Interview: Spotlights (Ipecac Recordings) Spring Tour of New Zealand

Aotearoa's heavy music loving throngs will soon be treated to a debut tour by Pittsburgh post-metal / doomgaze titans Spotlights, playing a mammoth ten headline dates across Te Ika-a-Māui from 21st November onwards, joined for every show by Tauranga icons Threat.Meet.Protocol. The wife / husband team of Sarah Quintero, Mario Quintero and drummer Chris Enriquez (Primitive Weapons, On The Might of Princes), Spotlights will finally be here celebrating their acclaimed 2023 album Alchemy For The Dead, released via Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings. Sarah and Mario chatted with Austin Cunningham (T.M.P, Your Enabler) about the whirlpool of inspirations feeding into their own sound, sharing the stage with labelmates Mr Bungle and Melvins, the value of small-scale shows, and what gig-goers can look forward to this month...

Spotlights - NZ Tour
all shows with special guests Threat.Meet.Protocol 

Thursday 21st November - Whammy Bar, Auckland
Friday 22nd November - Monkey House Lounge & Cabaret, Whitianga
Saturday 23rd November - Last Place Bar, Hamilton
Sunday 24th November - under the Tauranga Harbour Bridge (all ages)
Tuesday 26th November - SECRET SHOW
Wednesday 27th November - Paisley Stage, Napier
Thursday 28th November - Valhalla, Wellington
Friday 29th November - The Stomach, Palmerston North (all ages)
Saturday 30th November - Eight Ball, New Plymouth
Sunday 1st December - Big Fan, Auckland (all ages)

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Austin Cunningham: Hi Mario and Sarah, thanks so much for your time today and for Spotlights coming to New Zealand this November!

The upcoming Spotlights tour consists of 10 dates around the North Island. Compared to most acts that tour here, this is about eight shows more than the average, so either you have heard nice things about New Zealand or Pittsburgh is really cold and horrid during winter?

Sarah Quintero & Mario Quintero (Spotlights): Hahaha…Well, kinda both! But mostly, we’ve heard nothing but great things about NZ. It’s definitely a bucket list tour for us, so we figure we should make the most of it! And, we’re super lucky to have you (Austin from Your Enabler / Threat Meet.Protocol) as our promoter. He really has gone all out booking all these shows and getting the word out.

A lot of people, myself included, are really excited to see some or all of the songs from your latest album Alchemy For the Dead when you play here. For myself, this was THE album of 2023. Can you detail what this album has meant for you, both personally and professionally since its release?

Thanks so much! Even though it’s been over a year now since its release, Alchemy still feels pretty new to us. It was great to see the response from existing and new fans. When we went into the making of that album, we tried to push ourselves in a different direction so I was a bit unsure of how it would be received. We had some great tours off this album too, so I’d say all in all it was a success! Glad to be capping it off in NZ!

Listening to the Spotlights back catalogue on constant repeat, I can honestly say that I have never heard a band that can oscillate between skull crushing heaviness to ethereal beauty so seamlessly. Songs like ‘Algorithmic’ or ‘Until The Bleeding Stops’ blow me away as both a musician and a fan. Firstly, what influences you both musically, and then also how are you able to capture these qualities on your recordings without losing either of these elements so essential to your sound?

Again, thank you so much! Honestly, we never set out to write or play a specific type of music. Spotlights was started with the intent of making the music we wanted to hear. Turns out we love the dichotomy of heavy big riffs and a sombre, quiet melody mixed together. All three of us have a big mix of influence, but my personal big ones would be The Cure, Helmet, Mew, Jane's Addiction, Fugazi, Jawbox, etc. As far as capturing those qualities, it really comes down to the song writing and arranging. Making sure that there’s enough room in the recording to highlight those things. Though it may sound like a big wall of sound, usually our records are made up of a drum kit, one bass track, and two guitars panned left and right. That leaves room for vocals and keyboard elements to float around in there without needing to be pushed to the front too much. Really, Sarah’s bass is what make our band sound big!

