The Creative Calm Behind the Screen
KoRn is playing behind a wall of video images and lighting effects splashing across the screen. But it’s transparent, so while the band members perform their first two songs of the night, fans can see the live musicians who have effectively merged into visual content. This effect—with the wall raising and lowering—would play out at the beginning and the end of the show on their Summer 2022 Tour. This production has been crowned a fan favorite and “the best show yet,” according to the band’s spokesperson. Production Manager Robert “Bobby” Schneider agrees. “The design was spectacular and the band was on fire!”
These rave reviews are welcome news for Thomas Christmann, who goes by the nickname “Church.” He’s been the production and lighting designer for KoRn since 2016. The group from Bakersfield, CA has been around much longer—gaining a following since forming in 1993 with their brand of nu metal music, where heavy metal meets mandolin, a lap steel and bagpipes in the mix.
While the band toured in 2021 using his previous design, Christmann was stuck at home under Covid travel restrictions in Hamburg, Germany. He had two and a half years to think about a new design. For a time, he even returned to his previous hospital job as a specialized technical surgical assistant. But even then, ideas were germinating from his CycoVision studio for KoRn’s 2022 crop of concert dates on tour. PLSN spoke with Christmann and Schneider about how this heavy metal tour—with special guest Evanescence—calmly came together on the road.
KoRn’s Field of Vision
As the production designer, the lighting designer, the programmer and lighting director, Christmann is practically a one-man band. But collaborations made this show a success, and that involves the band’s input as well. “I created the whole look and the band liked it right away and saw the potential of it. I worked for the band for over seven years now and I know all the needs, extras and wishes the band has on a tour design and stage set. There are specific things which have to be on certain locations. The band loved the design and we started right away with the creative process for video content.”
This design was a natural progression, Christmann says. “I was playing with see-through video panels and I like the idea of hiding the band behind the screen at least for the beginning of the show,” he explains. Having used kabuki systems before as a big reveal, he says replacing them with see-through video panels acts in a similar way and was the next step in show design. “This time, I was trying to create another dimension for the stage and have the band playing inside a box made of video content. I think we accomplished this very well for the songs.”
Fuse Technical Group is the video vendor, supplying ROE Vanish 8T video panels. There are two video walls. The upstage video wall is 53’ wide by 13’ high, while the downstage video wall is 45’ wide by 13’ high. “The video screens are not super big, but as an overall picture it’s a solid video screen and it gives me a lot of room to create looks with video and lighting,” he notes.
The Vanish 8T panels are new to the designer, who says they were right for the role of his vanishing screen. “It is the best product for this design I could find and a super light product. It didn’t disappoint at all.” Christmann says they remove half of the video screen to get it out of the way for support acts, but it gets rebuilt during changeover in less than 10 minutes.
“The weight and the easy handling of this product made it the number one for us to use on this tour. These are very see-through by like 50% and it doesn’t lose any of the brightness and definition for the video footage. We are running these video walls on 50% intensity on the upstage screen and 35% intensity on the downstage screen. I am very impressed by the clearness and sharpness of those video tiles.”
He loves how the screens allow the light beams to “punch” through the video screens—even from those fixtures which would normally be blocked from view had he used non-transparent video screens. “When we have both screens down [and in place], we have a nice see-through look including the band playing in their own little world. The downstage video wall is on automation so we can raise it up at every moment we decide. This gave us extra options for the show and the band can interact with the crowd. We wanted to create a classy three dimensional look where the band is part of the content.”
There are five 500 kg CyberMotion CyberHoist motors handling the automation. Joshua Harvey used an Apple Mac laptop, controlling the automation using the CyberHoist program. For safety reasons, they kept the control completely in Harvey’s hands. “Josh was in line with the moving screen to have eyes on all movements and the artists on stage. He also had access to the kill switch if someone was missing the cue or standing underneath the screen. We learned with him, during the rehearsals, all the cues for the movement and timing of the video screen, and even Head [stage name for Brian Welch, guitar player, stage right] was counting in the cues for him at the first shows so he was sure he was moving the screen at the correct time. At load-in and stage set up, we adjusted the trim for the downstage screen on a daily basis to get the best result for every venue shape.”
