Chauvet enhances musicality for Creeper
- Details
On the just-completed Sacred Blasphemy UK tour by Creeper, Borgars demonstrated his virtuosity on the Chauvet Professional Color Strike M by using the motorised fixture to follow the hauntingly evocative notes played by the band’s keyboardist Hannah Greenwood, and powerful beats by drummer Jack Fogarty.
“Aside from the silhouette looks I got from the Color Strikes, I also used a lot of the fixture’s pixel effects to go along with the key notes from Hannah,” he said. “I also used the clap out effect on both the beam and plate pixels to accent some of the drum hits and whip effects. It’s part of how I treat light as an instrument at points during a show.”
Working with a lighting kit supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, Borgars often went to the lighting equivalent of eerie minor keys with his “lighting instruments” on this tour, which was in support of the Creeper’s hit Sanguivore, an album built around a vampire theme. The band, and many of its fans, dressed to fit this vampiric mood, and Borgars added to the atmosphere with his high contrast Chiaroscuro style of lighting with its dark shadows, as well as with his colour choices.
“We very rarely use front light with Creepers,” said Borgars. “Will Gould, the band’s singer and I took inspiration from old Sisters of Mercy shows, as well as horror references. We’re both heavily inspired by Tim Burton’s work and expressionist film. Working with Creeper over the past five years has given me the opportunity to explore this within our shows.
“With Sanguivore in particular we’re using a lot of dark space, shadows and silhouettes to create visually distorted places and enhance on the theatricality of a Creeper show,” continue Borgars. “The Color Strike Ms were a massive part of achieving the silhouetted looks within this show. I tend to keep the verses very monotone for Creeper only adding in other colours on any opportune moments. When possible, I bring in bold complementary colours into choruses and bridges for looks that pull the audience into the show more.”
