Photo: Melinda Oswandel

Brooklyn “sludge/gaze” band Spotlights are in the middle of 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. The band is writing a tour diary for us chronicling their two weeks on the road. In this third installment, they hit the Northeast and detail a terrifying hotel stop. You can read the other installments here, here and here.

August 12th, 2016

Ahhh… Finally a reasonably priced Comfort inn.  After a 13 hour drive from Jersey to Detroit this was exactly what we needed.  And…they have laundry machines, which we are in dire need of.  

Also, who knew that there was a place called Mexicantown right at the Canadian border?!

Going back to the Boston show – This was Josh’s last night with us for this tour, so it got a little emotional at the end of the night but not before celebrating his birthday in style, on stage, complete with a pie to the face by Deftones monitor master (Charlie).  It was fun to go back and play what was once my home town.  Though we didn’t have time to visit much other than the venue, i’ll always love that city.

With Josh’s departure, came Chris’s introduction to the tour.  We really are so lucky to have him on these shows with us.  The first time we saw him play with his band HAAN, Sarah and I were like “Daaamn!”.   So it was an easy decision to ask him to join us for this.

First show with him was Asbury Park, NJ.  One of the weirder venues due to the completely uncovered stage and larger outdoor area, but Jersey came out in full force. It was hot and sticky and windy but, what a great crowd! It was nice to recognize some faces that were at the Philly show too.  Sarah walked out to a solid pack of superfans.  It’s been really cool to see young women getting inspired by her badass.  We had one of the best sets of the tour and the transition to Chris was seamless.  

The night ended with another surreal moment partially pictured below –

Pictured here with Chris are Dennis and David from Refused, Chaka, Larry and Gavin from Burn/Orange 9mm, Tom Capone and Sergio Vega from Quicksand., and Charlie from Judge/Civ (in background). We’re all still processing this night…

Tonight we hit Detroit!  Only 2 more shows left with Refused on the tour 🙁