Hot Chip

Keen to experiment with live performances of songs from their fourth studio album One Life Stand, Grammy award-winning electropop band Hot Chip took to the road in February for a month-long tour of O2 Academy venues in the UK, booked through promoter SJM.

The tour marked the end of a year’s stint in the studio for the band and also brought back together many production crew that worked on their world tour, which finished in February ‘09.

After dates in New York, Hot Chip crossed the Atlantic to launch a UK tour on February 12 at Glasgow O2 Academy, touring AMG’s O2 Academies and other theatre-size venues before finishing at the O2 Academy Brixton.

The whistle-stop tour was managed by American tour manager Amos Harvey who met the band originally via working for LCD Soundsystem. Compared to previous tours and albums, the Hot Chip sound has moved towards a more live-sounding, beat-driven electronica.

ROCK MEETS ABLETON LIVE
The band have recently added a drummer to the mix and together with interludes on the steel pan, bongos and timbales the sound is on the whole far more ‘live’ and experimental. This is also due to a meticulous approach to pre-production and a complex MIDI network running on Ableton Live, designed by the band’s MIDI tech of three years, Alex Turner.

One on-stage rack contained a laptop running Ableton, functioning as the brain to control sample triggering, external MIDI data and patch changing, with an XLR patch bay at the rear connecting to patch bays on all the keyboard pedal boards and four wiring looms.

Said Turner: “Within those looms we’re sending clicks, MIDI, audio and pulses to trigger the arpeggiators in one of the analogue synths.

“To get that nice and tidy it’s taken a bit of money and a bit of thought. I wired it an ad-hoc way as the backline evolved on the last album, but on this album I had enough time to think about the best way to do it. I opted for VDC to make all the panels and looms — they did a really good, non-standard job.

“When the band run out of hands the system enables the keyboards to be played by remote control from the brain. Because I’ve made it into a neat patch bay and brain with XLRs, it’s reliable and durable.

“Ableton is absolutely rock solid, it’s the best program and the only program to use for music that’s loop-based. It’s very flexible; it’s not time based so you don’t have to start at the beginning of the song and then finish at the end, plus it’s really reliable and doesn’t crash. The guys at Ableton really look after us with really on-the-button advice. In terms of the Hot Chip sound, using Ableton has enabled huge flexibility on stage in terms of arrangement.”

Continued Turner: “They also run a real choice selection of keyboards to get their sound; they have some old fat analogue keyboards like the Roland SH-101 and loads of new crisp Dave Smith keyboards and two new Moogs that are very versatile. They choose their equipment really carefully to complement whatever else they’ve got on stage.”

The evolvement of their live performance has meant that monitor engineer Ilias Andrianatos, who has worked with the band since 2003, has been ever more challenged to mix the band. “When I first worked for them they didn’t even have a guitar amp, but now they have two bass, two guitar, two keyboard, a drum kit, bongos and a bass... I started off with 20 inputs on the monitor desk but now I have 40!” he said.

He returned to his desk of choice for the past three years, the Digidesign Profile, for the February tour because it “sounds great and is very flexible for smaller tours”. With 40 inputs, he created 14 mixes for the band and backline crew; six in-ear mixes (three wireless Sennheiser G2-300 IEMs and three hard wired), along with five wedge mixes for the 10 d&b M2s; two mixes for sidefills (one C7 flown at the top and two C7 subs per side) and one mix for the C7 drum sub.

Andrianatos was using a wireless tablet that allowed him to control the Digidesign Profile remotely. Amplification was provided by 10 d&b D12 amplifers.

Skan PA Hire provided the touring package, which included the consoles and a d&b audiotechnik J-Series line array sound system for backup, which hadn’t left the truck by the time the tour stopped on its fourth gig at Leeds O2 Academy, but was probably going to be unpacked for the bigger venues.

The system comprised 20 d&b J8 line array modules, eight d&b J12 line array speakers, two d&b J-BUMPs, 12 d&b J-SUBs and eight d&b Q7 fills, along with 24 d&b D12 processor amplifiers and two d&b D6 amps.
Manning FOH sound was this year’s TPi Award nominee for FOH Engineer of the Year, Shan Hira, who spoke highly of Skan: “Their service and gear are really good. I have used them since 2004 and believe they are the best PA company in the country.”

Hira’s desk of choice was the Soundcraft Vi6, which he has used with the likes of Lily Allen. “It’s a really good desk and it’s small footprint suits the venues we’ve been playing,” he commented. Hira utilised the Vi6 in conjunction with a WinXP laptop running Smaart 5 software, and a d&b R1 remote control system for the PA control when he later got to use the J-Series. For the other shows, he used a selection of various in-house controllers.

He continued: “It is a very busy gig with lots of channels going at the same time, as well as five vocal mics [KSM9s] with different voices coming down them during different songs, so it is a bit of a white knuckle ride and there is no time for taking my hands off the desk!”

As well as using all eight of the Vi6’s onboard Lexicon effects, Hira was touring with his own Fulltone tape echo which he first used on the Chemical Brothers a couple of years ago, and a Roland Re20. Technical back-up for the system came in the form of Skan’s Scott Essen, whose experience and know-how helped make the most of the in-house systems on a daily basis.

NO LED PLEASE
Hot Chip gave LD Neil Carson a fairly free range when it came to the look of the show, stipulating only that it should appear quite theatrical, and without any reliance on video or LED, as they’re not fans of either.

However, they’re not the type of band that need it. Their physical performance and their music were engaging enough to connect with the audience, plus the seven musicians and their vast variety of instruments only just fitted on to some venues’ stages.

Carson liaised closely with set designer Misty Buckley (Take That, Muse, Anastacia) to come up with a ‘theatrical’ look for the show that also incoporated the trussing and lighting designs already installed in the tour’s venues.

In the midst of a very busy period, Perry Scenic designed three vertical banners for the backdrop to the stage, which were interspersed with floor-based Jarag fixtures. The textured drapes when placed together were an artistic replica of the band’s latest album cover.

Said Jon Perry: “I had previously shown Misty some photos of drapes we’d previously done for P!nk, whilst discussing the set for Tokio Hotel.”

The venues’ truss mounted lights were kept in place for each show and incorporated into Carson’s touring package, which consisted of floor-based fixtures provided by Siyan, through technician Andy Melleney.

Five Martin MAC 2000 Washes and three Atomic 3000s were positioned up stage for backlighting the band for the high intensity moments in certain songs, like the finale ‘Ready For The Floor’. Carson specified 12 SGM Palcos, two lighting each band member when they were at the height of performing.

Ten Chroma-Q Colour Punches mounted on booms, three Pixeline 1044s uplighting the banners and two Look Solutions Unique Hazers added impact to the set, but the 16 Jarags, placed in various tower formations, were the most eye-catching component of the visuals.

These were run in 36 channel mode and were pixel mapped using the FOH ChamSys MagicQ 100 console’s in built software and graphics, which alternated between blocks of light and scrolling patterns. Carson was very decisive about using the Jarags because he liked the dual qualities of their soft, incandescent glow and intense brightness.

“I have been using the ChamSys for about four years now,” said Carson. “It doesn’t seem to be that common in the UK, but it is in parts of Europe. It’s really flexible.” Avolites Art racks handled distribution.
Fly By Nite and Phoenix provided the trucking and bussing, respectively.
TPi