Music fans across the country continue to discover the unique sounds of R&B-tinged
indie band Wet, who played dates across North America this fall using effects from
Elation Professional colour-changing ACL 360 Bar™ battens as powerful visual
accompaniment. Touring in support of their debut album “Don’t You,’ released
earlier in the year, the Brooklyn-based trio plays an engaging and increasingly
popular brand of music that mixes the genres of R&B, electronic, rock, and pop.

Wet first made waves in 2013 with its self-titled debut EP before hitting with “Don’t
Wanna Be Your Girl’ and eventually inking a deal with Columbia Records. Their fall
“Don’t You’ tour confirmed their increasing popularity with enthusiastic crowds and
a string of sold out shows. Lighting design for the tour was by Erich Meitzner and
James Bailey, who used the ACL 360 Bars to stunning effect by creating dense,
seemingly impenetrable walls of light that fully complemented the band’s unique
sound.

Their first outing with the band, Meitzner and Bailey, created a dynamic yet simple
design that matches the often intense moods set by the music. They created a
variety of backlighting effects by alternating 12 ACL 360 Bar fixtures with moving
heads on upstage pipes while a further 12 ACL Bars lined the downstage edge to
form a wall of light that separated the band from the audience. Another 8 fixtures
were used to surround lead vocalist Kelly Zutrau, enveloping her in a transparent
box of light.

The high-output ACL 360 Bars, which have seen use this past summer and into the
fall in a wide variety of applications, are versatile colour-changing LED battens with
seven 15W RGBW LEDs and narrow-beam output. Their 360-degree continuous
rotation allows them to create dynamic moving effects that are not possible with
conventional LED fixtures. “We wanted to create walls of light and the big wall look
is my favourite look of the show,’ stated Meitzner, who also serves as lighting
director on the tour (he also serves as lighting director for the New Zealand band
Broods). “We went with the ACL 360 Bars so we could create the wall look with
pixel mapping.’

Meitzner was thoroughly satisfied with the tour, calling it a “blast’ and expressing
his desire to continue to work with the band. Equipment for the tour was supplied
by Michael Brammer of Special Event Services of Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
with additional equipment for a show at Fonda Theatre in Hollywood supplied by
Nicole Barnes at Felix Lighting. Pre-visualization drawings for the design were
completed by Dave Carr of Dave’s World Designs. Meitzner and Bailey thank Kelly,
Joe, Marty, Gabe, Michael, Nicole and Dave for their help and support.