The Living End

ROADSKILLS

The Living End

by Cat Strom.
Photo Credits: Troy Constable

On the back of releasing their eighth studio album, Wunderbar, Australian rock legends The Living End have begun a string of tour dates throughout the summer.

Echoing the Wunderbar album cover, the stage design is littered with old TVs, half of which actually work, so lighting designer Anthony Petruzio has plugged them into hot-patched dimmers to get static running on their screens, and lit them with a bunch of TourPro Zoom Par Juniors. A spiral backdrop appears later during the show.

Anthony Petruzio

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“It’s the first show I’ve ever done not using washes as backlight,” remarked Anthony. “I’m using GLP JDC-1s for more of a colour back wash with colour and depth also coming from the Zoom Par Juniors lighting up the faces of the TVs.

“The profile fixture changes from venue to venue; I have Robe BMFLs here at the Enmore, I had GLP GT-1s yesterday and I have Martin MAC Vipers tomorrow. Any good profile fixture suits my needs.”

Anthony’s design was balanced but not symmetrical, with some of the truss-hung BMFLs fixed to drop pipes that also featured TourPro Nova warm white 4-cell fixtures. Upstage there were staggered heights on the eight uprights with each topped with a GLP X4 Bar 20 and underneath that, a Portman P3 PIX3L.

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“It’s a simple show and I admit I wasn’t sure how the TVs would work, but it’s come up really well,” said Anthony. “I don’t use the X4 Bars or P3s until later in the show, starting off with mainly just the spots, JDC-1s and the Zoom Pars on the TVs. I  also have GLP X4 washes on the floor for backdrop, side and front wash.

“A couple of GLP GT-1s are on the front truss for profiles as Chris solos from many positions and I can set up a few positions for that.”

Anthony decided to tour with an Avolites Tiger Touch II, as he works for TLC, the Avolites distributor in Australia. It’s been an interesting challenge for someone who has used the MA platform for twelve years.

“The best way to do training on a console  is to use it in anger!” he said. “That way I’m answering my own questions as I do my programming. The effects engine is fantastic and I really like its ease of use, plus it’s small and compact for travel.  Avolites consoles have come a long way from the old Rolacue! Really, consoles all do the same thing, they just have different ways of getting there.”

At FOH was who was keeping it old style rock’n’roll, not just in his mix but with a bottle of beer and ciggie in his hand. A control package from JPJ Audio was toured, along with some gear from Deluxe Audio, and in-house PAs used. Woody ran a DiGiCo SD10 with an SSL C2 compressor over the mix, keeping it simple as befits a great rock’n’roll band.

Woody Annison

“We keep it raw and with an energy that doesn’t sound processed,” he said. “With other bands I may use a few more toys because of their requirements and playback tracks, but with the Living End it’s basically 30 channels of rock’n’roll. I really like the way the DiGiCo SD10 sounds and it has great preamps, but it does have some flaws and quirks in its software.”

Woody commented that the band rehearse a lot and they work at their own dynamics, adding that some other acts he works for have a different approach and so he has to work on pushing the dynamic!

Michael Shanahan was controlling monitors from an Avid Profile providing all three guys on stage with a stereo mix and a full band mix too.

“Chris has the most record-like sounding mix with his guitar and vocal pushed a little bit,” added Michael. “Scott’s mix is very bass heavy and Andy’s is quite drum heavy but also a full mix. The main thing I do during the show is ride the ambient mics because they feed off the crowd and I rely on them a lot, so I leave my finger on that fader for the whole show.”

The band has a Sennheiser endorsement with Chris Cheney using a 431 for his vocals whilst the other band members use 935 vocal mics.

Michael Shanahan

“We have a standard Sennheiser drum mic package plus MK8s on guitars with an sE Electronics baffle around the back of them,” said Michael. “There are live cabs facing backwards so we can turn them up to get the tone we are after, again with baffles around them to keep the sound consistent from night to night. For the bass there’s a 421, and 416 shotguns for ambient mics.”

The band are all using IEMs which are naturally Sennheiser G3s.

From the December 2018 – January 2019 edition of CX Magazine. CX Magazine is Australia and New Zealand’s only publication dedicated to entertainment technology news and issues – available in print and online.
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