag racing series at Masterton,' says Henley-Minchington. 'We also joined the 200mph club in our team's funny car.'

He has been involved in drag racing since he was 9 years old.

'It's a real family thing, we have been racing since around 1980,' he says. 'I've had my car for two years now. I set the national record in that in the first season, this is our third season and we have some big plans for it.'

Its appeal?

Matti McEachen died in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake trying to escape the tattoo parlour where he worked, Southern Ink. His friend and bandmate, Stuart Henley-Minchington remembers him every day and still wears an ankh and ring which belonged to McEachen.

'It's the adrenalin side of things which interests me … You're going at a fast speed on a short track, you want that parachute to open.

'I've had a couple of parachute moments but still managed to get the car stopped with nothing too serious, the car has good brakes.'

Henley-Minchington recently marked his 30th birthday.

Matti McEachen, his friend and former bandmate who died as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, should have celebrated his 34th birthday on February 9.

Saturday marks the ninth anniversary of the earthquakes.

As a tribute to his friend, Henley-Minchington pushes himself.

'I have a home studio and above my desk is a photo frame with five photos of Matti and I. It reminds me to keep pushing myself towards new goals and keep expressing myself in a way that I know he would be proud of, and of course make the sickest music possible,' he says.

'One day we will dance to it all together in the cosmos. I wear an ankh around my neck and a ring on my pinky finger every single day. Both items belonged to Matti and help me connect to him in a physical and spiritual way whenever I need some guidance. He was an old soul and taught us all much about life, love, positivity and friendship.'

The earthquakes changed Henley-Minchington's perspective on life.

Every day, whether he's drag racing, making music or working 9-5, he lives his life full throttle.

'I do believe that everybody who knew Matti had a better life for it, and I will always celebrate his life as long as I am here to do it.'

Despite the tragedy, he has no plans to leave Christchurch.

'I've spent a lot of time travelling with racing and music but I would never want to live anywhere else. The things that are important to me – family and friendships, they're here.'