Matthew Shimamoto has made a name for himself in the industry through hard work, professionalism and a positive attitude. Many know him as an in-demand programmer and lighting director; many know him as a talented lighting designer; and even more are now getting to know him as one of the co-founders of lighting production company, Volt Lites. His wide array of credits includes music tours, music videos and one-off concerts, special events, television and commercials. Among others he has worked with Nicki Minaj; Lady Gaga; Tyga; Wiz Khalifa; and been the lighting director for Lil Wayne shows since 2011. He has also been the lighting director for multiple Walmart Soundcheck concerts; as well as award-winning tradeshow designs for lighting manufacturer GLP. Shimamoto sat down with PLSN to talk about his work and path in the industry.
How did you get started in this industry?
My interest in lighting started when I was a kid. My parents took me to Disneyland in ‘92 or ‘93, and I remember waiting for this new show called Fantasmic!. Waiting for the show to start, I remember all these guys in all black outfits uncovering and lifting the lighting towers, turning everything on, changing colors and testing the gear. I was more interested in that than the show itself. And it sparked in me an interest to know what is this technology and how is this all working? That started it all for me.
In junior high and high school, I got into theater programs and worked with a small regional lighting company in Fresno. The owner of that company basically took me under his wing and showed me everything he knew. Wanting to learn more, I went to CalArts. After I graduated, I was fortunate enough to get linked up with designer Dan Boland who got me into the touring world. Pretty quickly, Dan introduced me to a level of shows that I’d never thought I could even be a part of. I owe him probably most of my career.
I toured for five or six years, and then, being based in L.A., got involved in television projects as well as any other project that I could possibly get involved with. I got into designing as well as programming, wearing both hats a lot of the time, depending on the project.
Speaking of wearing multiple hats, tell us how did your production company, Volt Lites, come about?
After doing A-level touring shows around the world, I wanted to get back into what really was important to me. With Volt I want to be providing great service and having exceptional products, doing things the right way. My thinking about the lighting rental market got started when I was in Fresno during high school. I noticed there were limited resources in getting certain products, like Martin or High End Systems, into that market. I was able to convince my dad to give me a $3,000 loan to buy some lights. He’s a businessman and he made me put together a business plan; show him the return on investment. He put all the non-fun stuff in my face, thinking about cases, cables, insurance; all the operational items. With his loan I bought two Martin MAC500s from Bandit Lites. I planned to pay him back in a year and a half but was able to do it in two months. I bought four more lights. Eventually, I kicked my parent’s cars out of the garage. We put three-phase power in the garage and we had trucks coming by to pick up gear. The drivers would often comment about it being residential. I told them that we were between buildings.
When I left for CalArts, I sold all the lights and bought a new car, with cash, to drive to Los Angeles. While I was in school, I saw that the bigger lighting shops didn’t care about the smaller rentals. Not getting any help from anybody because they would much rather deal with something that’s going to make them a lot of money than a kid doing a small show with no money. I remembered that. I made it a point that when we decided to start a production lighting company in Los Angeles, we were going to take care of the little guys. Volt Lites started officially in 2010 in my third-floor apartment. Now we have a building and 12 employees. I also brought in [lighting designer/programmer] Harrison Lippman. We met at CalArts, and he is my business partner. Together, we have built it to what Volt Lites is today.
What are some milestones in your career?
One of the biggest was doing the Dr. Dre Coachella show. Doing that level of show with the big Tupac gag. It was a huge moment. I would also say doing the Eminem and Jay-Z “Home & Home” tour (Sept. 2010); bringing Eminem into Detroit and bringing Jay-Z into New York. I hadn’t done a show like that, of that caliber and that importance. Those aren’t shows that typically come around all the time. Another milestone show was the P!nk Apple Music show that we did about a year ago for Jon Kusner and Baz Halpin. It was a full Volt experience, with our guys and our equipment. Helping make that show come to life was definitely a big moment for us. It was one of those shows that you say, “Yeah, this is why we do this.”
What do you enjoy most about your career?
I now enjoy helping grow new talent. Working with new designers, new creative directors and new technicians. That is one of the big rewards of Volt for me, being able to develop and help educate, help guide some of the younger people who are coming up in the lighting programmer and the lighting director world. I feel like some of the best people in the industry, still to this day, started in production shops. I got mentored from people that helped me, so definitely passing knowledge—where I can—down is important to me.
What do you like least about your job?
There’s not a lot. I mean, as tired as I am, and as much as I get myself sick from not sleeping and stressing about the little minutia, little things that I don’t need to be worrying about, but I do; I still love what I do.
What surprised you most about your career path?
The thing that surprised me the most is the community. I got into this business, just interested in technology; however, I also found there’s a lot of pride in this industry. There’s a lot of support in this industry with the influx of projects and shows, the knowledge passed along and mentoring that’s been happening at all levels and all different backgrounds is phenomenal. People in our industry make sure that if someone’s in trouble, that someone be there to help them out. I’m happy to be a part of that and I think that that’s been the most surprising thing that was self-discovered, the strong community of this
industry.
