With decades of material and experience to draw from, Deftones returned to the touring circuit to support the release of their 10th studio album, Private Music. The tour has seen the band visit bigger venues, with an innovative production and technical finesse courtesy of creative and technical suppliers.
Production Manager Tyrone Brunton welcomed TPi to Birmingham’s bp pulse LIVE, and following a recce of the venue, he shared an insight into the tour’s origins. “This process has evolved over a couple of years to get to where we are now, at arena level, and through the introduction of Matt Pitman, the further Pixelmappers team, and the wonderful vision from Chino and Velvet Hammer’s Mark Wakefield, the show has been elevated to the next level.”
The production manager enlisted the aid of PRG (automation, lighting, rigging and video), Vis-A-Vis (cameras), Britannia Row Productions – part of Clair Global (audio), TAIT (staging and risers), CSE Radiotek (tour radios), Fly By Nite (production rehearsals and trucking), Mission Control (RF), Phoenix Bussing (crew and artist transport), Sarah’s Kitchen (catering), Road Ramps Europe (stage ramps), and Pixelmappers (creative). “The suppliers I choose for any tour are known and trusted; it’s all about people and loyalty,” Brunton explained.
“For difficult back-to-backs, we employed our usual formula of flying a touring rigger ahead and getting in a local steel, or full rigging package to have points hanging once we arrive in the next city,” Brunton revealed. “This, in addition to a cleverly designed scalable production from Pixelmappers and our DART rigging team of Martin Gehring, Kim Kusters and Florian Jordan, meant that we could deal with shoehorning our large production into tighter venues.”
Brunton described the crew working alongside him as “exceptional”. He elaborated: “A special thanks goes to our Stage Manager, Sean Brady. I never leave home on a tour without Sean – he goes above and beyond every day,” Brunton said. “A special mention also goes to Randall and Erik from PRG – those guys were a huge part of getting the tour across the line – and, as always, Bullet from TAIT. Not forgetting the unsung heroes of the tour, Sarah’s Kitchen, who kept everyone fuelled and well fed by Royston and Lou – amazing people and incredible food.”
Accompanying Brunton in the production office and ensuring the crew had everything they needed on the run was Production Coordinator, Sinead Madden, who put kindness at the forefront of her role. “If you treat the people around you with kindness, you always get the best out of a person,” Madden said. “My role is keeping everyone together and keeping it going; making sure everyone is OK and looked after is crucial when on the road.”
Madden spoke about how, in her position, she gets respect from the crew from day one, and with the rise of women on the road, she makes active changes to make her female counterparts on the road more comfortable. “Despite the rise of women on the road, it can still be a challenge – even getting a shower with a locking door can be difficult, but in that circumstance, I work with venue security so that there is someone ensuring only women can use that room,” Madden explained. “Little things like that make a difference.”
With a production case full of Barry’s Tea, and always ready should someone need her on a show day, Madden reflected on the tour: “Everyone on this tour is fantastic, wonderfully professional, and works very well with one another,” he said.
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Words: Alicia Pollitt
Photos: Luke Dyson, Clemente Ruiz and TPi
