LOAD-IN Magazine: Winter 2017

the online magazine for touring professionals

DISTURBED IMMORTALIZED IN FLAME

BAD COMPANY

Still Running With The Pack

#6

| winter.2017

SOONER ROUTHIER

The Light & Shade of Production Design

UNDER THE BONNET Delving Into d&b’s NoizCalc software

RITUALS & PYRAMIDS Hawkwind & The Grateful Dead

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35 Years

y

d&b is 35. Vier is d&b.

Werner ‘Vier’ Bayer is a Product Manager at d&b. He’s been on board since day one. “You dream of being somewhere, and then… most of it comes true. d&b is my life. Full of lunatics.” In 35 years d&b has evolved from a small garage venture to a worldwide standard in professional sound systems. It’s people like Vier who make this story possible, and just that bit different from the rest.

Welcome to System reality.

03

FRONT DESK

THE

#6 | winter.2017

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

eventually take a step up the ladder was

O

usually the route taken in what was ld school vs. new school… now there’s a hot

a harsh and largely unregulated

debate with two firmly established sides. One is

world by comparison.

the seasoned touring pro who has worked their

Perhaps a moment of

way up from the bottom, most likely since their

reflection is due. Looking

teens. They’ve seen it all and inevitably learned their craft

back on the ‘good old days’ is

through making mistakes on the front line.

a natural symptom of maturity,

The other side is represented by the new generation,

one that inevitably conjures up

those who studied at uni or college and learned the basics

the names of people who helped you

of the trade in the classroom, on the latest equipment in a

out at the start. They saw something in you

stress-free environment. Upon graduation, they are keen to

that maybe you didn’t; they took the time to teach you, share

turn their years of theory into practice, with an enthusiasm

their knowledge and lead you along a professional path.

that’s highly commendable, though sometimes misplaced.

As you will often be reminded in this magazine, the

This business offers a great life for the right person but

touring fraternity is a family that, like any other, has its ups

having the right approach at the start is critical. Getting your

and downs, but is ultimately built on patience and respect.

first gig is a vital move, but if you set a low price for your

While I urge the new school to take sage advice seriously

services in order to get there, it not only sells you short, it

and be willing to put in a lot of hard work, I also ask their

also lowers the bar for those who have come before you

elders to look at them through the eyes of those who, once

and dents the integrity of the profession itself.

upon a time, were faced with your naïvety. You have a

Wrapping cable or shifting flight cases may be not

golden opportunity to guide them to greatness.

have been one of your classes, but don’t think it is beneath you. It all starts somewhere. The old school journey was

Richard Bennett, PUBLISHER/Editor-in-Chief

vastly different; doing all manner of shitty jobs in order to

richard@load-ininternational.com

OUR CREW Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Richard Bennett Consulting Editor & Designer Mark Cunningham Office Manager Svetlana Boulai Commercial Manager Tony Bloomfield Online Tech Nick Wells Business Development Manager Sarah Rowland Contributors Mike Wharton, John Kane, Taka Hirose, Richard Ames, Sooner Routhier, Mark Cunningham Photographers Tony Bloomfield, Todd Kaplan, John Bull, Mark Cunningham Cover Image Todd Kaplan LOAD-IN is published by Bear & Bones Publishing Ltd under licence. Head office: 238 Lydgate Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO19 6LT, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 23 8040 7751 | Mobile: +44 (0) 7949 731043 | www.load-ininternational.com Copyright © 2017 Load-In International Ltd. All contents of this publication are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, in any form whatsoever, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Every effort is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this publication but neither Load-In International Ltd, nor the Editor, can be held responsible for its contents or any consequential loss or damage resulting from information published. Load-In International Ltd does not officially endorse any advertisement within this publication. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Publishers or Editor.

Load-in magazine winter.2017

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04 #6 | winter.2017

THE RIDER LIVE AND KICKING

THE XX FACTOR

BAD COMPANY

Award-winning show designer Sooner Routhier on how she honed her craft.

12

Rodgers, Kirke, Ralphs and the latest incarnation of Bad Co. tour the UK. FEEDER

28

The indie darlings emerge from a two year hiatus with a return to form album and autumn ’16 tour.

NICKELBACK

56

David Draiman’s Chicago combo prove there’s more to them than an epic Simon & Garfunkel cover.

THE DEEP END UNDER THE BONNET

06

John Kane explores engineer Bill Hanley’s role on The Beatles’ lastever tour.

CREW MATTERS 11

Feeder’s Japanese bassist Taka Hirose goes East... to Clerkenwell.

Load-in magazine winter.2017

50

Mike Wharton drops into Atlantia’s Buckhead Theater to quiz the crew behind US ‘supergroup’ Hard Working Americans.

HOW I JOINED THE CIRCUS

66

LD Matt Mills retreads his journey from Jacksonville to the world, via an epiphanic Disney holiday.

76

Meet Sally Morris, the massage therapist who works her healing magic backstage.

THE BACK END

71

TOP NOSH

Richard Ames goes back in time to 1978 when The Grateful Dead headed to Giza in Egypt to rock the pyramids.

REAL LIVES / 2

d&b’s NoizCalc far field immission software tool gets the once over.

LEGACY

36

REAL LIVES / 1

44

Multi-platinum Canadians make fans believe again.

DISTURBED

DAZE OF YORE

23

CLASSIC LIVE ALBUMS

82

Mark Cunningham brings you the story behind the mother of all ‘stoner’ live sets: Hawkwind’s Space Ritual.

OUR WORLD

89

Random news, views and happenings from around the planet.

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IF YOU CAN IMAGINE IT, WE CAN BUILD IT.

Concert stages in all sizes.

Stageco Belgium N.V. Kapelleweg 6 • 3150 Tildonk Tel : +32 16 60 84 71 Fax: +32 16 60 10 61 info@stageco.com www.stageco.com

BELGIUM FRANCE NETHERLANDS GERMANY AUSTRIA USA

Temporary structures for every event.

06

Turn That Bloody Noise Down!

Load-In takes a close look at d&b audiotechnik’s NoizCalc immission modelling software

R

ecent years have seen a major increase in the

A new collaboration between industry audio experts

number of festivals that fill our summer entertainment

d&b audiotechnik and SoundPLAN Acoustics, NoizCalc

calendar. Now, while this is great for the touring

immission modelling software allows the prediction of system

professional within the context of more work

modelling, placement, alignment, levels, rigging plans

opportunities and paying music fans, not everyone has

and safety parameters, with the aim of overcoming the

embraced this ever-growing phenomenon.

challenges created by noise pollution at the start of the show

Back in 2012, ‘The Boss’ was entertaining 76,000 fans

design process.

in London’s Hyde Park Calling with special guest Sir Paul

So how does it work? NoizCalc models immissions in

McCartney when, as a consequence of running past the

the far field according to the internationally accepted ISO

strict 10.30pm curfew, the stage power was switched off,

9613-2 – the attenuation of sound during propagation

much to the delight of residents… and boos from the crowd.

outdoors to predict the levels of environmental noise – and

The problems and restrictions now being placed on

the SoundPLAN Nord 2000 calculation standards.

festival promoters by local authorities have grown in tandem

The simulation aspect of the system has two major

with the outdoor concert market. Environmental noise has

objectives; the sound reinforcement part ensures that the

become the main issue, hence the introduction of massive

sound is transferred consistently across the primary listening

fines for going beyond that limitation.

area at the best receptive level. The second objective is

winter.2017

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07 UNDER THE BONNET

to control and limit the audio aspect impact on the areas

By utilising the basic program, the system visually shows

outside and to surround the primary area.

the level of sound saturation on the target area and the

Developments in line arrays, subwoofers and delay

surrounding areas. This visual element is vital for designers

systems have been vast over the last 10-15 years, with

as it clearly shows the concentrated sound level within the

improved directivity control and level drops over distance,

emission area, the transmission (target area) along with

along with enhanced consistency and control. NoizCalc

immission (residential areas) also the program visually shows

software incorporates these parameters, allowing designers to create an outdoor event that should satisfy live music fans whilst being acceptable to residents.

The system itself includes complex data regarding the addition and subtraction of sound waves, along with phase information which help with the combination and interaction effects within a speaker system even if there are multiple line arrays, subwoofers and delay systems, which is pretty much the case with most of the larger festivals.

winter.2017

By utilising the basic program, the system visually shows the level of sound saturation on the target area and the surrounding areas.

other factors such as geographical and more importantly the very unpredictable meteorological data for several different scenarios.

INFLUENCING DATA We all know that outdoor situations bring a host of challenges: buildings in the most inconvenient of places, reflective surfaces and undulating terrain. All of these factors are usually noted during a site visit and can be added into to the NoizCalc program.

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08 UNDER THE BONNET

Left: NoizCalc was successfully applied at the Country Music Association (CMA) Music Festival at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater last June and (below) at Wacken Open Air 2016 in Germany.

Taking front of house as the

main source point within the calculation, the verification between all the measurement points and the calculated figures can be simplified.

By defining an immission spectrum from the source point, effects can be

As for the ever-present weather aspects, factors such as air pressure, humidity and temperature can also form part of

added for the varied types of sound such as classical, rock

the influencing data. Now, anyone who has used the ISO

or pop, with all the sound pressure data stored within the

9613-2 algorithm in the past will know it has its limitations

program’s library.

in terms of the accuracy of metrological information along

with the fact that it always predicts a worst-case scenario.

MODELLING CONTENT

The inclusion of Nord 2000 allows for a far more precise

There are three main aspects to the program that combined

informational output, going as far as to include wind speed

deliver the maximum results. The calculation aspect takes all

direction and force.

the complex data from the ArrayCalc and then calculates

Once the designer and production teams have installed

and display the modelled effects of the sound propagation

the program and obtained all the relevant information as

along with the full immission levels from the source point

described above, they can accurately design the layout

across the full area of the field and the surrounding areas.

of the system and the direction of its sound transmission to

The modelling content allows for accurate 3D

maximise the experience for the paying punter while also

geographical data, including any wooded areas or

making sure the neighbours don’t have a case for complaint.

buildings to be input into any calculation with the immissions

winter.2017

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09 UNDER THE BONNET

displayed on a visual terrain map, enabling you to see

So there you have it: a program that can be instigated at

the sound pressure levels in dBA configuration to aid the

the very early stages of a festival design and implemented

application of the selected frequencies. Selecting the Nord

right through to the actual show day. As a result, everyone

2000 aspect of the program within this calculation, the

is happy, especially Mrs Miggins and her cat Tibbles who

metrological data is also displayed on the terrain map.

reside in the house on the edge of the site.

Within the monitoring element of the program, the sound propagation over distance can help the sound technician

Find out more at dbaudio.com

on the ground monitor the levels at the source point, assess actual results with the calculated results and amend or adjust

Photography © d&b audiotechnik,

the levels to meet the offsite noise restrictions as laid down by the local authority.

GForce_recruitmentPoster_AW.pdf

Larry McCormack & Benjamin Peters 1

19/10/2015

14:28

WE HAVE A WINNER NoizCalc earned a pair of leading industry awards last September, each of them judged by an impartial panel of industry experts.

The d&b product was firstly among the recipients of the 2016 PLASA Awards for Innovation.

Eleven days later, the company was honoured to receive the Audio Product of the Year award at the 18th annual AV Awards, held at Grosvenor House Hotel.

C

M

Y

CM

On receiving the latter, John Taylor of d&b Education Development commented: “This is such cool recognition for the all the guys in the development team. They worked really hard to turn this complex issue into a piece of software that is as accessible to the system tech as it is to a consultant.

MY

CY

CMY

K

“For the first time, system techs and consultants can predict nuisance noise and design their systems accordingly before the event.”

winter.2017

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11

Feeder bassist Taka Hirose on his favourite Sushi bar in the ‘big smoke’

M

y taste in food is quite varied.

I love Cornwall for its seafood and on a couple of tours in the past, the band and crew have

really enjoyed going out for a pub Sunday roast – that’s always a big treat. But, being Japanese, I have a real passion for Japanese cooking, so much so that I have my own website dedicated to it.

I came to the UK just over 20 years ago and a lot of people like myself who have moved outside of Japan [Hirose is

now based in Yorkshire] still want to make

Taka Hirose photo © Mark Cunningham

our own Japanese food. That encouraged me to build my website to show that it’s not

By design, it’s a very intimate Sushi bar and traditional

all about fancy sushi but simply making something very

in many ways, but the owners go out of their way to bring

enjoyable from whatever you can buy locally.

a special kind of personality to their menu, especially with

Finding good Japanese restaurants on tour can be quite

their sourcing of ingredients. I really appreciate the way

hard. That said, there is one restaurant in London that is

that Toru, the chef, creates the dishes. He talks one-to-one

really outstanding. It’s called Sushi Tetsu and it’s based in a

and explains about his choice of fish and how they are

back street in Clerkenwell. What makes it different is that it

marinated, and it’s always very entertaining.

only accommodates seven people at a time, so you have to

I try to visit whenever we’re in town. It’s by far the best

book months in advance, but it’s worth the effort.

Sushi experience I’ve ever had in London but it’s not terribly

Tetsu is run by a husband and wife team, Harumi and

expensive. You just have to plan ahead with your booking –

Toru Takahashi, and they were delighted when a reporter

it’s very popular!

from The Guardian gave the restaurant a fantastic review just after it opened.

Check out Taka Hirose’s website: www.cookmejapanese.com

Sushi Tetsu, 12 Jerusalem Passage, London EC1V 4JP • +44 (0) 20 3217 0090 • www.sushitetsu.co.uk

winter.2017

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12

STILL RUNNING WITH THE PACK BAD COMPANY • THE SWAN SONG TOUR

13 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

by Richard Bennett

W

Photography by Tony Bloomfield & John Bull

hen I was growing up, my mother told me

life Peter Grant, the band soared to incredible heights. Forty

never to go running with the pack and to

years on and without the late, great Boz Burrell on bass,

avoid bad company at all costs. Walking

the band have continued to deliver the goods to a loyal

into to Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena to spend a day and

and appreciative audience on this eight-date UK tour, with

evening with the crew on Bad Company’s Swan Song tour, I

RSO, a.k.a. ex-Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora + Oranthi,

can’t help but look up to the heavens to inform her that I am

providing extra value as he main support act.

just about to let her down on both counts.

