I met with Christopher and Jim Souza of Pyrospectaculars, representing the United States of America for their third time. For their first participation in 2001, they presented a very ambitious display which, at the time, was the most complex ever attempted in Montreal (see my report with both the largest number of cues and devices fired. They competed again in 2007 (see the report) and won the Bronze Jupiter.
The company also put on the closing show in 2015, to a soundtrack dedicated to Madonna. Christopher is the main designer of the show but his father, Jim, still takes an active part in the company, which has entered their fifth generation of fireworks. Founded by Manuel de Sousa in the early 1900s, Alfred and Roberto were the next generations before Jim became the patriarch and now his three sons Christopher, Paul and Ricci work for the company. Each year they put on around 350 displays with their most important one being the Macy’s display for the 4th July, this year being the 40th time they have performed this show.
Christopher told me that he had started to work on the soundtrack to this display in August of last year and that it’s a theme he’s wanted to do for a while. I wondered if the usually intense nature of heavy metal music might be a challenge but he assured me that he found a way to build a soundtrack with appropriate dynamics. He said that, as a musician, it made the task more straightforward and pointed out that the harmonic and chordal structures used in heavy metal are actually closer to classical music than many people realize. This lead me to comment that it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen a pyromusical with a classical music soundtrack.
Both Christopher and Jim said that being forced to insert four laser segments into the display actually helped them thematically, with these naturally breaking up the display into different chapters. Like other competitors this year, they will be overlapping the lasers with pyrotechnics for the prescribed amount of time. When asked if they had used visualization software, Christopher said that he largely designs in his head and is aware of the different levels in a display, but that the visualization software is useful to check for angles and so on. The entire show took several months to design, but this work wasn’t done continuously due to their commitments for their 4th July shows, several of which are bigger than the Montreal show. Both did express that it’s an enjoyable break from the normal day-to-day work to be able to come and do a display in Montreal and, though it’s a competition, Jim stressed that the company is in the entertainment business and that’s their primary goal for the audience here.
On the technical side, Christopher was rather coy about the choice of products used, but did say that Souza, as a company, always picks the best from markets around the world. He said that they would not have been comfortable competing 3 years ago, due to supply chain issues, but now everything was back to normal, though the tariff situation in the US will have an impact next year. So we were told there are products from Europe and Asia (including Japan). When I was taking pictures in the pre-montage room, we could see Roman candles from Parente and one-shots from Ricasa. Christopher did tell me, though, that all the 300mm shells used in the display (and he wouldn’t tell me how many) were manufactured in the USA by Vince Terrizzi of Starfire Corporation. Both said that they were excited to be using 300mm shells as these are rare now for their domestic displays. Jim also pointed out that they have their own made-in-China lines of “1.4 Pro” cakes under the Showtime brand.
In terms of the display site, they will not be using the floating platforms forming ramp 5 nor using any nautical products. Ramp 4 will be extensively used and there will be 13 positions on ramp 3 and a total of nine on ramp 2 – the largest number used this year. The show is being fired using the PyroDigital system with a cue count of around 3200. Jim pointed out that this a sweet spot given the amount of time available for setup. (In comparison, their record-breaking show in 2001 used over 5000 cues).
Today we learned of the death of Ozzy Osbourne, a sad occurrence indeed, especially as the open segment is to the track “Crazy Train”. The team were saddened by his death as they had worked on his tours doing the pyro, including his farewell series that concluded very recently.
We touched upon the political situation as it’s possible the audience might boo the US national anthem. Christopher said the audience can “boo before but I want to hear them cheer after the display is over”. Given the soundtrack and some inside knowledge on the products being used, I’m very confident this will be the case. Both Christopher and Jim said they love coming to Montreal and working with the some of the same crew they’ve encountered for more than 20 years and are looking forward to putting on a display that everyone can enjoy. Let’s hope the weather cooperates as heat and humidity is supposed to rise again on Thursday!