Bludgeoning, beautiful, jarring, and serene are just a few of the cinematic moods conjured by this doomy, fuzz-loving husband-and-wife duo of Sarah and Mario Quintero.
When the Loch Ness Monster gets its summer blockbuster return, Spotlights should score that silver-screen comeback. Just like the mythical creature, the power trio summons up emotions that teeter from impending doom and chaotic destruction to a delicate beauty and alluring mysticism.
The band got its start just over five years ago via husband-and-wife duo Mario (guitars/synths/drums/vocals) and Sarah Quintero (bass/guitars/vocals). Often Sarah crushes like a mallet while Mario pierces like a katana—proving the couple that plays together, slays together.
Their earliest work features the pair handling all instrumentation. Mario previously was the drummer for Machines Learning, so they were able to assemble their self-released debut EP, 2014's Demonstration, then 2016's long-player Tidals, followed by 2017's Seismic (their first on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings). When it came time to hit the road, they would often tap drummer Josh Cooper until scheduling conflicts (in)conveniently intervened, putting Chris Enriquez on their radar. He filled in on a tour when Spotlights opened for If These Trees Could Talk and became a permanent member, lending his boom to both 2019's Love & Decay and 2020's EP We Are All Atomic. The fortified lineup have honed their punishing dynamics, making the pastoral more tranquil and the destructive more devastating.
While working on new material that will most certainly cast murky shadows and crescendo-ing crushers, Mario and Sarah virtually welcomed PG's Chris Kies into their Pittsburgh-based jam space. Inside this episode, we find out why they avoid cork-sniffing in favor of any gear that works. Mario showcases a digital-meets-analog setup that could power a SpaceX rocket, while Sarah describes and demos the elements for her bass thunderstorm. Plus, she divulges how gear swaps—especially pedals—not only keep the marriage fresh but continues enriching the band's blossoming sound.
[Brought to you by D'Addario Backline Gear Transport Pack: https://ddar.io/GigBackpack-RR]
Fender Player Stratocaster HSH
Over the last five years, Spotlights guitarist Mario Quintero has been in exploration mode. He's been testing out all sorts of gear without searching for any particular tone or goal in mind, to see what works and what doesn't. This Fender Player Stratocaster HSH has been part of that process. So far, he's enjoyed playing the Strat because of its comfortable neck and a shape that contours to his body.
The night before filming with PG, Quintero replaced the stock bridge 'bucker with a hotter Seymour Duncan SH-14 Custom 5. Quintero typically tunes to drop B and sometimes even drops the low-E string to F#. Currently, the Strat takes Ernie Ball Beefy Slinkys (.011 –.054).
Dunable Cyclops
"I'm an impulse buyer when it comes to gear," admits Mario. And one of the results of that urge was this Dunable Cyclops. It was a heavy hitter for 2019's Love and Decay.
PureSalem La Flaca
"I've never used a neck pickup on any guitar except this PureSalem La Flaca" explains Mario. "I think the way the neck pickup is slanted works well with my darker, mid-focused tone, instead of the more standard scooped-neck sound." Both the PureSalem and Dunable are laced up with D'Addario XL148 Nickel-Wound Drop C Strings (.012–.060).
1984 Marshall JCM800
Mario is pretty openminded and pragmatic in his tone quest, but this 1984 Marshall JCM800 might be his closest thing to a sacred cow. He plugs into the 50-watter's low input, cranks the pre-amp control, and barely pushes the master above one.
Marshall 1960A 4x12 Cabinet
The JCM800 hits this worn-and-torn Marshall 1960A 4x12 that's stocked with a quad of Celestion 75-watt G12T-75 speakers.
Orange Crush Pro 120
To double the dense destruction, Mario also roars through a solid-state Orange Crush Pro 120 that excels at being really loud and really clean.
Orange Crush Pro 240-watt 4x12
The Crush Pro 120 hits this trim Orange Crush Pro 240-watt 4x12 (closed back) that's packed with their proprietary Orange Voice of the World 12"s.
