Sonny John Moore, better known to you and me as Skrillex, has made quite a name for himself as a DJ on the electronic dance music scene, holding his own on solo tours and headlining shows on the EDM festival circuit. His original music and remixes are among some of the most popular in the genre, and when he tours, it’s quite the intense combination of electronic music, effects, 3D projection, showmanship, and production design.
Having done his first, full solo tour in 2011-2012, Skrillex had a team start to brew ideas for new tours as the artist became increasingly well known internationally, but Corey Johnson, CEO of Production Club and Skrillex’s production director, says one of the goals for more recent shows has been “escaping the maximalist paradigm.” Johnson cites a trend in EDM for what he calls “a ‘more is better’ paradigm, especially on big festival stages,” he says. “Of course, a certain level of scale and magnitude is required to deliver the force needed when dealing with tens of thousands of people at one time, but we try to find new and more unique ways to use existing tools rather than just adding as many LED panels, lighting fixtures, and SFX provision as we can fit on the stage.”
During the first Mothership Tour—that made use of 3D projection mapping, 3D visual effects, a video-game engine, and realtime motion capture—Skrillex’s designer/art director Roboto and production designer Miguel Risueño came to work in the US from their Barcelona-based company, Matheria Studio. They connected with Johnson whose company at the time was called DANCEiSM and who lived just a few blocks from Skrillex. “We all ended up working together on the design and production of ‘The Cell 1.0,’” says Johnson. “Everything continued very intensely from there, and that project served as the genesis for what is now known as Production Club, a new venture with the founders of DANCEiSM and Matheria. Since then, we’ve been deeply involved in all aspects of touring, design, production, etc. with Skrillex and a small selection of other clients.”
Enter Cory FitzGerald, who joined the creative team as lighting designer when work started on the Mothership Tour for 2014, just in time for Skrillex Takeovers in San Francisco, Brooklyn, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, and leading up to the DJ’s appearance at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival. With the earlier iteration of the DJ performance booth having been dubbed The Cell 1.0, this new version came to be known as Spaceship MK3.
“We sought to bring together ‘big touring’ experience/design/programming with dance music-focused lighting performance and energy,” says ohnson of bringing FitzGerald on board, adding that, regardless of new production designs, there’s a common element in the DJ’s performances: “Overall, we’re looking to create visual synchronicity with the music in the show, all while conveying a not-too-serious vibe. When that happens, everyone can feel it and knows it straight away.”
Click through the images to read the rest of the article. All photos are by Caesar Sebastian.
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