Striking Lighting

It all started because I got fed up with humping some extra large speakers, Yes, I started by doing sound for 17 years.....I QUIT...

It was the early/mid 90s..... I then got taken out to a rave, My mate took some little sound 2 light fixtures with a block of switches and a T stand (very low tech) he said "Have a go"... that was me turned into a "Lampy"...

After a couple of these gigs he asked me if I wanted to work for him, so I said yes and bought that little show from him a year later.

That was an Opti strobe, a Twister 2 & 4 and a Hypermoon, the little controller and a little smoke machine.

So that started me off with lights... I started doing some little gigs and parties then started buying kit... bigger strobe...bigger smoke machine and then I found Solar 250s.

I got 3 to start and a few effects etc, I was getting loads of sound 2 light kit and I had 2 x 24 switch units to turn them on....

It was when I met a guy called Jim Hedges (Bish Bosh Sound) then I started to get some better gigs and he took me into Bristol at Loco (Maze).

It was there I met Adrian 'Paddy' Neilly.

He got me a gig working for GBH at the Depot which also got me gigs for Ripsnorter.

All this good work and some great contacts and I was buying some great kit... Martin 812 scans (x22), Punishers (x8) Distroyers (x8) Lynx (x8), all on an old Martin 3032 plus the switch blocks.

After a while I got some gigs in the Black Swan, that's when I met Grant Knox (who provided lasers) he got me into an Avolites Azure DMX desk which made a load of difference to the show...

It was then the early 2000s, I was doing a load of gigs with the Solars (x10) by then, I got a strange email from a guy called 'Beano' saying he'd lost his licence and couldn't do the lights for the impending "Space Ritual" tour and would I do it for him.(I thought it was a wind up) and didn't reply.

A mate came and said "Its not a wind-up, get back to him which I did and toured with Nik Turner for about 10 years.

Also did gigs with the Ozric Tentacles, Astralasia, Here and Now, Zion Train, E2, Zubzub, Eat Static and Dreadzone to name but a few.

Over the years I've bought lots of Solar 250s, at the moment I have about 33 working and 6 being rebuilt. I've also got loads of the Opti effects 3" cassettes, oil wheels etc.

But in the last couple of years I have met "Helen Back" and her Oil Wheels are far better than Opti wheels...

The Light Show is still getting better with 2 of the bigger retro Avo desks (a 2010 Pearl and a classic Expert and Titan One).

Two years ago I bought 8 new beam heads (4 LED & 4 Halogen) also I got a pair of Opti Club Strobe Flowers which I've been trying to get for years.

Obviously the last year I've serviced all the kit but no gigs due to COVID-19 but I’m now looking forward to possibly gigging again...

Simon Bramich - March 2021

May 31st 2002 - Poster design **possibly** by John Andrews (he sent me it....can anyone confirm?)

Nik Turner (L) Simon Bramich (R) Deeply Vale Festival 2016

2018