Mario Quintero's Pedalboard
Guitarists can be hesitant when a company rep promises simplification without sacrificing performance or tone. (Spoiler alert: We're a finnicky bunch.) But when Line 6's Eric Klein (the developer of the Helix) took in a Spotlights show and witnessed all Mario's tap dancing with MIDI triggers and laptop-queued pads and samples, he offered a streamlined, floor-based solution that could reduce Mario's multi-tasking.
So, now the brain of Mario's operation is a Line 6 Helix that not only smears his guitar with distortion, fuzz, modulation, and gobs of gain, but also interfaces with the laptop triggering pads and samples that route out to front of house. Mario's has three main objectives for his Eventide H9 (controlled by the Helix): a modulated slap delay, a huge stereo reverb, and a spooky, ring-mod 'verb. Auxiliary pedals that mind the gap are EarthQuaker Devices' Afterneath and Astral Destiny. The TC Electronic Ditto X2 handles live loops, while the Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner keeps his guitars in check. An Eventide PowerMax juices all his wares.
Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Precision Bass
Like Mario, Sarah has no shame in her rumble game and will use anything to rattle onlookers' fillings. During quarantine, her practical, get-the-job-done mentality eyed this Squier Classic Vibe '70s Precision Bass online. She ordered it and fell in love with the black beauty. The Squier is all stock aside from the leopard-print pickguard. Sarah goes with Ernie Ball Power Slinkys (.055 –.110). During the Rundown, she admits to hating the sound and feel of new strings, so she'll often go years without replacing them.
Orange O Bass
Her main ride for the previous four years was this Orange O Bass that has a tone that outshined the clunky, neck-diving ergonomics that would plunge the neck toward the floor when not being held up.
Because she loved its hefty, Herculean sound, Sarah taped weights on her O Bass' body to counterbalance its lopsided lean.
Orange OB1-500
Sarah used to prefer solid-state bass amps. Her longtime love was the Gallien-Krueger 400RB, but that all changed when her and Mario were opening for the Melvins. Each night they would join the sultans of sludge onstage for the closer, "Lysol." For the collective jam, Sarah plugged into Buzz's Orange OB1-500, and shortly after the tour concluded she ordered her own.
Orange OBC810 8x10
The OB1 runs into a fridge-sized Orange OBC810 8x10 that's equipped with Eminence Legend 32 speakers.
Sarah Quintero's Pedalboard
Sarah's stomp station is the main culprit for summoning Ole Nessie. She swims in the depths of distortion, fuzz, and stormy modulation. Sarah used to play with two amps (including the aforementioned 400RB), but now enlists the Line 6 HX Stomp (8x10 SV Beast setting) as her second boom box. The first pedal she ever bought is the Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive, and that gets used heavily in conjunction with the EarthQuaker Devices Westwood.
After checking Future of the Left, she had to approach bassist Andy "Falco" Falkous about his tone—and his secret sauce was the Way Huge Swollen Pickle. In the Rundown, Sarah mentions she changes this pedal's settings the most throughout a set, because the controls are so versatile and wide ranging.
Tbe EQD Monarch provides a darker, huskier sound than the Westwood. Next is the EQD Terminal, which provides "knotty and crunchy" sonics and shines on "Under the Earth." Then we have a pair of ZVEX fuzzes: the Woolly Mammoth and Fuzz Factory.
She likes to pair her EQD Bit Commander with the EQD Astral Destiny or H9 (reverb settings) to draw out and embellish its octave effect. Beyond that, the Astral Destiny provides atmospheric pads and the H9 unleashes drawn-out hall verbs, volume swells, envelope sweeps, and other moody tone morphings. Another modulation pedal is the EarthQuaker Aqueduct, which gets kicked on for subtle vibrato moments.
The last bit of her board provides some EQ tweaking, with the Darkglass Electronics Vintage Deluxe and EQD Tone Job. For her voice, she'll run a Boss VE-1 Vocal Echo—and a Boss TU-2 keeps all 4 strings in check. Like Mario, all her pedals come to life with the Eventide PowerMax.
When our columnist stumbled upon this 12-string hanging streetside in NYC, he knew he’d struck gold.
