Phantastic Lights

Hi Pooterland!

I'm Branson Fairbrother and I'm currently located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.

I was first introduced to Light Shows around 2016 when I was in college. My taste in music was starting to expand and I was getting into more psychedelic and alternative styles of music.

This led me to discover liquid light shows through older groups like the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, and The Allman Brothers Band.

Later on I discovered other Light Show techniques (e.g. video delay and feedback, moire bending, and analog glitch effects) through various Instagram accounts and the Psychedelic Light Show Preservation Society Group Page on Facebook.

My first influence was Steve Pavlovsky from Liquid Light Lab. As I was looking for instructions online on how to start a liquid light show, I found that there was hardly anyone other than Steve posting informative videos and explanations online about Light Shows.

His videos helped me develop my skills in liquid light, color wheels, and luma lighting techniques. He was even nice enough to help me find a good overhead projector to start out with. I have since found many other great Light Show artists that inspire me on a daily basis.

Those include Stranger Liquids, Mad Alchemy, MeatSandal, Sonic Boom Light Show, LoFi Future, moirebender, and Astral Projections

I've worked with several bands in different cities throughout Texas. In San Marcos and Austin, I worked with BluMoon, The Irons, The Lucies, Wezmer, and Moon Dunes. In the Dallas - Fort Worth area, I've worked with Gorgeous Jetson, Danny Goo, Little Universe, Imani Carolyn, Street Waves, and Roadkeeper.

Phantastic Lights originates from the words Phantasmagoria and Fantastic. I heard the word Phantasmagoria for the first time in a documentary on ayahuasca and it really stuck with me. It means "a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream." which, to me, is a great way to describe a light show. I combined it with the word fantastic, stuck Lights on the end of it, and the rest is history.

I started providing visuals at concerts as Phantastic Lights in 2019 and it is still currently running.

Right now I am the sole proprietor of Phantastic Lights, but I have many friends who have helped in the past. As soon as COVID-19 is under control and concerts start happening again, I plan on teaming with a few people who have expressed interest to join as assistants. A Light Show is hard to run with only 2 hands!

I started out with an overhead projector (can't remember the make or model), some pyrex pie dishes, food coloring, mineral oil, alcohol and water.

Since then, I have upgraded my overhead projector to a 3M 9100 and I have added a second overhead projector, color wheel, digital projector, glitch effects box, delay/feedback effects box, VCR, CRT TV for developing video feedback effects, LED light tablet, Canon HF R800, and many different glass materials.

I've added lots of items to make it possible to run the liquids and other effects through a digital projector (e.g. glitch effects box, a delay/feedback effects box, a VCR, a CRT TV for developing video feedback effects, a LED light tablet, and a Canon HF R800). I've also started using different clear, decorative plates and dishes to use on the overhead projector to get better effects.

I started out with one overhead projector and now I have two overhead projectors and one digital projector. I hope to add in a couple of slide projectors soon and have my own Optikinetics Projector one day.

Thanks again for doing this. It's a selfless thing that you're doing to keep this artform alive and that's really cool.

Best Regards,

Branson Fairbrother - January 2020

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phantastic_lights/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhantasticLightShow/