Spot (producer)
{{short description|American record producer (1951–2023)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Spot
| image = SST record producer Spot on roller skates with Easy Reader.jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| caption = Spot on roller skates with Easy Reader in 1979
| birth_name = Glenn Michael Lockett
| birth_date = July 1, 1951
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|03|04|1951|07|01}}
| death_place = Sheboygan, Wisconsin, U.S.
| occupation = Record producer
| years_active = 1977–2022
| website = [https://web.archive.org/web/20220910203719/http://www.spotinator.com/ spotinator.com] (archived copy)
| genre = {{hlist|Hardcore punk|punk rock|post-hardcore}}
| label = SST
| past_member_of = Panic
}}
Glenn Michael Lockett (July 1, 1951 – March 4, 2023), better known as Spot, was an American record producer best known for being the house producer and engineer for the influential independent punk record label SST Records.{{cite web|last=Backer|first=Sam|title=Behind the Sound Of American Punk|url=https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/11/behind-the-sound-of-american-punk|work=Red Bull Music Academy|date= November 9, 2018 |accessdate=October 21, 2019}} He styled his name SPʘT, using all capital letters and adding a dot inside the O.
Early life
Glenn Michael Lockett was born in the Los Angeles area to a Jewish mother (maiden name Katz) and an African-American father on July 1, 1951.{{cite book|last=Earles|first=Andrew|title=Hüsker Dü: The Story of the Noise-pop Pioneers who Launched Modern Rock|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6K6l38haOK4C&pg=PT88|accessdate=November 27, 2012|date=November 18, 2010|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=9780760335048|pages=88–}} With his older sister Cynthia, he was raised in upper-middle-class Hollywood. Lockett's father Claybourne, known as Buddy to his soldier friends, had been a fighter pilot with the 100th Fighter Squadron in WW II,{{cite book |last=Holway |first=John |date=2000 |title=Red Tail, Black Wings: The Men of America's Black Air Force |publisher=Yucca Tree Press |page=166 |isbn=9781881325437}} an all-Black formation that was part of the Tuskegee Airmen.{{Cite book|last=Chick|first=Stevie|title=Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag|url=https://archive.org/details/spraypaintwallss00chic|url-access=limited|publisher=PM Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/spraypaintwallss00chic/page/n45 33]-36|year=2011|isbn=978-1-60486-418-2}} Lockett moved from Hollywood to Hermosa Beach in the mid-1970s, where he met Greg Ginn while working at a vegetarian restaurant called Garden of Eden. Lockett also freelanced for Easy Reader, authoring record reviews under the name Spot.{{cite web |url=https://easyreadernews.com/spot-on-exhibit-of-photos-of-south-bay-from-70s-and-80s-highlights-other-side-of-legendary-sst-records-producer/ |title=Spot On: Exhibit of photos of South Bay from '70s and '80s highlights other side of legendary SST Records producer |last=McDonald |first=Ryan |date=September 28, 2018 |website=Easy Reader |access-date=March 4, 2023}}
Befriending Ginn, Spot was briefly bassist for Panic, the band which would soon become Black Flag.
Career
Spot recorded, mixed, produced or co-produced most of SST's pivotal acts between 1979 and 1986. He is credited on albums by such notable bands as Black Flag, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, Saint Vitus, Misfits, and Descendents. After leaving SST in 1986, Spot moved to Austin, Texas.
Spot was an accomplished photographer and published a book of his work titled Sounds of Two Eyes Opening.{{cite magazine|last=Cosgrove|first=Ben|title=Edge of the World: Photos of SoCal's Skate, Beach and Punk Scenes, 1969 – 1982|url=https://time.com/3605965/southern-california-skate-beach-punk-photos-1969-1982/|magazine=Time|date=November 24, 2014|accessdate=October 21, 2019}} In 2018, a gallery showing of his photographs was mounted at Pacific Coast Gallery in Hermosa Beach.
Production and engineering discography
- Black Flag - Jealous Again EP (August 1980)
- Descendents - Fat EP (1981)
- Black Flag - Six Pack EP (June 1981)
- Minutemen - The Punch Line EP (November 1981)
- Black Flag - Damaged (December 1981)
- Saccharine Trust - Paganicons (December 1981)
- Big Boys - Fun, Fun, Fun (July 1982)
- Descendents - Milo Goes to College (September 1982)
- Minutemen - Bean-Spill EP (1982)
- Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets (1982)
- Hüsker Dü - Everything Falls Apart (January 1983){{cite web |last1=Brodsky |first1=Rachel |title=Glen "SPOT" Lockett, Hardcore Producer, Dead At 72 |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2215850/hardcore-producer-glen-spot-lockett-dead-at-72/news/ |website=Stereogum |access-date=March 4, 2023 |language=en |date=March 4, 2023}}
- Minutemen - What Makes a Man Start Fires? (January 1983)
- Big Boys - Lullabies Help The Brain Grow (July 1983)
- Hüsker Dü - Metal Circus (October 1983)
- Minutemen - Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat EP (November 1983)
- Misfits - Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (December 1983)
- Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus (January 1984)
- Black Flag - My War (March 1984)
- Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II (April 1984){{cite web |last1=Sebastian |first1=Matt |title=SPOT — SST Records' producer for Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü and more — has died |url=https://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2023/03/04/spot-glen-lockett-dead-obituary |website=Slicing Up Eyeballs |access-date=March 4, 2023 |date=March 4, 2023}}
- Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade (July 1984)
- Black Flag - Family Man (September 1984)
- Black Flag - Slip It In (December 1984)
- Saccharine Trust - Surviving You, Always (1984)
- Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising (January 1985)
- Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun (March 1985)
- Saint Vitus - Hallow's Victim (August 1985)
- Saint Vitus - The Walking Dead EP (October 1985)
- The Crucifucks - The Crucifucks (1985)
Death
Spot died on March 4, 2023, at Morningside Healthcare in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he was recovering from a stroke he had suffered three months earlier. He had been suffering from fibrosis since late 2021 and was awaiting a lung transplant prior to his stroke.{{cite web |last1=Corcoran |first1=Nina |title=SST Records Producer Glen "SPOT" Lockett Dies at 72 |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/sst-records-producer-glen-spot-lockett-dies-at-72/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=March 4, 2023 |date=March 4, 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Alex |title=Spot, Record Producer Who Captured the Fury of 1980s Punk, Dies at 71 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/arts/music/spot-record-producer-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=March 11, 2023 |date=March 11, 2023}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://pacificcoast.gallery/pages/artist-spot SPOT's video and introduction to his Pacific Coast Gallery photography exhibition, "Ride the Wild Wheels"]
- [https://pacificcoast.gallery/collections/spot-iconic-1970s-1980s-rollerskate-skateboard-surf-beach-photography-collection SPOT's photography collection from "Ride the Wild Wheels" at Pacific Coast Gallery (music, skate, rollerskate, surf and beach life photography)]
- [http://www.spotinator.com Spot's official website]
- [https://www.myspace.com/spotthespot Spot's MySpace page]
- {{discogs artist|Spot}}
- {{IMDb name|2711111}}
{{Black Flag}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spot}}
Category:Record producers from California
Category:Black Flag (band) members
Category:American audio engineers
Category:American punk rock bass guitarists
Category:American male bass guitarists