Lighting Company
Volt
Venue
Various (Tour)
Production Team
- Lighting Designer: TJ Hoover
- Lighting Programmers: TJ Hoover, Scott Schirmer, Noah Connolly
- Lighting Director: Scott Schirmer
- Tour Manager: Ryan Resch
- Production Manager: Ricky Watts
- Volt Account Rep: Craig Caserta
Gear
Lighting
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA3 light Console
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA2 NPU
- 3 Elation Proteus Maximus
- 12 GLP impression X4 L
- 15 GLP JDC1 LED Hybrid Strobe
Event Details
The theme of the whole show from a lighting standpoint was to help take this Serpentina world Banks was creating through the music and movement and pull the audience into the album’s emotion, drama, and atmosphere through the performance. Designer/Programmer TJ Hoover and Lighting Director/Programmer Scott Schirmer worked with vendor Volt to realize the design. Says Schirmer, “Craig Caserta from Volt was able to get us exactly what we were looking for and helped us at every challenge along the way.”
TJ Hoover, Lighting Designer & Programmer:
Designer TJ Hoover was recommended for the tour design by his good friend Chantal Felice, who manages Banks’ support act, Lauren Jauregui. The Banks team was looking to upgrade their show experience and after just coming off a year long tour with Doja Cat, this seemed like a great transition. Banks had just released a new album and thought Hoover and his team could add a lot of unique creative elements to enhance the story she was telling from the stage and through the music.
Banks’ brand is so unique and particular, notes Hoover. “She no doubt had an overarching vision for how she wanted her audience to feel during her performance. This design came together fairly quickly (about a month). The theme of the whole show from a lighting standpoint was really to help take this Serpentina world she was creating through the music and movement and pull the audience into the emotion, the drama, and atmosphere of this album through the performance. This involved taking the black and white elements we saw in the Serpentina album art and creating palettes of color that really help to enrich the choreography that was so meticulously planned out.”
As a programmer himself, Hoover says it tends to be hard for him to get away from the board so he finds himself involved pressing buttons on almost every show he designs. “The process began with Scott Schirmer and Noah Connolly laying some foundation for the show in previz given my notes. In rehearsals Scott and I began to really dial the show in and do multiple passes until the performance felt complete. Some things we added, some things we removed, other things we scrapped until it was finished. It’s a feeling thing, and when the show is complete, you get this feeling where, after you watch it back, you go ‘we have a show!’ ”
This is Hoover’s first time working with Volt on one of his designs. He says the experience was nothing short of five stars. “They have a world class team of phenomenal people who really helped me make this come to life in a short time. They gave me a tour of their new facility and I got to see all the new amazing fixtures they’ve gotten in, which helped me brainstorm and visualize the fixtures I would want to use, which came down to GLP’s impression X4Ls, JDC1s and the Elation Proteus Maximus.”
Scott Schirmer, Lighting Director & Programmer:
This is Lighting Director Scott Schirmer’s second tour that he programmed with Hoover and he says it’s been a privilege to work with him again. “TJ’s broadcast and film experience has helped this show look so great on camera. I’ve learned so much about lighting for camera from this project. We had one week in previz at Volt’s Burbank location and then one week in rehearsals in late June/early July.”
Programmer Noah Connolly and Schirmer split up the songs during their programming week working in Capture. “Then TJ and I spent the week in rehearsals with the full floor package dialing and punching everything up. We got a full rehearsal day the day before our first show at ACL Live in Austin, TX which was invaluable for fully wrapping everything together. After that the tour has been all smooth sailing!”
Schirmer says Volt got them everything they asked for and more. “We saw their amazing new location in Burbank and we got to check out all their gear. Craig Caserta from Volt was able to get us exactly what we were looking for and helped us at every challenge along the way. He made us feel so taken care of and we truly cannot praise Volt’s service enough! Special thanks to my amazing Tour Manager Ryan Resch and Production Manager Ricky Watts for all their great support during our whole run. I’m so excited to be out touring Europe with the same team this September.”
More Banks 2022 tour photos by Steve Jennings:
