Slash

SLASH

There’s something magical about witnessing a musician of Slash’s calibre, playing an academy venue. Since re-joining the Guns N’ Roses camp, it would be fair to think you’re more likely to see him shredding on the stage of a 90,000-capacity stadium than an intimate venue like Manchester Apollo. But according to the guitarist’s hard-working crew, intensive touring and staying on the road all comes with the territory when you call Slash your boss. This run was no different with the touring party leaving LA on the 3 January for a 10-week tour which saw them cover three continents and 21 countries for 37 shows!

“And this is mild for him,” laughed long-time friend of Slash Tim ‘Quake’ Mark who, for several years, has juggled both Production Manager and FOH Engineer hats of his own. Greeting TPi in the production office at the Apollo, he told some of his favourite war stories with the six-string legend. “I remember we did a run back in 2015 where we were gone for 52 days, and in that time took 29 flights and visited 30 cities. It tends to be quite relentless.” Moments later Backstage Coordinator Sam Risbridger – another familiar name in both the Slash and Guns N’ Roses touring roll call – pulled out his passport to showcase unrecognisable visa documents stamped by

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Backline Tech Alan ‘Ace’ Bergman; LD Kevin ‘Deuce’ Christopher; Monitor Engineer John Shipp; Tour Manager and Accountant.

countless border officers in an untold number of places.

But despite the gruelling schedule, Quake explained how there’s something really special about this particular touring family’s philosophy. “This is a team effort and we are all equal out here,” he began. “Everyone’s responsibility is to make this show happen and each part is just as important as the other. We pride ourselves on being a very lean team as well as family to each other.” It was a sentiment echoed by Tour Manager and Accountant, Cheryl Hall, a regular in Slash’s crew for the last six years. “It’s a pretty tight core group, just as Quake said,” she agreed. “We’ve had a few changes with other commitments, but it’s always a great group and we’ve had some great people join us over the years.” This tour was no exception. The collective CV of the crew reads like one hell of a rock festival line up, featuring the likes of Journey, Judas Priest and Aerosmith.

With such a busy schedule, logistics played a key factor in Quake’s decisions for his tour suppliers. For the lighting floor package, he chose PRG, with its global reach across numerous branches meant the crew were “always sorted no matter what continent” and “still able to do all the billing in the states.” Quake told a similar story for audio. On the American leg he enlisted Sound Images for control and, thanks to its relationship with SSE Audio, said he was provided with a similar package anywhere in the world. “Again, it’s helpful to be able to bill everything through the states,” he added. Also on the road with Quake for the UK shows was Zig Zag Lighting, which provided the flown lighting rig while Major Tom provided the PA. Lending a hand on logistics was Beat the Street and Transam Trucking. The companies both ensured everyone, and everything, got to each venue safe and sound with Sound Moves taking care of the crew’s longer

moves. “As you can imagine, I’ve built up quite a good relationship with Justin Carbone, Vice President of Sound Moves, with the amount we move around,” said Quake. “His network of people has been indispensable.”

THE BALANCING GAME? We know what you’re thinking. How does Quake manage to find time to be a FOH Engineer? “It’s the only part of the day I enjoy!” he laughed. He recounted how somebody had pointed to Quake as the most “responsible” person on the road during the debauchery of the ‘80s, explaining he has since found it hard to shake the PM title for virtually every project he works on. Even as TPi spoke to Quake, he was busy counting out crew passes for the day, while answering emails and fielding questions about audio. Gesturing to his desk, he smiled and said, “All of this is just means to an end, when I can stand at FOH and be a sound guy for two hours.”

From one desk to another, Quake discussed his current live set up. “I have an Avid Profile with 5 mix engines, WAAVES 9 and Standard AVID Plugins which I feed out Via AES to a Meyer Sound Galileo,” he began. “People give me grief about using the Profile as it’s a bit outdated – but this tour travels to over 40 countries each cycle. I know if my rack goes down, I can get another one pretty much anywhere in the world in a few hours!” Quake was also quick to compliment the power and control delivered by the Meyer Sound Galileo. “It’s such a powerful tool and I know I can go into any situation with this set up and produce a good sounding show, no matter what PA I’m using. It gives me an extra level of control and means I can keep my whole mix much tighter.”

As well as providing the tour with a control package, SSE Audio also

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made the introduction to Radiotek who provided on-site communications for the tour. “They have done a great job in providing radios that I can get licensed in several territories!” commented the PM.

For the UK run, Quake managed to get his PA of choice, a Meyer Sound Lyon system, courtesy of Major Tom. “It’s always great working with Quake and the Slash guys,” commented Andy Banks, Major Tom’s Project Manager. “They’re a really lovely team. We did a few arena shows with them providing a Meyer Sound Leo rig a few years ago, but with smaller venues and weight limits this time we chose the Lyon M and W boxes with 1100LFC subs in a cardioid configuration.”

