American-Alternative band The Backseat Lovers formed in 2018. Their 2019 studio album, When We Were Friends included the song “Kirby Girl”, which has over 200 million streams on Spotify. In 2022, came their second album with their major label album release Waiting to Spill. We caught the first night of a two-night stand in Northern CA where we spoke to Production Designer Meagan Metcalf and Lighting Programmer and Director Gerry Dintelman about the show design.
Meagan Metcalf
Production Designer
For The Backseat Lovers (BSL) tour, Metcalf was contacted by the band’s manager Adam Sensenbrenner whom she had worked with previously on the Caamp tour in 2021, as well as last year to do a design for BSL’s tour of make-up dates from 2020. “I knew at that point that they had another album in the works, and that we’d do a larger production for the album cycle. They did a small album release tour in the fall that Gerry Dintelman took the reins on, and then we started working on ideas for the full tour in December last year.”
“The band used projection for the first time on their fall album release tour and wanted to expand on that,” says Metcalf. She knew that meant a creative backdrop would be the basis of the design. “They really wanted the backdrop to have a DIY feel, so I pulled a bunch of reference images of what that could feel like, and from that they came back to me with the idea to make the stage feel like a “pillow fort.” I tried drawing the drape out in 3D, but I realized it wouldn’t have any bearing on what gravity would do to fabric, so I built a 4’ model of the stage to figure out how the drape could actually hang. I had a seamstress on standby since the “tent” was such an unknown. I thought it was going to likely need some changes, but I had put enough hang points on it that we were able to get it to drape the way we wanted without too much trouble. However, once it was up, the band really wanted it to feel more encompassing. We added some extra triangle wings to the sides of the backdrop to help round out the feel. It was a small addition, but it made a huge impact on the overall design.”
Projection was always in the picture, but the backdrop needed to work both with and without projection. The band and Metcalf were aligned on not wanting to use video in every song, and when they do use it, to use it only at key moments in a song. “One of the other big concepts we wanted to work with was shadows, and so there was a lot of thought into how we could get that to play out on the backdrop. To get more of that DIY feel, I went vintage shopping the day before production rehearsals to get some unique items to cast light through from upstage of the drape. It’s one of my favorite elements of the show! And we also added multiple PARs on the downstage for each of the band members so we could cast their shadows in multiple places on the drop.”
Metcalf loved working with Jeremy Biewer of Glenview, IL-based Colorful Experience, LLC on the set drapery. “He and I have called each other “Bestie” ever since the beginning of the first design I did for BSL. It started as a joke, because we were on the phone multiple times daily from first contact through completion of the project, but we enjoy working together so much, we’ve really become friends in the process. Working with him has allowed me to greatly expand what I can design with fabric. He knows no limits and has a huge network of vendors he can reach out to, to make anything a reality.”
The band worked directly with the animators, which was a first for Metcalf. They had Julia Schimautz create video content for the fall tour and had been in contact with Will Howells before they started discussing this tour. “I was involved to help answer technical questions and to stay informed on what was being created so I could make sure anything I was bringing to the table matched the vibe,” says Metcalf.
The Solaris Flares were the only fixture on the show that Metcalf had used before, noting she knew they had the punch needed to be able to bury them behind the riser. “I’ve been super impressed with Robe’s products over the last few years, so I was hoping I could get some of their fixtures on this project. With the 40’ riser on stage, I wanted the Robe Tetra2s so bad, but thought it was a pipe dream with current availability and a lower budget. Karol Luczkiewicz and LMG (lighting vendor) somehow made it happen for us. They have a lot more punch than I expected, and I love holding our ‘flower effect’ until the end of the set for a surprise look. As for the profiles, this tour is in theaters, so I didn’t need the firepower of the larger profiles everyone is making these days, but I wanted all the features. The Robe ESPRITE was the natural choice. We’ve been so happy with it, especially the even field and color mixing. It took me a very long time to find the right fixture to create the band shadows. I wanted a single source LED fixture in a compact size. I didn’t want to muddy the downstage with a bunch of profiles, and all the LED movers are multi-cell which would make an unclean shadow. I hunted for a while and when I finally came across the Elation KL PAR and got a demo in; I knew we had the right fixture!”