Given that Paul Rodgers is arguably the greatest white

Created from the immense talent pool of Free, Mott The

blues singer of all time, it’s no surprise that an analogue

Hoople and King Crimson, Bad Company stormed the

Midas Heritage 3000 desk sits at front of house, presided

music scene in the ’70s and, managed by the larger-than-

over by veteran studio and live engineer Michael Fechner.

winter.2017

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14 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

Left: FOH engineer Michael Fechner at his Midas Heritage 3000.

Below left: Fechner’s racks include a pair of vintage API 525 compressors, an API 2500 stereo buss compressor, a Smart Research C2 stereo compressor and a Radial Phazer phase alignment tool.

“For me, the H3000 is all about the way it sounds and its functionality. I’ve been using it for the three and a half years on all Bad Company’s tours and Paul’s solo work. My predecessor used an Avid Profile, but when I came in and started using the H3000 and Paul heard the recordings, he liked it better. Being a studio engineer and a live mixer, I find that enables an amazing amount of creativity that challenges me every day. You can actually do much more with an analogue desk than you can with digital.”

With Liverpool-based Adlib supplying sound and light packages for the tour, Fechner and his team – crew chief and system tech Tony Szabo, monitor engineer Tim Dressler, Stephen Patterson and Sam Proctor – have a sizeable system at their disposal.

The main hang is an L’Acoustics K2 array with four SB218s for the side fills. On stage there are 16 d&b M2 wedges: none of the band are on in-ears. In monitor world, Dressler is using a DiGiCo SD10 with a Waves server and a DiGiGrid MGB box to enable recording.

Another stunning addition to Fechner’s weaponry is the “I just love the sound of the H3000 and I think it fits this

display of vintage/high end gear that sits just to the left of

band perfectly,” he tells Load-In. “I can do a few things with

the Heritage. There in the rack, for example, I spot a pair

it that I can’t with the XL4. Owing to the number of busses

of 1970s API 525 compressors, one of which had been

available, I’m able to do an entirely separated sub mix

modified by Avedis Audio for live use on Rodgers’ vocal.

recording every night for Paul, and do it much more easily

They share rack space with other cherished compressors

on the Heritage.

from API, Smart Research, Summit and SSL.

“For me, the H3000 is all about the way it sounds and its functionality. YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO MUCH MORE WITH AN ANALOGUE DESK THAN YOU CAN WITH DIGITAL.” winter.2017

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15 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

Right: Simon Kirke & Paul Rodgers – two of the original fourman Bad Company line-up when the band formed in 1973.

Below right, L-R: Kirke, Todd Ronning, Howard Leese, Rodgers (with a Telefunken M80 mic, as used for all vocals) and fellow Bad Co. original Mick Ralphs.

Another prized item is a Radial Phazer, an analogue phase alignment tool that can combine two sound sources, allowing the fundamental elements – in this case, the pair of mics in the kick or on the snare – to play in sync with immense clarity.

All of this is a hangover from Fechner’s vast studio experience and a testimony to his musical taste as he was growing up. The first LP he ever bought was Paranoid by Black Sabbath, while Jethro Tull – on their original 1971

Aqualung tour – was the first band he saw live. That’s what you call a true classic rock grounding.

“Working mainly in the studio allows me to inject some disciplines and ideas from that environment into the live arena. I always bring a lot of the classic analogue gear from my place out here with me. Some of it is so old, it shouldn’t even be out on the road and I keep them in my bunk with me at night!” laughs Fechner.

It’s a slightly different approach that’s called for within the confines of Dressler’s monitor world. “I’ve switched to DiGiCo in the last year or so just because of the open

veteran production and tour manager Warren Cracknell, this

architecture,” he reports. “I do a split matrix mix on the side

handpicked team shares a great collective work ethic along

fills. With the three top K2 cabinets on a separate output

with a vast pool of knowledge and experience.

from the bottom two, it allows me more control to send

Back at FOH, tapping away on his grandMA2 desk, is

things to the places where they’re needed, such as having

a slight exception to the norm: lighting director and relative

the guitars where they are positioned or sending less hi-hat

new boy to the ‘sinful’ world of rock’n’roll, Gavin Lake. Fresh

to the middle of the stage… whatever the case may be.”

from a huge tour by his regular client, US country star Eric Church, Lake stepped into the world of classic rock and

WORK ETHIC

quickly took on the challenges that are somewhat unique

Watching the whole production come together, one soon

to the genre, as well the demands of working with an

realises that this is a crew at the top of its game. Led by

historically important band.

winter.2017

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16 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

Above: Lighting director Gavin Lake and ‘straight shooting’ cryo jets.

Lake says: “This is only my fourth show with the band;

Getting into the business through his interest in what

I came onboard about a month ago. The main test for me

those FOH guys were doing at the gigs he attended, Lake

has been the absence of production rehearsals or even an

first tried his hand in live sound before moving over to the

advance load-in day, so I had to program the whole show

‘lighter’ side of the street. This move was spurred on by the

in grandMA 3D. That was a problem because what looks

greater level of creativity that he felt was available to him

good in MA 3D can sometimes look shit in show mode.

within that arena.

“The GLPs [Impression X4 Bar 20 LED] suffered a little

It wasn’t long before he found his calling and quickly

from the visualiser and it took a while to get a working

started to move on to bigger shows. Always eager and keen

visualiser in the profile form. The GLPs do have their

to learn from the best, Lake admits that while he has several

moments in the show where they deliver what I was

influences in the way he approaches his craft, there is one

expecting when I visualised it, especially when they were

legend of the industry that has been his mentor: Rob Koenig.

isolated by themselves. I am running them in full mode so I

“I worked with Rob on the Eric Church tour – he was the

have control over everything.”

programmer and associate director,” explains Lake.

winter.2017

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17 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

WARREN CRACKNELL: RUNNING A TIGHT SHIP As with any good touring

then moved on to ancient

crew, the glue keeping

Soundcraft gear.

it together comes from

“My favourite desk is

the production manager

a Midas XL4, the first

and/or tour manager. In

digital desk I used was

Warren Cracknell, who

when I was out with Joe

dons both caps, there is a

Bonamassa. When we

rare quality of being able

came to the UK, the only

to balance and appreciate

thing I could find was an

the two camps of any tour:

XL8 but if it was good

the crew and the band.

enough for Big Mick

Being of Irish decent,

[Hughes] it was good

Cracknell freely admits he

enough for me, so I used

can be a bit of a bull in a

that.”

china shop at times but he

It was also at an early

does run a tight and fun ship.

age that Cracknell understood the importance of

Growing up in the rock era, the lad from

turning his love of music and his potential career

Philadelphia is another who got into the industry

path into a financial prospect, as he explains: “At

through a genuine love of the music and started

16, I threw a house party while my parents were

to rely on his ability to deal with any challenge

away in the UK. My band played, we charged

from an early age.

admission and that’s how it all started.

Says Cracknell: “I started as a monitor

“My main drive has always been about the

engineer for my own metal club band, Syntax.

music first and the love of the show. I also see

I played bass and mixed from the stage. Then I

myself as the connection between the band and

started getting hired as a sound guy in hardcore

the crew; I am always there for them both. Only

clubs. I did monitors for Cinderella and then went

yesterday, I was sitting with Paul, putting together

on to do FOH for them. When I started in this

a new video opening for the show and helping

business I mixed on a Sunn 16 channel console

him understand the process.”

winter.2017

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18 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

“When I first saw the glitter ball [USED ON SHOOTING STAR’] I thought it was too cheesy, but when I saw the audience reaction I realised it was great to have a moment like that in the set.

winter.2017

“When he had to go back to Metallica,

stick it across the top and write on it “Push

they brought me in so I spent a couple of

Button, Get Banana’’. I now do that to

weeks with Rob. It was amazing just to

every console I use!”

see what he did with the console. He also programmed the lighting for Eric’s summer

OLD SCHOOL

festival run and his programming was so

Along with Warren Cracknell, Lake

solid that regardless of any rig I had to

designed the UK & European show. It’s built

clone to, Rob’s work was flawless.”

around an old school ’70s rock feel with a

Lake continues: “I learned a lot from him

modern video screen element comprising a

and the designer Butch Allen. I’d speak to

back wall and LED modules on carts either

Butch every day on that tour. One day I

side of the drum riser. These are supplied

called to tell him that I didn’t think I could

by Mediatec with Screenworks providing

do it – it was the hardest show I had ever

the cameras and PPU.

run. He told me, ‘Gavin, I want you to go

Says Cracknell: “I wanted to go for that

to the console, get a piece of white tape,

vintage rock feel which is why I wanted the

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20 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

GLPs on the stacks. Initially, we looked at putting lasers there

“I have about 1,500 cues, all on file, that I just run

but the GLPs had more impact. So you have all the stuff in

through the grandMA2. The band stick to the same set list

the air, the GLPs mid-stage and cryo jets on the floor.”

every night so it’s straightforward. I also have three Vipers

The other “stuff” to which Cracknell refers include 39

downstage, left and right, just to create a shin-kicking glow

Martin MAC Viper Profiles, four MAC Viper Performances

on the floor.”

for key light, MAC Quantum Washes and Clay Paky StormyCCs, with lasers, smoke and a glitter ball that crowns

CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF YOUR GLOVE

‘Shooting Star’, the band’s tribute to Free’s legendary

Although Lake is the new boy on the run, his strong work

guitarist Paul Kossoff.

ethic sits nicely with his elders on the Bad Co. crew. He’s

“When I first saw the glitter ball I thought it was too

proud of the positive attitude he has been honed over the

cheesy,” admits Lake, “but when I saw the audience reaction

years. “There are a lot of guys in this industry who are white

I realised it was great to have a moment like that in the set.

glove LDs and there are two types: the one who deserves to

“My favourite cue is calling house lights andwhen the audience screams it puts the hairs on the back of my neck up every time.” winter.2017

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21 LIVE & KICKING: BAD COMPANY

Crew CALL

be a white glove LD because they have worked hard to get where they are; the other is the lazy type.

“I haven’t earned the white glove LD title yet so I want to get off the bus and lead my crew from the front. I want them to know that I give a fuck about the show. I can’t do that if I’m still sitting on the bus long after they have started work. A good white glove LD may not always be helping with load-in but they are working in front of their console or advancing for the next show.”

As the show ends and the objectives have more than been achieved, Lake turns to me and sums up for him what the whole touring life is about: “My favourite cue is calling house lights and when the audience screams it puts the hairs on the back of my neck up every time. If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you’ll probably recognise that moment just before impact when everything seems to slow down, and you think, ‘Oh shit!’. Well, that’s the feeling I get every night.

What other type of job gives you that.”

Musicians Paul Rodgers Mick Ralphs Simon Kirke Howard Leese Todd Ronning Management Chris Crawford Paul Rodgers’ Stylist Cynthia Kereluk Paul Rodgers’ PA Gordon Grubb Set Design, Production & Crew The Cracknell Group Production/ Tour Manager Warren Cracknell Assistant TM Brooke McLean Assistant PM Albert West Stage Manager Ben Friedman Sound & Lighting Adlib FOH Engineer Michael Fechner Monitor Engineer Tim Dressler Adlib Sound Crew Tony Szabo (chief) Stephen Pattison Sam Proctor Matt Wearing Lighting Director Gavin Lake Adlib Lighting Crew Kevin Byatt (chief) Ryan Dennet

Rob Starksfield Backline Technicians Tony Buns David Pate Bill Parker Special FX Ian Livie Lighting Video Screens Mediatec Cameras & PPU ScreenWorks Video Technicians Paul Tikalsky Stephen Wood Ryan Staplehurst Catering Sugar & Spice Richard Duncan Catering Team Merijin (Reno) Wilschut Elizabeth Woolnough Travel Entertainment Travel Merchandising Ken Macalpine Buses Beat The Street Bus Drivers Geoff Parnaby Norman Sterzl Jogi Soukup Trucking Redburn Transfer Drivers John Ward Robert Atkin Martin James Stefen Harper James Cotion

Amen to that, brother!

Following Bad Co’s last show of the tour at London’s O2 Arena on October 29th, Mick Ralphs suffered a stroke and will not be able to join the band on their US tour with Joe Walsh. Load-In wishes him a full recovery.

winter.2017

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23

MAKING LIGHT WORK Winner of a Parnelli for her work with the Imagine Dragons, along with several other awards, SOONER ROUTHIER is at the top of her game. She took some time out of her busy schedule to tell Load-In how it all started.

F

or me, it all started in high school when I discovered

The next challenge was breaking the news of my new-

that if I joined the technical crew in the Band

found career choice to my parents who, in all honesty, were

& Theatre Club, I would get extra credits in my

not as keen as I was with my directional choice. However,

dance class. I have always been a bit of a band

they supported me and suggested I go to a small, liberal arts

and theatre nerd so it wasn’t a tough decision to make,

college in Northern Vermont to see if it was what I wanted

especially as my dance credits would benefit.

to do. When I got there, I worked endless hours in the

During my senior year, I went to see the Smashing

theatre, running the console and loading in lighting under

Pumpkins on their Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

the guidance of Jans Herder.

tour; it was an amazing experience and when I came out of

When Rainbow Concert Productions from New

the show I knew I had fallen in love with concert lighting.

Hampshire brought their gear to our tiny school for a

winter.2017

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24 THE XX FACTOR

Imagine Dragons from their Smoke + Mirrors world tour of 2015.

Lighting design by Sooner Routhier.

weekend concert with a production called Strangefolk, I

dance instructor at North Country Union High School, was

made a point of chatting to the visiting lighting designer,

instrumental in stoking the fire for my love of lighting. She

Brian Clark, and asked if I could tag along on some

also taught me about music structure and how to find the

upcoming weekend gigs with the company. Much to my

shapes and colour of music through dance and technical

delight, Brian agreed, and I worked for free for a few

elements.

months with him.

While Jans Herder taught me about the technical

By the summer, I had been hired by the company and

aspects of lighting for theatre. Brian Clark taught me how

worked extremely hard as a tech for them, taking every

to operate lighting for all genres of music from hip-hop to

chance I could to question, observe and learn from from all

classical. Today, Robert Long, my business partner in SRae

the visiting LDs that came through. Eventually, a rock band

Productions, continues to be an inspiration for me as a

called Chevelle visited the area and it turned out they were

production manager and designer. He’s incredible at finding

looking for an LD for an upcoming tour. David Pinsky, who

the balance between the production elements and the art of

worked for the band at the time, decided to take a chance

the design.

and hired me for my first tour. My journey in this industry had

My current inspiration is stage designer Es Devlin; her

begun and I’ve never looked back.

artistic vision is incredible. Every day I work alongside her

Over the years, I have learned so much from so many

with The Weeknd is a massive learning experience for me

people and I am still learning every day. Cheri Skurdall, the

and a huge pleasure as well.

winter.2017

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25 THE XX FACTOR

Experiencing magical moments: Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello and Zack de la Roche protesting on the streets of Minneapolis... and performing at the Target Center with Routhier on lights.