In the pre-internet age, guitar hunting was a “shoe leather” pursuit, requiring continuously scouring music stores, pawnshops, junk stores, small ads, and flea markets. Late one Sunday back in the mid 1990s, I had scorelessly scoped the fleas and antique dealers around 26th St. and 6th Ave. in Manhattan before idly heading west to the usually barren “junk” fields that cropped up on 7th Ave.
Suddenly, hanging from a wire fence, this 12-string loomed into sight, but what a sorry sight it was. The detached back and several braces were stuffed into a shopping bag. The bridge was splintered, the top a nest of cracks, and all covered with a veneer of grime. The sad-looking wreck, tagged at $100, had been there all day. After a quick perusal (while silently calculating luthier bills), I proffered the classic end-of-the-day “50 bucks on that?” I got the dealer’s weary side-eye, but quickly accepted his predictable $75 counter. Later showing off my find to guitar friends, the general opinion was it had been better left hanging!
And yet, luthier Bill Merchant was willing to undertake the project. He sealed the many cracks in the top and reattached the badly shrunken back, adding extra center strips to fit it to the rim. He also reset the neck and crafted an exact replica bridge and bridge plate. Recently, after decades under tension, the top was beginning to fold up around the soundhole—so luthier Amy Mills added diagonal wing braces on either side to stabilize it. We left the extensive playwear (including missing pieces of the inlaid pickguard) unaltered, as it befits this battered but beautiful survivor of a unique time and place in New York musical history.
This guitar was made within walking distance of where I found it, on Kenmare St. in Manhattan. What’s left of the label reads “A. Galiano, fabbricante di Chitarre e Mandolini.” There was no “A. Galiano”; the name was a sort of generic brand shared by several small NYC Italian-American music shops from the 1910s into the Depression. The term “Italian Guild” has been applied to them, but there was no organized guild, just sometimes interrelated-but-independent immigrant luthiers working in New York’s bustling Italian community.
“Suddenly, hanging from a wire fence, this 12-string loomed into sight, but what a sorry sight it was.”
One such luthier was Raphael Ciani, often remembered as John D’Angelico’s uncle and mentor. A few Galianos also have “Ciani” on the label; identical features allow others to be attributed to him. Ciani appeared in New York dealing musical goods by 1904. By 1913, he had settled his shop at 57 Kenmare St., a block from where D’Angelico would set up in 1932. John was born in 1905; by around age 9, he was already apprenticing in Ciani’s shop.
Raphael died in 1923 at the young age of 44, leaving the 18-year-old D’Angelico in charge of the shop. Ciani/Galiano instruments of the 1920s were built under John’s supervision, if not by his own hand. Survivors include different styles of mandolins and rare 6- and 12-string maple-bodied flattops like this one, a distinctive shop specialty in the 1920s. Before f-hole archtops existed, these steel-string Galianos were intended for ensemble use, built to compete with accordions and violins and to cut through the din in cafes, restaurants and vaudeville theaters. Mostly associated with Piedmont blues players or Mexican performers like Lydia Mendoza, 1910–’20s 12-string guitars were cited at the time for supposedly offering the greatest possible volume.
This is a large guitar for the period, 16 1/8" wide and 4 1/2" deep, with a 26" scale. It has solid maple back and sides and a spruce top bordered with colored-wood marquetry and bound in rosewood. The mandolin-style celluloid pickguard with inset pearl is inlaid into the top. The swooping “mustache” bridge sits over a wide, flat bridge plate and ladder bracing. The one-piece, soft-V mahogany neck has a bound “ebonized” fretboard with a common New York-shaped pearl inlay pattern. The initials “JV” are inlaid in pearl on the bound headstock. Such Ciani/Galianos can rarely be dated exactly, but a similar 6-string guitar exists with “July 15 ’22” on the label.
