ANDI WATSON / RADIOHEAD IN SOME/THINGS MAGAZINE ISSUE002 / THE BLACK BOOK

MONIKA BIELSKYTE / YOU HAVE BEEN COLLABORATING WITH RADIOHEAD FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS NOW, HOW DID YOU MEET THEM & HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO WORK TOGETHER?



ANDI WATSON / I FIRST MET THEM WHEN THEY WERE THE SUPPORT ACT FOR A BAND I WAS WORKING WITH. WE WERE PLAYING TINY PLACES & AT THAT TIME THEY HAD ANOTHER DESIGNER WORKING FOR THEM. I THOUGHT THEY WERE AMAZING & WAS DELIGHTED WHEN THEY ASKED ME TO DO THEIR LIGHTING AFTER THE ORIGINAL DESIGNER HAD LEFT TO PURSUE HIS MUSICAL ASPIRATIONS.



[..]



MB / WHICH OF THE RADIOHEAD TOURS WERE HARDEST & WHY? WHICH TOURS SEEM MOST MEMORABLE FOR YOU? CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE LIGHTS YOU’VE BEEN USING FOR THEM?



AW / MOST OF THE TOURS HAVE BEEN PRETTY TOUGH AT THE BEGINNING, ALTHOUGH IN THE PAST I HAD ALMOST NO TIME TO PROGRAM THE HUGE NUMBER OF SONGS THE BAND WANTED TO PLAY. ON THE LAST FEW TOURS I HAVE HAD MUCH MORE PRODUCTION REHEARSAL TIME BUT WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO ACHIEVE HAS BEEN WAY, WAY MORE. THE LAST TOUR WAS PROBABLY THE MOST COMFORTABLE BECAUSE IT WAS JUST SO INSTANTLY BEAUTIFUL & FLEXIBLE.

IN TERMS OF THE ACTUAL EQUIPMENT, WE PROBABLY FOLLOWED A PRETTY HISTORICALLY ACCURATE PATH. FOR THE FIRST FEW TOURS I DIDN’T WANT TO USE MOVING LIGHTS, JUST USING FIXED INCANDESCENT LAMPS, MOVING ON TO COLOUR CHANGING FIXED LAMPS. THE FEEL WAS PERHAPS MORE TRADITIONALLY THEATRICAL ON THOSE TOURS. THEN WE DID SEVERAL TOURS WITH MOVING LIGHT RIGS, EVEN ADDING THE LASER IN THE TENT, BEFORE THE ‘HAIL TO THE THIEF’ TOUR WITH THE PIXELLINE LED WALL CONTROLLED FROM THE CUSTOM CATALYST SOFTWARE. THE TOUR AFTER THAT INVOLVED A COMPLEX CAMERA SYSTEM FOR THE FIRST TIME & AN EVEN MORE COMPLEX MULTIPLE PROJECTION SYSTEM. FINALLY, OF COURSE, THE ALL-LED ‘IN RAINBOWS’ DESIGN WITH ITS 3D VIDEO SCREEN OF VERTICAL PIXEL ELEMENTS MADE UP OF ELEMENT LABS VERSATUBE HD UNITS & THE MULTI REMOTE CAMERA SYSTEM USED TO CREATE MUCH OF THE VIDEO SCREEN OUTPUT.





Excerpt from A CONVERSATION WITH ANDI WATSON. ENTIRE 26 PAGE FEATURE ONLY IN PRINTED EDITION OF SOME/THINGS MAGAZINE ISSUE002 / THE BLACK BOOK







POSTED 09.23AM BY LUKE MAYES / SEE ALL POSTS RELATED TO THIS AUTHOR