From Glastonbury to the Garlic Festival – from Cowes Week to Coldplay – Island based events company Spyder has been putting up stages, rigging and sound systems since 2004. Tom Stroud finds out more
“I still get a buzz from the events. When they come together and you’re stood there with a promoter who has a big grin on their face because it is everything they dreamed of and more -they’ve got the crowd that they wanted, the audience is enjoying themselves, the bands are enjoying themselves – that’s what it’s all about.”
That’s Andy Squibb, Managing Director of Spyder UK, based in St Helens. Andy’s company supplies sound, lighting, staging, rigging, power and production management for events and shows at venues across the UK, from the Royal Albert Hall and the O2 in London, to Glastonbury’s Worthy Farm and the Isle of Wight Festival. It isn’t just events either – Andy often tours as part of the road crew for artists like Coldplay, Bjork and The Prodigy. This year began with six weeks on the X-Factor tour, with Andy booked to provide the rigging for the venues. It’s become a regular appointment. “The biggest X Factor tour was the One Direction year,” Andy remembers. “We did 58 shows in 54 days plus rehearsals.”
It isn’t just big names and big mainland venues. There’s plenty of Island work too, with Andy estimating it’s a 60/40 split in favour of mainland work. This year Spyder provided five stages at the Isle Of Wight Festival at Seaclose Park in June; Andy also worked on-site as part of the sound crew for the main stage. It was four days of music for festivalgoers but three weeks of work on-site for Spyder. In August the Spyder team supplied “the full production package” for Jack Up The 80s, with a stage, sound, rigging and lighting. The stage also served the next weekend for The Garlic Festival. Other Isle of Wight work included staging for Cowes Week on The Parade, firework nights at The Needles Park and many private events.
“There is more work on the Island than there used to be, certainly in terms of quantity,” Andy says. “Unfortunately you do find that a lot of work on the mainland is higher value work and the Isle of Wight is still lagging behind in what people are prepared to throw at an event.”
Spyder employs a team of four staff all year round although numbers can swell to up to 20 in the summer months including freelancers. The business adapts to suit the events calendar and has grown steadily since Andy bought the company in 2004.
“When I took over I effectively bought the remnants of a company which had been running since the seventies. I bought into an initial load of sound gear, brought it back to the Island where I had a load of jobs lined up and it grew from there. My background is in touring and I chose to push the company in the rigging direction. It’s work you can’t bodge and you can’t use cheap, inferior copies of kit for as often happens in sound and lighting. You have to know what you are doing and in many situations now you have to have all of the paperwork, risk assessments and training before you set foot on site. That is backed up by a certain level of competence in place which you can get from different suppliers but our edge is that we can supply all of these other services to an accepted and agreed high standard under one roof, right from the word go – by supplying a full production package we’re able to be a lot more competitive because there’s so much overlap between the various disciplines on site. We don’t cut corners to get the job done cheaper or to get the job done quicker.”
The only risk or uncertainty with events comes with promoters and ticket sales. Events can be a precarious business, with a saturated market and unpredictable weather meaning that not every summer show turns a profit.
“It is noticeable in the industry that there are a lot more people who are trying to hedge their bets now. The last few years have seen a few wash-outs and some huge financial losses for promoters who are always looking for ways of transferring liability to their suppliers. I had an event this year who didn’t do quite as well as they hoped. Their way of dealing with it was to not pay the suppliers until they worked out how to move forward. Obviously we all have to treat things with a bit of caution. We’ve still got to pay our contractors and freelancers and everything else. You’ve got to be quite careful because the whole events industry is based very much on trust and it’s easily abused if you’re not careful.”
Andy wants to grow the business steadily and sustainably. Ross Edgerton came on board earlier this year, bringing with him a number of contacts at events on both sides of The Solent, and there’s now some exciting contracts in the pipeline for next year. There has also been a lot of investment in the marquee arm of Spyder, under the name ‘Wight Marquees’.
“We’re now able to provide not only a temporary venue wherever it needs to be built, but the full range of furniture, flooring, power, lighting and sound equipment to go inside it and complete the event. This has not only presented many more opportunities to work on projects including weddings, private parties, food festivals, summer fetes and corporate events, but in general has allowed us to extend the traditional outdoor events season on the Island which generally runs from May to September. We’re still putting on shows in the middle of a field in February!”
Extending the season is definitely something that Andy encourages. “It costs us money to keep kit sat on the shelf,” he notes and with around 1500 electrical appliances to be tested and 400 rigging items inspected it’s a lot of equipment to keep maintained in the quieter winter months.
Despite the unpredictability, time away from home, heavy lifting and diva-ish behaviour from some artists, it’s a lifestyle that Andy still enjoys. It isn’t a rock and roll lifestyle either. It’s professional – no hedonism here. You have to keep your wits about you on the road.
“It is quite a fairly cut throat industry and things move very quickly,” Andy says. “I quite like the logistical juggling side of it – not so much the late nights anymore. I quite enjoy getting home with a nice cup of tea. Anyone that is out with me on site knows full well that rock and roll actually means drinking tea for me!”
