IN PROFILE
The Pains Fireworks team at its Salisbury HQ. Some examples of the company’s recent work at Salisbury Cathedral and The Hundred at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
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full-time staff in our Dubai office and a single member of staff looking after the Irish base.” The company has also added several sales staff to help grow the business. With that being said, with the everincreasing list of jobs Pains is now undertaking – not to mention the seasonality of a lot of their firework displays – the company has begun to explore the option of bringing in more freelancers to aid in its increasing workload. Following the ground-breaking Sheeran show, Griffiths discussed how he hoped the company would continue to push into this new market. “We already do quite a few big gigs out in Dubai – especially when artists come over to do one-off shows – and as such we’re already speaking to some production managers. However, people are often very loyal to their team, and we don’t want to start poaching artists and clients.” In fact, an ethos that seems to come from the top down at Pains Fireworks is to be as friendly and easy to work with as possible. “We knew that we were the new faces for Ed’s tour, which is a really longstanding, established touring family,” stated Griffiths. “I didn’t want our team to just come in, rig the pyro then disappear until show time. From the first gig in Dublin, all the team were helping other
departments to load trucks, and that ethos continued throughout the run.” Griffiths went on to explain how he thought that this ethos might encourage PMs to bring in Pains much earlier when planning a tour. “Pyro is sometimes the last element to get added to the show; it would be nice to be included sooner so we can provide a more integrated solution, and that is certainly our goal for future projects.” This planning doesn’t just create more integrated shows, but also saves money for production. “One of the biggest issues we face is the cost of shipping,” said Griffiths. “A few years ago, sending a shipment to the US would be around $2,500, whereas now you could be talking about $10,000. It has become even more vital that we get sign off for shows sooner than before, as we are needing to plan as far in advance as possible for shows both due to the shipping issues and the differing regulations in each territory when it comes to special effects.” Despite these obstacles, Pains Fireworks seems to be in a prime position to throw its hat into the ring for more large-scale tours, and the company could well become a staple on supplier lists in the future. www.painsfireworks.com