DIFFERENT SHAPES

first hand when I was younger. The road has given me that

Another influence on my work has, of course, been the

beyond my wildest dreams and to spend that time with your

products available to me as a lighting designer. The

favourite people; it only made it that much better.

technology in the industry is amazing and allows me to

The chance to witness and experience magical

push my designs to new and exciting levels. I’ve been

moments has also been great. In 2008, Rage Against The

a grandMA programmer for just about as long as the

Machine were playing in opposition of the Democratic and

grandMA 1 came into existence. I would love to try other

Republican National Conventions. We were in Minneapolis

consoles, but frankly, I don’t have the time. Right now, my

preparing for a large concert during the Republican

favourite lighting instruments are the lights that provide

Convention the day before the gig. In the morning, we

designers with different shapes – lights that you can use as

were told to be prepared to go to a truck stage sitting on

scenic elements to enhance the art on your stage, taking you

the lawn of the State House. Our opening act from the tour

well beyond the basic concept of just lighting a stage.

was closing a small festival on that stage. The Rage band

I have been very lucky to pursue a career in something I

members asked them if it would be OK to close the festival

love, and the touring side of things has not only enhanced

with a couple of songs before leading the crowd in a march

me as an LD but also as a person.

through the streets of Minneapolis-

I used to love the travel and the

St Paul. Of course, they were

people that you meet and live with on the road become your friends and family for life. So many of my lifelong friendships originated on the road, and the memories that we have all shared will be carried with me forever. I used to dream of travelling the world and experiencing history and culture

winter.2017

“my favourite lighting instruments are the lights that you can use as scenic elements to enhance the art on your stage,taking you well beyond the basic concept of just lighting a stage ”

excited and allowed the Rage guys to use their backline to do so.

There were riot police everywhere with zip tie handcuffs.

Rage announced that they would be closing the festival about an hour before showing up.

The police were nervous and proceeded to discuss the

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26 THE XX FACTOR

The 2013 Monster tour by Kiss thrilled fans with a gigantic metal spider capable of moving and shooting fireballs – all part of an SRae production design by Sooner and Robert Long.

Below: Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd.

performance with the band guys backstage, thus stalling them until it was past curfew. Rather than get arrested while playing two songs at a festival the day before our big arena show, they grabbed bullhorns walked around the front of the stage, instructing the entire crowd to sit down.

Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha performed two songs a capella through bullhorns to the festival audience. Zach ended a politicallycharged speech by leading the crowd in a protest march. I feel so lucky to be witness to events similar to that one.

winter.2017

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27 THE XX FACTOR

Recently, I decided to stop touring to enable me to

the only way! Start by becoming a tech. It’s important to cut

concentrate on SRae Productions and the design side of the

your teeth by setting up lighting systems, understanding the

industry. There are a lot more

fixtures inside and out and proper

women in the industry now,

cable management. It also

which is great to see. Some may

gives up and coming LDs good

say that women in the industry is an issue but it’s only an issue if you make it one. I have always rolled with the punches, letting my work do the talking.

Like the many that inspired

“I WILL ALWAYS TAKE TIME OUT TO TALK TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE LOOKING TO GET INTO THE INDUSTRY, AND I ALWAYS GIVE THE SAME ADVICE: TRIAL BY FIRE IS THE ONLY WAY!”

perspective on what it takes to set up and manage a rig.

I also tell them to learn a

drafting program. If you can’t visually demonstrate what you want to create for your client, you

and helped me in the early

won’t get the gig. Above all else,

days, I will always take time

believe in yourself and learn from

out to talk to those people who are looking to get into the industry, and I always give the same advice: trial by fire is

Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

those around you. It worked for me.

Photography: Mike Wharton, Todd Moffses & Kayla Johnson

SoundGirls.org

28

ALL BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL FOR FEEDER

Load-In drops in on LD Niall Hannell & his colleagues as Feeder make a welcome return

A

fter a four-year hiatus, Welsh rockers Feeder

among them drummer Geoff Hollroyde, second guitarist

returned to the mainstream consciousness in

Tom Gleeson and lighting designer Niall Hannell, whose

the autumn with All Bright Electric, their well-

colourful career has included touring with the likes of

received ninth studio album, and a 14-date UK tour that was

Portishead, Marc Almond and Gnarls Barkley, as well as

designed to restore their status as indie greats.

working as the Royal Albert Hall’s technical show manager

With founding lead singer and guitarist Grant Nicholas

and resident LD at the much-missed London Astoria.

and long-time bassist Taka Hirose remaining core members,

With a tight rein on budget, the brief handed to tour

Feeder began the tour with some new faces onboard,

manager and FOH engineer Yaron Levy was to use in-house

winter.2017

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29 LIVE & KICKING: FEEDER

sound and lighting rigs at every venue, supplementing them

Although Hannell accepted the lighting role, he didn’t

with a dry hire package from Entec Sound & Light.

waste time in offering to extend his involvement. He

“This wasn’t meant to be a production tour in the literal

explained: “I’d done good video stuff for some bands who

sense,” said Levy, currently in his 16th year with the band,

wouldn’t ordinarily be able to pay for it, so I thought we

“but it was important to make an impression now that Feeder

could accommodate something within budget.

have returned. So we’ve ended up with a semi-production

“One of the tricks up my sleeve was a piece of VJ

tour and brought our own small catering system with us,

software called Resolume Arena, which I have residing on

fitting everything into a DAF 28-tonner, so that we can make

one of Entec’s laptops. It allows you to mix clips and mangle

more of a statement with the show.”

them, and the thing that sold me on it was that it takes DMX

Key to that statement is Hannell, who responded to Levy’s

– this means I can hook it up to the lighting console and use

‘LD wanted’ ad on Crewspace. “I knew Yaron from touring

it as a media server. It’s a cheap option but one that really

together with the Gang Of Four,” he commented. “Feeder

does the job if you have the content.

were looking for ideas based on the constraints of what

“Resolume also has functions for projection mapping and

was affordable and what would fit into the venues, allowing

liquid output transformation. I can take my output and drag

for consistency from show to show. I was very happy to be

it to resize it, which is particularly handy for positioning

asked onboard.”

accurately on a cyc.”

winter.2017

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30 LIVE & KICKING: FEEDER

Left: Niall Hannell

a tower that’s built from scaff poles and a 4ft x 4ft Litedeck riser.

“Fortunately, the guys in the band like

the psychedelic effect of having the video projected over them, otherwise it would have been a much trickier process! In fact, all of the reference images that Grant sent to me were of Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable. They sent me a list of nearly 40 songs and I just started creating content for some of them.

“Building content can be very expensive

but it depends how you go about it. We’ve licensed some stock footage but I’ve made most of the graphics and animations in After Effects or just filmed things whenever I’ve had an idea. Feeder did a big photo shoot for this new album and out of it came something like 70 black and white images of Grant and Taka, which was great material for a slide show with footage running behind them.”

Hannell informed the band that if a reliable projector and a white cyc were added to the dry hire package, video

VISUALISATION

would not only be possible, it would take their minimalist

When it came to plan the lighting, Hannell decided to rent

production to another level. “They were very keen,” he said.

a simple package that would make the biggest difference

“We took a 10K Barco CLM R10+ DLP projector and a

on small stages. Crucial to his approach was his choice of

back-up from Entec’s stock, and in order to maintain a small

a grandMA2 light desk, supplied with an On-PC Command

footprint at front of house, I have it positioned behind me on

Wing.

“Resolume allows you to mix clips and mangle them... the thing that sold me on it was that it takes DMX.” winter.2017

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31 LIVE & KICKING: FEEDER

YARON LEVY & AVID’S S6L CONSOLE I’d been working with both Feeder and Ocean Colour Scene, and successfully juggled the two bands until I was faced with deciding who to stay with. I came in as tour manager but in 2009 we had just returned from a tour of Japan and were due to play at the Roundhouse for War Child when the FOH engineer didn’t show up. I stepped in and mixed the band, who were very happy with what I’d done, and I’ve been doing both jobs ever since.

Obviously. I had known Entec for many years

but in all my time with Feeder we had never used their services for a production tour. It was as good a time as any to change that and it was a smart decision. With audio, we took the same approach as we did for lighting, and relied on

house PA systems, leaning on Entec for FOH and monitor desks, plus some wedges, mics and IEM.

I’m from the Midas/Martin generation of

engineers but digital didn’t faze me when it arrived. I always liked the user interface on the Venue Profile and got on with the desk very well, so I was very happy with the prospect of taking the new Avid Venue S6L-32D out on this tour along with an Avid Stage 64 I/O Rack. One of Avid’s support staff came to spend a day with me in production rehearsals at the O2 ABC Academy in Glasgow [where the tour began], and helped me set things up the way I wanted to use it.

The new console certainly sounds much better than the last model I used. The basic functionality is the same but there’s now an external touchscreen and all the desk controls are laid out on four banks, each of which are independent – overall it’s a big step up.

winter.2017

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32 LIVE & KICKING: FEEDER

Above left: Hannell behind the grandMA2 light console. Right: The ‘ingenious’ projection solution.

“I’ve been using it for years,” Hannell was proud to state.

“When I arrive at each gig, I go through each fixture in

“The software is massively clever and every year I’m finding

the house rig and change the settings on the grandMA2,

new short cuts and ways to do things. Those little ‘lightbulb’

so that the software recognises the brand and model, and

moments are great.

reacts accordingly. Naturally, the looks are a little different

“For this tour I was keen to do things properly, so I

every day but I actually like that.”

programmed the whole show on a visualiser at Entec, who

The Entec fixture package included seven SGM X-5

I worked with on Portishead. I got all the cues together,

white LED strobes and a modest helping of Thomas Molefay

knowing that the main fixtures would differ sometimes wildly

blinders. Said Hannell: “I wanted Molefays for the tungsten

between venues – some are well kitted out with recent

flavour and the power they can give you. With big, loud

technology, but others have very cheap, basic disco lights

guitar bands you do need to bring that kind of visual

and PAR cans.

strength into the show.

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Thinking. Inside the box.

34 LIVE & KICKING: FEEDER

“We were planning on having six 8-Lite clusters but some of the venues can’t give us the required amount of electricity, so I pared down to two 2-Lites, two 4-Lites and two 8-Lites which still work fine.”

Just before the band hit the road, Hannell received approval for a last-minute addition of seven Thomas PixelLine 1044 LED battens.

He said: “Not being into humping around masses of equipment on my own, I kept the addon package to a minimum. The PixelLines weren’t in my original design but Grant wanted the cyc

DAN TROWHILL AT STAGE LEFT...

I auditioned for the Feeder monitor engineer job down at John Henry’s 11 years ago and I’m

to appear completely red in one part of the show and I couldn’t achieve the degree of boldness that he visualised with the gear we had booked. The solution was to place a row of PixelLines along the bottom of the cyc to get a really striking red wall effect. It turned out to be a very good call.”

still at it. Like Yaron, I’m a long-time Midas fan

Photography by Mark Cunningham

and due to footprint size, I made the practical choice of the PRO2 for this tour and I’ve got the mix count down to 20 including FX sends.

On stage, it’s a combination of wedges and

in-ears, with Entec supplying us with eight d&b M4 wedges and six Shure PSM1000 units with Wireless Workbench, as well as a complete mic package. I’ve been a user of Sennheiser’s G3 gear for years but I’m finding this Shure equipment to be more powerful and absolutely faultless.

My goal is to eventually have the whole band

on in-ears. Taka’s a noise junkie and wants to feel that direct bass energy but I hope to win him over in the end.

winter.2017

FEEDER Crew CALL

Tour Manager & Front of House Engineer Yaron Levy Monitor Engineer Dan Trowhill Stage Manager/ Bass & Drum Tech Andy ‘Punky’ Mountain Lighting & Video Designer Niall Hannell Guitar Tech Dan Friar Guitar & Keyboards Tech Pete Hambly

Caterer Stuart Gardner Merchandiser Paul Hamilton Bus Driver Tony Howard Truck Driver Pete Bailey Audio, Lighting & Projection Entec Sound & Light Trucking Fly By Nite Bussing Jumbocruiser Catering Flying Saucers

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TOU R I N G W I T H PAS S I O N S I N C E . . .

Headoffice Austria: joerg@beatthestreet.net | klaus@beatthestreet.net | hannes@beatthestreet.net Office UK Buses: tim@beatthestreet.net | garry@beatthestreet.net Office UK Cars & Vans: ian@beatthestreet.net | mark@beatthestreet.net www.beatthestreet.net

36

Working with some of live music’s biggest artists, British freelance tour manager Richard Ames has been in the thick of the action since the early ’70s.

In this special feature, he recalls how he came to work on The Grateful Dead’s legendary concerts in front of the Pyramids of Giza in 1978.

ONE YEAR IN THE LIFE

A

fter spending my first three years in the business

on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours UK tour the following year for

working for Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, my

Barry Dickens of MAM only served to convince me that it

big break as a freelance tour manager came

was time to turn completely freelance even though, at the

courtesy of Harvey Goldsmith. In 1976, I joined

age of 25, I had no idea of how that might change my life.

the production team responsible for The Who’s Who Put

Little did I realise what was in store for me as 1978 arrived.

The Boot In football stadium shows at Charlton Athletic,

In the first week of January, I took a call from a

Celtic and Swansea City, specifically to look after the artists

colleague, Peter Wormesley, who was managing a new

and their dressing room requirements, and be a general

post-punk band called the Rich Kids, with ex-Pistol Glen

dogsbody. Harvey promoted these gigs and I must have

Matlock, Midge Ure, Rusty Egan and Steve New. A week

done well because he asked me to take care of a warm-up

later, we were on the motorway in a Transit van on their first

for Eric Clapton at The Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead, to

UK tour and it was during this trek that Harvey invited me to

precede his first US solo tour.

drop into his office to discuss a new project.

I was still employed by Cockney Rebel but as they were

He had been asked to set up a European tour for The

spending more and more time in (boring) studios rather

Grateful Dead. As they had not been able to agree on a

than playing live, I wanted to spread my wings. Working

mutually suitable deal, the Dead’s agent, John Scher, asked

winter.2017

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37 DAZE OF YORE Below: John Scher and Richard Ames; Scher’s offer of a retainer.

