ON THE ROAD: Chickenfoot
Below: Chickenfoot rock the stage at 013; Production Manager, Paul Binder; Lighting Designer, Jim ‘Rosie’ Greenawalt with the High End Systems Wholehog 2 system; FOH Engineer Michael ‘Ace’ Baker used Yamaha’s PM5D alongside the PreSonus StudioLive; Monitor Engineer, Jim Jorgensen, with the Avid Venue.
design is simpler and we have a smaller floor package. We’re trying to keep that classic rock look - old school but with new technology,” he said. “There’s a lot of red light used as it fits in with many of the songs and also with Sammy being known as the Red Rocker. We use ambers as well and not too many pastels so we can keep a hard edge with primary colours.” Whilst Bandit Lites supplied lighting
equipment when the group toured in the US, the floor package the crew carried with them on the European dates was provided by HSL and integrated into the house lighting system at every venue. On each of the six lighting towers a Philips Vari-Lite VL2500 was positioned along with a total of six Martin Professional Atomic 3000 Strobes. At the base of each tower, on the drums and on each mic, Rosie placed James Thomas Pixel Par 90’s to light up the towers and the backdrop. Around 120 PAR Cans were brought in by local vendors at each venue to use as fill in light. Rosie chose to make use of a standard 24-inch box truss and introduced Philips iColor tubes to form the Chickenfoot logo in a simple yet effective manner. “I believe the fans don’t need a lot of over
the top lighting that masks everything if they are really into the music. LED is still important in the show and we’re going to use a lot more of it in the larger rig to give the show a bigger look,” explained Rosie. “We’ve been keeping the lighting quite
static. At one point Sammy wanted more PAR Cans and to go really old school, but with a limited amount of space there’s only so much
you can do. We needed to introduce some moving lights and even though I only have six of them, there are still lots of effects you can create.” Lighting prep began last October, when
Rosie spent four days programming the show at Bandit Lites in the US using recordings of the tracks the band would play live. According to the LD, both Bandit Lites and HSL have been supportive throughout the pre-production process and tour. A key piece of equipment on the road was Rosie’s High End Systems Wholehog 2 system, which produced a rock look with impact and included an extensive effects engine that he has been building up gradually. He explained: “The desk is really easy to work with and I’ve always used it. My favourite part is the eeffects engine, which I’ve been working on for the past decade because when you create some really cool looks, you don’t want to have to rebuild them every time. “I don’t really work with cue stacks - I set
up one song per page and then I just lay it out across the board as start, verse, chorus, solo and vamp. These guys play pretty much the same every night, but when they go into their jam, it’s helpful to be able to jump around and create different effects.” Life on the road with Chickenfoot has been
fun and fast-paced, revealed the LD, who classes his colleagues as his touring family. “We have a great production team, surrounded by top notch guys and everyone does their job above and beyond. The tour has been great and we’ve been excited every night because the
album is so good,” he commented. “I really enjoy the band’s music and
understand it, which was the same with Sam when we started way back. Being a drummer years ago means I’ve got some kind of rhythm and makes it a little easier because you can figure out where the band is going. The highlight for me is when the house lights go out and the show begins.”
SEASONED PROS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY When musicians with decades of experience such as Chickenfoot perform, magic is created on stage, but the same is true for the production unit, which Binder likens to old friends being reunited. The only disappointing part of the tour, he admitted, is that it was such a short run this time around. “On the road test, we were seeing how the fans took to Kenny playing drums and it’s been really successful. We’ve sold out dates and with the success of this run, we’ll be able to plan the next tour on a bigger scale,” he said. Monitor Engineer Jorgensen echoed Binder’s
sentiments, concluding: “We’re like family now we’ve been doing this for a number of years. They’re all industry veterans and it’s been extremely efficient, which allows us to have a lot of fun. These are musicians that I’ve liked since I started listening to music and now I get to work with them - that’s pretty rewarding.” TPi
Photography: Zoe Mutter, Jessica Gilbert & Martin Kelly
www.chickenfoot.us www.clairsystems.com http://hslgroup.com www.martin-audio.com
TPi FEBRUARY 2012 • 65
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