Christmann collaborated with the band on the show’s visual images with video content creators Raw Cereal. When it came to other video related issues, Christmann followed Fuse’s recommendation that he use the Brompton Tessera SX40 video processor for the LED video walls. This is Brompton’s highest capacity processor with support for 4K screens at 60Hz and 12-bits of color per output. Christmann, who also wears the hat of video director, decided to use SNP Productions Ltd’s Catalyst V5 Pro media server to trigger the content from his console. This is his first time working with Fuse, appreciating them being “on top of everything” in preparation and during rehearsals, and communicating with Raw Cereal during the process to test out the content.
KoRn’s Field of Light
With such a large light output from the video elements, lighting was a big consideration. The Ayrton Eurus fixture is the workhorse of the rig, which the designer is using for the first time. “They are very new and I loved them right on the spot. This is a very powerful LED spot moving head and it matches all the needs I have for this show so I’m very happy to have them on this tour,” Christmann notes. “The Ayrton Eurus are a solid size spot moving head. I chose them because I needed a very strong spot light to stand against the video walls. The lighting beam is strong enough to compete with the brightness of the video walls and visuals.”
Additionally, he’s specified the Chauvet STRIKE Array 4, which he thinks is the “best evolution of an LED blinder.” He adds, “I’m very happy with the dimmer curve options and the extra red shift to give it a real conventional Mole touch.”
Despite the big looks of the show, the designer has specified a smaller-sized fixture: the Claypaky Mini-B. “The Mini-B in this design are our supporting fixtures. They are not very big but super bright, intense in color and fast in movement—so they support the main show if I use some colors. I also use them as a side wash in my pods on side stage left and right to light up the band behind the screen when the screen is down, because I can’t use any followspots at these moments.” Other fixtures include the Ayrton Diablo as drum spotlight and middle spotlights, which needed to fit underneath the drums. He’s got GLP impression X4 Bar 10 for uplighting the drums. He’s also spec’d Chroma-Q Color Force II 72 for color wash from the back, along with two LED strobes: GLP JDC1 and Martin Atomic 3000.
Having worked with Mark Fetto and vendor OSA for the last seven years, it was natural to stay with him for this tour. “He has a good understanding about my designs and the choice of fixtures,” Christmann notes. “He gets what I need and what I’m looking for.”
Taking Control
When it comes to control, Christmann has relied on ChamSys for more than a decade. He used his ChamSys board at home with a WYSIWYG visualizer to create and play around with new looks and fixtures. As the programmer as well as lighting operator, he chose the MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Console for its user-friendly features and ability to make quick off-line changes. “I like to use big looks and scenes in my cues, then add hard attacks where needed,” he said. “The Group Effects and Group Cues features in my ChamSys are useful in this regard, since we have quite a few looks where we have multiple fixtures acting together as a single effect. It’s also very simple for me to change Group Effects to fit different stage configurations when we move from one venue to another. I’m using a lot of Group Effects in all options.”
Being back on the road after almost 26 months felt great, he says. “I was totally ready to go back on tour to feel the energy of a live show. To be fair, the first days of working again—overnight programming, prepping a show and long days—I felt pretty tired fast, but it was an amazing feeling to be back to the work you love and being with your tour family.”
Managing the Production
Heading up that touring family is Production Manager Bobby Schneider. After many years in the hip hop world, Schneider was thrilled to return to rock. He last worked with KoRn in 2015 before Christmann came on board in 2016, and the difference in the design between then and now is striking, he says.
This production is unique in that the special guest, Evanescence, had at least as much production onstage as KoRn did. And with two other rotating support acts as well, it was a lot to balance between all the artists and crews. “We worked together—we shared some lighting equipment from OSA and video equipment between all of us from our amazing video vendor Fuse, so we saved money and headaches for everyone.”
