Drawing on the colour-rendering prowess of his CHAUVET Professional Maverick and Rogue fixtures, which were supplied by Josh Peikert and his team at Hoopty Lights, LD Braxtin Pieper is transforming the stage for Shane Smith and the Saints Ugly Christmas Sweater Tour, with a palette that combines, blues, purples and oranges. Not all of his bold looks feature traditional holiday colour combos, but each plays well off the set’s seasonal scenic elements.
“I believe in a lot of multi-colour palettes,” said Pieper. “For example, our combination of desaturated magenta on one side of the stage and CTB on the other, is really giving the guys a unique look. I learned a lot of those tricks from Pete Zellan former LD at Randy Rogers Band and Justin Box, former LD at Whiskey Myers. I am a big fan of using various hues across the stage to create bold emotional and impactful looks.”
Pieper is making his colour mixing even more dramatic by lighting his client from widely different angles. “I am striving to make as many different looks as I can throughout the show,” he said “So, one look may be a basic spot wash combo, while for others I’ll have various levels of intensities across the stage from the STRIKE Fixtures, the way I do with a song like ‘All The Way.’”
In addition to providing Pieper with distinct light angles and complementing his colours with white light, the 12 STRIKE 1 blinders in his rig, are responsible for the all-important audience lighting on this holiday tour. “The crowd is such an important part of this show,” said Pieper. “They give all of us motivation when they’re jumping to signature songs like ‘Feather In The Wind’ and ‘All I See Is You.’”
While audience lighting connects the band to the crowd on this festive tour, it was Pieper’s distinctive colors that set the mood. Key to creating this vivid panorama were the six Maverick Force S Spot and six Rogue R2 Wash fixtures that were mounted on Hoopty Light carts.
“I position the Maverick and Rogue fixtures at various heights and angles so they wrap around the stage to create a greater sense of depth,” said Pieper. “The Force S is the power house of the package. They create big break up patterns for songs like ‘Fire In The Ocean,’ and sharp beams and floods of light for songs like ‘Cocaine Habit.’”
Peiper credits Shane Smith and the Saints production manager Ethan Holland for “helping me get me out of my comfort zone in some of the colour palettes.” This expansive view of colour mixing is very evident in the new song “Live Free,” a celebration of the outdoors, when desaturated red and magentas cover the centre of the stage, complemented by splashes of orange to emulate the rising sun, and blues on the floor package to suggest the ocean.