Only a handful of these deluxe maple Ciani/Galianos are still in existence. The National Music Museum in South Dakota has an even more ornate 12-string. Country pioneer Ernest Stoneman played a similar jumbo 6-string that lacked the inlaid pickguard and personalized headstock. He likely obtained it during 1925–’26 New York recording trips. Before his Gibson endorsement, Nick Lucas’ 1922 Pathé Actuelle recordings “Teasing the Frets” and “Picking the Guitar” (the first recorded flatpicked guitar instrumentals) were almost certainly waxed with a Ciani/Galiano. In a 1970s interview, Lucas related buying the guitar in New York for $35 in the early ’20s.
About a century along, this Galiano 12-string remains a fully playable instrument, offering a powerful, bright-but-still-mellow sound and plenty of volume. If relegated to historical footnotes now, the best Ciani/Galiano instruments were not only beautiful but advanced for their time. Raphael Ciani did not live to see it, but his protégé would build on what they accomplished in the next decade, becoming the defining master of the archtop guitar.
Watch the livestream of "Concert for Carolina" featuring Luke Combs, Eric Church, Billy Strings, and James Taylor on October 26. Free access for Hurricane Helene-impacted areas, $24.99 for others. All proceeds go to hurricane relief efforts.
Due to overwhelming demand, Luke Combs, Eric Church, Billy Strings and James Taylor have partnered with Veeps to livestream “Concert for Carolina” on Saturday, October 26. The livestream was added to ensure that all fans would be able to see the show after tickets immediately sold-out this past Thursday. The stream will provide an additional opportunity to raise as much money as possible for Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Link to livestream HERE.
The livestream will be available worldwide with free access for those impacted by Hurricane Helene, as “Concert for Carolina” and Veeps have used geotargeting to ensure that those in the affected areas will not be charged. For those not directly impacted, the livestream will cost $24.99 with an option for additional donations available. All proceeds from the stream will go to the same organizations that Combs and Church selected for ticket sales to benefit: Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, Eblen Charities and the organizations supported by Chief Cares.
As noted above, North Carolina natives The Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice and Parmalee have all now joined the line-up.
Presented by Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, “Concert for Carolina” will take place at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium and also feature performances from Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and Bailey Zimmerman. The event will be hosted by ESPN’s Marty Smith and Barstool Sports’ Caleb Pressley. Full details can be found at concertforcarolina.com.
“Concert for Carolina” is made possible due to the support and generosity of David and Nicole Tepper and Tepper Sports & Entertainment, Explore Asheville, Biltmore Estate, T-Mobile, Jack Daniel’s, Whataburger, Miller Lite, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Belk, Lowe’s, Atrium Health, Tractor Supply Company, Bank of America, American Airlines, Food Lion, Duke’s Mayo, GE Aerospace, Harris Teeter, Pinnacle Financial Partners, United Healthcare, Bud Light, Preferred Parking and Gildan.
Born outside of Charlotte and raised in Asheville, Combs is a proud North Carolinian. Growing up singing at school, it wasn’t until he attended Boone’s Appalachian State University that Combs first performed his own songs at a beloved local bar, leading him to his now historic country music career. Since moving to Nashville in 2014, Combs continually returns to North Carolina for landmark moments including his first-ever headline stadium show at Appalachian State’s Kidd Brewer Stadium in 2021 as well as sold-out, back-to-back nights at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium last summer.
Church, a native of Granite Falls, also began his musical journey in Western North Carolina, playing gigs locally throughout high school and into his time at Appalachian State University before chasing his dream to Nashville. He continues to split time between Tennessee and North Carolina with his family, even returning to the Appalachian Mountains to record his most recent project, the three-part Heart & Soul, in Banner Elk. In 2016, he was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and in 2022, he was awarded the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor. Most recently, he released the song “Darkest Hour” in response to the recent devastation, with all publishing royalties being donated.
Although he is a Michigan native, Strings’ life and career has been deeply impacted by the state of North Carolina both personally and professionally, as it is home to some of his most passionate and supportive fans. Over the past few years, Strings has performed at major venues across the state including an upcoming six-night run at Asheville’s ExploreAsheville.com Arena this winter.