The PM says Christmann’s design was not only “brilliant” but “efficient,” which every production manager strives for. “It looked 100 percent bigger than it took to put it up,” he notes. “With four bands, we had to go in very early—with 4 p.m. doors—so most of the time we were in at 6 a.m., and KoRn’s show was set up in less than three hours. And we were able to do early line checks for everybody; we could even support Evanescence for a fan meet and great every afternoon during which they played a few songs for VIPs. We could accommodate that even with four bands.”
In line with “the model of efficiency,” the tour started out with seven total trucks, soon got cut to six and ended with five trucks. “That was our goal,” he says about trimming the budget. “The most expensive things out there are fuel, trucks and buses. That’s [financially] killing people right now. I haven’t seen a huge increase in the cost of sound and lights or even the cost of crew—but our transportation has gone up probably 40 percent, and that is a lot when you have five or six trucks out.”
If it were a 20-truck tour, adding another truck wouldn’t make that much difference, he notes. But for artists such as KoRn, touring is the way they make their money and costs count. “Bands used to make money selling records, and now it is all made on the road. So for us to keep these bands on the road and keep us all working, we have to try to bend. And we accomplished that. We did good for the band and for the crew. We played for just under a million people and it was fabulous. And we had a really good time.”
He emphasizes the “good time,” which he believes he helped foster with his new “mellow” management style this time around, he says. “During the pandemic I started learning how to be a meditation teacher. My life changed and I did my best to bring that element into the tour, to treat people humanely, to make sure people ate and slept and were treated right,” the PM explains. “And it worked. I don’t take credit for it, maybe for supporting it, but I think people act right if given the opportunity. And in two months of touring, we had not one disagreement between acts, not one late show, not one argument especially between all the factions of the bands. These [multi-band tours] could be recipes for disaster—I’ve seen so many situations go bad. So I wanted to bring the human element into it, and I don’t think you’ll find one person on the crew who didn’t say that was very mellow for a heavy metal tour. People were polite and we all got along. What Church designed for KoRn was spectacular. They sold major tickets and they played like a f’ing house on fire and I was proud of it.”
KoRn’s Summer Tour 2022 ended in September. Dates are set for 2023, but decisions haven’t been made yet as to whether this design will continue or a new one will be in the works.
Production Team
- Tour Manager: Matt Peloquin
- Production Manager: Robert “Bobby” Schneider
- Production Assistant: Justin Harris
- Stage Manager: Syrus Peters
- Production & Lighting Designer: Thomas “Church” Christmann
- Video Director: Thomas “Church” Christmann
- Lighting Crew Chief: Greg Nunz
- Lighting Technician: Jason Henry
- Video Crew Chief: Isabell Hernandez
- Video Technician: Jaden Delgado
- Head of Rigging: Ben Bickel / William Humphreys
- Automation: Joshua Harvey
- Content Producer: Raw Cereal
- Creative & Content Executive Producers: Anders Rahm & Cort Lawrence
Vendors
- Lighting: OSA/Rep: Mark Fetto
- Video: Fuse Technical Group/Rep: Mike Drew
Gear
Lighting
- 2 ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Console
- 6 Luminex GigCore 10-POE-NDS
- 5 Luminex LumiSplit 2.10 DMX Splitter
- 4 Luminex LumiNode 12
- 50 Ayrton Eurus Profile
- 2 Ayrton Diablo Profile
- 51 Claypaky Mini-B
- 30 Chauvet STRIKE Array 4
- 12 Chroma-Q Color Force II 72
- 12 GLP JDC1 Hybrid Strobe
- 10 Martin Atomic 3000 LED Strobe
- 2 GLP impression X4 Bar 10
- 3 400A Lex Presidential PowerRACK 48way
- 4 Ultratec Radiance Touring Hazer
- 19 Tyler Truss GT 10’
- 6 Tyler Truss GT 8’
- 28 Show Distribution Tour Rig 1-Ton Motor
- 5 Motion Labs 8ch Hoist Controller
- 5 CyberMotion 500kg CyberHoist Motor
Video
- SNP Productions Ltd Catalyst V5 Pro Media Server
- ROE Visual Vanish 8T LED Panels
- Brompton Technology Tessera SX40 Processor