Harvey to recommend someone to work directly with them

with Sailor. Whilst in the depths of northern Sweden, I

to set up the tour. Very kindly, Harvey recommended me and

received a telex from Richard Branson, asking if I would

in early March I attended a preliminary

visit him on my return to talk about

meeting at the Montcalm Hotel.

managing Mike Oldfield’s first-ever

There, I was introduced to the

tour. So far, my freelance career had

band’s two business managers from

more than lived up to my expectations

San Francisco, Alan Trist and Richard

and I couldn’t have been happier.

Loren, along with John, bassist Phil

Lesh and Dan Healy, their technical

in England than John Scher called to

chief. We discussed the initial dates

request that I fly out to his Monarch

and the local promoters along with

Entertainment Bureau headquarters

essential basic technical requirements,

in Montclair, New Jersey for further

such as stage sizes and power feeds.

talks about The Grateful Dead’s tour

Beginning on September 30th,

plans. On that day in mid-April, John

the tour was to visit nine cities in

was being interviewed by Billboard

Belgium, Holland, France, Germany

magazine for its ‘A Day in the Life’

and England where, at the newly-

series – two months later, I picked

renamed Wembley Arena, it was to

up a copy of Billboard and was

end on October 17th. My job was to

surprised to see a photo of myself

advance the venues and co-ordinate

with John. Fame indeed!

the hire of all necessary production

elements with Dan Healy and his

me that day to set up their tour. I was

technical team, while they brought

given a fistful of airline tickets and

over their own backline equipment

told to meet them on the road and get

from the States. I would also

to know everyone until we got back

organise transport for personnel and

to their San Francisco base.

No sooner had I arrived back

John and the Dead officially hired

equipment, and book all the hotels with a UK travel agent.

My feet hardly touched the ground that spring. Three

Although the meeting had gone well, I was not hired that

days later, I was back in Europe to tour manage a 10-day

week. I was paid handsomely for my time and waited to

stretch for Frankie Miller that only lasted five days due to the

hear from them while I filled the gap by touring Scandinavia

German shows being pulled. Ending up at Heathrow, most

“John and the Dead officially hired me that day. I was given a fistful of airline tickets and told to meet them on the road and get to know everyone until we got back to their San Francisco base.” winter.2017

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38 DAZE OF YORE

Left from top: Trucking to Giza; building the stage.

of the band were strip-searched after

were organising permissions to do

the rozzers detected a strong smell of

three nights there in conjunction with

weed around them.

President Sadat’s wife’s charity.

When things calmed down a little

Richard told me that they would

in May, ML Executives’ chief Roger

fund these shows by playing one

Searle and I conversed over equipment

huge concert in New Jersey at Giants

needs, transport and buses, and

Stadium. The idea was to add these

started telexing equipment options

dates on to the end of the European

to the Dead’s crew. Trinifold Travel’s

tour, and so he asked if I could

Mike Hawkesworth worked out some

organise getting all the equipment from

travel schedules with me, including my

Europe to Egypt. I remember thinking

advancing trip at the end of the month.

how intense and exciting this felt.

With the absence of fax machines

Another Transatlantic flight followed,

back then, unless you were sent

this time with Dick Hayes to assess

photographs by post or courier, the

the extras needed for the Pyramids:

only way to guarantee there were no

generators, scaffolding… a mobile

surprises was to personally visit the

recording studio. We were in San

buildings. So that’s precisely what I did

Francisco for a week after which Dick

with the help of ML and Dick Hayes,

flew home and I headed for Omaha to

their sound director, who came to

join ELO’s Out Of The Blue tour for two

several venues with me to figure out

weeks and gain some merchandising

where to build the stages and install

sales experience with the team from

the sound and lighting. After a week of

Brockum. (My brother Anthony ended

this, I reported back to San Francisco.

up running Brockum Europe for years.)

I was in LA when the Dead’s co-

winter.2017

EGYPT BECKONS

manager Alan Trist called to say they’d

After another two-week stint back

been thinking about my fees. My heart

in Blighty with Sailor, I was ushered

missed a beat. Perhaps they wanted

to the Montcalm for another Dead

a better deal out of me as I was on

summit with Richard Loren in the third

a retainer. To my complete surprise,

week of June. The Grateful Dead

Alan said they wanted to double my

wanted to play in front of the Pyramids

pay as they decided I wasn’t being

at the Giza Sound & Light Theatre,

paid enough. These were very fair and

south-west of Cairo in Egypt. They

honourable people.

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39 DAZE OF YORE

PREPARATION

was that I would be taken by a Ministry of Culture official

Back home, the production was now in place, I’d hired the

to the Port of Alexandria, and be helped to clear the five

Virgin Manor mobile; Richard Hartman’s lighting company

trucks through customs. On my initial trip with this man from

TTR was going to send in its gear and ML Executives

the Ministry, I discovered he’d never been to Alexandria, let

was primed with its sound system. We had four 40 foot

alone the port, which was the size of a small city in itself.

artics and trailers – one for sound, one for lights, one for

My abiding memory of this whole trip is of a meeting

scaffolding and another for generators – as well as Virgin’s

with the Ministry’s shipping agent who had not been told of

Manor Mobile.

our imminent arrival in his country. When I asked him when

On August 17th, I went down to Stage M at Shepperton

the boat might unload its cargo, he answered, “It depends

Studios to see the sound and lighting systems being set

on the moon.” I thought for a moment, decided that the

up in advance. ML had decided to repaint the speaker

Mediterranean did not have a tide as such and replied,

bins and everything looked very tidy. The following week

“Why the moon?” He advised, “The new moon is due – it

saw the trucks setting off for Venice where, on the 26th,

signals the beginning of Ramadan and everything and

they boarded a freight ship to cross the Mediterranean to

everybody stops work for a month.”

Alexandria.

Our shipping agent friend then verbally laid into my

Mick Double from ML and I saw the trucks off on their

Ministry aide for not telling anyone in advance that we were

journey, and I had time to fly to Rome and then on to Cairo

coming. I couldn’t believe this was all happening in front of

because the boat trip was going to take five days. The plan

my eyes.

winter.2017

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40 DAZE OF YORE

Grateful Dead legend Jerry Garcia goes walkabout; the Manor Mobile in place to record the shows.

The trucks came off the boat the following day but it took

After the trucks were released, I rode shotgun with John

me two days and nights to obtain authorisation from every

Rivett, our lead driver, as we took a very eventful journey

chief in the port to allow us to leave. One

across the desert through countless army

huge lesson I learned for the future from this

checkpoints to Cairo. The UK crew flew in,

experience was that it is essential to hire a specialist to deal with these sensitive matters.

I also learned that one should never make assumptions about anything of a critical nature – if something can go wrong, it often will. I had naïvely assumed that the Ministry would have everything sorted, but no, they were worse than useless. As a result of all

“I LEARNED THAT ONE SHOULD NEVER MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ANYTHING OF A CRITICAL NATURE.”

this mayhem, I was introduced to an agent

followed by the band and their crew, whose backline gear was subjected to another three-day delay as they waited for it to be released by the airport.

Finally, the build began. The only real

issue we had was the heat and it transpired that the newly-painted bass enclosures virtually glued themselves together while being stacked in the trailers for so long. A

who smoothed the path for our departure without a single

lot of frustrated crow-barring went on the day they unloaded

problem.

that truck.

winter.2017

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41 DAZE OF YORE

The three concerts went ahead on September 14th16th, and they have since become a major part of the Dead’s legacy. On the first night, their tour manager asked if I could get an electric piano tuner, as there were none in Egypt.

The band’s private pilot also doubled as their tuner but had

Each concert opened with a performance of the most

gone AWOL. I called Roger Searle in London; he put a

exotic Nubian music by gifted oud player Hamza El Din,

piano tuner on a plane eight hours later and I picked up a

accompanied by a group of hand clappers and tarists, and

very confused guy from the airport. Before the second show,

singers from Cairo’s Abu Simbel Club. Their music segued

I introduced him to the TM, who said, ironically, “Leave it

into the Dead’s set with the great Jerry Garcia leading the

until tomorrow,” despite all three shows being recorded!

band in a beautiful celebration. Highlights from the second

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42 DAZE OF YORE

and third shows were eventually issued by Rhino as a CD

couldn’t afford to do it. I have a very rare poster of the

and DVD set – Rocking The Cradle: Egypt 1978 – a full 30

rescheduled London shows that Harvey persuaded them to

years after the fact.

do but never took place.

Photography & memorabilia © Richard Ames, Chuck Pulin, Adrian Boot, Rhino Entertainment • courtesy of roadstories.co.uk

I managed to get out of Egypt with

POSTSCRIPT

my mind just about intact and completed

That was the year, that was. Few have

1978 by setting up and part-producing

been so varied and bewildering for me as

The Cars’ one and only European tour for

1978. Many lessons were learned, one

Harvey, via Kenny MacPherson who was

of which being that one should always

working for Harvey at the time.

expect the unexpected.

Mike Oldfield thought I looked too

For example, The Grateful Dead’s tour

young to manage his tour, which was

didn’t exactly go to plan. As soon as Alan

scheduled for the beginning of 1979, but I thank him because it freed me to take on the

Trist and Richard Loren arrived on-site at Giza shortly before the concerts, they hit me with the bombshell

tour management of Kate Bush’s extraordinary Tour Of Life.

that they’d decided to cancel the European leg as they

But that, as they say, is another story.

A content-rich multimedia experience, documenting the highlights of tour manager Richard Ames’ career on the road with Cockney Rebel, ELO, Wings, Kate Bush, Supertramp, Rainbow, Duran Duran, XTC, Paul Young, Frankie Miller and many others.

RoadStories.co.uk facebook.com/roadstories.co.uk

S TA F F VAC A N C I E S

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The Senior Lighting Technician/Project Manager will be required to help co-ordinate the day-to-day running of the busy lighting department, assess product requirements, prepare CAD drawings, maintain our rental inventory to the highest standard, and assist with manual duties including the loading of trucks.

Familiar with lighting and rigging equipment, power, PAT testing and rental management software, the Warehouse/Logistics Manager will organise and run a busy warehouse; manage the dispatch and return of all equipment; supervise repairs and testing; purchase stock and ensure safe working practices are followed in the warehouse, loading bay and yard.

Do you have a friendly, positive and loyal attitude, and good time keeping?

Have you at least three years’ experience within live entertainment?

Are you a positive team player with good communication skills?

Are you able to multitask in a calm and organised manner?

If you can answer YES to all of the above, please email us at HR@entecLIVE.com today.

All enquiries will be handled in the strictest confidence.

ENTEC SOUND & LIGHT | 517 Yeading Lane • Northolt • Middlesex UB5 6LN | Tel: +44 (0)20 8842 4004 | www.entecLIVE.com

44

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

by Richard Bennett

P

rone to its fair share of curve balls, the business

the last thing Mike Farese expected was to be involved in a

of touring is accustomed to annoyances like

bomb threat.

transportation delays, ill-equipped venues and

The Jubilee Line, a major artery through the capital’s

local crew issues… the list is endless and every

underground rail network and the main access point for

issue must be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Then there

people travelling to the O2, was shut down at 11.00 that

are some issues that are a little more profound than others.

morning due to a suspect package being found on one of

When Nickelback’s No Fixed Address tour rolled in to

the trains. With the production in place and ready to go,

London’s O2 Arena for a sold-out show on October 20th,

the only question was: how would the fans get to the gig?

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45 LIVE & KICKING: NICKELBACK

“Being the rigger, there’s no axe to grind; I become the peacemaker between departments.”

“It’s just one of those things;

same time which doesn’t always

we are in communication with

work or make sense. However, we

the venue security and the local

are all working to the same goal.

police but it looks like the situation

“Out here on the road, we

won’t be resolved until after doors

all live together, we are the first

open,” said Farese, Nickelback’s

people we see in the morning,

production manager and head

and the last we see before we go

rigger, whose calm attitude in the

to bed. We see each other at our

face of such adversity was not

best and our worst. Sometimes the

surprising, considering his 30 years

chemistry doesn’t work, especially

on the road with artists including

when people don’t realise when

Bon Jovi. It also helped that he

they have a good thing, and

was joined by a very experienced

everyone knows when it sucks.”

crew.

Although this run was intended

Farese’s assured handling of

to fulfil the 40+ dates that were

the situation was testimony to his

cancelled when lead singer/

‘widescreen’ vantage point. “I

guitarist Chad Kroeger had to

may be the production manager

undergo throat surgery, this is

but I still do the rigging, so I am

effectively a

out there a lot of the time and

brand new tour.

get to see everything. Being the

Whilst some of

rigger, there’s no axe to grind; I

the set design has

become the peacemaker between

remained intact, it

departments. I’ve been on some

has been scaled

tours where people have had

down from the

tunnel vision; everyone wants their

US tour to fit the

own real estate and it’s common for

varying sizes of

people to load everything in at the

European venues.

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46 LIVE & KICKING: NICKELBACK

Left: Mac Mosier. Below: Mosier (right) with Jonathan Beswick and Joe Keiser.

Bar 20s, TMB Solaris Flares and Clay Paky’s versatile A.leda B-EYE K10s.

Said Mosier: “There are chasers in there doing nothing but a pan wave that goes across the stage and because of the angle of the truss you can achieve certain effects that you wouldn’t get in another configuration. Nowadays, you get so many different types of LED wash lights and panels as eye candy; some people forget the basic function of lighting, which is lighting what is happening on stage.

“Weight factor has been the main difference and I

“Justin did a great job on this, of course. Although I am

drew the show in 3D from the front so we could see what

an old Vari*Lite guy, the Vipers we have here work very

we could do in each venue,” said Farese. “[Torwar Hall

well – the colour is good and they are reliable. We’ve not

in] Warsaw was a ground support – a very low 40 feet

swapped one out in two months.”

to the bottom. The screen stayed the same but we cut out the masking so it would fit within the arch. We took the

FLYING GROWLERS

end trusses off so that the band wouldn’t hit their heads on

In front of Mosier, I spotted FOH engineer Joe Keiser

anything. I hadn’t done this venue before, but knowing what

hunched over his DiGiCo SD5. Ever since his parents took

you can and can’t do through years of experience helped.”

him to see Johnny Cash at the Ohio State Fair at the tender age of nine, music has loomed large in his life.

