AVO Inspiration for The Parlotones

08 October 2010

  U2 were not always famous. Go see The Parlotones up close and personal while you can…. we have an inkling they are going to be even bigger.  

Travis Yeatman, using an Avolites Tiger Touch, is the local lighting designer for one of South Africa’s most loved bands, The Parlotones, who at the time of print were touring the US with Blue October.

Originally from Cape Town, 25 year old Travis has been in the industry for almost a decade. At 16 he would “bunk” school to work alongside his dad, Dallas, and at 18 he started to work full time at Cape Town based Multi-Media Staging as the “video guy” but after helping out  with lighting over a hectic five day conference, he became the “lighting guy”. In 2005 he joined Sound Stylists in Johannesburg and was tasked in developing their lighting department.

Travis Yeatman, local lighting designer for The Parlotones   The Parlotones five years ago were getting their name out there, and determined to succeed, performed at every possible gig that came their way. They became increasingly popular for corporate events, where rental company Sound Stylists regularly supplied the technical productions with Travis working as LD.  

In July 2009, Travis gave up his permanent position to freelance.”I decided to freelance to be with the kids, to be there at birthdays and to see all those kinds of things with my family.” he explains. The lifestyle change included moving homes to a cottage, situated within a private game reserve, where zebra, wildebeest and giraffe frequent his garden and a nearby dam allows him to go fishing with his dad. In October 2009 Travis came into contact with The Parlotones at their “First World Tour” final at the CocaCola Dome and subsequently was asked to be their LD.

Whether performing in little night club or going to neighbouring countries like Namibia, Zimbabwe (set for December) or Swaziland, The Parlotones work hard to promote themselves, are generous with charity work and their passion and really fantastic music has led to a following across the globe. They hit number one in Poland, did the theme song for the German Soccer Team “Come Back as Heroes”, performed at the FIFA World Cup 2010 Kick Off Concert alongside The Black Eyed  Peas, Alicia Keys and Shakira and have toured in the USA, UK, Asia, Australia and Europe – take a look at their diary planner on their homepage, and you won’t know how they manage to find time to breath.

  When they are home, Travis has a lighting rider which is supplied by the client and the equipment is then programmed and run on a Tiger Touch. “The Tiger touch is awesome,” commented Travis. “I love everything from the ease of use, speed, functionality, flexibility and the desk as a whole. I’ve used many desks but always go back to AVO and now I don’t have to use anything else.”  

Travis obviously knows all The Parlotones lyrics off by heart, but is always trying new effects to compliment the music with lighting. “I try programme each performance completely different to the one before.”