Electropop/DJ and rock duo The Chainsmokers (Drew Taggart and Alex Pall), along with Matt McGuire, are touring with yet another impressive production, this time in support for their third studio album, World War Joy, released last month. We spoke with several members of the Production Club creative team, including Miguel Risueno (a.k.a. Mike808), who is serving as the creative director and production designer; and Eric Ginnetty, the production director and lead producer. We also spoke with visual art director Hugo Bermudez (Sadgas) and lighting designer Griffin Behm.
Miguel Risueno (Mike808)
Creative Director & Production Designer
Miguel Risueno says the design for the World War Joy tour is a visual reflection of the album with the same name. “The tension between what ‘joy’ and ‘war’ means — love and hate, light and darkness — we constantly balance these two extremes throughout with lighting, visuals, automation, choreography, pyro, SFX and pretty much any other medium that allows us to express the concept. A very important part of this process has been the involvement of Matt McGuire, the band’s drummer and musical director, to assure music, visual and vision are all aligned and can grow from each other.”
The centerpiece “Triad” was actually the first scenic element designed for the show as the band wanted an iconic sculptural piece, the shape reminiscent of a “Czech hedgehog,” a low-tech and static yet strategically important anti-tank defense obstacle deployed in WWII. “It’s composed by three 60-foot pieces of triangular truss provided by SGPS that intersect in the middle, filled with lights, LED neon product and wrapped on an amazing 3M dichroic material that changes color depending on your perspective. The piece also has a staircase so Drew could sing a song from the top of one of the legs. The number ‘three’ is a recurring theme in The Chainsmokers world. Surrounding the ‘Triad’ and placed in a semi-concentric shape are five identical rectangular truss shapes, or ‘pods,’ that direct the viewer’s eye to the center of A-stage. The two side pods are lighting pods, the three center ones are LED screens used for both content and I-Mag.”
The independent nature of the three LED screens plays a big role with the visuals created. “Everything was custom-made and pixel-mapped for the tour, creating imagery based on optical illusions of perspective and its original placement. This was a very different process than creating visuals for a typical flat 16:9 ratio — more challenging, but also more fun. We created around 60 minutes of visuals with a team of 10. Most of the animation is made in C4D and rendered in
Octane and Redshift, we used Blender and UE4 to create our own custom VR previz for visuals. One big highlight of this show was the creation of ‘ION,’ a virtual performer that appeared on the screens and acted as the guest singer for several songs. Juan Civera from Production Club’s Spanish visuals team was the lead visual developer and animator.”
Eric Ginnetty
Production Director/Lead Producer
As the production director/lead producer on the creative side, Eric Ginnetty’s goal was to make all of the creative ideas that were developed and approved tangible, keeping things in production and development on track, from both a timeline and budget perspective. “This role bridges the gap between what the artists request and envision, to what the creative team can work on and create, to also moving things forward and overseeing progress and detail on the fabrication end with scenic vendors, keeping everyone updated to the latest progress and changes to plots, scenic elements, and artists requests.”
One of the main focuses during the development of the stage design was making sure that the show was dynamic, says Ginnetty. “There were some main foundational and aesthetic concepts that the band had described to us as a group in some of the early creative kick off meetings. They explained what World War Joy meant to them, and where that concept and name derived from as well as the feel and mood that they would like to see in the show. There were some things that they definitely wanted for this time around, such as the large ‘Triad’ that needed to be automated. They were also transitioning away from the DJ style show into a full live performance and that necessitated creating a new formation for the band risers. Presentations were crucial to the early creative process allowing gut level responses to the images and details, which would lead to very specific feedback to move forward.”
Ginnetty says there were a number of ideas that didn’t make it past the initial presentation, such as Drew flying, but that transformed into his moment floating above the crowd in the Globe during “Sick Boy.” “We have automation and textures of the “Triad” Icon, then our big flame and pyro moments where blackouts revealed programmed laser cues that continued to evolve throughout the set. It was a great collaboration working with the band, having the creative team put together real impactful ‘wow’ moments for the audience throughout the set. The Production Club team presented an abundance of ideas along with descriptions and sketches, and even some reference videos of each idea. In the end, about eight of these moments made it into the show.”
