When 24-year-old Alex Kay was called on to go out for two months with up-and-comer ZZ Ward, it was a test of how much he could do with how little.
He’s passed that test. Kay’s streamlined approach is out of the box and into the backpack: No console? No problem. All the tools he’s using to drive house lights and six Elation Platinum Beam 5R are a pair of Martin USB-DMX boxes, a touchscreen display, a $99 Akai APC Mini MIDI controller and a $30 Logitech joystick. He has a suitcase-sized case for his controlling system that he can roll on an airplane and fit in the overhead. For the festival gig, he just puts it all into a backpack. “It’s more rewarding using gear in a different way then intended and having a great looking show with what you’ve got,” he says.
He’s also got an interesting act to work with: Ward grew up in the Northeast, listening to her father’s blues albums and her brother’s hip hop albums, and you hear it all in her original, engaging music. Helping it is a trio of technically maniacal musicians. Judging from the crowd at the 2,000-capacity Pageant in St. Louis one rainy September night, this is a band to watch. While it’s easy to imagine her doing arena gigs with an arena-sized budget in the not so distant future, it falls on Kay to provide a visually stimulating show worthy of the music now.
Learning by Doing
Kay started DJ-ing early on, and by 17 he was working the Cleveland clubs. A chance meeting with rapper Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) led to running his lights in clubs even before he was old enough to order a drink, followed by tours since 2012. Kay is completely self-taught. “I just messed with lighting controllers, read manuals, and figured it out as I went.” He adds that part of his training is his stack of PLSNs. “I have a giant stack of those magazines in my house,” he laughs. “I use those to keep up with the gear, and see what’s [working] on other tours. I try to take cues from other designers.” A gig with the Cleveland production company Rock the House also helps. “I’ve worked there for seven years, and they are always great to let me go out on tours and then come back to work.” He cut his teeth on a Martin LightJockey, though with MGK he drives a grandMA.
Also with MGK, he worked side-by-side with audio engineer Keith Danforth, who got him the ZZ gig. This is his first outing with ZZ, and he’s also lighting the two opening bands on this two-month tour: The Young Wild and Marc Scibilia.
Originally, the plan was to just be at the mercy of whatever was in the house or, at best, a few PAR cans. Kay convinced management that spending a few bucks at 4Wall was the best option, and since he was bringing his own system to run the lights, the entire lighting budget for the tour was under $3,000. He chose the Elations for their flexibility, and during two days of rehearsals in SIR studios, in Los Angeles, they were initially placed on the front of the stage. That wasn’t working for him, so he used the cases they travel in as set pieces (draped in black). They are positioned around the band, in an arc that curves around guitarist, singer and bass player at about their shoulder height.
His console approach has many benefits, including the ability to work out cues for the next show on the bus in route. “There’s nothing that’s on a traditional lighting console that I need to do the size shows we’re doing,” he says. “The programming is pretty quick on it; I have plenty of palettes, and there’s an iOS app, the M-Series Remote, that is fantastic and works on iPhone and iPads. Martin has developed programming and playback, so I go on stage and stand in the various band member positions and adjust the lighting from there.”
Kay’s design approach was simply to get a set of the songs, listen to them and start assigning them colors, as in, “This song sounds purple.”
“She would mostly agree with me, and sometimes she would suggest another color, but then I might point out that the song before it is also red, and so on.” Different venues call for different approaches on the fly, sometimes a pan here, a tilt there. “We make sure every venue has a hazer, and if they don’t, we go and rent one for the day.” During the show in St. Louis, he used the house lights for blinders frequently. It’s particular used when there’s something expected of the audience — either holding up their end on a call and response, or toward the end, encouraging those seated around the dance floor to all come down so she can take a picture.
There are many nice moments that certainly prove that the show is getting what it deserves with the gear Kay is using. The song “Rescue” is primitive in nature, with the drummer hitting the toms in a war beat, and his lighting on that is equally stark, pulling the audience in. There’s an acoustic number with the three guitarists sitting, which he makes more intimate with some clever gobo work.
He admits he’s looking forward to the acts he’s working with getting better. “Machine Gun Kelly keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I’ve got a few designs ready for when we get to the next level.”
