N@ & The Stache’s Psychedelic Spectacular

https://psychedelicspectacular.com/

I studied lighting design and had a career in theatre and television. I didn’t do a ton of lighting for live music, but I’d do shows for friends bands and the occasional music festival.

I was always inspired and intrigued by the techniques of the 60s & 70s, as well as being a collector of vintage media.

While I was behind the lighting console, Natalie was photographing shows with her collection of vintage cameras and film stocks and started honing her visual style of abstract photography.

We had collaborated on a number of music videos when I brought her to a Joshua Light Show Performance where we got to watch from back stage. We then started acquiring gear and learning techniques.

Joshua Light Show is our main influence but the collaboratiive process between Merce Cunningham and John Cage have been long time inspiration for many of our projects.

We have done work with the following bands:

Chappo
Fancy Colors
Voyager Collective
Colectivodozeta
YagoMann

To date we have not cooperated with other Light Shows but more than happy to.

In terms of our name, Natalie and I have gone by N@ & The Stache. Psychedelic Spectacular is a fun alliteration. We settled in it after looking through a book of old circus posters and did our first Light Show in 2017 I think.

We are still doing Light Shows although currently its infrequent

Funny stories from the road?....We once showed up to a show, and forgot to bring projectors !!

In the beginning we started experimenting and learning with a GoPro connected directly to a digital projector.

We quickly learned we wanted more than that could offer so started acquiring Dukane overhead projectors and medium format slide projectors.

We have since also incorporated 16mm film and worked digital projection back into the mix. This allows us to scale up and down for different spaces and events.

There are a few things that we want to keep secret, but we’ve been experimenting with different fluids other than oil and water for the wet portion of the show. Glycols for interesting things.

We also use a ton of old film footage from the Prelinger archive and the NASA archives.

Our first public show was one overhead projector in one room, and a digital projector showing a precomposed loop in a second room.

Current gear list:

(1) 3m Overhead 3000 lumens
(1) Dukane overhead 3000 lumens
(2) Dukane overheads 4000 lumens
(1) 500w medium format slide projector
(2) 300w medium format slide projectors
(1) MIL Surplus 16mm film projector
(1) 6000 lumen digital projector
(2) 4000 lumen digital projectors
(2) 200 lumen digital projectors