CONTROL CENTRE From the moment I stepped inside the barrier, the serenity of FOH was evident, with lighting director Mac Mosier happily running through his everyday cues. Mosier collaborated with designers Justin Collie and Doug ‘Spike’ Brant although, he admitted, “most of the set-up was in place when I came in.”

The rig was a simple yet impressive configuration with a large arch spanning the width of the stage and four other arched trusses above it: two each side and one of top of the other. Stacked in there and around the stage were Clay Paky Sharpys, Martin MAC Vipers, Showtec Sunstrips, GLP Impression X4

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47 LIVE & KICKING: NICKELBACK

DEEP END ARRIVAL Starting out down the well-worn path of high school theatre, Mike Farese soon graduated to the

“I started playing drums when I was a kid and I used to hang out all the time at a small local studio,” Keiser recalled. “One engineer would call me up to be his drum hitter when he was setting up levels. The band drummers didn’t want to do it, but as a 13-year-old I thought it was great to just hit the kick drum endlessly – and, later, tune drum kits – and get paid for it. I soon got to learn the equipment.”

Clair Global has furnished Nickelback’s live sound requirements over the last few years and for this latest set of shows, Keiser had a large palette with which to play.

Driven by Lab.gruppen amplification, the main hang was made up of 14 Clair i-5s per side with several i-3s for the side fill. Also in the air were six double 18” subs while, on the ground, Keiser chose 16 Clair BT-128 subs.

Injecting another flavour to the FOH mix was the engineer’s outboard rack which holds a pair of Midas XL42 dual channel strips, two Avalon VT-737SP tube pre-amp/ compressors, a Bricasti M7 reverb and a Harman dbx 160A compressor.

“The i-5 cabinet is great for this type of arena because it’s a nice growler. I’m running 62 channels on the SD5 in

rock’n’roll circuit.

His first rock tour was as big as they got. “In 1987, I was offered a tour by someone who couldn’t do it. I told him I was available and he replied, ‘That’s great; be in Toronto next week… it’s Pink Floyd.’

“It was a baptism of fire – mostly stadiums – and

it felt like we were working every day for nearly three years. I first met rigger Rocky Paulson on that run [the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour] and he taught me so much about not only rigging but also about developing a work ethic. What we were doing was so ahead of the game, like the flying gags around the video circle.

“I’ve always believed that if you took a rock’n’roll

guy and put him on a theatre production, he would be lost, but put a theatre guy on a rock show, and he gets it. There are different rules in the theatre; it’s more refined. You have to be quiet and invisible. It’s a whole different mentality.”

the 96-102dB region throughout the show. Chad’s vocals

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48 LIVE & KICKING: NICKELBACK

go through the two Avalons because it’s warm, thick and big, and the EQ on it is sweet – the high end sounds much better than the digital desk sound. All the guitars go through the XL42 bars to achieve that nice, crunchy sound.”

Keiser’s counterpart in monitor world is Glen Collett, another DiGiCo SD5 user. Each band member is on Jerry Harvey in-ears and equipped with a talkback mic, enabling free communication with Collett to request mix adjustments as they perform. An identical procedure exists for the tech channels he runs, allowing for any suggestions to be dispatched to the appropriate individual in a flash.

ON SCREEN Heading into video world, I bumped into an old friend, video director Jonathan Beswick. Although it had been four years since our paths crossed, the conversation picked up right from where we left off. After the obligatory catchup, the conversation turned to Beswick’s current set-up for Nickelback.

“For this run of 40 shows,” he began, “we have scaled the screens down to two I-Mag side screens and another screen that sits in the middle of the lighting arch. In the past, we had many larger LED screens but we just did some redesign and modified some of the content.

Crew CALL Tour Director Jesse Sandler Production Manager/ Rigger Mike Farese Production Co-ordinator Marion Sullivan Stage Manager John Williamson Carpenter Greg Gish

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Rigger Danis Machado Accountant Martin Bartlett Wardrobe Katrina Doy Lights PRG Lighting Director Mac Mosier Lighting Crew

Tim Probert (Chief) Andrew Brown Alexander Celi Craig MacDonald David Prior James Jones Video PRG XL Video Video Director Jonathan Beswick Video Technicians

Simon Schofield Wannes Vandendriessche Rod Williams Sound Clair Global FOH Engineer Joe Keiser Monitor Engineer Glen Collett Monitor Technician Matt Woolley

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49 LIVE & KICKING: NICKELBACK

Ultimately, Nickelback are a no-nonsense rock band and

A few minutes before showtime, everyone was in place

that’s what we convey with the video content.

and despite the confusion and uncertainty that played out

“There are a few things I have pulled out of the hat. For

during the day, the venue was full – a testament to the

instance, I throw some flames up on the side screens for the

determination of the Nickelback fans.

song ‘Burn It Down’, and a red tint when the band play their

Farese reflected: “We did it! This business will always

version of the Foo Fighters’ ‘Everlong’. Otherwise, it’s just a

have a surprise up its sleeve, but when you have a tight,

straightforward high-octane video show.”

experienced crew, you can overcome anything. That’s why I

PRG XL Video provided the screens and four Sony

love what I do. Touring is a hard business to get into, but it’s

cameras for this tour (three manned and one fixed on the

even harder to get out.“

drums), running the whole show through a Panasonic AV-HS

Photography by Tony Bloomfield

4000 switcher, with a MacBook driving the main content.

Additional images: Syd Young & Bert Savels

Crew CALL RF Technician Ken McDowell ProTools Technician Gordon Sran Audio Technicians Tommaso Gossovich Falko Knueppel Backline Technicians Kristofer Dawson Robert Dawson Takumi Suetsugu

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Thomas Willhelm Staging All Access Security John Guarnieri Dustin Watts Freight Horizon Entertainment Cargo Travel Agent The Tour Company

Flights Satellite Office Services Merchandise John Kewley F.E.A. Merch Transformers & Cable Ramps Legacy Power Passes Hellcat Design Group Radios

Road Radios Tour Promoter Live Nation Promoter & VIP Reps Ron Chamberlain Craig Elliott Management UEG Bradlee Kind Booking Agent United Talent Agency

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50

Load-In makes a pit stop in Atlanta to hook up with the crew behind some very Hard Working Americans

LABOURS OF LOVE

Photography by Roger Patteson, Stephen Anderson & Mike Wharton

by Mike Wharton

D

elivering a live musical or spoken word

Hard Working Americans. Our initial interest was about

performance to a large group of people has

wanting to learn how the band, often referred to as a

been going on since the time of the

‘supergroup’, assembled their favourite technicians.

Greeks. How to accomplish this is a problem

Formed in 2013, Hard Working Americans

that has evolved from natural amphitheatres

consist of guitarist Neal Casal from Chris

to loudspeakers and modern line arrays. The

Robinson Brotherhood, Widespread Panic

engineers involved are trying to do the same

bassist Dave Schools and drummer Duane

thing, i.e. bring the passion of a performance to a mass audience while still creating a one-onone experience to people far removed from the stage.

Trucks, and vocalist Todd Snider. Rounding out the sextet is keyboard player Chad Staehly from Great American Taxi and multi-instrumentalist Jesse

Load-in was recently invited to Atlanta’s Buckhead

Aycock, the latter hailed by the crew as the band’s ‘secret

Theater to talk with the crew handling the latest tour by

weapon’.

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51 REAL LIVES

L-R: Colin Cargile, Dave Tash & Brian Kincaid.

COMMUTING TO TODAY’S OFFICE On arrival at the theatre, a conversation broke out with tour/production manager Brian Kincaid about his role, how the crew came together and what it takes to pull off consistently good sound at the varied venues on the itinerary.

“I got into this from my love of taping and recording shows,” said Kincaid, who has worked with Todd Snider since 2005.

“Knowing that Todd encouraged his fans to tape his shows made me want to travel and see more of them.”

Kincaid’s white collar day job included a lot of travel, which gave him the freedom to catch Snider live around the country so frequently that the singer

“As the band has grown and developed, I have had to

gave him access to patch into the FOH desks. “Next thing I

find some trustworthy help on the road. We are now doing

know, I’m selling T-shirts, tuning guitars, driving the car and

bigger shows and bringing in our own audio package is

it was goodbye to my white collar world. Nine years later,

crucial. It’s nice having some very experienced guys out here

here I am.”

that I trust and we’re a lot stronger as an organisation.”

Hard Working Americans’ début performance was at a

FOH engineer Dave Tash took a call one day while

benefit for Colorado Flood Relief in Boulder on December

wrapping up another tour. Trying to contain his excitement,

20th 2013. “I feel very fortunate to have been here for

as he was sitting on a bus with his employers, he quietly

everything since day one at [Grateful Dead guitarist] Bob

accepted an offer from keyboard player Chad Staehly, with

Weir’s TRI Studios where the band recorded their first album.

whom he had worked as part of the Great American Taxi

We have seen and been through a lot together. I try to be

set-up.

hands on and wear as many hats as possible – I’ve been

Originally a native of L.A., Tash received his BA in

wearing both the TM and PM hats since their second tour –

Communication at Colorado University in Boulder, and

but I’m also very happy to have a fantastic crew putting on

returned to California for an intensive six-month course that

the best shows we possibly can.

put him directly under the tutelage of Grammy award-

“We are now doing bigger shows and bringing in our own audio package is crucial.we’re a lot stronger as an organisation.”

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52 REAL LIVES

“Brian asked me to run monitors and put a sound package together,” explained Cargile.

Thunder Audio, whose main headquarters are in Detroit, Michigan, gave HWA a great deal, said the monitor man.

“They take really good care of the band so that we’re self contained.” The main elements currently supplied to the band by Thunder include an Avid SC48 FOH console, a Behringer X32 desk for monitors, eight Meyer Sound MJF212A wedges, an L’Acoustics SB15P self-powered drum sub, a 56-channel snake, XLRs and RapcoHorizon RoadHog touring cables as required, and an Apple MacBook Pro with Logic Pro for show recording.

Cargile gained his first experience in a small studio at a community college, he revealed. “Still, there is just no substitute for the hard-earned experience of coaxing a good live sound out of the variety of gear thrown at you in various clubs as you make your way around the country. Every musician will tell you that’s how they learned their craft, and the same goes for presenting their art to an audience. I was winning audio engineer and producer Bruce Swedien,

mixing in local clubs for long enough to make me realise it

noted for his work with Duke Ellington, Count Basie and

was time to get out of school and on the road.”

Michael Jackson. The program included an internship with

He spent a year recording shows on the road for Live

Chick Corea at his Mad Hatter Studio, during which time

Nation’s Instant Live Project, a service that provided for the

Tash was exposed to working with Tom Scott, Corea’s

distribution of digital live recordings of concerts and music

Akoustic Band and Bela Fleck’s Three Flew Over The

events, making them available soon after a performance

Cuckoo’s Nest.

ended. This led him to work with The Allman Brothers who

At the other end of the snake stands monitor engineer

decided to record their own shows and ask Cargile to work

Colin Cargile. He and Kincaid first met on a Todd Snider/

for them directly, whereupon he became part of the audio

Elizabeth Cook co-starring bill. Cargile was tour managing

crew as well as monitor engineer for Gregg Allman’s solo

Cook at the time. While on a joint show in Nashville one

projects.

night, Kincaid rented a multitrack recording package.

Sound engineers will often talk about how much easier

Cargile delivered and set it up to record Snider’s show

their job is when the musicians they are mixing know how

that night. The two became friends and Kincaid would

to work a microphone, realising that stage volume is a

often check on Cargile’s availability. When the time came

balancing act, not a contest. “Oh yeah, it all comes from the

for Hard Working Americans to ramp up their production,

source – that and a quality mic,” Tash agreed. “It’s great

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53 REAL LIVES

““Sometimes, FOH guys try to replicate a band’s album live because that is what the audience is expecting. I don’t because, after all, it is a live show.

Let the music and the players do their thing.” working with today’s consoles and everything they’re capable of, but without a good sounding source, consoles can only take you so far.” ”Definitely,” responded Cargile, “You’ll see Todd work the mic all night. He has three or four different timbres to his voice. I have very little reverb on his vocal.

Tash: “Sometimes, FOH guys try to replicate a band’s

That is the thing with this band – in monitor world, I don’t

album live because that is what the audience is expecting.

have any compressors. All I have is EQ with barely any

I don’t because, after all, it is a live show. Let the music and

other reverb on anyone’s vocals.”

the players do their thing. However, I do like to recreate

54 REAL LIVES

some stand-out production moments, such as a particular

ALL NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT

delay on Todd’s vocal or, an ethereal effect that Dave has

Brian Kincaid noted: “With just Dave, Colin and I as the

created in the studio. These encompass and bring warmth

production crew it helps that the guys are so responsible

to the room. You can hear and feel the air flow through the

while on stage. As well as being great musicians, they can

music, which is just as important to the mix as the music

take care of themselves.”

itself.”

“Neal changed a string out the other night faster than I’ve seen most techs,” offered Cargile in agreement. With a nod to Casal’s musicianship, he added, “Neal also

THE HOUSE SYSTEM Industry veteran Lloyd Kinkade has been

he has mixed for Hank Williams Jr., The Atlanta Rhythm Section, 38 Special and countless others. His wealth of experience and talent led him to a position with Yamaha as a designer and engineer.

Load-In spoke with Kinkade

about the Yamaha/Nexo house system

d worke on at sou nd ing c tt he ge

sales firm Rock’n’Road Audio,

at the Buckhead Theater, which he designed and

played the last three songs last night with only five strings and I never heard any audio evidence that he was

now with ne ight w s gr o n pin gs lo

former co-owner of rental and

• “There is day.” def h c ini a e te k c

a FOH engineer for 30 years. The

in the air. It’s al z z ld bu ev a e y l

hampered in any way.”

Multitrack recording cued from monitor world keeps an aural document for future reproduction while, at FOH, a two-track recording

is made as a back-up. “There is definitely a buzz in the air,”

said Cargile, “It’s all developing

right now with new songs getting worked on at soundcheck each day.”

“I feel extremely fortunate to be

commissioned. “As a designer, I want to give the guy at

working with these guys,” Tash added. “The dynamic on

the desk the best fighting chance he can have,” he said.

the bus could not be better. We are having fun and we’re

“I strive to create a sort of nice blank white canvas. The

excited each night to do the next show. It keeps getting

system needs to be reasonably unbiased and zones in the

better. There is a lot of direct interaction with the audience.

room need to balanced, providing the same sound pressure

The band will be firing on all cylinders and then shift gears

everywhere.”

taking the show, and the crowd, to a whole new level.”

