PART TWO: CREATING CONTENT AND WORKING THE SHOW
(in case you missed part 1, you can find it here)
PETER: How do you manage content and structure for the tour?
JOHNNY DEKAM: In this case, I did nearly all the songs in the studio to the point where I can press play or press play with embellishment with effects on top.
P: So you pretty much have the sequence setup and then play around with effects
JDK: Some of them I don’t even need to do anything
P: Life on the road!
JDK: This one, the only thing I do is use a mirror in the middle of it a couple times, if I feel like it….I’ve got hue shift, too.
P: Do you use any audio input?
JDK: No, all that I did in the studio – I had all the music in advance so I did a lot of stuff with audio. This is all audio reactive content, but from their tracks. They told me upfront that the music would be very close to the album especially in timing. They play all the parts live, but they will be the same duration, measures are all set. So I can do BPM based effects.
P: You don’t really have a problem with a venue wanting to go longer or shorter?
JDK: No, sometimes they’ll change the order of the set list. They do improv….but it’s all in the context of the same structure. They might do a different synth line or effect or filter. I improvise effects with that. Some songs are full on vj improv, others, I could just press play.
P: On long tours, you can’t work too hard, because it’s so much hard work already!
JDK: I have to be here every night, so I might as well make it interesting! Some nights if I’m really tired, I can let it run, and that’s ok, because I invested all that time in the studio.
P: Did you work closely with them on the visuals, or did they just say “do your thing?”
JDK: I always try to collaborate as much as I can with the artist. They started out saying “you have creative freedom,” then I got to work, then they said “we’d love to see what you have” then I got feedback. We had 3 or 4 sessions like that. We had an initial meeting and talked about what the songs were about, and what inspired (a certain) song. They don’t have any lyrics, just titles.
P: So you have to come up with visualization? Like, where does the song take place in [the Glitch Mob's] mind?
JDK: Definitely. I had to be pretty creative in a lot of cases.
P: How long did it take from the first brainstorm meeting to actually finishing the content?
JDK: I guess I spent about 3 months on it in the studio getting it ready. Nearly full time. That includes building the rack, and getting everything together hardware-wise. By the time we walked into rehearsals, all I had to do was polish off some mixes, and a couple songs I left till the end that we built in rehearsals, and had to tweak some things at the start of the tour if things weren’t working.
A lot of these songs are setup where there’s a two channel system. There are projectors aimed across their bodies as a light, knowing there would be a lot of venues that would just have bar can (lights). Sometimes it’s separate content, or color mixed differently, so it might be red on the screen but green on their bodies.
P: That’s a nice way to think about it, “video as lighting.”
JDK: Yes, a lot of people have reacted well to that, and it helps add a nice effect to the stage.

Finally, I wanted to give you a taste of what the show is like. I have a crappy video that’s not worth embedding, but you can look at it on our vimeo site if you must. Johnny will be sending a more professional excerpt shot on a good camera that we’ll post in the near future (hint: follow us on twitter and you’ll know when it’s up!). For more about the Glitch Mob, check out their website. Also, Mike Abb, one of our product specialists, did the camera for this great interview with the Glitch Mob.

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interviews by Peter