Hugo Bermudez
Visual Art Director
The mission for Hugo Bermudez was to create a cohesive aesthetic for the show, matching all elements together so the show breathes by itself. “The band came in with ideas in mind, with a relationship established with Mike808 from the beginning, throwing some visual references and show features they wanted to include as part of the narrative. Then we both dissected those conversations into an overall early show idea.” The cross-truss “Triad” was Mike808’s brainchild, notes Bermudez, where they created a CG model to play with a bunch of different surface implementations. “After numerous iterations and tests with dichroic surfaces, voila, we had our dystopian perfect center element, fully blended on the set with light and video.”
Bermudez is based in Spain most of the year. His background came from graffiti, animation, advertising and movie VFX. “This mix of technical and ‘underground understanding’ gave me a solid base to learn how visuals can be used in a show to enrich the overall experience, keeping in mind that visuals are just another piece of the puzzle — sometimes the main focus, other times a nice background for the performers, lighting, pyro or the rest of the tricks the team is throwing on each moment. Starting from the big picture down to the smallest details, the ‘cyclists in globe’ section could be a good example, small in length but big in energy or theatrical emphasis. Then we dissect the show track by track, each track/segment has its own approach in terms of implementation and complexity — 2D animation, narrative CG art, abstract stuff. I do most of the 3D model, texture and concept design tasks by myself. Having said that, our team is filled with awesome artists, most of them with an insane range of skills and psychic powers to switch between visual languages to mutate themselves depending on the project and vibe.”
Griffin Behm
Lighting Designer
For Griffin Behm, this was an exciting tour to light because of the wide range of emotion and musical styles present throughout the set. “Some songs lent themselves to creating intimate, theatrical looks onstage where others encouraged us to squeeze every last drop of energy out of the lighting system. Mike808 led the charge in defining an overall color script for the show, which allowed lighting and video to develop initial programming that complimented one another. One of the most interesting challenges was the integration of the central scenic ‘Triad’ piece. Being that this element was treated with a dichroic material, colors tended to shift as light passed through or reflected off of it. This property couldn’t be simulated in previz, so it was a process of adjusting focus and color with the physical piece in its given automation position to create the desired stage composition.”
Behm says the primary effects fixture on the tour is the Claypaky B-Eye K20. “The circular arrangement of the LED pixels allows it to be used as a wash without calling too much attention to itself, though when the time is right we’re able to get into the full gamut of pixel based effects which were meticulously programmed by Davey Martinez. The show relied on single fixtures serving multiple purposes, so it was valuable to have framing capability on our FOH fixtures to direct light where needed at certain times, but fly over and punch through the rest of the stage wash at others. It’s been great working with Josh [Beard] and the rest of the production, design and artist teams. As per usual, the show presented its challenges on the road, but Josh always maintains a great attitude while getting the job done.”
Josh Beard
Lighting Director
Lighting Director Josh Beard has worked for The Chainsmokers for about two years now. Mike808 had messaged him on Instagram about meeting with him. “Little did I know that about seven months after that meeting I would be working for this band,” Josh says. “It’s fun working with guys that constantly like to push the envelope and expect excellence from you, show after show. We have lots of moving parts in the rig that would create challenging focus positions and obstacles in general for key light. With the show being pretty heavy on timecode it let me focus on calling spots for the show.
“Davey (Martinez) did an incredible job programming, translating the music into such a visual experience. With automation being such a big part of the show it was important to have a good relationship with that team. There is a moment in the show that the Globe of Death would lower down onto the B-Stage and we have three riders on dirt bikes cycling inside during the DJ moment. There’s also the catwalk that’s located at the end of the thrust out in the house. We aren’t traveling with our own spots. So making sure that we could follow Drew and then he’s lifted 30 feet in the air, keeping him lit properly is challenging. I couldn’t ask for a better crew chief than JT McDonald, and then there’s Brian Monahan who is a lot more than my stage right dimmer guy, and to Julian Edwards and Daniel Sanchez at PRG for taking the best care of me and anything I needed on this run.”
