Knight of Illumination Award-winning Lighting Designer Tom Campbell has used a predominantly Claypaky rig in his recent redesign of Welsh heavy metal rock legends Bullet for my Valentine’s current fifth studio album, Venom, tour.
Taking over from the band’s previous lighting designer in July 2016, Campbell refreshed the rig with a selection of innovative moving head fixtures from the Italian manufacturer.
“I took over after the tour had completed its American leg,” said Campbell. “We launched the new design in Germany in front of 6,000 people at the Rock am Ring festival on a reduced rig, then expanded it in October when we went into the full production headline shows. Part of creating this concept is in the stage design itself where we have a collection of old guitar cabinets with PAR Cans wired in.”
Campbell’s full touring rig contains 26 x Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K20’s, 20 x Claypaky Sharpys, 14 x Claypaky Stormy CC’s and 6 x Claypaky Mythos.
Creating a uniform background against which the B-EYE K20s and the PAR Cans are able to shine was the Claypaky Stormy CC, powered by 144 x 7W Oslon Osram LEDs.
The parabolic reflector ensures that the fixture does not push light directly forward but disperses it evenly in a wide arc allowing the creation of dense and wide reaching washes.
Also part of the tour’s rig was a 6 x Mythos floor package for BFMV’s support act Killswitch Engage, designed by the band’s lighting designer Vinny Shaw. The Mythos, along with the Sharpys, spent most of the show frosted to further Campbell’s dynamic beam looks.
The lighting fixtures for the UK and European dates were supplied by London-based lighting consultants, Neg Earth. Aspects of the set were also supplied by Production Park and LS-Live.