Riff Raff’s Laser Guitar Design for Rocky Horror Picture Show “Let’s Do The Timewarp Again”

Most of my creative endeavors have been focused on creating and composing music, which led to the creation of my first album of original songs with Lou Adler. Occasionally I dabble in film and design, mostly out of boredom. But this year I had the pleasure of combining a little bit of everything when Lou offered me the chance to branch out and work on something a little different.

Lou knows I’m a bit of a guitar enthusiast, so he casually asked me if I could help him to acquire a “laser guitar.” I thought about it and, apart from some really corny electric guitar designs from the 1980s, there really wasn’t much out there by the way of “laser guitars.” But I think of myself as a “can do” kind of guy, so I suggested to Lou that I design something for him myself, and so I did.

I sent an email with some quick rough sketches and the next I know, I got a call from director Kenny Ortega. As it turns out, Lou and Ortega were working on creating the sequel of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. They liked the preliminary designs, so I worked on a digital mock-up that would breath a bit more life into the piece and sent it. Lou and Kenny said they liked it and they would get back to me.

Of course, they didn’t get back to me because, well that’s the entertainment business.

Then, a few weeks before Halloween 2016, I happened to see a trailer for the upcoming Rocky Horror Sequel “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again” and there it was: my design for Riff Raff’s “laser guitar” brought to life on screen.

Several months later, Lou had some cool promo photos of the guitar I designed sent over to me.

Thanks, Lou. Pretty cool.