Pains Fireworks looks to make

PAINS FIREWORKS

Already an established name in the events industry, not to mention its work on the international sporting scene, Pains Fireworks is now looking to make serious inroads into live touring.

Words: Stew Hume Photos: Cris Matthews (Ed Sheeran), Stephen Collins (The Hundred) & Pains Fireworks

Plenty of companies working in the events sector can claim a rich heritage, but when it comes to history, there can’t be many that date back further than Pains Fireworks. The Pains name can be traced back hundreds of years and even ties its original founder to Guy Fawkes’ planned ‘display’ at the Houses of Parliament. With documentation of the name cropping up over the centuries as a commercial seller of fireworks to the public, in more modern times, the company became one of the world leaders in largescale firework displays and, as more keeneyed readers will know, Pains Fireworks also recently supplied Ed Sheeran’s monumental +–=÷x Tour [TPi #270].

“I’ve been at Pains for 15 years and in that time, we’ve had quite a significant shift moving into the special effects and sporting world,” began Tim Griffiths, Sales Director of Pains Fireworks. “We do everything from working with European Rugby, The FA, Premier league and ECB, all the way to the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.” Griffiths described how “while we are very used to working on large-scale national and televised events” the company had “never really moved into the world of touring”.

However, having been brought into the Sheeran camp by long-serving Production Director and FOH Engineer, Chris Marsh, Pains Fireworks had its major touring debut on one of the most ambitious stadium runs ever. “I brought in Pains because I trust them, which is key when working on a production this complicated,” commented Marsh, who had worked with the company when he was younger, looking after the audio deployment on several large-scale firework displays as well as on previous Rod Stewart Tours around Europe. According to Griffiths, many of the skills and knowledge from the special effects world, large displays and sporting applications are transferable to the touring world. “Companies working in the special effects field tend to fall into very defined brackets,” he mused. “You have traditional firework companies, those that do pyro and flames and perhaps even lasers for events and tours, then finally you have those that work in the sporting world. We are breaking the mould somewhat by going after a few markets. We also differ from competitors due to the additional knowledge and safety focus gained from our extensive firework background.” Griffiths highlighted how this knowledge of fireworks has prepared the company to provide a better rounded service. “The regulations around the storage of fireworks are strict and as such our HQ is COMAH regulated,” he commented. “This explosives licence is something that others working in the special effects space are unlikely to have and likely only have a local authority licence.” Pains’ in-house warehouse manager is constantly reading up to ensure they are up to date on all the latest regulations, and the company takes pride in adhering to the protocols of travelling with mixed loads of dangerous goods. With the focus on safety being of the utmost priority, Pains Fireworks longstanding company protocol was to front the training cost of any incoming technicians.

“We aim to put everyone who works for us through the BPA’s (British Pyrotechnic Association) Qualifications. We’ve been an active member of the BPA and their qualifications give people a good basis on respecting pyro and understanding risk assessments, storage and the various laws surrounding explosives.” In previous years, Pains’ preference was to always bring people in-house as full-time employees rather than relying on a freelance model. “We have around 120 staff who we use all year round on shows. We also have 15 people in our office in the UK, along with five

The Pains Fireworks team at its Salisbury HQ. Some examples of the company’s recent work at Salisbury Cathedral and The Hundred at Lord’s Cricket Ground. full-time staff in our Dubai office and a single member of staff looking after the Irish base.” The company has also added several sales staff to help grow the business. With that being said, with the everincreasing list of jobs Pains is now undertaking – not to mention the seasonality of a lot of their firework displays – the company has begun to explore the option of bringing in more freelancers to aid in its increasing workload. Following the ground-breaking Sheeran show, Griffiths discussed how he hoped the company would continue to push into this new market. “We already do quite a few big gigs out in Dubai – especially when artists come over to do one-off shows – and as such we’re already speaking to some production managers. However, people are often very loyal to their team, and we don’t want to start poaching artists and clients.” In fact, an ethos that seems to come from the top down at Pains Fireworks is to be as friendly and easy to work with as possible. “We knew that we were the new faces for Ed’s tour, which is a really longstanding, established touring family,” stated Griffiths. “I didn’t want our team to just come in, rig the pyro then disappear until show time. From the first gig in Dublin, all the team were helping other departments to load trucks, and that ethos continued throughout the run.” Griffiths went on to explain how he thought that this ethos might encourage PMs to bring in Pains much earlier when planning a tour. “Pyro is sometimes the last element to get added to the show; it would be nice to be included sooner so we can provide a more integrated solution, and that is certainly our goal for future projects.” This planning doesn’t just create more integrated shows, but also saves money for production. “One of the biggest issues we face is the cost of shipping,” said Griffiths. “A few years ago, sending a shipment to the US would be around $2,500, whereas now you could be talking about $10,000. It has become even more vital that we get sign off for shows sooner than before, as we are needing to plan as far in advance as possible for shows both due to the shipping issues and the differing regulations in each territory when it comes to special effects.” Despite these obstacles, Pains Fireworks seems to be in a prime position to throw its hat into the ring for more large-scale tours, and the company could well become a staple on supplier lists in the future. www.painsfireworks.com