Davey Martinez
Lighting Programmer
Lighting programmer Davey Martinez was contracted by Production Club for the tour, but his history with them goes back a decade. When Martinez was studying Classical Bass at the University of Southern California, he met Corey Johnson. He was just starting the company that would later become Production Club. “I was an employee of theirs for about three years and then decided to move to an independent contractor role, but still to this day I cherish the friendship of everyone on their team and love working together again whenever I can.” Martinez says there are three fixtures that will always be on his “YES” list- GLP’s X4 Bar 20’s, Solaris Flares, and the VL 4k BeamWash. “All are very reliable, versatile and offer many options. As for the “Triad”, what the audience saw come out of it all depended on where you were standing in the room and from what angle you hit the structure. It’s a fun challenge to make this powerful set piece come to life.”
The Chainsmokers World War Joy Tour
Crew
Production Companies:
- Lighting: PRG/Julien Edwards, Daniel Sanchez
- Video: PRG/Julien Edwards, Justin McLean
- Staging: SGPS/Eric Pearce, Justin Summers
- Automation: SGPS/Andy Laidler
- Pyro & Lasers: Pyrotechnico/Rocco Vitale
- Trucking: Upstaging/Jenny Clark
Production Club Team:
- Creative Director/Production Designer: Miguel Risueno (Mike808)
- Executive Producer: Corey Johnson
- Production Director/Lead Producer: Eric Ginnetty
- Visual Art Director: Hugo Bermudez (Sadgas)
- Visuals Director: Francisco Zurita
- Lighting Designer: Griffin Behm
- Video & Media Director: Max Nicklas
- Video Editor: Jay Martinovich
- Concept Designer: Angel Vazquez
- Lead VFX Artist: Fernando de Pablo
- Laser Designer & Programmer: Derek Abbot
- Creative Coordinator: Laura Lee
- Production Coordinator: Elise Markell
Production Crew:
- Tour Director: David Conroy
- Lighting Director: Josh Beard
- Lighting Programmer: Davey Martinez
- Lighting Consultant: Cory FitzGerald
- Lighting Crew Chief: Jeffery McDonald
- Lighting Techs: Robert Behounek, Michael McCullough, Brian Monahan, Bryce Pico, David Roman, Charles Boyinton
- Tour Manager: Clancy Silver
- Assistant Tour Manager: Tom Roberts
- Production Manager: Wob Roberts
- Production Coordinator: Aimee Landi
- Show Manager: Elliot Liddard
- Stage Manager: Burtus Bragg
- Chainsmokers VJ: Kevin Longwell
- Video Crew Chief: Rob Seagert
- Video Director: Thomas Bates
- Video Engineer: Randy Ice
- Video Tech: Cameron Trosper
- Projectionist: Christopher Small
- LED Lead: Pia Eerikainen
- Set/Automation: Mike Olson (Chief), Jeff Lundsford (Operator), Rami Hilal, Daniel Fiore
- SFX Crew: Robert Pacella (Chief), Daniel Conrad, Joshua Smith, Tyler Barbone
- Riggers: Jez Craddick (Head), Lori McCloy
- Carpenters: Rob Madison (Head), Joshua Horvath, Christian Walsh, Lear McClellan
Gear
Lighting:
- 2 grandMA2 Full consoles
- 32 Vari-Lite 4000 Beam Washes
- 30 PRG Icon Edges
- 45 Claypaky B-Eye K20’s
- 16 Claypaky Sharpys
- 40 Robe Spikies
- 41 GLP JDC1’s
- 10 GLP impression X4’s
- 10 GLP X4 Bar 20’s
- 60 Elation CuePix Blinder WW2’s
- 16 Chroma-Q Color Force 12’s
- 55 Solaris Flares
- 2 Base Hazers
- 8 Radiance Hazers
Video:
- 3 ROE CB8 8.3mm LED video walls (15.75’ x 31.5,’ 576p x 1152p each)
- 192 Active tiles w/PRG-Nocturne space frames
- 3 Brompton S4 processors
- 4 Barco HDX-W20 projectors
- 2 AV Stumfl RP I-Mag screens (11.25 x 20’)
- 1 Resolume Arena 7 server w/Notch
- 2 Grass Valley LDX 80’s w/Fuji 99X lenses at F.O.H.
- 2 Grass Valley LDX 80’s in the SL/SR Pits.
- 1 Grass Valley Karrera HD 200
- 2 Panasonic HD PTZ Robotic Cameras
More Chainsmokers World War Joy tour photos by Steve Jennings