The elements that make up a live performance are like a

This was an experience later felt and verified that

dance between the band, the engineer, the room and the

evening, as each time the band went deep in the pocket,

gear. ”You have to listen to, and work with, the physics of

the crew brought the audience along for the ride.

the venue,” comments Tash. “The band wants to feel their music in the room; feel what the audience is feeling.”

winter.2017

thunderaudioinc.com • thehardworkingamericans.com

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56

Load-In jumps aboard the Immortalized US tour in Atlantic City.

D I ST U R B E D HIGH OCTANE DELIVERY

57 LIVE & KICKING: DISTURBED

T

hose who are old enough to remember Arthur Brown and his famous burning metal helmet may be fascinated to discover that his reign as ‘God of Hellfire’ is well and truly over. It’s

finally happened: the most recent live shows by US rockers Disturbed have wielded enough firepower to put him – and, yes, even Kiss and Motley Crüe – to shame.

While the production of the band’s Immortalized tour is a veritable cornucopia of flame, making excessive use of Showtechnik Galaxis G-Flame units and liquid flames on moving racks each side of the stage, the four custom-made flaming chain curtains supplied by L.A.-based special effects company FFP – and created in close collaboration with Disturbed’s set designer Sooner Routhier and her SRae Productions partner Robert Long – are the elements that have seriously pushed the envelope to the extreme.

Although only visible for one song, ‘Inside The Fire’, the flame curtain is without question the centrepiece of an already spectacular production.

The principle of how the curtain works involved considerable R&D on the part of FFP and remains a closely guarded secret.

Suspended at the back of the stage on four custom curved I-Beam tracks and controlled through a Fisher 16-channel Navigator Automation System supplied by Show Group Production Services (SGPS), the curtain – operated by automation crew chief Juan Carlos Guarra and automation tech Heather Ennis – is both unpredictable and challenging for production manager Patrick ‘Murph’ Murphy and his team.

Explained Murphy: “Most of the issues we had on this run were pyro or flame associated. The curtain is different from most flame gags as it has an uncontrollable burn. Once it’s lit, it’s lit. You can’t hit a button and turn it off. That’s been a big issue in some buildings because it’s something the fire marshals haven’t seen before. But our pyro crew chief, Christoph Buchor, did a wonderful job of explaining it to them and making it happen for most shows. There were still a couple of venues where it was too much of a liability and we didn’t use that specific gag on those shows.”

“We had to fight a couple of times with the smaller sized venues and the weather conditions on outdoor festivals,” said Buchor. “Some

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58 LIVE & KICKING: DISTURBED

Above, clockwise from top left: pyro guys Christoph Buschor and Naloni Hydo; PM Patrick Murphy, production co-ordinator Laura Jean Hyde & TM/accountant Blaine Brinton; Juan Guarra & Heather Ennis from the automation & rigging department; Showrig and racks from SGPS.

local authorities could not imagine what we were doing.

sound reinforcement after a spell at Full Sail in Orlando,

We solved these problems by reducing the height of the

when he landed a job with Showco in 1999.

LFMs [liquid flames], changing nozzles on the flame units

“At Showco/Clair [Showco was acquired by Clair in

to reduce or increase the flame height, adjusting show

2000], I had some wonderful and stern crew chiefs who

positions, taking out some flames where necessary, not

taught me about modern touring,” Murphy commented.

shooting flames when the wind was too strong and doing

“Most of us realise it’s not all sex, drugs and rock’n’roll

precise demos for the authorities including the use of infrared

anymore. It is the music business and this is a job at the end

thermometers and video footage.”

of the day. Once I moved over to the production side, I had

Although the tour is, by modern standards, a small one

the opportunity to work for PMs who took time to answer my

with only four trucks on the road, the production packs a

questions. Dale ‘Opie’ Skjerseth, Bob ‘Hydro’ Mullin, Patrick

massive punch, not only from a visual point of view but also

Whitley, Chris Roberts and Robert Long have all been a a

from the top-notch crew led by Murphy, who got into live

great inspiration. I’ve spent much of the last seven years

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59 LIVE & KICKING: DISTURBED

Above, clockwise from top left: carpenter David Klann-Carpenter, stage manager Brad Stonner and rigger Eric Smith; PA tech Dave Ferretti, monitor engineer Ashton Parsons, stage tech & FOH engineer/Clair crew chief Brent Carpenter; the catering crew; security team members Jason Lowe & Jim Erwin.

with Robert, and he has helped me in more ways than I can

CONFIGURATION

count.”

Complementing the visual effects of the pyro extravaganza

Alongside Murphy is stage manager Brad Stonner,

and adding its own dynamic element is the stunning lighting

whose association with Disturbed stretches back to Ozzfest

design, created by lighting director Matt Mills and Sooner

in 2000 when he took on the role of their drum tech. Sixteen

Routhier (see this month’s features on their individual careers).

years later, after going on to work with System Of A Down,

The main structural identify is formed by a series of six

Audioslave, Linkin Park, Smashing Pumpkins, Black Keys,

moving trusses – attached to 12 90fpm (feet per minute)

Bob Seger, Kelly Clarkson and the Black Eyed Peas, among

1/2-tonne variable speed servo chain hoists – which

many other acts, he has finally returned to roost. “This is a

change configuration several times during the show.

great camp,” he said, “and we work very well together to

Supplied by Christie Lites in America, a pair of grandMA

put on a great show. Travel and routing have been the only

consoles drive a lighting rig that contained several Strike 4

real tough nuts to crack.”

multi-LED fixtures by Chauvet, 26 Martin MAC Quantum

winter.2017

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60 LIVE & KICKING: DISTURBED

washes, 34 MAC Vipers and 42 Atomic strobes along with

CP-218 subs from the recently-introduced Cohesion range.

a mix of Elation ZW19 washes and Chroma-Q Color Force

Carpenter, who joined Clair Global 21 years ago, runs

LED battens.

around 65 channels on an Avid Venue Profile work surface.

“On this run, we were looking for fixtures that could

Sending a clear message across the bow of the

create some very specific looks to match the stage action at any one time,” explained Mills. “There are some very highintensity songs and at the opposite end of the dynamic spectrum there’s the sevenminute acoustic set during which the band perform their hit cover of [Paul Simon’s]

analogue die-hard community, he told

“I can’t say that the old analogue stuff is much better than the modern digital gear.”

‘The Sound Of Silence’. For me, it was just

Load-In: “In 2014, I did a tour with Jack White who said he wanted analogue consoles on both ends of the snake. I was the monitor guy on that tour, so I had to go back to a Midas Heritage 3000. I was stuck with 52 channels and 28 racks of crap behind me, instead of having a

about getting the right mood for the right songs.”

computer screen that tells me everything. I can’t say that the

old analogue stuff that is made for touring is that much better

LOUD AND CLAIR

than the modern digital gear.”

Also occupying FOH space is sound engineer Brent

Proclaiming to use nothing outside of the console

Carpenter who is piloting a Clair system featuring 56 i-3

anymore, Carpenter does run a McDSP processor, system

array cabinets for the front hang and side fill, and eight

within the desk as he explained: “Colin McDowell from

winter.2017

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61 LIVE & KICKING: DISTURBED

Work in progress at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.

Below: backline tech trio Scott Davis (bass), Nick Engle (drums) and Jeremy Kleitzen (guitars).

McDSP has been extremely gracious to me. I have the

industry standard: an Audio-Technica AE4060 tube pre-amp

Emerald and the Everything Pack v6.2 for the Avid S6L, and

microphone. We have three overheads because, personally,

some of the emulations his team are doing, like the Neve

I don’t like under-head set-ups. This approach allows me

and Summit compressors, are amazing.”

to capture more of the snare drum than I do from the snare

Carpenter’s counterpart in monitor world is Ashton

drum mic itself. It is something that Brad Madix and I came

Parsons, another Avid Venue Profile user. Unlike Carpenter

up with when we were both working for Rush.”

he is running Waves plug-ins – mostly SSL E-channel strips for kicks, snares and vocals. All the monitor outputs have an API 2500 stereo compressor and Q10 EQ across them to shape the mixes because, according to Parsons, “the band prefer to have studio mixes in their ears.”

While lead singer David Draiman’s mic preference is a Telefunken M80, backing vocals are on Sennheiser e935s. The drum mics are are a variety of Audio-Technica, Shure, Audix and Neumann, with an interesting addition, as Carpenter explained: “I use an overhead mic that is not

winter.2017

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63 LIVE & KICKING: DISTURBED

This collaboration with Madix reinforces Carpenter’s

monitors, and he said to me, ‘Oh… 50% technician, 50%

strong belief that you never stop learning in this industry.

engineer. 50% physiologist and 100% bullshit!’”

Carpenter sites three individuals that have had an everlasting

For Parsons, the Avid is his go-to desk mainly because of

effect on his career. At Roadworx, the first professional

its worldwide availability, even in some of the more obscure

sound company he worked for, he met John Guertin. When

territories. “I also like to carry a set of Shure Beta 98AMPs

Carpenter joined Clair, Jo Ravitch could see something in the

[miniature cardioid drum microphones],” he said. “They’re

young engineer and took him out on his first tour, with the

small, durable and I know exactly where to put them on

pair setting up 56 S4s together every night.

a drum to get a huge sound. The biggest lesson I learned

His third influence was monitor engineer Dave Skaff,

regarding sound by playing all manner of venues, from the

with whom he toured on U2’s PopMart alongside Ravitch.

smallest of clubs to the biggest rooms, is to be adaptable,

“Watching Skaff, I learned how to deal with your artist.

be open to change, and compromise. It’s only about making

Sometimes you have to be direct with them and sometimes

a show happen, not about your ego.”

you have to be careful what you say,” he commented.

Disturbed are on tour throughout Europe with Avenged

“When I joined Rush for the first time, I remember introducing

Sevenfold until the middle of March.

myself to Neil Peart as the guy who would doing his

winter.2017

Photography by Todd Kaplan

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64

THE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2016

IMMORTALIZED

Automation Technician Heather Ennis Pyro FFP Pyro Crew Chief Christoph Buchor Pyro Technician Naloni Hydo Backline Technicians Nick Engle Jeremy Kleitzen Scott Davis Radios & WiFi Road Radios/Road WiFi Trucking On Tour Logistics Buses Breeze Coaches Backdrops Sew What?

D I ST U R B E D

Matt Mills Lighting Crew Chief Alan ‘Hippie’ Gregg Lighting Techician Austin Schusler Dimmer Technician Arnold Pereria Audio Clair Global FOH Engineer/ Audio Crew Chief Brent Carpenter Monitor Engineer Ashton Parsons Stage Technician Corey Harris PA Technician David Ferretti Automation/Crew Chief Juan Guarra

IMMORTALIZED

winter.2017

Production Manager Patrick Murphy Production Co-Ordinator Laura Jean Hyde Tour Manager/Accountant Blaine Brinton Stage Manager Brad Stonner Carpenter David ‘Detroit’ Klann Rigger Erik Smith Set Gallagher Staging Show Designer Sooner Routhier Lighting Christie Lights Lighting Designer/ Director

THE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2016

D I ST U R B E D

LIVE & KICKING: DISTURBED

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66

Like most who choose to join – or seem to just end up in – this circus we call touring, Matt Mills fell into it through his love of music.

W

Known for his work as LD for Disturbed, Mötley Crüe, Linkin Park and Avenged Sevenfold, Mills was a serious ’80s metal kid.

hen I was growing up in Jacksonville,

Before long, I started getting calls from other local

Florida, if a concert rolled into town, I was

nightclubs to come over and do some programming

there. After a while I became intrigued by

and equipment maintenance. Naturally, I grabbed every

the productions, some of which were elaborate. Around

opportunity that came along, which helped me with real

this time, a nightclub chain opened a new local venue. I

world experience, along with the chance to play with many

imagined their lighting guy was from another city and that

different lights and controllers.

they’d be eager to get someone in there to replace him so

When my first “What am I doing with my life? Where

he could go home. It turned out to be true and I ever-so-

is this so-called career going?” moment hit me, the best

slightly lied my way into a job there, figuring things out later.

solution was to take a vacation and so I went to Disneyland.

This business will never let you go once it has you, and

That first gig was an exciting, nerve-wracking experience.

The resident rig contained six High End Intellabeams, four

although there are times when you question yourself, the

Emulators and 12 Dataflash, all run off the old High End

industry will always find a way to lure you back in, even on

joystick controllers. After being there for about six months,

a Disney holiday where I saw tons of the same lights I was

the owners brought in a PAR can rig but I just didn’t get it –

using in the clubs.

why the hell would I want something like that? It didn’t move,

I quickly put together a very embellished resumé and got

it didn’t change colour and it seemed worthless. It wasn’t

an interview with the park. Although I didn’t get hired at

long before I learned how to get a PAR can rig into the mix

that interview, they passed my resumé to the House of Blues

and it was a great learning experience for me so early on.

which was just about to open. Fortunately, they had the faith

winter.2017

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67 HOW I JOINED THE CIRCUS

Right: Matt Mills, foreground, with (L-R) dimmer tech Arnold Pereria, lighting tech Austin Schulser and lighting crew chief Alan ‘Hippie’ Gregg.

to hire me. That break was the opportunity I needed: I could work with a much bigger rig, a real lighting console, and with a lot of incoming LDs. I learned from a lot of great people on that gig. The old road dogs at the House of Blues shared a wealth of knowledge with me. Guys like Gary Curtis, Frodo Haug, Big Bob and Cameron Grant took me under their wing and got me on my way, helping me to establish my personal work ethic within the context of what I do. I owe a lot to them.

rig. Once it all checks out and goes to trim, I will knock out

Those work ethics have stayed with me and are now

a focus and update any notes I had from the previous show.

almost second nature. For example, when I arrive at a venue

Then at that point, I like to turn it over to the opening act’s LD

first thing in the morning, I typically walk the stage to see if

so they can take care of their show.

there will be any load-in issues and identify any necessary

I often run lights for opening acts who don’t have an LD;

changes. After that, it’s off to catering for breakfast. Mother

I’m usually around FOH anyway to make sure other LDs get

always said it is the most important meal of the day.

networked into the system without any problems arising. My

As soon as I finish and the coffee kicks in, I start building

rig has to be reliable. It’s no good to me if it doesn’t operate

FOH so I can be ready to send out test cues for the lighting

come showtime.

