Innerstrings

I’d had a fascination with liquid lighting since attending a party with my parents at the local hall.

The ceiling and walls were dripping with liquid projections; needless to say, that’s where my eyes were fixed for the duration of the evening.

My first shows came after buying my first Solar 250 projector in 1991, where I’d volunteer to light friends’ shows for them.

This inevitably led to having to buy an additional two projectors, then five, then seven etc etc!

For many years the projectors lay dormant in my loft, but I dug them out again recently and the work intensified to the point that it is now my main source of income.

It’s hard to pin down an individual as an influence. I got my inspiration from nightclubs, record sleeve art, video art and seeing live footage on television.

I’m always admiring other people’s work in the field, it’s hard for some of that influence not to rub off. But initially, it was from buying Loop and Spacemen3 records.

I have toured extensively with Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, but also with Josefin Öhrn and the Liberation, Lost Horizons, The Bluetones and Spratleys Japs.

Other acts I have worked with include, Maps, Gwenno, James Holden and Whyte Horses. A lot of my work comes through record labels and festivals, where I get to look after the visuals on one stage for the day or weekend.

Most recently, I have been exclusively working making music videos.

I do occasionally have a friend do clock-face liquids for me, and more recently dwavhead collaborated with me at Fuzz Club Einhoven.

I couldn’t decide what name to use, so I decided that it would be on the next CD I pick up, it’s a song by Black Strobe.

I started out using exclusively Optikinetics Solar 250 projectors, still have them, thirty or so.

When I started to get busy with them, I also started to find the work quite limiting artistically. They also weigh a lot! So I looked into ways of creating visuals organically for bands, but with the digital projector as the means of casting light.

It has been a great voyage of discovery, using cameras and video mixers/old analogue gear to create the visuals live.