Starting tomorrow (2), Brooklyn “sludge/gaze” band Spotlights will begin two weeks on the road supporting Deftones and Refused. It’s a dream come true for the two principle members, married couple Mario and Sarah Quintero. In addition to their regular live drummer, Josh Cooper, they’ll also be joined for some of the dates by Primitive Weapons’ Chris Enriquez. We’ve enlisted the band to write a tour diary for us chronicling their two weeks on the road. Here’s the first installment.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Wow. It’s really starting to set in. We first got approached by Deftones’ booking agent on April 1st, 2016. It went something like –
Them: “Are you available to tour with Deftones in August?”
Us: “Yeah, April fools, Haha really funny…”
Us: Google, google “Wait, this is for real!?”
Us: “Holy shit.”
Us: “Yes.”
Them: “Okay, we’ll let you know.”
Then, there was a month of waiting to hear back about getting the official offer for the tour. Then, a month of waiting patiently to announce it. For obvious reasons, we were DYING to tell everyone and their grandmother about this, but had to hold off for what seemed like a year, and most likely gave me a sweet stomach ulcer. THEN, came the busy months of rehearsal and planning.
We are self managed and self booked, so it’s up to us to take care of all the grunt work that it takes to organize a tour of this magnitude. There’s definitely a difference from booking the usual regional “van” tour but in the end it’s the same tasks of budgeting, spending way too much money (on the ole Mr. Master Card) on van rentals and merch, planning for disaster and finger crossing. The biggest difference is the periodic reminder that you will be opening 13 shows for a band that has been a HUGE inspiration to you and millions of other people for decades. That band of course, is DEFTONES. And if that wasn’t enough to make you rip your hair out, there this other band that, you know, you would have murdered somebody to see live and has been a huge part of your musical upbringing playing 9 of those 13 shows. FUCKING REFUUUUUUSED!!? To say that it’s an honor and a privilege to be on the same stage as either of these bands would be a huge understatement, but both!??
As the kids say these days; we just, can’t even.
Before finding out about this tour, we we’re in the process of confirming our September tour with If These Trees Could Talk and Driftoff (which we are also extremely excited about). Josh Cooper, our main man, drummer and resident supermodel, had already made plans for that tour as well as other engagements, so for half of this tour we decided to enlist our bud, resident socialite and drummer extraordinaire, Chris Enriquez. After about 30 rehearsals and many beers, we are now in tip top shape and ready to do our best for these shows.
Tour starts Tuesday. Holy shit.
We’re looking forward to meeting new friends all over the country! Come say hello!
Here’s where you’ll be able to catch Spotlights opening for Refused and Deftones:
8/02 Bethlehem, PA @ Sands Bethlehem Events Center
8/03 Baltimore, MD @ Pier Six Concert Pavilion
8/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Coney Island Amphitheater
8/07 Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
8/09 Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
8/10 Asbury, NJ @ Stone Pony Summerstage
8/12 Sterling Heights, MI @ Freedom Hill Amphitheatre
8/16 St. Paul, MN @ Myth
8/17 Clive, IA @ Seven Flags Event Center
8/18 Tulsa, OK @ Brady Theater
8/20 Magna, UT @ Saltair Resort Main Pavilion