Having worked with Gerry Dintelman at the Pageant in St Louis when she was doing production rehearsals with Black Pumas, (he was the house LD), Metcalf says she was very impressed with his work ethic. “He spent all his free time (of which there was plenty) working on his showfile in Viz. So, when BSL needed someone to direct last year, he popped into my mind, and he’s been the perfect fit. He’s now been out on the road with them since February 2022, so he’s got such a good feel for their music now and the band likes to keep some things loose, so there’s some punting involved. It just made sense to have him program the show. I gave him the elements I wanted to see, and how I wanted the show to progress, and really just let him have at it. I was there for rehearsals and the first two weeks of shows, and we’ve made the show tighter each night. I think that’s the fun thing about programming… you can always make it a little better and seeing the progress is magical.”
Gerry Dintelman
Lighting Director & Programmer
Dintelman gets a set list every night in the form of a picture sent to their group chat, written on a postcard or whatever inanimate object they find in the green room, about two minutes before they walk on stage. “The guys also ad lib and change the set during the shows, so I have to keep my programming super loose. To start the tour, I didn’t have any songs cued out, and punted 100% of the show. Since then, I’ve been adding some cue stacks, and do a sort of punt/cue stack hybrid.”
Dintelman says it was great to get a call from Metcalf to go out and operate for her. “We’ve stayed close since, and I knew if we teamed up on this tour, we could create something very special.” Dintelman spent four days in Gateway Studio’s previz suite in St. Louis, MO, three days at LMG Las Vegas for prep, then four days at the Ellen Eccles Theatre in Logan, UT for tech/rehearsal. Dintelman says when they came back from their Europe/UK run, they didn’t have much time to prep this tour, which made things a little challenging. “We pulled together and made it happen. The rigging can be a bit picky because all of the flown trusses are connected by fabric. Things change day by day, but the look is supposed to be loose and organic, so it tends to work well with any venue’s rigging specs.”
The ground fixture package for The Backseat Lovers tour is about as versatile as it gets notes Dintelman. “We were both eager to get as many Tetra2s as we could get our hands on. We’ve got ESPRITEs above and to the sides of the stage, and behind the backdrop back projecting through house plants and glass jugs. There’s KL PARs on the floor to cast shadows on the canopy, and Flares upstage of the riser for washing the canopy. As well as a 21K laser projector and PTZ camera at FOH.”
He concludes, “A big thanks to my entire crew for all the help. None of this would happen if it weren’t for everyone’s hard work and dedication. I love that this show will be growing and changing as the tour goes on. I’m very proud of what we’ve done so far, and even more excited to see what it evolves into.”
Production Team
- Tour Managers: Greg Downs, Jesse Aldulaimi
- Production Managers: Greg Downs, Chris Saul
- Production Designer: Meagan Metcalf
- Lighting Programmer & Director: Gerry Dintelman
- Tech: Mauro Roberson
- Video Content: Will Howells, Julia Schimautz
Gear
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA3 full-size Console/MA2 Mode
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA3 light Console/MA2 Mode
- 22 Robe ESPRITE
- 24 Robe Tetra2
- 12 Elation KL PAR
- 8 TMB Solaris Flare
- 1 Panasonic PT-RZ21KU Laser Projector
- 1 Sony BRC-X1000 PTZ Camera System
- 2 Ultratec Radiance Hazer
Vendors
- Lighting Company: LMG (Acc. Rep. Karol Luczkiewicz)
- Drapery/Backdrop: Colorful Experience (Acc. Rep. Jeremy “Bestie” Biewer)
