Oh Suzi Q

We were honoured to organise the printing of two stage backdrops for the original Queen of Rock, Suzi Quatro, over the summer.

The result was two enormous curtains, measuring 10ft x 12ft and 12ft x 20ft, which we actually had to inspect out in the car park, because they were too large to open up anywhere in our 40,000 sq ft property!

The story…

Suzi Quatro is a singer-songwriter from Detroit, USA. She has been performing as a professional musician since she was 14, and last year celebrated her 50th year in the music business.

She has sold over 55 million records, worldwide, and had a string of no less than 16 hit singles, two of which reached number one in the UK. She was the first female musician to have success fronting a straight rock and roll band, and has had a direct influence on the likes of Joan Jett and The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.

She was once voted the 3rd-greatest bass player in the world, and was inducted into the Michigan’s Hall of Fame.

Outside of music, Suzi has also had a successful acting career, most notably having a recurring role in the American sitcom, Happy Days. She has also starred on the West-End stage, written her own musical, become an accomplished author, hosted her own chat show, and has also been one of the most-successful BBC Radio 2 DJ’s since 1999.

She continues to perform worldwide, playing an average of 60 shows per year.

The design process…

The design process…

Our skilled graphic design team here at Roman Blinds Direct reworked a design Suzi herself sent over. In February of this year, she completed a sold-out Final Australian Tour, and it was this promotional poster Suzi wanted to be worked into a design for the backdrop.

The team here set to work immediately, crafting the exact image Suzi wanted. We ran everything by her before we sent it off to the printers. Due to the fact that she plays everywhere, from rock clubs to arenas, we decided to have two separate curtains made: one for smaller venues and one for stadiums.

Once Suzi confirmed that the final design was exactly what she wanted, we sent the image off to the digital printers, and we waited for the results…

The finished results… 

Don’t look like much, do they?

Two weeks later, the team in the Web room heard that the backdrops had arrived and were waiting for us in the warehouse. Lugging a medium-sized box up the stairs, it didn’t seem possible that two such massive items could fit inside, but the weight gave away the box’s contents.

The curtains came back in two separate plastic bags. They weighed a consdierable amount, and, despite being in bags no larger than 50cm, it soon became apparent that there was nowhere in the building we could safely open the curtains up to inspect them.

We finally decided that the only place we could open them was outside in the car park – thank God it was a nice day!

The Roman Blinds Direct team with the ‘small’ backdrop

Roman Blinds Direct team with the larger backdrop (more hands needed for this one!)

The premiere! 

Last week, we received an email from Suzi’s stage manager, informing us that the larger backdrop would finally be used at four shows Suzi was playing all over Europe. The first gig was in Prague on Wednesday 11th November, and Suzi’s front-of-house guy, Gerry, very kindly snapped some shots , both during the sound check and the gig itself of Suzi onstage with the backdrop.

Suzi, clearly delighted with the backdrop at sound check!

We are absolutely thrilled with the results of this project, as was Suzi, and we hope to be able to assist more artists in this way in the future.

Suzi Q, performing in Prague, last week.