"So I started thinking if I could find a way to light the band members from really close up. Then I wondered, 'Would I need so many wash lights?' And, as a resuIt, I would also have a whole lot of black space above to populate with beams."
It was with the Clay Paky Mythos in mind for his beams that took Steven Douglas on a visit to Ambersphere Solutions. "I like the flexibility of looks that you can achieve with the Mythos but wanted to see it working in a small environment to assess if it would become overpowering in such a setting. The Ambersphere team were happy to oblige and I subsequently opted for the Mythos fixtures on my design but it was also here that I found exactly what I had been searching for apropros the wash light idea.
"The guys had a MADesign from Ayrton in the showroom that they were using as a desk light -for the grandMA2 funnily enough. I was instantly interested in it as it was perfect for what I needed to accomplish a close-up wash; they were also architecturally interesting even when they were off and the added bonus of the RGB strip on the back was great as I figured I could use it to light the drapes in the smaller club venues where depth of stage could prove to be an issue."
From Douglas' visit to Ambersphere and meeting with Philip Norfolk and Lee House to check out the Clay Paky Mythos, he came away with a design using the Mythos, B-Eye K20s and the MADesigns. At Brixton Academy, he added Sharpys, Sharpy Washes and Stormys from Clay Paky while some Ayrton MagicBlades-Rs made a timely appearance at Shepherds Bush for the final show of the tour.
"I've been really pleased with the MADesigns; they do the job I envisaged exactly as I planned and more. It is also a bit special that no one has used them like this before; it is very nice to have a unique item on stage. I will definitely be using them again when the design calls for it."
(Jim Evans)
