Light Tower, the solo project of Chris Enriquez (Spotlights, Total Meltdown), is sharing his new track, “Drown and Sleep,” and you can check it out right here at New Noise.
Enriquez has a musical career spanning nearly 30 years. In the late ’90s, he was at the center of Long Island’s emo scene as the drummer for On the Might of Princes. A couple decades later, he plays for Spotlights and Total Meltdown, lending his creative energy to a new solo endeavor: Light Tower.
Ahead of his upcoming, debut EP, Light Tower is sharing the new single, “Drown and Sleep.” Enriquez shared a bit more about the track, citing his complex history with drugs and alcohol. He says he doesn’t consider himself an addict, rather someone who needed help with their mental health. His issues were not black and white, and he doesn’t consider himself an addict, rather someone who needed help with their mental health. Enriquez says it was difficult because he had also realized, through therapy, why he was drinking, doing drugs, hanging with the wrong crowd, and seeking attention to compensate for the things he was dealing with internally.
“I needed to be a master in my environment, which also meant controlling how much I drink and not doing drugs at all,” Enriquez says, adding that the song is about the days where he would do drugs to the point where he couldn’t sleep for days or could barely function.
“The common theme with all the songs on my EP are feeling lost, hopeless, but then somehow finding strength and faith that things will get better and picking yourself up even at your lowest points. Sometimes I felt like I was literally dying, and sometimes I thought I’d be better off that way, but deep down I knew I wanted to live. Thankfully I lived to tell the tale and pulled myself out of the depths of depression, confusion and general mental health issues.”
He continues, “I first recognized my problems in 2016, and I still struggle with them to some degree but after all my trials and tribulations, not to mention getting older/wiser, my demons are finally under control. Everyone needs to find their therapies, and it goes beyond an actual therapist. I did martial arts, dabbled in meetings, and yes I did see therapists but I also cut out toxic people and made sure to only surround myself with good people and in good environments.
“This song was important for me to put on this EP because music saved my life but before it was just drumming, and now that I can sing about my experiences, it is such a different level of expression that I never felt.”
New Noise was able to get a bit more insight from Enriquez about the new EP, his future plans with Light Tower and his other bands, and more:
What was the inspiration behind the EP, and what are some of the major themes on the record?
The first thing I’ll say is that I 100% wouldn’t have done this if not for the pandemic. Musically, I was listening to so much stuff (trip-hop, hop-hop, new wave, metal, punk, hardcore, post hardcore, dub, jazz) but for whatever reason, my songwriting always ends up calling back to my ’90s grunge/alt-rock days.
During that time, I also loved a lot of spacey rock stuff and some shoegaze, and it just so happens I started seeing who REALLY is into those styles, and it 100% made its way into all of the songs I ended up writing during this time. No matter what I do when I write my own songs for myself, it always ends up calling back to that time period. Being stuck at home throughout 2020 and living alone at the time inspired me to finally dedicate time to writing my own songs, singing and learning how to record home demos with modern technology for once.
I’d say all of my song lyrics generally deal with the idea of feeling lost, hopeless, down, etc., but they all have a resolution of some kind. I’ve always been an optimistic person even at my shittiest moments, and these revelations often find themselves in my songs. In most of my bands, I’ve written as a drummer, and I base that around what a song calls for rhythmically and/or according to what the main songwriter(s) vision is.
As a producer/songwriter when it comes to working with artists, I approach those situations with them in mind and utilize my best assets according to what the song calls for. And with my hardcore band, Total Meltdown, I generally write from a place of aggression or anger. Not to sound cliche, but with THIS particular project being my own solo endeavor, I wanted to use it as a vehicle to get my inner demons out, specifically through words and music to match. Since the songs are all written by me, it’s extremely personal and generally speaking, most experiences throughout my life that led me to songwriting for whatever reason came from dark moments.
What was the writing and recording process like?
In 2020, I had tons of home recorded demos through GarageBand, and I recorded drums at the rehearsal space of SOMNURI, an incredible doom metal band in Brooklyn that I manage. The spot is nearby and their drummer, Phil, has the program, Logic, along with really good mics, so I tracked drums with him first, all while listening to the demo versions. Once I was comfortable with how those tracks came out, I went to my friend, John Lamacchia (of Candiria) who has a home recording set up.
I tracked all the guitars, bass, vocals there and he co-produced everything. My bandmate, Mario Quintero (of Spotlights) is a professional audio engineer and mixed/mastered the whole thing. It felt extra special that everything was self-contained and done through my little scene/music community of homies that I work with in one way or another.
Is there anything else you’d like to promote in terms of side projects or anything upcoming?
Light Tower’s first show is Wednesday, 4/20 at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, opening for Chamberlain and the LaPeche. Our second show is 5/25 with SOM at Elsewhere, also in Brooklyn. Working on doing some more shows in the fall that will include out of state gigs. Aside from that, I’m filling in on drums for legendary New York hardcore band BURN on 4/23 at Tompkins Square Park in Lower East Side, New York City.
We’re opening for Madball, Murphy’s Law, which should be fun. And in May, my main band, Spotlights, are touring the U.S. and playing Oblivion Access Festival on 5/12 in Austin, Texas, which is an insane festival lineup that everyone should look up. It’ll make you wanna fly out there if you don’t already live there.
Aside from that, Total Meltdown is looking to do more shows and we have new stuff we’re working on and lastly, I do have a big announcement by the way, which is that I have started a new project with my good friend, Sergio Vega of Quicksand, who just left Deftones. We’re writing/producing artists, some of which are very high profile in the heavy rock/metal world that I cannot wait to share with everyone when I’m allowed to discuss in more detail.
Will you be touring in support of the record?
Yes, I’m working on a few East Coast dates for August and am thinking about doing some one-offs in the Midwest, as well as down South and West Coast eventually. All in the works. Nothing to officially announce except for the stuff I have planned for Brooklyn at the moment.
What can we expect from the band next? Any future plans?
I have an in-studio performance that will be premiering soon and another music video in the works. For the time being, “When the Mask Drops” is my latest video and is available across all streaming in addition to “Drown and Sleep” which just premiered right here on New Noise. There are shows coming up as I mentioned and even more in the works for later in the year, and after that, I plan on working on my first full-length with this project
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Yes. Be good to each other. Keep an open mind, and be accepting of everyone. Aside from that, thank you for doing this interview and for premiering my new single, “Drown and Sleep.” Y’all rule!
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Listen to “Drown and Sleep” below:
For more from Light Tower, find him on Spotify and Twitter.
Photo courtesy of Bryam Heredia
