Spotlights’ Sarah Quintero Highlights Her Favorite Metal T-Shirts

A metalhead’s t-shirt collection contains some of their most prized possessions. Sweaty, stained and torn, our shirts are chronicles of our lives, physical markers of a past time and place that we pridefully put on our bodies every day. They have a clear pecking order: there are those shirts you wear only when all the best ones are in the laundry, there are the absolute favorites you wear once every couple of weeks, and there are all the shirts in between, each with their own clear rank. To a metalhead, T-shirts are EVERYTHING.

Sarah Quintero of dream-sludge outfit Spotlights is the latest to share her favorites for our new series My Metal T-Shirt Collection. Spotlights just released their brand new album Seismic on Ipecac Records; order your copy here and listen to it in full below as you peruse her very, very fine collection of threads. 

1. Sumac

I got this shirt at their show with Neurosis at Warsaw in Brooklyn. Holy jesus… Watching Nick Yacyshyn play drums is mind-blowing. One of the most interesting and heaviest bands around these days.

2. Cult Leader

Another summer that just blows my mind. Got this shirt at their show with Dragged Into Sunlight at The Bell House. In my opinion these guys should be headlining theaters.

3. He Whose Ox Is Gored

We love these guys; they’re good friends from the other side of the country (Seattle). This shirt is from their show at Saint Vitus a couple years back. These guys are killing it and I can’t wait to hear more music from them.

4. Deftones

This one holds a special place in my heart. This is from the Gore tour that we supported them on. Such a great experience and such a fucking incredible band and group of people.

5. Godmaker

One of the first bands in Brooklyn that blew us away when we moved here. Pete Ross’s voice is up there with the likes of Chris Cornell if he was more of a viking. And I could listen to their riffs for days. This shirt design is almost as awesome as they are, purchased at Vitus when they were supporting Yob.

6. Yob

The best metal band and the kindest humans. From their three-show run at Vitus this year.

7. Torche

This shirt is from one of the six Torche shows we’ve been to in the last three years. They’re a band that I can see live over and over and it never gets old.

8. Fantomas

Mike Patton is one of my all time favorite musicians. Put him together with all my other favorite musicians and you have Fantomas. This shirt is from the Chicago Metro show on December 4th, 1999.

9. Melvins

This one is extra special (especially now). Not only do I have this design tattooed on my foot but this is one of the first Melvins records I heard when I was a kid. Sharing the stage with them for three months straight was such an incredible experience. Hard to put into words how much I love this band. This shirt is from the little music store that used to be next to the Chicago Metro. I found it after their show there on July 2nd, 2002.