68 HOW I JOINED THE CIRCUS

Above, top row, left to right: Mills in control; Linkin Park on their 2012-2013 Living Things world tour.

Second row: Avenged Sevenfold; Disturbed in 2010; Mötley Crüe.

ESSENTIAL KIT

tour, and every rig I have taken out has featured moving

My main vendor is Christie Lites, and they are primarily a

lights. Looking back on when I started, I see it as a step to

Martin house which works for me. I have been taking Martin

where the industry and I have evolved to today. We have

gear on tour for a long time, and it has always been rock

access to so much technology and the great thing is that

solid on tour. I am enjoying the Viper line of fixtures that are

it keeps changing and keeping us on our toes as touring

out there now. The new Atomic LED is also amazing. I have

professionals, requiring us to learn continually.

always been a fan of the grandMA console series and have

It’s also great to see a steady flow of the newer

been behind an MA since the grandMA1’s software version

generation coming into the industry. I feel very fortunate

2.0. I now own two grandMA2 Lite consoles.

to be where I am and enjoy what I do now. I used to be

A lot has changed since those early days, I was never

a mechanic before that House of Blues job so I am very

part of the PAR can generation – I came into this industry

appreciative for all the help I have received throughout the

when moving lights were starting to show up on every

years and I do my best to help others who are just starting

“Shut up,watch and learn from those around you.The opportunity will come so make the most of it when it does.” winter.2017

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69 HOW I JOINED THE CIRCUS

The Tommy Lee Crüecifly stunt.

out. My advice to them is always the same: shut up, watch

During the final Mötley Crüe tour, the ‘Crüecifly’, Tommy

and learn from those around you. The opportunity will come

Lee’s famous, heroic drum solo stunt [performed on an

so make the most of it when it does. And always be early –

overhead ‘rollercoaster’ truss], had been running for 10+

that goes a long way in my opinion.

hours a day during pre-production, and it was so new that it was raining metal flakes on me each time it passed over.

DIVERSITY

Well, opening night came and all of us at FOH were

Every day is different and I love that. I don’t do well with

nervous. Everything was going well, however, unknown

things being the same, day-in, day-out. I love making friends

to me, someone had put a tripod camera on the landing

across the world and being able to see amazing places, all

platform at FOH; that camera had vibrated during the drum

while earning a living for myself.

solo and come crashing down on my riser. I was convinced

Of course, like most professionals, the downside of this

that the Crüecifly was coming down and I bailed, with my

circus is being away from my family. Our kids are at the age

in-ears ripping out and my headset sent flying as I jumped

where they travel well, so we make it a point to have the

over the barricade on to a row of fans. I was out of there.

family out for a visit at some point during the tour. Despite

Meanwhile, my FOH tech was giving me a “What the hell

that, I can’t think of any other job I would want to do. It

is wrong with you?” look. It scared the shit out of me.

is hard at times, but there are also lots of great and funny

As I say, every day day is different!

moments, as well as the occasional opportunity to make a complete fool of yourself!

winter.2017

Photography © Todd Kaplan, Matt Bishop, Chris Bullock & Mike Lau

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71

John Kane writes about legendary sound engineer Bill Hanley’s part in The Beatles’ final concert tour.

R

on Howard’s celebrated 2016 documentary

Watching the film, it quickly becomes evident that

‘The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring

Beatlemania peaked at a time when the technology around

Years’ gave audiences a healthy snapshot of

them was not yet at full apogee. Although the film grants

the band’s unprecedented and unequalled four-

viewers an all access pass into their intimate world, it leaves

year progression from the Cavern Club in Liverpool to San

much behind in terms of the band’s issues with – and lack of

Francisco’s Candlestick Park where, in August 1966, they

– sound reinforcement.

gave their final live public performance before reinventing

When pioneering sound engineer Bill Hanley (inset),

themselves as a working unit.

known to many as the father of

The film reminds us of just how rabid Beatle audiences

festival sound, met The Beatles in

were and how the deafening screech they made –

1966, the quality of live concert

comparative with the volume of a jet engine – meant that

sound from one venue to another

Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr would suffer greatly

was purely a game of chance. To

when trying to hear each other perform.

reach their audience, most bands

winter.2017

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72 LEGACY

with matching (and tilting) cabinets that were fitted with four 12” Vox Bulldog loudspeakers, plus crossovers, and two HF horns. Though a step forward for instrument reinforcement, even the efforts of Vox designer Dick Denney failed to break through the cacophony.

UNANNOUNCED When Boston-based garage rock band The Remains landed the gig of a lifetime, backing The Beatles on their 1966 North American tour, their old sound engineer Bill Hanley arrived unannounced at Chicago’s International Amphitheater and convinced the band to use his equipment once more for at least a few of the dates, with no promise of any payment.

Fortunately for Hanley, when Beatles manager Brian Epstein heard the quality of The Remains’ relied solely on their backline amplification and a house

Altec Lansing sound system he hired the engineer on the

public address system that invariably was designed for no

spot, inviting him to accompany the band on most of the

more than announcements; unfortunately for The Beatles it

East Coast dates on a tour that covered 14 cities and

was no different.

consisted of 19 shows at sports stadia and racetracks.

By 1966, however, public demand meant that the Fab

When The Remains opened for The Beatles to 25,000

Four had long graduated from theatres and were inventing

screaming fans in Chicago, writer Judith Sims was sitting

what we now refer to as stadium rock. As a consequence,

behind the stage and gave a telling account of the live

their need for more power had hit crisis level.

experience, claiming that the “roar was deafening”, her

In many ways, The Beatles set the standard of what good

“ears were ringing” and “it’s a wonder The Beatles can see

concert sound should be like by demonstrating how bad it

or hear at all after going through that so often.”

really was. This was, after all, a time when the concept of

Sadly, this was a problem Hanley faced on most of

sound reinforcement was still fairly new one.

the tour and even though he took his equipment halfway

For the ’66 tour, the Fabs acquired a set of specially

across America for the world’s biggest band, he could never

designed Vox Super Beatle 100 watt on-stage amplifiers

imagine the consequences of so many screaming girls.

THE BEATLES set the standard of what good concert sound should be like by demonstrating how bad it really was. winter.2017

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73 legacy

Right: Altec Lansing’s 210 LF horn and 203B cell.

Below right: The Vox Super Beatle.

According to The Remains’ bassist Vern Miller, “Using Hanley’s equipment felt like the big time. I had never seen a PA like that. Bill was really smart and really knew his stuff inside and out. He saw a need and he was right there at the right time developing this stuff.”

Not every show had constant screaming. Southern fans, for example, seemed more polite and it was possible to actually hear oneself with intermittent lulls in the screaming as The Beatles tore into their regular set, which averaged around 35 minutes long. Due to the venue’s sheer size, however, the performance at New York’s Shea Stadium on August 23rd proved to be another story.

According to Remains leader Barry Tashian, Shea Stadium had more in attendance compared to other shows on the tour; the 44,600 crowd, he says, was “restless and noisy.” Here, Hanley’s total system power consisted of only 600 watts, with no stage monitors. The configuration was comprised of a dozen “monster” Altec 210 low frequency horns (as used in the famous ‘Voice of the Theatre’ cinema systems), Altec 203B multi cells with 288 drivers, and a 600W RMS amplifier built by RCA and weighing around 300lbs, which the sound engineer claims was surplus equipment from a battleship.

For previous events, Hanley would keep his speakers at most of these ballparks performances low to the ground, spreading them out amongst the bases of the field in order to contain the reverberation and the sound from bouncing all over the venue. At Shea, however, the configuration was

slightly different. Here, he kept his speakers in two separate

example of the challenges any sound engineer of the day

clusters at stage left and right for more concentrated sound

would have encountered. In just three more years, almost to

pressure levels. While The Beatles played and the crowds

the day, Bill Hanley would provide sound reinforcement for

screamed, the 30-year-old sound engineer sat focused at

an event of a lifetime - the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in

his console in between the home plate and first base.

Bethel, New York.

winter.2017

Hanley’s innovations at Shea Stadium are a prime

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74 legacy

The Fabs vs. the Shea Stadium audience with (above right) Hanley’s Altec gear. Inset: Hanley, a month before the tour began.

INSANITY

drumming in a vacuum. I’d be watching John’s foot or and

Now 79 and living in Massachusetts, Bill Hanley reflects on

Paul’s arse to get a clue as to where we were in a song.

the Shea concert as “sheer insanity… you didn’t even know

It had become a joke. We had to come off the road to

there was a concert going on.” He adds: “You couldn’t do

preserve our ability to play together, if nothing else.”

your job very well because you couldn’t hear yourself think.”

Three months after the American tour came to an end

Although Hanley could not fully overcome this intensity,

in San Francisco, The Beatles regrouped at Abbey Road

many claim that his impact on this Beatles tour changed the

Studios in London to start work on a new song, ‘Strawberry

concept of live sound moving forward.

Fields Forever’ and take their first steps towards creating

Future developments in audio, however, would arrive

the iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. A new

too late to save the Fabs’ touring career. “The problem

chapter in pop music’s greatest story was just beginning.

was that touring under such circumstances had turned us into mediocre players,” recalled Ringo Starr, during the promotion of Ron Howard’s documentary. “My job was reduced to just keeping time; if I tried doing a fill, it was like

Photography: Sid Bernstein Archives, the Hanley Collection, David Griffin and courtesy of JBL Professional Additional text by Mark Cunningham

John Kane is a post-grad doctoral student, musicologist and educator whose 2014 dissertation, ‘The Last Seat in the House: The Story of Hanley Sound’ is now being turned into a book and documentary film with footage he captured while immersed in his studies. Find out more at www.thelastseatinthehouse.com

winter.2017

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76

77

Planet Bliss Meet Sally Morris, the massage therapist with the rejuvenating touch, whose backstage On The Spot team promotes the well-being of artists and crew alike

T

hanks to many 1970s adult films that

Massage therapist Sally Morris is a firm believer in

invariably matched a moustachioed

the many positive benefits of not only massage

plumber with a lonely housewife, to

itself but also of the whole complementary

the strains of a glockenspiel soundtrack, the

therapy genre. Through her business, On The

subject of massage may conjure up unsavoury

Spot, she and her team have been dishing out

thoughts. Fortunately, that has all changed and

stress-free and tranquil therapeutic sessions in

alternative therapies now form a much needed

backstage situations around the world for several

aspect of relaxation for many who work on the road.

winter.2017

years.

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78 REAL LIVES

“At On The Spot we work with both the artists and crew,”

feedback. As part of our service, we also give the client a

insists Sally. “My passion lies in helping the people who

lot of advice about how to look after themselves on a day-to-

work hard within the touring industry. I don’t mind who I

day basis.”

work with; it’s not about the glamour for me, but the chance

Taking an holistic approach means that it’s not just the

to help someone deal with their problems.”

physical aspects that get addressed, but also the whole

This open and honest approach has seen Morris and

mental, emotional and spiritual side of things. Adapting

her team gain respect, and many accolades within live

every treatment to suit the personal needs of each client

entertainment. Artists such as James Smith of Foals and Biffy

makes the experience far more intimate and productive.

Clyro’s James Johnson have become regular clients, with

“When we first meet a client, we will sit down and talk

nothing but words of praise for the therapists’ magic hands.

to them to find out about their lifestyle, diet, the type of

“The great thing is that when the client is sitting or lying

work they do and any recurring pains or health issues. The

down for their massage there are no egos, whoever it is that

stresses and strains on the body will be very different for

may be in the hands, literally, of someone else. After the

someone who is a lighting operator, compared to a rigger

session, they feel more relaxed, less stressed and grateful,”

or production manager, because of the different ways they

Sally explains.

are using their bodies for their work. This information gives

“Many artists have said to me over the years, ‘you have

us a good idea of how to make sure the session provides

saved my career,’ and it’s really nice to have that kind of

the maximum benefit.”

“Many artists have said to me over the years,‘you have saved my career,’and it’s really nice to have that kind of feedback.” winter.2017

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79 REAL LIVES

QUALIFIED The team that Sally has assembled around her is undoubtedly of the highest quality. Most are qualified instructors and Sally herself is a respected teacher of several techniques. Her main area of speciality is the art of Myofascial Release, a specialised physical and manual therapy used for the effective treatment and rehabilitation of soft tissue, and fascial tension and restrictions.

“One thing we look at before the client gets in the chair or on the couch is their posture which tells us where the restrictions are,” says Sally. “They might have a pain in their calf, but it is being generated from their lower back.

Quite often, the pain is not where the physical problem is, and the two are not always related.”

AFTER CARE

Another important aspect of the session is the time the

Once a session with On The Spot ends, the after care

client has available – their visit is usually taken during a

continues with some advice on how to take care of yourself

break in their working day on-site. That they may also be

with, for instance, the aid of a tennis ball. “It’s one of the

going straight back to work after the session is another factor

easiest things to carry in your luggage, and if you do take

that requires consideration as Sally explains: “If their job

one with you, you effectively have a massage therapist with

involves a high level of alertness, then we can’t get them too

you at all times,” comments Sally, who is based in Essex.

relaxed. We will start by getting them as relaxed as possible

“While you are in your hotel room, place the ball

for a short space of time, then finish off with something a bit

between your back and the wall or floor, and move up

more vigorous which will make sure that by the end of the

and down, this helps to stretch your spine and your back,

session they are alert and focused.”

reducing tension and muscle tightness. It also helps to put

winter.2017

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80 REAL LIVES

pressure on any trigger points that are particularly sensitive

laptop for hours at a time, can also develop problems.

and related to the pain in another part of your body. If you

The shoulders stay in a rounded position for a long period

have a headache, it will often be the result of a tight muscle

and the back becomes curved in a downward direction,

elsewhere in the body, normally the shoulders. Once you

resulting in a head forward posture. Gravity then comes into

apply pressure to the trigger point, it breaks the connection

play and the head moves further forward to the extent that

to the pain.”

it restricts easy movement of your arms or your head itself.

In the modern world of touring, it is not just the guys and

Over time, this can lead to detrimental physical problems.

girls out on the venue floor that can suffer because of their

Sally says: “Sometimes it feels like we are detectives

job; the team in the production office, sitting hunched over a

when a client comes to us on the road. We only have a short space of time to identify the problem and to offer a solution. My team has years of experience and along with

Massage & Complementary Therapies

that comes the gift of intuition which we rely on to help us

Festivals | Concerts | Events | Exhibitions | Offices

pinpoint not only the physical problem but also the best course of treatment.”

