NEW YORK– Even by the standards of pop punk, a genre famous for blending outrageously divergent sounds, The Wonder Years stands out for its incredibly wide-ranging style. Deftly swinging from subtle melodies to heart-pounding choruses in the blink of a musical eye, this freewheeling band from the Philadelphia area takes fans on an emotionally charged journey with every performance. Lighting designer Victor Zeiser of 
What makes Summers’ role in this endeavor especially impressive is that it represents his first effort as a lighting director. “The Wonder Years had decided that in addition to being their tour manager, Dave was also going to become their LD,” said Zeiser. “He showed me a bid from another lighting company that wanted to send out some decade-old gear, so it was quickly decided that Squeek Lights would work out a package for him as well as create a design and program a show for him to travel with on the tour.”
The six towers range from 6’ -10’ in height. Each tower has an R2 Wash on top with a 4×1 Nexus bar hung vertically below it. At the base of the towers are clip lights just peeking over the amp line. COLORdash Batten-Quad-6 fixtures are used to provide side light. A group of four Vesuvio foggers is positioned vertically along the downstage line.
Explaining the small clip lights on his rig, Zeiser noted, “Dave had a really great idea for some work lights to provide a tungsten look, so we got him some small dimmer packs and purchased 10 clip lights from a Home Depot. There is a point in the show where we direct all the R2 Washes down at the band, zoom wide in a deep blue and push the clip lights bright — it is really beautiful!
Keeping pace with a band that eagerly moves from the soaring to the soulful required a procession of fresh looks. Zeiser and Summers served up these looks by sprinkling the stage with different beam angles and pouring a rich array of colors across it and the audience. The pair also relied on atmospherics to create some magic. “A fun gag Dave came up with during programming with the Vesuvios was to turn off all the other lights and just use the lights in the foggers to uplight the band members for one song,” said Zeiser. “This creates a moment totally different from the rest of the show. Getting that variety is key on this tour.”
There was also a practical benefit Zeiser considered when putting together the rig for The Wonder Years. “When I was told space in the trailer was a big concern, I decided the R2 washes were the fixture of choice,” he said. “All six of our R2 fixtures fit in a single case, and all six Nexus units fit in another small case. This makes it super easy for them to deal with on the road.”
Recording contracts and stadium concerts are great, but in this era of YouTube and music streaming, a lot of bands are doing just fine without them. Playing everything from jam to jangle and emo to post hardcore, these grass roots groups are building sizable fan bases by purveying their music online and touring like crazy.
Often playing 100 or more gigs a year in venues that rarely exceed 2000 capacity, a new generation of road warrior bands have created a renaissance of live grass roots music, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the coffee house era of the 1960s. In the process, they’ve also created new opportunities for lighting designers. As children of a highly visual age, they almost always place a premium on having a distinctive look on stage with a lightshow that is uniquely their own.
New York lighting designer Victor Zeiser of Squeek Lights has chalked up plenty of miles working with touring bands, having designed for some of the most successful like Grammy winners They Might Be Giants and Canadian cult favorite Silverstein, to some lesser known groups. Zeiser, who also keeps busy as the LD for the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, shared his thoughts on designing for the new generation of traveling troubadours…Read the rest!
