An Interview with Paul McAdams
Paul McAdams is a lighting designer, who started his career in the field while studying English at university. Swiftly deciding that teaching was not the career for him, he threw himself into lighting and has worked on tours and festivals ever since for artists including Architects and As I Watch You From Afar.
How did you get into lighting design?
I never studied it at uni, I had a part time job when I was a student just pushing boxes around for gigs and events and stuff just to make extra money. I came into that because I was playing in bands. It just took over, I was doing an English degree and realised I wasn’t going to be an English teacher. After I realised that I just went for it.
How do you balance work/off time while touring?
You get off time but you very rarely get time to yourself. It’s normally 15 men on a tiny bus and you’re working 14-hour days. Obviously with your days off you can’t go and see your friends and family. On the other side of that your days off could be in Sydney and you can go and explore. The more you get into this side of the business the more it takes over but it’s worth it. It’s definitely a young man’s game.
What projects are you working on at the moment?
This summer I’m doing festivals with clients I’ve had for a few years and will be going around Europe. In the meantime I’m working on my next big design for Good Charlotte and Architects.
Any advice for people interested in this industry?
If given the opportunity, I would definitely recommend getting involved in productions at school. You can study degrees in this now so it’s definitely worth doing with how fast the industry is moving.
How much is lighting design changing recently as it’s moving more towards video projections as well as lighting?
Once you reach over a certain capacity (normally around 2,00) you definitely will need to have video just so that the audience can see the stage. It’s something that I’ve learned on the job and nowadays it’s so vital for artists to keep up with new designs which are just getting more and more clever and so much revenue comes from selling tickets, you need to ensure the audience want to come back to future shows.
