How did you get
involved in the lighting industry?
Family friends
from Jamaica had started an electronic special
effects company in Birmingham that sounded much
more interesting and fast paced than drawing up
electrical layout plans for Government buildings
as I had been doing.
Having made the
21 life-size pyrotechnic cannons for the AC/DC
Back in Black tour (after the sudden demise of
their drummer), the company had come up with the
revolutionary idea of putting a Par Can in a
moving XY Servo controlled moulded fibreglass
yolk. This was back in 1982 and when I think of
this, looking at VL5 fixtures, it gives you a
strange feeling of what could have been.
What was it about
this experience that made you want to do it full
time?
The sense of
teamwork invoked by the ‘Show must go on’
environment and when I got my first laminate for
the Gary Numan tour, I was hooked!
What led you into
Avolites?
My friends, Nic
and Rowena Cave Lynch, the shareholders, were
struggling to sustain the ongoing R & D on the
‘Auto scan’. Only one system had been pro-duced
- for Gary Numan’s tour by Cerebrum and then
much later installed into the London Hippodrome.
The company, Cause and Effects had previously
produced special effects for LSD in Birmingham and
were respected designers so Avolites snapped them
up as soon as they were approached. Within a few
months, Avolites got the contract for the Michael
Jackson Victory tour during an already busy
period, and my friends recommended me to the MD.
My interview - Can you solder? Yes, and I can test
and College diploma, and.....Are you sure you can
solder? |
How
has Avo evolved over the years?
Eleven years ago,
I and three partners formed an MBO team and
purchased Avolites from then owners Carlton TV. So
although there was a continuous and evolving
development at Avolites, on a personal level there
are two clear sections to my, and our history.
From 1984-1991 as a wireman, test engineer - then
a four month period at Varilite /Samuelsons only
to return to Avolites as Service Manager and
finally dragged into Sales - I had loved the
thrills and spills of hot flying service.
What’s your
favourite Avolites product?
It is hard not
say the Pearl 2000 as it has been such a Power
Core for Avolites and the fact that people I like
and respect choose and love it, makes me feel
proud to be Avo through and through. But my
personal favourite would have to be the Diamond
Consoles as their forerunners were the QM500-90
Ways, many of which I hand built and so will
always love them.
What is the most
successful product for Avolites and why?
Clearly the Pearl
2000 and they just keep flying out of the door! It
is the perfect all-rounder and fits most jobs. If
you ask me in two years, I might say the Art 2000
Dimming System because it is just growing so fast.
When we got started with the Art 2000 design, our
statement was that we were going to create the
Pearl 2000 of the Dimming world. The Pearl 2000
gives very high specification (240) moving lights
at a price most users can easily afford. But, more
than any physical facture, the software OS is
fast, friendly to use and has seriously powerful
control tools. |
Do
you think there has been a defining moment in
lighting control history?
The creation of
DMX 512 Owner Operated Automated Luminaries. We
fully committed to DMX early on and in ‘91, were
implementing our first moving light features. Our
products were excellently positioned to grow with
the huge surge in ‘privately’ owned moving
lights, and the surge was, and still is, colossal.
How do you feel
about being one of the public faces for Avolites?
Immense pride. I
love our industry and the people that you meet in
it so I desperately want to stay constantly
immersed in it and them. I have been trained by my
party animal father to never go to bed if there is
still a conversation going on! This new E world is
great and brings us all closer together but it can
also be a bit faceless, and I feel that I have to
have as much face to face interaction - out and
about as much as possible to keep it all real and
retain the magic.
You spend a lot
of time overseas at a mix of trade shows and
supporting distributors. Are there particular
markets that have been key in Avolites’ growth?
Our distributors
are an area of immense personal importance to me.
When we started running Avolites, we had six
distributors and now we are up to 36 and still
growing. I love the long term contact and
relationships and they are the ones supporting our
customers and friends worldwide. The different
European and North American territories have all
experienced strong growth at different times but
the Far East and Brazil have been consistently
strong for us with very good growth in the Middle
East.
Are there areas
that Avolites aren’t present in that you'd like
to be?
Yes, and this is
part of our long term strategy. When we bought
Avolites, we were almost solely dependant on Large
Scale International Touring. Now we have
diversified the products so that we have a very
strong presence in Conference, Clubs, Theatre, Mid
size rental companies and more recently, huge in
roads into Film and TV. In the future, we will be
offering products for installed and architectural
uses. |
Is
there any product you wish you had thought of
first?
I am sitting here
because of the past in all its detail, so I never
wish to change any of it. Avolites were working on
a moving light with Cue and saturation colour mix
and zoom in 1989, but dropped it as it was too
difficult and expensive R & D for a limited
market (hindsight!). I am convinced that if they
had carried on for one more year of development, I
would never had got the chance to sit on their
chair. The founder Directors are amazing men and I
think that it goes to show that you really must
consistently listen to your market for as long as
you want to stay successful.
Is there any one
individual that you really admire in this
industry?
Can I put Brian
Croft and John Cadbury together here? Utmost
respect from all. The best attitude to life and
its problems and I have never heard a bad word
said about either of them. I hope that I can apply
the same rationale to my life and it is an honour
to have worked under both of them.
Do you think
there are any trends within our industry that need
to be checked? Alternatively anything that should
be encouraged?
I think the
stagnation of freelancers’ pay is disgraceful
and in terms of encouraging, I think we should all
remember the balance between fun, feelings and
finance - we only have one life!
Where do you see
yourself in ten years time?
Hammock, Negril
Beach, Jamaica. Not joking, I will be 49 and
although I would never want to leave Avo and our
industry completely, I would hope that I would be
able to spend some months per year back in my
childhood home, helping them to further develop
the exciting craft of entertainment lighting.
As we say in JA,
take care, Steve. |
