Professional Lighting & Production - Summer 2019 | Page 19

As his designs for clients including Iggy
Azalea, Johnny Reid, Sam Roberts Band,
Terri Clark, and dozens of others have
proven over the years, impactful and com-
pelling are at the core of Gorton’s creative
ethos.
“We approach every tour with a focus
on a larger creative theme,” Gorton says
about his work with Mother Mother specif-
ically. “The band has been so supportive of
my ideas and are always excited to take on
new and unique concepts.”
The lyrical themes explored on Dance
and Cry aren’t necessarily new to the band;
as Exclaim!’s Scott Gray noted in his review
of the release late last year: “[Ryan] Gulde-
mond has never shied away from talking
about his own struggles with depression
in Mother Mother’s music, but it’s often
been easy to overlook due to the jubilant
Again, it’s easy to draw parallels be-
tween Gorton’s approach to his design and
the client for whom he was doing it; the
idea of “infinite uniqueness,” after all, sounds
like it could’ve come right out of that same
Exclaim! review of Dance and Cry.
On that note, you’d be hard-pressed to
find anything written about Mother Mother
over the past decade-plus that doesn’t
include a word like “quirky,” “eclectic,” or “ec-
centric.” The band has seemingly embraced
those descriptors (or at least not shied
away from them), and Gorton says working
with those kinds of artists – ones that fol-
low their muse wherever it may lead them,
regardless of expectations or conventions
– fuels his own creative fire.
“Certainly, they have a unique sound
and offer a really exciting variety of musical
themes to light,” he says. “I feel like when
thrown away like most set pieces are after
an album cycle elapses.”
Gorton reiterates that the band was
wholly supportive of the direction he
proposed and how it took shape, and
even more so once they saw it realized.
“After so many tours together, the creative
interactions on this have become really
comfortable. Once we got on the road, the
feedback was always collaborative, usually
making it as cohesive as possible,” Gorton
shares. “Designing with that kind of free-
dom is a real gift and makes the process
really enjoyable.”
Video was also an integral part of the
design for the Dance and Cry Tour, and
specifically, in bringing the alder set pieces
to life. The band and Gorton had collabo-
rated with B.C.-based content creator Suez
Holland of Electrabelle Visual Effects for
“[I’m] constantly inspired by the beauty of our forests and their infinite uniqueness, each burl
and gnarl its own masterpiece and each season its own set of extremes. Translating some of
that into a set that could be repurposed became the goal creatively for me.”
-George Gorton, LD
nature of the music and his acerbic wit. He
lays that dichotomy bare on Dance and Cry,
plainly explaining the connection between
feelings of existential despair and loneli-
ness and the need to create joyous acts in
counterbalance.”
Gorton explains how those themes
translated from the forefront of the album
to his visual designs for the tour: “This
particular album represented a wild variety
of emotions and the journey between
extremes. It was difficult to find materials
that represent that jagged relationship
many of us have between the highs and
lows,” he admits.
Ultimately, he found those materials in
nature – specifically, those native to his and
the band’s proud home province.
“I live on Vancouver Island and am
constantly inspired by the beauty of our
forests and their infinite uniqueness, each
burl and gnarl its own masterpiece and
each season its own set of extremes,” he
muses. “Translating some of that into a set
that could be repurposed became the goal
creatively for me.”
bands embrace themes like that it gives me
creative license to make the show stranger
and more abstract, and the audiences
seem to be really receptive to seeing that
kind of creativity.”
Gorton says that he’s actually had fans
come to him after shows to talk about pre-
vious designs and how they’ve progressed
in tandem with the band’s output. “That’s
really gratifying,” he says humbly – “to know
it was an important part of their experience
at the show.”
The story of how the alder logs ulti-
mately ended up behind the band for their
latest trek is also a unique and special one.
In December 2018, a major windstorm hit
B.C.’s south coast – reportedly the most
destructive in BC Hydro’s history. Gorton
says the alder used in the set came down
during that storm.
“I then milled each piece individually,
leaving the shape intact,” he explains. “In a
strange way, it was exciting to give it this
explosion of life after being knocked down,
and in turn, all the wood set pieces will be
recycled and used again rather than being
previous tours, in which case the visuals
were projected as side- and back-light effects.
“This time, we had an actual canvas
[behind the band],” Gorton puts in, “and we
were able to repurpose some of that con-
tent to be seen on the set as well, which
brought a nice, consistent theme between
albums. That was particularly rewarding for
me as her work is so creative, and giving
it a canvas to be seen from the front was
awesome.”
Gorton also created some of the con-
tent himself, as he’s been increasingly into
video design and content creation in re-
cent years. That largely stems from his work
as a co-founder of Triangle Media Servers,
a firm offering turnkey and robust media
hosting and control solutions for tours
and live events. Some recent applications
to employ Triangle technologies include
major tours by Rise Against, Billy Talent,
and of course, many to which Gorton has
contributed his talents.
As for his touring lighting package,
Gorton heaps some praise onto Chauvet
Professional’s Strike 1 single-source LED
Summer 2019 | 19