Singer-songwriter Taylor moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his family when he was just three years old. Taylor’s father served as the Dean of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical School from 1964 to 1971. Taylor’s childhood home was on Morgan Creek Road in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. In April 2003, a bridge over Morgan Creek was dedicated to the musician and renamed the James Taylor Bridge. Taylor’s childhood experiences in North Carolina influenced many of his most popular songs including “Copperline” as well as the beloved “Carolina in My Mind.” As a recording and touring artist, Taylor has touched people with his warm baritone voice and distinctive style of guitar-playing for more than 50 years. Over the course of his celebrated career, he has sold more than 100 million albums, has won multiple Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
For more information, please visit concertforcarolina.com.
Over the past few years, singer-songwriter MJ Lenderman has had a taste of success with his band Wednesday and his latest solo albums. On his new solo release Manning Fireworks, his artistic depth is on full display in his carefully unwinding, twanging riffs and sage lyrics, informed in part by a sturdy sense of humor.
English actress Glenda Jackson is credited with what’s now become an old performance-art adage: “Comedy is much harder to do than drama.” During my time living in New York City for the last eight-and-a-half years, I spent countless hours in open-mic basement dungeons—where small rodents would occasionally die and pungently decay beneath the floorboards and cellar stairwells—studying amateur standups workshop ideas in two- to seven-minute allotments of stage time.
I observed how each would coalesce their creative germs over the course of months—sometimes years—into solid, reliable bits while whittling down and sharpening their inner clown. And, after eventually trying it myself, with much floundering, I can personally attest that it’s a lot harder than it looks.
Twenty-five-year-old, North Carolina-born songwriter MJ Lenderman tells me that his song ideas “usually start with one line; something that makes me laugh.” Well, on his new album Manning Fireworks, his major-label debut with Anti- Records and fourth studio full-length of his solo career—which has grown alongside his work with the band Wednesday—I can definitely hear the laughter.
On “Wristwatch,” he proclaims that he has “a beach home up in Buffalo,” and “a wristwatch that’s a pocket knife and a megaphone.” On “Rip Torn,” presumably named after the actor by the same name, he sings, “I guess I’ll call you Rip Torn / The way you got tore up / Passed out in your Lucky Charms / Lucky doesn’t mean much,” and, “You said there’s men and then there’s movies / And there’s men in Men in Black / Said there’s milkshakes and there’s smoothies / You always lose me when you talk like that.” (To jog your memory of the ’90s, Rip Torn plays “Zed” in Men in Black.)
Manning Fireworks, Lenderman’s fourth studio full-length, was written and recorded between tours. The title comes from the idea of someone recklessly setting-off the recreational explosives.
Most of the folk-y, country-rock tracks on Manning Fireworks clock in at around three to three-and-a-half minutes, and take that time to unwind without demanding any patience. Lenderman’s main guitar is a 2008 Fender Jazzmaster, which he recently had modded with a Mastery Bridge, and he unassumingly twangs out each straight-ahead riff in a woozy, barebones essence all his own. I first heard the album in its entirety at a listening party at NYC’s Mercury Lounge, where the label folks from Anti- requested that the audience not go on their phones and not talk while the album was playing. I was among a full crowd of people in the 250-capacity room who followed those rules, and Lenderman’s self-actualized storytelling made it easy. As a songwriter, he draws influence from Neil Young, Jason Molina, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley (Drive-By Truckers), and David Berman and Will Oldham (Silver Jews).
The album’s title conjures some unique imagery, I tell him—just the verb “manning,” which I associate with sailors (“Man the ship”), military (“Man the barricades”), or machines (“Man the cash register”). He says the visual for him is “somebody standing too close [to fireworks] who could set off a huge explosion if they’re not careful. I guess that’s kind of the way I was using them. I like the phrase because, on its own, it sounds like the name of a store you would see in South Carolina or something.”
I wonder if he remembers the drastic uptick of unusually loud fireworks being set off in NYC during the pandemic, a phenomenon reported on by Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. (Many speculated that these fireworks were being given out to unwitting kids as a systemic attempt to disrupt the sleep of those organizing Black Lives Matter protests at the time.)
“That’s not what I was writing about,” he laughs, adding, “but I think it was the same summer where somebody set off a firework in my friend Alan’s car and it totaled the car.”
