In Extremo was founded in 1995 in Berlin, and has become one of the most successful bands in Germany thanks to their mix of medieval and rock music.
The more than one million records sold and numerous national and international tours are a measure of the popularity of these versatile musicians. In addition to an electric guitar, a bass and drums, the band relies on instruments like the hurdy gurdy, bagpipes, the shawm, the nyckelharpa, the harp, the cittern, the tromba marina, the hammered dulcimer, the tabla, the davul and the klangbaum, which make their sound unique and original.
Stephan “Faren” Matern has been In Extremo’s lighting designer for years, and also took care of their recent Kunstraub tour. Among the equipment he used for his lighting design was one Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO and 16 Clay Paky Sharpy beams.
The Alpha Spot QWO 800 ST is a superlative moving light – fast, small, and lightweight – just what was needed for a tour that took place in arenas full of between 2 000 and 3 000 people, with very few hooking points. On top of that, Matern says he is a big fan of its animation disc, which can be used to create really amazing effects. “I am also highly impressed with the image quality, with well-defined outlines.”
“I used the Clay Paky Sharpys above all for ACL effects”, Matern continues, “The definition of their beam is simply staggering. All the Clay Paky lights won me over for their very high quality. We did not have the slightest problem with them.”
With regards to the lighting design, Matern had very clear ideas: “In Extremo’s musicians stand right in the middle of the stage, so I did not have to create a dynamic light show. I needed to accompany the music with highly impressive static lights to support the music rhythmically and give it special lighting emphasis.”
Rolf Schutte was lighting and rig Technical Manager for Dimmercity. Andrej Oertel was the lighting technician. Black Box Music provided the lights.