Spotlights are signed to Mike Patton's (Faith No More, Mr Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk) esteemed Ipecac Recordings. How did Mr Patton first hear of Spotlights and how has being on Ipecac Recordings helped Spotlights to develop as a band?

Well, Greg Werckman who is the other owner of Ipecac and Mike’s manager is really the one who first heard us. They have a deal between the two of them that they both have to like a band enough to sign them. If one or the other isn’t into it, they won’t move forward. We were working on what became Seismic at the time, and planning to record with our friend Aaron Harris (drummer from Isis). When I had the demos ready, I asked Aaron if he knew any labels that might be good for us to try before we started recording and he immediately recommended Ipecac. We sent it off and soon heard from Greg that he was into it and would pass on to Mike, but to not get our hopes up. Haha. We really didn’t think we had a chance but the next day we got a message from Greg, "Mike loves it!, Let’s do this!" The rest is history!

Ipecac is the best label we could possibly be on. They are so supportive of the art itself. I feel like we can do anything (as long as it’s good) and they will be in support of it. It’s basically a two-person operation with their GM Marc Schapiro and Greg running everything, so it’s easy to get things done. We’ve also gotten to tour with great Ipecac bands because of this.

In the past year you have toured extensively through America and Europe with Mr Bungle and Melvins, two bands revered by many New Zealanders, and toured with countless others including Deftones, Refused, Quicksand. Who have been your favourite acts to play with and where do you enjoy playing the most?

All those support tours have been so great. But honestly we learned the most from touring with Melvins. They have such a strong work ethic and a way of doing things that makes it possible for a band to be sustainable. It’s inspiring to see them tour so relentlessly while keeping it all together. As great as it is to have supported all those bands, we really love doing headline tours, especially here in the States. I prefer to have 50 to 100 of our own fans there to see us and be in it with us, than playing to 5000 people who may or may not care. That said, we’ve been really lucky with the crowds on our support tours and had great responses.

Your drummer Chris Enriquez has to be one of the best in the industry. However, he also seems to be one of the most in-demand drummers in the country. How do you find time to play / write together, with you both in Pittsburgh and Chris still in New York and playing in what seems like 200 other bands?

Hahaha yup! He’s a mad man! But he makes it work. Spotlights is still his main priority (I think). So he tends to schedule other shows / tours around ours. But we also work with him if he needs time for something else. It’s really pretty easy to manage. He will fly out a couple days before a tour to rehearse and then we go! And since I usually do much of the writing for the band, I just send demo ideas out to him until we are ready to get together and work things out. The flight from New York is only about 45 minutes so it’s not bad!

You will be playing a variety of world-class venues across New Zealand, but you will also be playing an all-ages show at the infamous Tauranga venue that is under the Harbour Bridge. Besides this, what’s the weirdest venue you have ever played?

We’ve played some weird places… but sometimes those are the best! On our first Europe tour, we played a tiny coffee shop in Čadca, Slovakia. No stage, barely a PA in sight and not one soul on the street. Complete ghost town. Come show time, 50 or 60 people swarmed into this little space and they were going crazy! It was such a fun show.

Like music fans everywhere, kiwis are big record collectors. However, getting Spotlights albums in NZ is quite hard due to the costs of importing etc. Therefore to satisfy us physical product nerds, please tell us, will you be selling vinyl, CDs and other merchandise at these NZ shows?

Ugh... I know. I hate that shipping costs are so ridiculous! We are working on trying to get some shipped down there for us to sell. And we will definitely have some t-shirts at the very least.

I may have some personal bias here but I can’t wait to experience the uniqueness of Spotlights live. However, for those that may not be an obsessive fan like myself, what can a new or potential Spotlights fan expect from your concerts and this tour?

Hmm... I’d say expect to feel your eyeballs vibrate while being engulfed in sound! Ideally it will be an immersive and emotive experience! Bring earplugs.

Thanks again to you both for your time. Looking forward to playing with you!