Squeek Lights goes Rogue for Animals As Leaders
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Sharing the stage meant the band needed a rig that could be set up and taken away quickly. At the same time, since Animals As Leaders would be playing larger venues than on its previous tour, Zeiser needed a lightshow with greater output. The New York-based LD came up with a solution that balanced mobility and brightness with help from 12 Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 Washes that he used to anchor a rig mounted on two custom-made truss carts.
“The team at Squeek Lights, Benjamin Jaret and Steve Kosiba, worked very hard to come up with the idea of using two pieces of truss as carts, one on each side of the drum riser,” he explained. “Each piece rode on its wheels and had Rogues and other lights mounted on its top of it, as well as on a pipe arch. We made the arch door height and had some fixtures flip down for travel. We built trays into the legs under the truss, which is where we stored cable runs and loose pars, as well as the distro and hazer. The whole rig lived in these two pieces of truss, so we did not need to send out a single road case on this tour as it crisscrossed the United States.”
From their position on the roller truss structures, the Rogue R1 Wash units back lit the band and created aerial washes. “We zoomed down as with the Rogues to create some evocative backlighting,” said Zeiser. “We also blew the light out wide for both big silhouette looks as backlight and on the backdrop. The output of the Rogues (up to 3,098 lux at 5 meters) coupled with their compact size made them ideal for our concept of getting a powerful rig on two mobile carts.”
He also colorized the stage with the six COLORado 1 Solo fixtures that were positioned to the side of the stage. “We used the COLORados as uplights from the side to light the guys,” he said. “Each band member had a light from each side focused on him. I always like to use side lighting in my tour packages as it guarantees the quality of light that will be on the band every night. You can't hang front light in clubs and you get a very mixed bag every night.”
(Jim Evans)
