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pete LD

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  • Member Status
    Working in the industry
  • Current Employment or place of study
    Freelance LD and owner of LIVE LX. Touring the UK and Europe with various music and theatre based shows.
  • Professional organisation membership
    ALD BECTU
  • Full Name
    Pete Watts

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    pyrotecnicpete
  • Website URL
    http://www.livelx.co.uk
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  • Location
    Buxton

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  1. I remember a few years ago loading in to Newmarket racecourse and was surprised to find the "locals" were from Nottingham. after the evening load in they drove back to notts. then the next morning they are all there again having driven back. Then they hang around all day and do the load out until 1AM. the next day we had a show day load in to Doncaster and waiting for us when we got of the bus were the same Nottingham crew! having driven home from Newmarket and then up to Doncaster. They were useless as they were just to tired but who's fault is it? and who says the gig is off because the locals are to tired? The touring crew hadn't had enough sleep but at least we had the whole afternoon off the day before and after this load in we could go back to bed. No one there was thinking about not doing the gig because of fatigue. We just loaded in and the gig happened. Looking back maybe it shouldn't have but I wouldn't be making that call! I agree that a lot of the time a later load in would work fine and solve a fair amount of working time issues but as you say you eat into the margin for error time. The other issue is a tour tends to have the same load in time at every venue. When you get to liverpool Philharmonic the load in takes about 10 mins because the venue is very easy and the crew are very fast and you could have loaded in at 2pm and still be ready for sound check at 4. on the other had a small victorian theatre with a tight load in, hemp flying, a rake and slow crew will fill the whole day. I think TMs just keep the time the same to help with routine. I agree that a taco sounds like a sensible option but if you look how unstable the current tacos are for rock and roll drivers I wouldn't want the same level of restrictions for crew! For an example, tour schedule went something like Southend, Day off, Dartford, Basingstoke, Guilford. The truck and bus drivers have less than an hours drive each night but they have no way of there taco knowing this and they then had to have a 48 hour break. I fully understand the rules if they are doing long drives every night but its just not fit for purpose when its a UK tour with drives less than 3 hours every night. Another one I remember is the load out finishing in Gateshead with the next gig in Edinbrough. Driver had to wait on the dock until 5am as thats when his taco said he could move. So instead of making the most of the clear roads then getting some sleep he had to have a nap then an early morning drive, hitting edingbrough in the morning rush, to then get an hours kip before getting up to back on to the dock. Bit rambley but my point is something like a driving taco that is black and white dosent make it the right answer and can some times just make it all worse! Pete
  2. I started out in theatre and have moved in to Rock and Roll so find myself as an interpreter between the two ways of working!! I live on a tour bus for a lot of the time so feel I can put that side across. Im taking the scale of show that could turn up in your ATG venue as well as concert halls Etc. Some named artists and some large scale tributes. A typical day..... 10AM load in. 8PM show, 1 Artic. Set alarm for 9.30 Get up, Dressed and head into the venue to use the loo, Brush teeth etc. 10AM Open truck, tip LX. Then rig All overhead LX. 11.30AM go for breakfast whilst the rest of the crew tip PA and Backline. 12.15PM return to put floor package out (theatre crew will have had there tea break) 1PM focus generics with the venue lx. Then sit at the desk and do positions etc. 2.30PM done. Go for lunch/ sight seeing. Back at the venue for 7.30 4PM sound check for half an hour ( LX dont need to be there) 7.30 doors 8PM gig. 10.30PM load out 12AM Shower in the venue. 12.30AM back on the tour bus. So with this lifestyle you get 5 hours off in the afternoon that you can fit a really good nap into! A lot of crew will pop off after soundcheck for a hours nap. You also finish work and are insanely "home" there is no travelling to and from work. When I worked in theatre as casual crew I was an hours drive away. There are 9 clear hours from getting back on the bus to my alarm going off. Plenty of time to have a couple of beers and a good nights sleep. And as for 6 day weeks, Ive never done a tour that has 6 in a row. 5 is the most I've done and that was a stretch! Its normally 3 on then day off. Sometimes 4 sometimes 2. This tour I've just done went gig- day off- gig - day off - gig gig - day off 2 gigs in the same venue- day off then 4 in a row. So I understand that there are tours out there that have 2 guys in a van doing way to much driving and I do think that needs sorting but as soon as proper tour busses are involved with beds in then Im always happy with the amount of sleep I can get. As a contrast when I was a casual I would do 10 till finish ( for the schedule above) but have to leave my house at 8.30 to drive to the venue. Then do there load in. Hang about all afternoon with nothing to do, Then load out. Finish at 12.30am Drive home, so in bed for 2AM, then I might have a different job at a different venue at 9am the next day. There is nothing to stop that and in the low paid theatre casual world then the not saying no thing applies as well! You have no way of knowing what your theatre crew do in there spare time! Another strange one, and I've been meaning to pop on here and get peoples thoughts for a while, is the number of crew we get which is massively inconsistent and plays a big part in how people see Rock and Roll. ( should be a new thread??) If our rider says 4 crew what we get varies between theatre and Gig venues. Theatre we will get 4 crew, One will be LX one sound, A Flyman and a casual who will end up loading. So when I fly stuff I loose 2 people up stairs and the other 2 help rig lights. On the load out when everyone is working at the same time I still loose 2 people, but Backline need some one on the truck and PA need help and the multicores need doing so its never enough. In a gig venue or concert hall (apart from Nottingham) you get 4 Crew from a crew company who are there to tip the truck and generally do stuff. you then get an LX guy to sort power and stuff and a stage manager who will fly in truss etc (and no flyman needed) and maybe even a PA guy. So we have almost double the crew but the rider has been interpreted differently. As a theatre person I understand why there is a flyman and a loader but the rock and roll PA guy dosent and is getting grumpy that there is no one to help him! and then the theatre crew feel like they are being pulled in 3 different directions. I have just about got through to the promotor that if we are in a Counterweight theatre then we need to ask for 6 crew. but if you just change the rider to 6 then we will have way to many people in concert halls! It all gets very confusing and rock and roll think theatre is slow and theatre think rock and roll is all shouty! What would your venue supply if the rider said 4 local crew? Long post.... Ive not been on here for a couple of years!! Pete
  3. It depends on your theatre licence, it will vary from venue to venue, some will be a bounce at the interval, some it will start in as the house opens and go out when X amount of punters are in and others its in for the entire interval. It can also depend on the show; if they have a noisy turn round to do the iron might stay in for longer to mask the sound. And then there are shows with no interval! Nottingham playhouse fetch two people out of the foyer and say "watch this iron come in and out" then say "thanks, bye"! So there is no nationwide answer. Hope that helps! Pete
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