Tour Dates: The current leg includes the two broadcast shows at SXSW and a Lollapalooza run through South America at the end of March.
Design: It supports and emphasizes a mood where shadows delicately outweigh highlights. Vertical ladders left and right get the pretty light angles, and the video content supports a surreal theme. The show is based on a lighting design by Kille Knobel with production design by Justin Collie. It’s an eclectic mix right now, as these are a series of festival style shows, and luxuries you enjoy on a standard tour are not always available. Soundgarden music is a primal, distorted, haunting version of their own psychedelia. The task is to support and convey that mood no matter what rig I have to use.
Lighting philosophy:
My design philosophy – I could ramble on for hours, so let’s talk about great lighting which is that moment when chills run down your spine. It doesn’t happen just because of the lighting, but because the moment was ripe, the band was on it, the crowd was engaged and the acoustics were perfect. A half dozen details come together for a second or two which is when lighting is most powerful. It doesn’t happen every night or every tour, but when it does… I get a little tear in my eye.
BACK STORY:
Home base: Los Angeles. I love the weather, hate the traffic. I did spend five years living in Washington, DC, after meeting my future wife, a former manager at the 9:30 Club.
Years have you been in the industry: 19 years. I started working for Delicate Productions then on to LSD, PRG, Ed & Teds. From Ed & Ted’s I began working as an operator / programmer / designer on anything I could get my hands on.
How long have you worked with Soundgarden? I inherited the show summer of 2013 when Soundgarden booked a series of shows in Europe that Kille couldn’t attend. This is my second time around the block with them.
What inspired you to get into the lighting industry? My grade school English teacher, after I passed a weekly spelling test. One year she produced a play, and everyone had to participate. Being the type of kid who enjoyed taking things apart, I was far more interested in the technical side and how it enhanced the show. I was allowed to run the lights and the curtain… but only after I passed the spelling test. That’s when I caught the bug.
First industry job: Superbowl XXIX Halftime Show. My show-time job was to pull the mains out to the stage. I am one of the few people in the world who has run onto a Superbowl field while pulling live 400amp mains.
First gig as an LD: Cypress Hill. They were an opening act, and I was a dimmer guy. I ended up as LD for all the opening acts on that tour. I think I worked for four acts altogether – Cypress Hill, DMX, Ludicris and a DJ who paid me $10 a night to make one of the spot operators lock off on him. I didn’t get a lot of bus time on that tour, but I went home with pockets full of cash.
Heroes or mentors in the industry and what they taught you: My heroes are all those who came before me. The ones who taught me how to make a living doing what I enjoy. The list is long, and I’m afraid I’d leave someone out.
Words to live by: The early bird gets the worm… and the second mouse gets the cheese.