MJ Lenderman's Gear
From the process of making Manning Fireworks, Lenderman took away the lesson that asking for help from his peers (in terms of contributing to his music), can make his life a bit easier.
Photo by Karly Hartzman
Guitars
- 2008 Fender Jazzmaster
- 1979 Gibson Firebrand SG
Effects
- Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver
- Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
- Boss DD-7 Digital Delay
- Tuner
Amp
- Fender Blues Deluxe with Warehouse speaker
Strings
- Ernie Ball Beefy Slinky (.011–.054)
But his idea of what it means to “man” fireworks reminds me of a Mel Brooks quote: “If I cut my finger, that’s tragedy. Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die.” And, I can say that I’ve never heard a songwriter say that their song ideas begin with an inspiring one-liner, let alone a country-rock musician. That’s something that sets Lenderman apart on the creative plane, and offers a lot of information behind why his lyrics are so distinctive.
“Do you like comedy?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he replies, suddenly looking like he’s more interested in speaking on the subject than about his music. “[There are] some newer specials that I’ve been liking. I really am just impressed at the courage it must take to do that, and to fail at it over and over and over again.”
Lenderman’s second guitar is his Gibson Firebrand SG, which he says “feels a little more fragile” than his Jazzmaster.
Photo by Yailene Leyva
Lenderman says that he first fell in love with guitar at the age of 8. He was entranced by Jimi Hendrix at the time, who was “all I listened to for a couple years. Then I got really into Derek Trucks, then slowly into more alternative stuff like J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr., Stephen Malkmus, and Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth. All that stuff’s been super informative to my guitar playing.”
Having seen Lenderman play at Mercury Lounge—he performed a few songs live after we listened to the Manning Fireworks album stream—I can say there’s an intriguing, deceptive reductiveness to his playing. He fingerpicks, but in a seemingly self-taught style; the riffs are simple; but his publicist boasts to me after the show that he can shred, too. He can, and you can hear that more on his heavier, rockier live album, And the Wind (Live and Loose!), released in November 2023.
He’s never been that into gear, and still has stock pickups on his Jazzmaster, but recently had the tech from the band Drop of Sun (members of which facilitated the recording of Manning Fireworks) modify his amps. Aside from that, his spare pedalboard contains a Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver, a Cry Baby Wah, a Boss DD-7 Digital Delay, and a tuner.
Lenderman’s 13-year-old self was mostly into rap, and while that young teenager might be impressed by how far he’s come today with his music, he says he probably would be confused by the songs.
“How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it?” I ask.
“I usually just say rock,” he says, laughing, “or country rock.”
“But … if you had to write what makes you different, and the answer will either get you into Heaven or Hell, what would you say to avoid going to Hell?”
“Uhm, I guess.... I don’t know, I would tell whoever to listen to it and maybe go to Hell.”
YouTube It
Performing a song off his 2023 record, And the Wind (Live and Loose!), MJ Lenderman takes the stage at SXSW with his trademark, modest delivery and twanging black Jazzmaster.
D'Addario celebrates the Beatles' 60th Anniversary with exclusive gear commemorating their iconic 1964 US Tour. Limited-edition picks and straps feature designs inspired by their legendary Ed Sullivan show performance and U.S. tour ticket stubs.
On the night of February 9th, 1964, 73 million people tuned in to the Ed Sullivan show and met four lads from Liverpool. D’Addario is commemorating this incredible time in music history with an exclusive Beatles 60th Anniversary collection. These limited-edition picks and straps come in two designs: the “Arrows” design features the TV backdrop from their performance on the EdSullivan show; the “1964 Ticket” design showcases a collage of ticket stubs from the U.S. tour which followed the iconic performance.
D'Addario is also releasing its first-ever John Lennon picks and straps in two collections: “Live” and “Mind Games.” The Live collection celebrates the legend’s solo performances with two meticulous replicas of straps he wore on stage, as well as Rooftop picks, featuring the pattern seen on John’s strap during the Beatles final live performance. “Mind Games” highlights the artwork from the album and single of the same name, on a strap and pick, respectively.
For more information, please visit daddario.com.