Like the name says, Strictly FX does just that, strictly special effects. The Wood Dale, IL-based company specializes in providing lasers, pyrotechnics, flames, confetti, cryogenics, and mischief. Since its founding in 1996 by Ted Maccabee and Mark Grega, the company has grown to be an award-winning staple of concert touring with a client list that reads like a Who’s Who of the music industry.
When Maccabee and Grega began the company, they provided lasers and pyro for sports and corporate special events; today only 10 percent of their business is in that segment of the market. Strictly FX’s heart is with concert touring, which is 90 percent of their work.
They are currently on the Coldplay Mylo Xyloto tour and Roger Waters’ The Wall Live tour, among others. Though the touring season is in full swing, we were able to take a little of Ted Maccabee’s time to learn more about the company.
Strictly FX has won a number of awards over the years, including 19 ILDA Awards from the International Laser Display Association for laser graphics and laser shows since 1998 and four Parnelli Pyro Company of the Year awards — for Toby Keith (2007); Motley Crüe (2009); Guns N’ Roses (2010); and Roger Waters’ The Wall Live (2011).
PLSN: Tell us how you got started in the industry.
Ted Maccabee: I had been working for a computer security firm and was fed up; I wanted to do something that I loved. I first started working for a company that was doing mostly laser shows with a little bit of pyro for sporting events, we did a lot of NFL, NBA, and NHL games. This was 20 years ago.
How did Strictly FX come about?
I met Mark Grega while we were both working at a company that handled lasers and pyro for corporate and special events. He had a long history in special effects, starting out at Laser Media in the late 1980s touring with Pink Floyd. In 1996, Mark and I launched Strictly FX with a silent partner. We specifically called our company Strictly FX, because we didn’t want to be pigeonholed as being just a pyro or just a laser company; we really wanted to be an all-around effects company. In the early years, we had a strong sports focus, providing lasers and pyro effects for NFL and NHL games as well as soccer. One of our first big shows was the Women’s World Cup in 1998. We did pyro and lasers on the field; we hadn’t seen anyone else do it like that. Once people started hearing about us, we really grew quickly.
All along, Mark and I really had a passion for concert touring. That was an area that we knew we wanted to grow into. Our first actual concert work as a team was for Prince in 1998. The lighting designer for Prince liked our work at a corporate show and asked if we would be interested in doing lasers for the tour. At the time we weren’t really ready for it, but we jumped in with both feet. After that, it snowballed. More and more people saw what we could do. We did a one-off radio gig with ‘N Sync back in 2000. The band and their production manager, Tim Miller, were so impressed they took us on tour. Miller is still a client to this day.
Mark and I split the duties in running Strictly FX. Mark deals with the creative and show design aspects and I handle marketing the company. We both have a vision about what the market needs, and we really love when we can use our expertise to enhance live shows.
How has special effects technology improved since you started?
Over the years, the technology has only gotten better and easier to use, especially for lasers. Systems now are smaller, more powerful and much more roadworthy. Back in the day, to do a laser show with just one laser took a full 14-foot truck. A Spectra Physics 171 Argon laser was rated for 20W, but ran more like 13W. Those particular lasers easily took up half of a truck. You couldn’t tip them; they were very finicky. They would blow up for no apparent reason, so we had to have backup tubes or a whole backup laser system. You really had to have not just technicians, but laser gurus. They had to be able to put the things back together. The coherence lasers were basically the workhorse color lasers back in the day. Then the YAG pulsed laser came out. It was green only, but they were bright, you could get 30-40W out of them. You could put it on a chiller so you didn’t have to have to use so much water. They were pretty powerful, but you only got green out of them. We had four of those systems with ‘N Sync through 2003.
When solid-state lasers came out about six years ago, we saw the advent of the bigger, easier lasers to use and bring on tour. There are so many different kinds of diode lasers now, from RGB, the first version that did color mixing to RGBY, which gives you a yellow line, but also produces a real ‘white’ white. Lasers are certainly not as big and bulky as they used to be; because of that you see more and more systems on a show. Control is also becoming much more flexible. You get more control of each system, much like a lighting system.
How do you see your clients using lasers these days?
Our clients are using more lasers — and getting more out of them. They’re starting to realize that they can have more control over colors and individual programming. In the old days, you would see every single laser doing the same thing. Now, we can make a lot more nuanced performance; we can have a lot more artistic flair with the newer systems. That’s a big benefit for our clients. More power, more color, but still it takes somebody that really understands how to program to get the most out of the lasers. Lasers still require a lot of finesse. Much like video companies for the concert touring market, Strictly FX technicians go out with the gear on shows.
Tell us about the other effects that you can provide.
Pyrotechnics played a big part in our growth. We were doing flames way before anything was available off the shelf. Back in 1996, nobody had anything viable on the market, so we had to build our own. We brought in Reid Nofsinger to help us do that. We brought in an actual engineer at the early stages to help. We wanted better, computerized firing systems for pyro; people were still hand-firing shows. We started right out of the gates with the FireOne controller. It’s a computerized firing system as opposed to old analog systems that were glorified nail-boards! We found that we could, and still do, create our own products to suit our needs. We designed our own custom confetti machine, the Confetti Cobra, which we have a patent on. It’s designed to work better than any other confetti cannon out there and really make a mess.
In addition to the traditional special effects, you list “Mischief” on your website. Tell us about what mischief includes in Strictly FX’s world.
The Mischief section is where we handle custom, one-off items and non-traditional effects. This area has been growing for us; there’s always something new. We get calls all of the time for wacky effects like LED guitars and LED mic stands. Many of these things take time to build because it’s all handwork. We’ll take it on if we can help add something to a production.
Tell us about your staff, what size staff do you have at Strictly FX?
Like many companies that work in the touring market, our staffing is more weighted towards road crew than office/shop staff. We also have an in-house art department to design laser graphics and animated laser shows. Just like any other company like ours, we fluctuate as needs arise. We have 12-15 in the office at any point in time; the rest are out touring. We have 36 people out on the road right now.
Much of our business comes from word of mouth and referrals from clients. We feel that we’ve done a good job of getting our message out; we’re pros. We try not to complicate things. We have the best equipment — the best of everything — but it all really comes down to people. If we can’t send out fantastic people, then we really don’t want to do the gig. We are always pushing to be the highest level professionals in the industry.
How would you describe Strictly FX’s capabilities to a potential client?
We’re full service, from effects to creative ideas. We start with the basics, getting a full understanding of the desired look and feel of the set, and if there is a lighting designer, what is their vision. Not only does our staff understand how tours work, they are big listeners as well; it’s what we preach here. Lots of listening, but we also bring our vision to the show. If we can get creative input; I think it sure benefits the show.
What does the future hold for Strictly FX?
We always have something new up our sleeves—some of it may surprise you on one of our upcoming tours. Our clients come to us because they want someone that will listen to them and then build on that to create a great show. If we’re not adding to the show, then I don’t think that we’re doing our job very well. We do what we do best and we stick to it. We are not interested in being a lighting company, a video company, or any of that other stuff. We like doing exactly what we do; it’s served us well.