Having experienced an on-tour massage, I understand not only the passion that Ms. Morris obviously has for what she does but also the amazing feeling of contentment and relaxation that’s follows the session. Sitting in the production office at Wembley Arena, feeling so relaxed that I couldn’t

en

t

move, I remembered On The Spot’s mantra, “Freeing

fo r

o yo u a n d y

ur

ev

“Wonderful, I think you have just saved my career.”

James Smith, Foals

“They have been the definition of ‘service with a smile’ at our events.”

F2F Events

“A really consistent, professional, friendly service.”

Lou Fitzpatrick, Silver Hayes at Glastonbury

“Probably the best massage I’ve ever had.”

James Johnson, Biffy Clyro

+44 (0) 7989 280469

www.massageonthespot.co.uk

treatments where and when you need them

winter.2017

bodies, opening hearts, widening smiles,” and can confirm that it’s absolutely true.

Photography by Fredi Brinkworth & Sally Morris

Sally Morris returns in our next issue with the first part of her exclusive Load-In series on self-healing techniques

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82

SPACE RITUAL Hawkwind

Released on May 11th 1973 on United Artists Records.

Recorded at Liverpool Stadium & Brixton Sundown, December 1972 by Vic Maile.

Mixed by Anton Matthews & Vic Maile at Olympic Studios, Barnes. Produced by Hawkwind.

by Mark Cunningham dominant in the music echoing around my pal Tony’s house. I was only nine – what did I know?

Almost a year later, I was making one of

my regular browsing visits to Harlequin Records in Upton Park when a promo poster on the wall grabbed my attention. This intricate and colourful piece of art would look perfect on my bedroom wall, I thought, as its emblazoned words ‘Space Ritual’ triggered my innocent imagination. The record shop manager seemed to think so, too. He had already supplied me with numerous flyers and huge posters in the past, and happened to have a spare.

A weird obsession about an album I had not

yet even heard, and wouldn’t for another year, began that day.

Recorded over two nights, Space Ritual Alive

ome time between Bowie’s ‘Starman’ and Sweet’s

S

in Liverpool and London, to give its full title, documented the

‘Ballroom Blitz’, I was briefly a Hawkwind fan,

creative peak of Hawkwind’s long, multifarious career, and

thanks to the long-haired brother of a school friend

specifically a tour intended to promote new album Doremi

who graced us with repetitive plays of his latest record shop

Fasol Latido, that ended up achieving a mythical status

purchase, ‘Silver Machine’, one summer afternoon in 1972.

amongst rock fans.

Previously unaware of the band and this, their only major

Led by mainstay guitarist and singer Dave Brock, the

hit, I was fooled into believing that someone had left the

ever-changing band – once described as “Star Trek with

kettle boiling. But no… it was a new-fangled EMS VCS3

long hair and drugs“ – then featured Nik Turner on sax, flute

synth that was creating the distinctive, high-pitched whistle so

and vocals, synth player Del Dettmar, electronic effects

winter.2017

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83 CLASSIC LIVE ALBUMS

wizard Michael ‘DikMik’ Davies and

Its main fantasy narrative married the

three relatively new members: freak poet

suspended animation of Starfarers as

Robert Calvert, future Motörhead icon

they travelled through space and time,

Lemmy Kilmister on bass and vocals and

with the ancient, metaphysical concept

ace drummer Simon King, who brought

of the ‘Music of the Spheres’. Are you

a harder edge to the band’s sound.

still with me, kiddies?

A nebulous audio-visual ‘opera’

As well as later designing the

created to surpass the live psychedelic

extraordinary double album package

‘freakouts’ of the mid-to-late ’60s, the

with the two discs housed inside a 3 x

Space Ritual show itself was based

2 foldout, Bubbles was responsible for

around lysergically-charged sci-fi themes

the stage presentation that toured Britain

invented by Calvert, Colin Fulcher, a.k.a.

in the November and December of ’72,

graphic art visionary Barney Bubbles,

and accommodated the trippy, naked

and introduced by Andy Dunkley, a

cavorting of Amazonian dancer Stacia

regular DJ at the Roundhouse and

Blake (above right) – Notting Hill Gate’s

Aylesbury’s hip venue, Friars.

answer to Barbarella – and

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84 CLASSIC LIVE ALBUMS

Left from top: Another on-stage scene; Jonathan ‘Liquid Len’ Smeeton; Lemmy and Dave Brock.

‘Molten Mick’ Hart, ‘Astral Al’ Alan Day and John Perrin.

Pioneering in many ways,

‘Len’ and his team frontprojected 3D images on to the stage, washing over the band, while a 61-key colour organ remotely controlled a mirror ball, creating a “direct relationship between colours, light and shade, and sound,” according Calvert’s menacing poetry recitals ‘The

to Astral Al.

Awakening’, ‘10 Seconds Of Forever’

For a short time, Liquid Len & The

and ’Sonic Attack’, a kind of cosmic

Lensmen was the brand name behind

information broadcast, penned by sci-fi

the UK’s leading light show, thanks to

author Michael Moorcock.

Space Ritual’s exposure. The press were unanimous in their praise: Disc magazine

CREATING THE AMBIENCE

reported that “…aside from Joe’s lights’

The Space Ritual shows were not so

collaboration with the Grateful Dead, this

much concerts as an attack on the senses,

is the first time that light and sound have

not least due to the work of esteemed

fused as a whole, each a part of the

lighting designer Jonathan Smeeton (later

other.”

to work with the Stones, Wham!, Marilyn

After ‘Silver Machine’ reached No.3

Manson and Taylor Swift) who conjured

in the chart and some real money poured

an unprecedented 20-projector light show

in, Hawkwind seized the opportunity to

under the guise of Liquid Len, with the

make some wise investments in

support of fellow Lensmen John Lee, Mike

hardware, following in the tradition of

Hawkwind seized the opportunity to make some wise investments in hardware, following in the tradition of Yes and Pink Floyd. winter.2017

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85 CLASSIC LIVE ALBUMS

Right: The Pye Mobile, shortly before the Space Ritual recordings.

Yes and Pink Floyd. Simultaneously bank rolling Smeeton’s light show and the visuals, Hawkwind ploughed cash into vehicles for transporting themselves and more than a ton of equipment that included their own PA and numerous items such as a headphone comms system for the crew, all designed and built with electronics guru Perrin in Belsize

RECORDING

Park.

The main figure behind the recording of Space Ritual was

The crew, known as the Roadhawks, also included

Vic Maile, who began his career as an engineer for Pye

manager Doug Smith, Alex ‘Higgy’ Higgins, Gerry

Records’ Mobile Recording Unit in the ’60s, capturing the

Fitzgerald, sound engineer Steve Casey and PA/backline

likes of Hendrix, Zeppelin, Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Small

tech Bob ‘Ginger’ Batty.

Faces and The Kinks for live releases.

the event industry’s leading

health & safety services provider

+44 (0)7831 437062 info@stagesafe.co.uk

WWW.STAGESAFE.CO.UK

86 CLASSIC LIVE ALBUMS

Maile was also involved

Olympic Studios in Barnes early

in the recording of The Who’s

in 1973, preparing it for its May

monumental Live At Leeds in

release whereupon it climbed to

1970, and this fact alone was

No.9 in the UK chart. It remains

enough to inspire Hawkwind

the most commercially successful

to hire his services – and those

ralbum of Hawkwind’s 47-year

of the Pye Mobile – to record

history.

two shows at the end of the tour at Liverpool Stadium (the local

LEMMY: AN APPRAISAL

home of boxing and wrestling)

In the spring of 2009, I was

on December 22nd and the

fortunate to have a brief chat with

newly-opened Sundown venue in

Lemmy about the album that fired

Brixton on December 30th.

my pre-teen imagination all those

Pye had recently upgraded

years ago.

its mobile service, refitting its

“Can you think of an LP sleeve

equipment into a new, articulated

that’s seen more skinning up

vehicle that by 1972 was in

than Space Ritual? No, I didn’t

direct competition with the better-

think so!” he laughed, with his

known Rolling Stones Mobile.

unmistakeable, Marlboro-stained

The truck offered 16-track

cackle.

recording via a pair of 3M

“It’s one of those albums that

M56 multitrack machines and

can really take you on a journey.

two Neve Series 80 desks, with

I haven’t listened to it in years

Tannoy Lockwood speakers

but I know that if you have your

providing the monitoring.

headphones on loud and take

With assistance from engineer

the right kind of chemicals, you

Anton Matthews and direction

can easily start to imagine what

from Brock and Dettmar, Vic

it was like to be at one of those

Maile mixed Space Ritual at

shows, which were probably

“CAN YOU THINK OF AN LP SLEEVE THAT’S SEEN MORE SKINNING UP THAN SPACE RITUAL?” winter.2017

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87 CLASSIC LIVE ALBUMS

more psychedelic than anything that was happening in ’66 or ’67. In fact, they were some of the best gigs ever. I just wish I could’ve been in the audience.”

“Dave Brock was definitely the captain of the dynamics.

We’d often play for three hours sometimes – a full-on, relentless show of free-form consciousness. We didn’t even stop between numbers. I’m just glad we had the foresight to get it on an album so the madness is preserved.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Of that original Space Ritual cast, Bob Calvert and Andy Dunkley have now sadly died. In December 2015, they were joined by Lemmy, whose loss will be mourned around the world for years to come. Today, aged 75, Dave Brock continues to captain the good spaceship Hawkwind.

advertising ˈadvətʌɪzɪŋ/ noun: advertising

the activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services.

advertise ˈadvətʌɪz/ verb

gerund or present participle: advertising • describe or draw attention to (a product, service or event) in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance.

• publicise information about (a vacancy).

• make (a quality or fact) known.

• synonyms: publicise, make public, make known, give publicity to, bill, post, announce, broadcast, proclaim, trumpet, shout from the rooftops, give notice of, call attention to, promulgate, promote, market, merchandise, peddle, display, tout, build up, beat/bang the drum for, trail, trailer; informal: push, plug, hype, hype up, give a plug to, puff, boost, flog.

Whether you’re banging your drum or promulgating profoundly, be sure to discuss all your advertising plans with the Load-In team.

We look forward to hearing from you.

sales@load-ininternational.com

89

OUR WORLD...

UK

ACQUISITIONS? THE FACTS & THE FICTION While the tail end of 2016 gave us news of Samsung

Although quick to deny the existence of any such deal,

Electronics’ intention to acquire Harman International

Grant admitted that the two firms have entered into a

Industries for the princely sum of $8 billion, leaving many

“coexistence” agreement.

concerned about the future direction of Harman’s long-

As a solution to the imminent expiration of Clair UK’s

established pro audio brands as well as the Martin

leasehold at its Luton premises, the company

Professional lighting range, the first week

is set to move its staff and inventory into

of January saw the social media rumour

Brit Row’s Twickenham base around

mill spring into life with speculation

the end of January as part of an

of an unlikely transatlantic marriage

“exclusive trading partnership”.

between two sound rental giants.

Despite the possibility of

Load-In learned from a number

the move sending out mixed

of sources that Philadelphia-based

messages, Grant insisted: “It

Clair Global had agreed terms

is not a big thing and that’s

to acquire south London’s Britannia

why we haven’t made a formal

Row Productions and put into motion an “adjustment programme”, eventually resulting in

announcement.”

It is most unfortunate that on this occasion we

Brit Row becoming absorbed into Clair UK. This, however,

are not able to use the word “synergy” or phrases such as

does not turn out to be the case according to Brit Row’s

“complete end-to-end solution”, however, we will keep an

managing director Bryan Grant (pictured).

eye on future developments.

winter.2017

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90

...Random news & views

STEVIE’S GOLDEN MYTHOS Teaming up with special guests the Pretenders, Fleetwood Mac chanteuse Stevie Nicks launched the first North American leg of her 24 Karat Gold Tour at the end of 2016, her first solo outing in four years.

Production designer Paul Guthrie of Toss Film &

of the trusses, upstage of the video wall, create layers

Design chose 88 Clay Paky Mythos fixtures for the lighting

to add depth.” Eight more Mythos are positioned on the

rig, controlled from a grandMA2 console, after previously

floor upstage of the band “to set fire” to their dynamic

deploying Mythos on tours for Miranda Lambert and

performance.

Macklemore.

on the downstage and mid-stage trusses, and repositions

Guthrie aimed to “create something new and a bit more

Pretenders LD Tom Wagstaff deploys about 60 Mythos,

modern” for her new show, he explained. “Stevie enjoys

the complement on the floor. Meanwhile, two grandMA2

using video content so the tour features a lot of video on

full-size consoles, one active and one back up, and two

an LED video wall backdrop and L-shaped scenic pieces.

NPUs are on hand to “literally run everything that’s moving

Our overwhelming lighting edict is always no smoke. So

and changing on stage that’s not the actual band,” noted

we defer to lighting the band and adding in layers of light

Guthrie, who worked with Chris Lose to program the show.

to create new looks.”

“We control all the lights, the video, the hoists and the

Supplied by PRG’s Las Vegas office, the versatility of

scenic movement from the board. I’m extremely fortunate

Mythos offers myriad options to Guthrie. “It’s fun to have

to work with a lot of very clever MA users so I’m constantly

one light that can produce a multitude of different effects

learning new tricks.

in the same head,” he said. “Mythos is basically the

workhorse light in the rig.”

Nelson, Matt Schiller and Scott Naef are the lighting crew.

The tour resumes in Reno, Nevada on February 23rd.

Eighty Mythos are mounted in the overhead lighting

Thomas Mayer is Nicks’ lighting crew chief and Cecil

trusses where they form solid lines. Guthrie commented:

Stevie Nicks appears with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

“On the downstage and mid-stage trusses they provide

and The Lumineers in Hyde Park on July 9th as part of

stage wash and beam effects. Those on the most upstage

Barclaycard British Summer Time.

winter.2017

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91 REAR EXIT

COMING SOON IN THE FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE OF

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS JUSTIN BIEBER ER PRODUCTIONS’ CYCLONE LASER BRYAN GRANT SELF HEALING WITH SALLY MORRIS IAN ANDERSON TALKS TULL AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

PINK FLOYD

PERFORMANCE & TECHNOLOGY

A SEVEN-PART digital publication OMNIBUS BY mark cunningham email info@load-ininternational.com to register for updates