PLSN: Steve, tell us what you’ve been up to lately.
Steve Richards: I just finished the U.S. leg of the Gotye tour. I was also the lighting director for Lady Antebellum. That was a long run, but it was a lot of fun. And I’ve also been working for U.K. artist Cher Lloyd. She was on X Factor a couple of years ago. She’s got a single out now, and I’ve been doing some promo stuff with her.
How long was pre-production for Gotye?
We had about eight to ten days in Australia; four days in the studio with pre-viz, with the artist in a studio next door for rehearsals, and where I could take notes. And then we did four or five days in a venue in Melbourne, at the Palais Theatre. Then we came over here and spent a week at PRG (in Las Vegas) with the full rig, and that’s where I did most of the programming once I had the artist’s vision.
On the tour, I understand the venues were a challenge because they ranged in size.
The venues ranged in size from clubs up to A-market areas. But my guys did a great job of reconfiguring the rig every day. There was a run on the East Coast where, in five shows, we went from a club to an A-market shed to an A-market theatre, then to a small arena to an outdoor stage. It was quite a challenge! Especially for the crew. Everyone had to work really hard.
How did that affect your programming?
I was pretty lucky — with most of the rig configuration changes, the way the rig had been separated into parts, my main light sources, the [Vari*Lite] VL3500 spots, I always made sure I had all of them. So wherever they were in the room, once I had my presets done, I had the show. Then we had some ladders — what the artist called “stunt” lighting, which did the effects and played along with the music.
On a couple of days where I had to lose a couple of chunks of the rig, I had a certain set of songs, executors that I cloned in. So I had basically two versions of the show.
A lot of that came back to the grandMA2’s ability to do a partial show read; you can import anything ranging from an entire show to just one element, like one cue. That’s really the saving grace, to have that versatility. And for that kind of intensely-programmed timecode show, it was a really good desk to have there.
How are tours in Australia different?
The industry in Australia and America is quite similar on face value; you have two or three companies that do the larger events that are always the go-to companies for A-level tours. Then you’ve got the next level underneath that do all the small shows, so it’s quite similar to the States. It’s not the same financially; there’s no money there; you can’t justify the preproduction costs that you would normally. I mean you work on one-off events and tours over here, where there’s more preproduction time, than you would actually spend on a tour in Australia. Literally before I came over here I did national tours in Australia for five days. We spent more time prepping the rig than we did actually on the road. So I guess on the surface it looks similar, but when you get down to it, it’s somewhat different. In America you have the ability to go months and months and not be in the same room twice; it’s nice. The way you configure the system and all that stuff is very different (in the States). You’ve got to build it to last.
How long have you been in the business of lighting?
I did my first paid gig in 1994, and got into it more seriously in 1996, so about 18 years.
What drew you into lighting?
Well, the actual story is, my primary school was selected to do Carols by Candlelight, a nationally televised show on Christmas Eve in Australia, and I was part of the group that did it. I played drums, and while I was there, I was looking out at the crowd I saw this young lad climbing up into the rig, a truss spot no doubt, and I said, “What’s he doing?” Two years later, my primary school teacher was on the lighting crew for Phantom of the Opera in Australia, and he brought in some moving lights to show us color mixing because we were talking about that in science. And that sparked my interest. Later, I was offered to either play drums in the orchestra for Les Miserables or work on the lighting crew; I chose lighting, and that was the last time I played drums. Off I went, and I got to turn my hobby into my job.
Do you have any mentors or people who have influenced your career?
I was very fortunate early on to work with Peter Lothian, one of the premier LDs in Australia. He’s worked a lot of international acts and was one of the original Vari-Lite programmers worldwide. He really gave me the foundation — how to structure shows, what to look for as an LD, all sorts of stuff. John Panetta and Tim Hall, who now runs Res X (Resolution X) in Melbourne were also very kind to me in giving me my first jobs. And then Doug Brimblecombe at Jands/Vari-Lite was really the catalyst for introducing me to the big wide world of international concert touring. He encouraged me to come to the States and set me up to do Series 2000 training at Vari-Lite with Marion (Hall), and expanded my mind to realize that working internationally was a very realistic opportunity.
An opportunity to move to the U.S. appeared in 2004, and my good buddy Mark Villa was very influential in helping me make that happen. He and his family have been so good to me over the years. Along with Mark Rudge, now at Illumination Dynamics — he has extended many favors with gear and great friendship, which has helped a lot.
When I got to work with Upstaging, things improved even more. They took really good care of me and gave me fantastic opportunities to work with some of the best designers in the world. I was really lucky to work with Cosmo Wilson on AC/DC, who is now a very dear friend. He pushed me, helping him with programming on AC/DC, and really got me thinking big-picture again. Through Upstaging I also met Baz Halpin and his team at Silent House. Now I work with him. Both Baz and his business partner, Chris Nyfield, have been so great to work with. They have made it possible for me to LD and design again and have become great friends. Another member of the Silent House Camp, Bryan Barancik, has also been a great mentor and friend.
What would you say is your go-to fixture, the one you always try to work into a design?
The VL3500 was at a certain price point, and has served its purpose really well. However, my go-to fixture at the moment is the Martin MAC 301. I spent a lot of time with them in their early stages on Jack Johnson, and worked through a couple of kinks with Martin. The 301 is a really powerful light for its size and sits at a very affordable price point. If you take the time to actually color balance the fixture in the menu and balance the whole rig, they are a phenomenal light. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what new LED fixtures there are on the horizon, because there are now such high-output LEDs. Hopefully now manufacturers can start putting their time into hard-edge fixtures, and this will open up a whole new door.
Are there any challenges when working with LEDs vs. an arc lamp or conventional source?
Absolutely. It’s only been recently that manufacturers have come out with a white light LED. And that is the challenge for the Mac 301; its white is only a shade of white, it’s a blue LED with phosphorus in it. I’ve just used the iWBlast, the Philips ColorKinetics fixture, and it’s a phenomenal light. Two shades of white! I’ve been using them all across the stage (on Gotye) because we have to avoid blocking the screen with a downstage truss so, in some situations, they have been the majority of the front light on the band. You do have to be careful about the manufacturer you choose if you’re going to shoot video, because some of the cheaper products have a poor sense of switching, and with video, if they’re not switching at the same speed, then it looks like the good ol’ days of super Slo-Mo! Manufacturers like Martin have the camera option in the 301, and it does work. Martin has now come out with the Viper, an extraordinary fixture. It has the same size chassis and weight as the MAC 700, and its optics and mid air gobo effects are very impressive!
Are power and fixture size things you consider when you’re designing?
Absolutely. I think about things like not hanging seven lights when using a 6-circuit Socapex run. Or, in some smaller venues you can only really hope for a 400 amp service for lighting, so you need to be mindful of that. Acts like Radiohead are touring with rigs with massive amounts of LEDs that run on 200 amps. AC/DC, on the other hand, used 660,000 watts of light. We had 11 400 amp services for lighting!