Joining Quake at FOH on behalf of Major Tom was Martin Walker, who is better known to many as the man behind Judas Priest’s live sound. “I was kicking my heels for the last week or so as we waited for an update on the postponed Ozzy tour for which Priest were the main support,” explained

Walker. “I actually used to do FOH for Slash prior to Quake back in 2010 before going out with Priest, so I know the core family.” As a fellow Meyer Sound enthusiast, Walker and two other techs ensured Quake was all set for the Manchester performance. “I know Quake isn’t afraid to turn it up,” commented Walker, musing over where Quake gets his name. “I used to always consider myself as quite a loud engineer when I worked for these guys. But that was before I heard Quake…”

MONITORS “The monitor position for Slash has almost been like the drummer for Spinal Tap,” joked Quake as he listed the people he’d brought on over the years, explaining some crew have other commitments and can’t commit to long stints. In previous tours, Slash’s monitors have been overseen by some big names including Bob Cowan from Metallica and Pasi Hara from System

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Cheryl Hall and Production Manager and FOH Engineer, Tim ‘Quake’ Mark.

of a Down. “This time we have John Shipp, Aerosmith’s FOH Engineer,” enthused Quake. “John has been a godsend to me on this run. He’s a full-time FOH guy and has such an impressive technical knowledge on live audio. On this run we had to record several shows for broadcast. Thankfully John knows the software like the back of his hand and was invaluable.”

Shipp is no stranger, he said, having filled in for Quake “some time ago”. Following that, Quake twisted Shipp’s arm to take on the monitor role for a few shows. “It was a very different stage set up back then,” recalled Shipp. “It was all wedges and in-fills. However, since the Guns N’ Roses reunion, Slash has been using an IEM set up. It was one of the stipulations on the GNR gigs to help out Axl Rose on stage. We’ve certainly seen the benefit here with this mostly quiet stage really reducing mic spill through Myles vocals.” The move to IEM made Shipp’s job more manageable and helped facilitate a tighter performance from Slash, according to the engineer. “Slash said when he first moved on to IEMs, it was a little disconcerting as he thought he sounded sloppy. But on this tour,he has been killing it every night. He’s always been amazing but there have been some nights on this tour where I find myself just watching him in awe!”

The IEMs in question were Jerry Harvey Audio Lolas which are “really catered towards guitar players.” For wireless, the audio crew opted for Shure PSM1000s with a total of 8 channels. “I’m personally dealing with all the RF management using Shure Wireless Workbench,” said Shipp. “For the first half of the tour I was networking

“John has been a god send to me on this run. He’s a full-time FOH guy and has such an impressive technical knowledge on live audio.”

Tim ‘Quake’ Mark, Production Manager

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to stage right by manually inputting frequencies. Those days were long and, thankfully, when we got to Europe I had SSE Audio make sure I had a network cable which reached across the stage to handle the nine frequencies I have on that side. It saves me a lot of time.”

Shure was also the brand of choice for microphones. Using the Axient Digital both Myles Kennedy and bassist Todd Kerns used Beta 58 capsules. “Myles has always used that mic,” stated Shipp. “We did try out a few other models including the KSM8 as we were trying to cut down on spill from the drums. However, it didn’t work for Myles’ ears as he really likes the mid to high range of the 58.” In an attempt to cut down on some cymbal spill the crew deployed a few shields which “helped out a lot”, according to the monitor engineer, who joked they hadn’t need to deploy the full “drum aquarium”.

It was similar tried and true gear for cabinet mics with the classic Shure 57 being used for all the guitars. “At the end of the day, guitarists want to hear a 57 on a 12-inch Marshall cabinet,” said Shipp. Quake praised the classic 57 set-upin recreating Slash’s signature sound, too. “My predecessors had been using the Shure 313 Ribbon Mic. I found I had to do a lot of EQing so one day, I walked up, and removed the two channels of 313 and put 57s up.” He remembered to TPi how the former Monitor Engineer, Bob Cowan, was shocked… until he heard the mic with Slash playing. “It was ‘his’ sound and I find I have to do very little to the signal,” Quake asserted.

The microphone rider also boasted standard

SLASH

B52s / Beta 91s on saddles mounted in the kick drum. For the snares SM57s were used for top and bottom. Overheads were KSM 32s and toms were Beta 98AMPs.

In monitor world, Shipp sat behind a Midas PRO2. “It was inherited from the previous monitor engineer’s spec,” began Shipp admitting it was not a system with which he was very familiar. “But it sounds amazing,” he was pleased to add. “On this run I got to know the architecture a bit better and it is pretty intuitive. There are some cool features as well, including matrix mixing elements I’ve found very interesting.”

BACKLINE Alan ‘Ace’ Bergman, backline tech for the band, took up the conversation to discuss other elements of the live set up. “I’ve been with Slash for over seven years at this point,” he began. “I was his tech but opted to step back into a gear management role, although from time to time I fill in for him with this camp or even GNR.” During the show, Ace mainly looked after rhythm guitarist Frank Sidoris and Bassist Todd Kerns along with Myles Kennedy’s rig for the two songs during which he also played guitar. All guitars on stage used Shure UR40 Wireless with Kerns’ dirty channel being run into a Sans Amp DI with a clean channel captured by a Radial JD48 Direct Box. Meanwhile Sidoris’ rig consisted of a pair of JSM 800s.

