Sold-out show not enough for Slash’s Snakepit at Train in Denmark

On December 11th one of rock’s best guitarists, Slash of Guns ‘n Roses fame, strolled into the heavily Martin equipped Train venue in Aarhus, Denmark with his Snakepit band for a one night only, sold-out concert followed by a day of video recording. Slash’s Snakepit are currently touring Europe in support of their “Ain’t Life Grand” album.

The idea was to begin production of a promotional video for MTV, and Slash’s Snakepit wanted to use the opportunity to record some material under the Martin rig. The new video is for the band’s new single “Shine” which is scheduled for release worldwide. The main part of the video was taped at Train with additional footage shot in Amsterdam.

Train LD Niller Bjerregaard had 2 MAC 2000, 12 MAC 250, 12 MAC 500 and 14 MAC 600 at his disposal with control from a Martin Case Pro 1 controller. “I think the band wanted to get out of their normal framework and have a Danish production company produce the video,” he says. “The production company chose Train because of the Martin rig. We added a few extra MAC 250s to the original set up and can basically get any look we want. And for me, controlling everything is basically a breeze. The Case just keeps getting easier all the time. I’ve been using it for 2-3 years now and the new software is great.” Local distributor Martin Danmark supplied all lighting. “Their support has been great,” he adds.

Niller used the full rig for total band looks while using single beam looks for individual band member shots. “For the solo shots, we wanted to create cleaner, detailed looks so we kept the light static, played with the shadows and got in nice and close. We created sharp edges using top and side light projections from a MAC 250. A particularly good static look was when we used a MAC 250 to backlight Slash with white light while he was playing guitar. With his trademark top hat and all that hair and black leather, it was a great effect.

“For the group shots we did just the opposite, we had everything moving with a lot of colors and chaos. With TV you have a sort of TV tunnel vision effect. That’s why movement, colors and energy are so important.”

Train has become Denmark’s most successful live venue attracting top bands from around the world. It is also becoming a popular video production venue. Andrew Strong from “The Commitments” fame recorded his latest video at Train earlier in 2000. “Train is very excited to be the host venue for the making of Slash’s new video. The entire experience has been great,” Niller concludes.