USA - Country rock singer-songwriter Brantley Gilbert kicked off his Hell on Wheels in late September hitting the road with a complement of Clay Paky Sharpys from Digital Console Rental in Nashville.
Gilbert has released two albums of his own, and his songs have been recorded by Colt Ford and Jason Aldean.
A long-time client of Digital Console Rental, Gilbert asked company president Howard Jones to serve as his tour's lighting designer. Digital Console Rental is handling all of the audio, lighting, rigging and trucking for Hell on Wheels.
Jones chose eight Sharpys from his inventory deploying four in the truss and four wrapping around the top of the set. "We wanted to come up with something that was iconic to Brantley," he explains. "He's big into motorcycles and has a bad boy image. I had the idea to have the truss over the stage be a giant pair of brass knuckles with a Sharpy in the center of each circle of brass knuckle. We needed a fixture with the fire power to punch through, and Sharpy delivers."
Jones says that most of the lights on the show are LEDs and the Sharpys "fit into the high output-low power profile, which we like. They are working great." A grandMA console controls the show lighting.
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky area manager for North and Latin America, comments, "It's great that or Sharpys could provide the right tone for this very cool tour. I'm sure that they provide the 'punch' needed on the brass knuckles that comprise the truss."
