THE KOOKS

What links the Kooks, one of today’s biggest British rock bands with Sixties legends The Kinks? Quite simply, it’s Konk — the title of both the former’s chart-busting second album and the name of the Ray Davies-founded London studio in which it was recorded.

    Taking their moniker from David Bowie’s quirky Hunky Dory album track, the Kooks were formed in 2004 at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, and rapidly gained the attention of music and media moguls, leading to their first major hit, ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’ in 2006.

    Two years after the success of their debut album Inside In/Inside Out, Konk was released this April and shot to No.1 just as the band — Luke Pritchard, Hugh Harris, Paul Garred and new bassist Dan Logan — played the first date of their Konk world tour, production managed by Rick Smith.

      In charge of everything lighting-orientated on the tour is LD Pete Hosier, a.k.a. ‘Luton Pete’, who chose an Avolites Diamond 4 Vision console to control the lighting equipment supplied by Colour Sound Experiment and Martin’s Lights. Having always been a keen Avo user, Hosier “didn't think twice” about using the D4 on the tour which sees the Kooks mix power, rawness and pacey pop sensibilities with maximum effect.

    Taking a less-is-more approach to the design, the look and feel of the show is based on a rear wall of light, which was one of the many ideas that Hosier discussed with the band, who take an active interest in the aesthetics of the show.

    Neatly combining the basics of that slightly ‘old skool’ look with new LED technology, the wall is constructed around seven 20ft vertical scaffolding pipes, each rigged with three LED PARs, a Martin Pro Atomic strobe with scroller, and a GLP Impression moving LED wash fixture. The rest of the lights are spread across three trusses and the floor.

    The back truss contains eight Robe ColorSpot 700E AT fixtures; the mid truss has five ColorSpot 575E ATs, while the front has five 575E ATs, five ColorWash 700E ATs and ETC Source Four profiles for key lighting.

    The show concept is also designed for easy expansion as the venues increase in size, which they will do as the tour progresses.

    Hosier has used Robe fixtures before on several occasions, and was very happy to do so again. He particularly likes the ColorWashes and the strobing effects that are used extensively in the show. “The zoom range is excellent, too,” he added, again making the most of this with plenty of zoom and iris work, along with the use of precisely focused beams.

    The ColorSpot 575E ATs on the mid truss were initially added in to give some illumination for opening acts, as the back of the stage is masked off by a kabuki drop until just before the Kooks go on. “It was a very cost effective way of ensuring there were enough fixtures to give a decent light show for the supports, with the added bonus that we could use them in our show,” he elucidated.

MAKING AN IMPRESSION
When Hosier was introduced to GLP Impression LED moving washes while controlling the lighting at the TPi Awards 2008 at the London’s Grosvenor House this February, he knew he had to have them for the Kooks’ European tour that was about to follow.

    Ian Kirby, who runs LED-Lites — the UK distributor for GLP — had seized the opportunity to make an impression (literally) and merged 24 of the fixtures into HSL’s design for TPi’s production awards ceremony. “When we undid the GLP box of tricks I fell in love with them straight away. I knew the Impressions would be perfect for the tour,” reported Hosier. “It’s the first proper, instant access LED moving light wash on the market.”

    Colour Sound Experiment purchased 12 of the fixtures and Hosier set to work designing several scalable lighting configurations, incorporating generics, conventional moving spot/wash heads and strobes for use on the three-truss rig.

    The LD hadn’t bargained on just how useful the Impressions would be when the show arrived in Milan. “The truck arrived late, and the voltage supply was unstable — so we decided to run the entire show with just the Impressions. It worked brilliantly.”

    In fact, Hosier has nothing but praise for the Impressions’ high output on the Kooks’ tour. Stored as macros on his D4, the fixtures offer a stunning matrix of vivid, deeply-saturated colour — including the best amber the LD has seen.

    “It has a brilliant colour palette,” he confirmed. “These are at least as bright as conventional discharge washes and more than hold their own against the strobes. It’s also super responsive and is the LED we’ve been waiting for.

    “They also offer real eco value and we’ve slowly been lamping off all the movers; moving lights generate so much heat and by using aircon to make them cooler we are generating further energy problems.”

    Each Impression weighs just 7.5kg; on top of this, added LED-Lites’ Stuart Fenwick, “they produce 660° of really rapid pan and the strobing is pretty monstrous.” Each Impression on the tour is fitted with the standard 10° beam angle — but there are also optional 25° and 40° beam paths.

    On the deck there’s further LED action, with 10 JTE PixelLines used for washing across the cyc at the back and also for uplighting from underneath the risers. There are another nine Atomic strobes scattered around the general floor area which are gelled, plus another six GLP Impressions. Eight conventional PARs are used for classic backlighting and silhouetting effects, adding a bit of edginess to the stage ambience.

    Hosier first became acquainted with the D4 console whilst working as the house lighting tech at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. “It's incredibly quick to programme,” he said, adding that it’s also proved reliable and he likes Avo’s whole approach to the industry as well as the products.

    He fills the top row of faders with memories which can be grabbed instantly at all times. “It’s absolutely the perfect console for this type of show which does not have to be so heavily structured in terms of cues. There's a fair amount of improvisation and generally it’s a very hands-on show.”

    Hosier worked alongside crew members Martin Dudley (of Martin's Lights) and Richard Gilson on this most recent section of the tour, and they were joined by Andy Melleney for the Brixton Academy shows.

DIGITAL SOUND
This is the Brighton band’s second production tour, with Russ Tite piloting the FOH mix and Paul Roberts vacating monitor duties with another mercurial indie British pop band, The Feeling, to take up the reins here. Both men are piloting Soundcraft Vi6 digital mixing consoles, the latter switching from the smaller Vi4 which he had taken out with The Feeling.

    Tite joined the band two and a half years ago while mixing Rooster. “The lighting guys were mates with the A&R department at Virgin, and they needed someone to mix a Kooks show supporting the Editors at the Barfly.” Since then, he hasn’t looked back.

    He was a confirmed analogue man before being turned on to the sonic transparency and intuitive Vistonics interface of the Vi6 by Pete Russell of tour supplier SSE Audio Group — an early adopter of Soundcraft’s digital platform.

    On this tour he has been using industry-standard HD24s for multi-tracking and virtual soundchecking, using a MADI-to-ADAT converter. Outboard includes a BSS DPR-901 on Luke Pritchard’s vocal, and SSE also supplied its generic digital drive rack.

    However, pretty much all the effects are straight off the Vi6, with Tite operating the new Version 2.1 software. “I love the Vi6, which sounds great and is really easy to use,” he said. “The de-esser is extremely good, the reverb sounds amazing and the compressor is also really nice — in fact it’s perfect for a rock show.” His views were echoed by the tour’s system tech Craig Pryde.

    The Kooks’ FOH engineer is also impressed with the desk’s new Copy and Paste function. “This works amazingly well and the Vi6 is now everything it should be. It’s definitely this desk on the riders for me now.”

    Finally, Tite emphasises that the console is a two-man lift — unlike the analogue desks he has struggled with over the years.

    Meanwhile, in monitor world, Paul Roberts said that the Vi6 is not only a classic foldback board but its brightly-coloured fascia could have been made for him — since he is completely colour blind!

    “The choice of different block colours for the different functions is brilliant,” he says. “The aesthetics of a desk are so important and by colour-coding the different sections, everything becomes obvious, which is not the case with other boards.”

    Roberts says that he loved the experience of driving the Vi4 with The Feeling, and enjoys the whole Vi series topography: “Soundcraft have taken some of the best elements of other digital boards and made it more useful and user-friendly — such as the two A/B monitor outs.”

    Only drummer Paul Garred is on in-ears the rest of the band are using wedge monitors. “As a result, everything sounds great,” said Roberts. “The VCAs are tremendous and this mix is largely inspired by what I was doing with The Feeling [who all perform with IEMs]. It’s a great desk for close monitoring.”

    Having recently completed their European and UK legs, the Kooks took off for a three-week American tour. They will return for several appearances on the festival circuit before continuing with the Konk world tour which is booked until March 2009.
TPi