“My lifelong love of concert design began when I ran away and joined the circus! I was playing drums in garage bands in the UK in school. Then a kid moved into the neighbourhood with a cooler drum set, so it was suggested that I find something else to do. Shortly after that, I met four lads who had just formed a band called The Smiths and, as they say, the rest is history!
I believe that what we designers create is a way to help communicate the message of the music to the furthest audience member in the largest of venues. It can’t just be cool visuals. The design needs to deeply connect the audience to the artist. To do that, I work to understand the essential meaning of the message, the emotion, the feelings, and the mood that the songwriter is trying to evoke.
My philosophy really shows through in my work with both Imagine Dragons and Hans Zimmer. Just as Imagine Dragons’ songs convey a powerful message of release, we worked to create a design that did the same, encapsulating the sense of liberation, strength, and self-dominion that is at the core of their music. Likewise with Hans Zimmer we aspired to take the combination of sweeping symphonic and hard-driving synth-punk of his music and visually wrap the audience in the sensation of his work.”