Ace walked TPi through Slash’s rig on stage right. “What we have here is his B-rig, a condensed version of what he was running on the latest GNR dates.” As you’re all dying to know, he uses Shure Wireless and a combination of custom Marshall JCM 2555 Silver Jubilees. “His rig is very much alive,” stated Ace as he talked about the ever-changing intricacies to the guitarist’s live set up. “We have his guitar running through an RJM Effects Gizmo - best name ever - which switches all his various effects via midi then run by his tech back here.” Some of his effects will be more than familiar to the Slash aficionados out there including a Line 6 Mod Pro, Echo Pro and his signature MX4 Octave Fuzz. The only effect not manipulated from back stage was his Cry Baby Wah pedals with controllers instead situated in two positions on stage. “That one effect is all him,” stated Ace. “It would almost be like trying to bend his strings for him if we were to do it back here – it’s just far too expressive.” Also re-joining the Slash camp on this latest tour was Imy James, who took on the role of Drum Tech and Stage Manger. The two time winner of the Top Dog Award at the Tour Link Conference, has be a regular fixture of both Slash’s solo work and in Guns N’ Roses for many years.

LIGHTS Kevin ‘Deuce’ Christopher was the LD for this run. Deuce was featured in TPi in last month’s Def Leppard coverage, due to his work on the co-headline tour with Journey in the US. “This is certainly a different kind of show,” laughed Deuce, comparing this intensive academy run to the world of large scale arena rock. “I enjoy this for a number of reasons. It’s a different way of touring but I really like the scaled down approach of going out and doing shows. It’s a small crew, but it’s made up of some really good people

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which makes the whole experience so enjoyable. Also, it’s a great band and Slash is such a great player – so I can hardly complain.”

The flown rig Deuce oversaw was designed by the band’s previous LD, Scott Dell. “I was fairly wrapped up in other projects before jumping on a plane at the start of January, so I designed the floor package but kept on flown design from the previous run.” The suppliers for floor and roof packages were split. PRG provided a global floor package and control system with the flown rig for the UK shows supplied by Zig Zag lighting.

The company offered a selection of Robe fixtures including 8 Robin BMFLs, 16 Robin Megapointes, 24 Robin Spiiders and 10 Robin 150 Ledbeams. Also, on the rig were 12 Elation Professional Protron 3K Color Strobes. “This was the first time I had worked with Zig Zag, although I know Quake has collaborated in the past,” the LD nodded. “But immediately, from their first email, they made me feel very confident they were on top of everything.”

Deuce went on to explain his “fairly time-consuming” process for dealing with various flown rigs throughout the run. “The idea is to clone the fixtures from the previous show and ensure everything is working correctly. After the first show is locked in, I can then start to work on aspects of the set for the next few nights. But after the fourth show or so it all changes again – that can be frustrating but it’s a nice challenge.”

Helping him deal with the ever-changing roof rig was an MA Lighting grandMA2 light. “MA is always my go-to,” stated Deuce, dubbing it “fantastic” for the quick turnarounds.

On the floor, Deuce’s goal was to have “big looks with fairly small fixtures”. He elaborated: “We have 12 Robe Spikies, 12 GLP impression X4 Bars, 4 Claypaky Mythos, 6 Elation Professional CUEPIX Blinder WW2s and 6 Solaris Flares. I’m certainly getting my bang for my buck with this one. Although they are all relatively small fixtures there are a lot of them which

produce some massive looks.” As Slash’s name is emblazoned in big letters on the backdrop, you might think the focus of the lighting design would be geared towards the man in a top hat on stage left. But, “I still very much treat these guys as a live band,” countered Deuce. “The music still lends itself to a live rock band and I’ve gone for a retro, straight up rock ‘n’ roll vibe – it just so happens the lead guitarist is Slash.” He makes an exception for the spine-twisting solo moments, he says, adding he uses spots and colours and drops the other members’ saturation. “But the show as whole is classic with two colour scenes and big changes. There is also a little bit of ‘audience abuse’ to keep them engaged – and so far, it seems to be working.”

With a sold-out crowd and the legendary Phil Campbell of Motörhead offering a blinding support slot with his Bastard Sons, Slash and fellow Conspirators took to the stage. With every song and solo, Slash again proved why he is held in such high regard in the guitar community – and no doubt why so many of the hard-working men and women who work backstage for him, constantly want to return to this touring family. TPi Photos: Shirlaine Forrest www.slashonline.com www.sseaudiogroup.com www.sound-image.com www.prg.com www.zigzaglighting.co.uk www.majortom.cc www.transamtrucking.com www.beatthestreet.net www.soundmoves.com www.radiotek.co.uk

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