Most of us missed going to concerts and festivals in the “lost-summer” of 2020. Now, after months of balancing his personal, student, work and music lives, Jaime Suarez has bought back a little bit of that concert feeling with Spotlight Festival, streamed into the homes of independent music fans globally on Valentine’s day of this year. Driving to Five Guys on a drizzly Thursday afternoon, Jaime tells us about where it started, where it went and how the end of the world got in the way…
The story starts in 2018, Guadalajara, RMX radio. Annually, RMX radio would put up a free music festival in the middle of Guadalajara: 100,000 people, 4 stages and 20 bands on Avenida Chupultepec. “If you were to compare it to New York, it’s, like, the equivalent to 5th avenue”. The radio hosted XNX 212 to support independent artists, producers, and those who were passionate about the industry, with the ethic of “created for the people, by the people”. Headlined by the “Editors”, a British band performing for free, XNX was filled with up-and-coming bands. “It was important to showcase ‘rising stars’ and Mexican music”. Working at the radio, this was Jaime’s first taste of the power a free gig has to draw an audience, inspiring him to support artistic independence and the musically impassioned.
“At this time it was meant to be live, not online: The first spotlight festival, in London, with people, supporting independent music and local industry, like street markets and breweries, Y’know?”
Jaime, organizer
Having grown up on rock’n’roll romps like “Almost Famous”, thinking and talking about music had always been on the up-and-coming organiser’s mind. Spotlight’s infancy was a blog, interviewing people in the industry: small artists, producers and creators. With Jaime’s background in radio, he knew this would at least act as a good portfolio piece. But then, at the end of summer 2020, Jaime decided to use this as a platform to launch a live festival for his audience. “At this time it was meant to be live, not online: The first spotlight festival, in London, with people, supporting independent music and local industry, like street markets and breweries, Y’know?”. He recruited 5 bands, found the venue Hackney’s MOTH club, and bagged two big sponsors: Goose Island Brewery, a Chicago brewery near where Suarez had lived during High School, and Crosstown Doughnuts, a gourmet dessert company that he worked for at the time. With the foundations down, and a newfound hope of bringing music to the lockdown masses being ironed out, Suarez doubled down on the 14th, and got busy spreading the word through colourful posters, social media, the artists’ own following, and magazines.
…and then, disaster struck…
“We went into third lockdown… exactly as I started planning a festival, we went into a third lockdown!”. With restrictions for transport and interacting back in place, and transport into London becoming difficult, two bands dropped out, bringing the total from 5 to 3, and putting spotlight into murky waters. “Things got really, really, grim two weeks ago, with the PM announcing the lockdown. We had two of the bands drop out, and I had to find a replacement for those within the day.”
Not losing his steadfast will, this close call put back into perspective the herculean task spotlight was going to be for Suarez. “I’m a student, half of the investment is coming out of my pocket, so this is all my money, fortunately I have some economical investor who’s backing me up, but my neck is still out. I know this will be as successful as I know it can be, but I’m also nervous. It’s a big amount of money, I’m doing this independently, and this is the first time I’m doing it. I have no other experience…”
With the help of Video Director Saskia Wood, Head Cameraman Jordan Noon, and the generosity of the MOTH club, Myself and our flat mate Dany, Spotlight festival debuted on February the 14th on prototype Bandcamp Live. Between the 9 o’clock open and the 2am return our home in Catford, Jaime had done the impossible: bought music to the masses in a socially distant world, and is looking forward to the next one.
“…There’s the nostalgia of missing live shows…a stage, a sound system, roadies, that venue smell: wood’n’beer. That’s what excites me and that’s what excites them. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
When asked to give some final thought’s, this is what Jaime had to say: “Even when I was helping with the radio in Mexico, it was a job, picking up bands and organizing sanitation, but now everything is on me. There is pressure. But I also really believe in the artists, the venue, my sponsor, and we’re all very passionate people. Everyone loves music, y’know, and everyone loves passion, and people love what people are about… there’s the nostalgia of missing live shows. The bands are excited about playing on a real stage, the feeling of playing at a venue, even without an audience, a stage, a sound system, roadies, that venue smell wood’n’beer. That’s what excites me and that’s what excites them. That’s what we’re trying to do.”