Two Door Cinema Club are currently embarked on one of those arduous festival circuits that sees them perform on three continents in as many weeks. As the band’s Sound Engineer for several years, Ian Laughton is not just adding to his air miles tally: he’s actually found a better way to tour.
“We’ve just done five in a row here and in Europe and have three more before we depart for Australia where we do four shows in six days, crossing the country from West to East and then South. A quick gig in the Philippines and then back to Europe for another stint before we’re off once again, this time to the US.”
“Britannia Row provides our control package, a pair of Midas Pro2c’s and a line system and that’s a job well done but choosing them has proved even more important than usual. I have my basic rack which now goes with me worldwide. I’ve managed to pack in my Massenburg Limiter, a TC Electronics M6000 reverb, an Avalon 737 compressor and a D2 Delay; not bad going really for 105kgs. These four tools are my defining rig. For the next three shows Brit Row have given me an identical copy B rack while my own rack ships out to Australia.”
“Where the advantage comes in is the effect of the tie-up with Clair Global; it has just made that whole continent-to-continent process a lot simpler. We get identical desks in Australia from Clair JPJ and when we go to the US later on, Lez Dwight, our account manager at Brit Row said, ‘Hey, we will just do the same in the US for you’. That’s when I realised my life had just become a whole bit easier. And it’s not just me, our Tour Manager Angus Jenner benefits as well. You can have the whole thing billed any way you want, just one single invoice from Brit Row in the UK if that’s what makes sense for you.”
As a final sweetener Laughton has a former Brit Row crew man on monitors. “Steve Donovan is accompanying me on monitors. He’s been doing Jack Garrett for the last few years and is a very competent technical guy, more so than me, so he is very useful to have around with this type of touring. As I said, life has just got easier for sound engineers.”
