Hayden Borgars says that he’s always tended to view the lighting fixtures in his rig as musical instruments, not merely illuminating with them, but also “playing” them in ways that flow with the sound of his clients.
On the just-completed Sacred Blasphemy UK tour by Creeper, Borgars demonstrated his virtuosity on the CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M by using the motorized fixture to follow the hauntingly evocative notes played by the band’s keyboardist Hannah Greenwood, and powerful beats by drummer Jack Fogarty.
“Aside from the silhouette looks I got from the Color STRIKE’s, I also used a lot of the fixture’s pixel effects to go along with the key notes from Hannah,” he said. “I also used the clap out effect on both the beam and plate pixels to accent some of the drum hits and whip effects. It’s part of how I treat light as an instrument at points during a show.”
Working with a lighting kit supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, Borgars often went to the lighting equivalent of eerie minor keys with his “lighting instruments” on this tour, which was in support of the Creeper’s hit Sanguivore, an album built around a vampire theme. The band, and many of its fans, dressed to fit this vampiric mood, and Borgars added to the atmosphere with his high contrast Chiaroscuro style of lighting with its dark shadows, as well as with his color choices.
“We very rarely use front light with Creepers,” said Borgars. “Will Gould, the band’s singer and I took inspiration from old Sisters of Mercy shows, as well horror references. We’re both heavily inspired by Tim Burton’s work and expressionist film. Working with Creeper over the past 5 years has given me the opportunity to explore this within our shows.
“With Sanguivore in particular we’re using a lot of dark space, shadows and silhouettes to create visually distorted places and enhance on the theatricality of a Creeper show,” continue Borgars. “The Color STRIKE Ms were a massive part of achieving the silhouetted looks within this show. I tend to keep the verses very monotone for Creeper only adding in other colors on any opportune moments. When possible, I bring in bold complimentary colors into choruses and bridges for looks that pull the audience into the show more.”
As for the colors he did use, Borgars explained his choices this way: “Since Sanguivore is an album based around vampires with a lot of ’80s horror aesthetics, using a lot of reds was natural. With previous albums I had been using a lot more purples, whites and ambers. Working with Creeper, I get to create an entire experience to enhance everything that’s happening, both on and off-stage. On this tour, I had a 30-minute timecoded changeover sequence building up to stage time to create suspense and an atmosphere before the actual show had even started.”
Borgars positioned his seven Color STRIKE M fixtures in front of the upstage risers. This positioning contributed to one of his favorite looks, which happened during the kabuki start of the show when the band breaks into a nine-minute performance of “Further Than Forever.” Light from the Color STRIKE M follows the keyboard notes as fog is released and shadows of the band are visible behind the curtain. “It really builds on suspense,” noted Borgars. True… and it’s also an example of some inspired light instrument playing.
Photo: © Harry Steel