Spiritbox's star has been rising consistently throughout the 2020s, but 2023 was a banner year for the Canuck alt-metal stars.
Courtney LaPlante and Co. completed sold-out headlining tours in the U.S. and U.K. Their new EP, The Fear of Fear, is one of the year's best offerings. They did an official "Rock Remix" for superstar rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
Oh, and their song "Jaded" was nominated for a fucking Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category. No big deal!
When we catch up with LaPlante, the singer is palpably grateful for all the amazing opportunities that Spiritbox — who also include her husband, guitarist Mike Stringer — have been afforded in 2023. At the same time, she's incredibly hungry to kick even more ass in 2024.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER SPIRITBOX'S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT OF 2023?
COURTNEY LAPLANTE I think it was us doing two sold-out nights at the Roundhouse in London. Because they were the last headlining shows that we did of the year, and we invested a lot of effort and money into it, and we filmed it. There's just a lot riding on that for us.
It was very symbolic because all of our friends and family came to it. I don't know what it was about it — there was just something very special. It was honestly one of the proudest moments of my band's career.
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY IN THE "BEST METAL PERFORMANCE" CATEGORY?
I am still in shock about it, honestly. I didn't react how I always thought I would. Michael and I kind of just sat there, dumbfounded, staring at each other.
It's always been a goal of mine, but it feels so impossible. There is only one award for metal, only one shot each year. Look at the other names of the nominees, and then look at us. I can't believe it, to have our band name next to those other icons.
I also acknowledge I am the only woman nominated. It makes me want to win even more.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO TEAM UP WITH MEGAN THEE STALLION FOR THE "COBRA" REMIX?
What was it like? It was like a fever dream. It happened so fast, from receiving the files of the song to releasing the new version on Spotify [all happened in] less than 36 hours!
We had so much fun and were honored to be a part of Megan's song. We would have been interested in such a unique collaboration regardless, so the fact that it is coming from one of my most beloved artists is such a dream come true for us.
HOW DID IT COME TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Megan wanted to do a heavy version of her song, and our name came up — though I didn't let myself get too excited until we received the song stems. Then it hit me that this was really happening.
I wasn't sure if she would be into us writing a new part, but I wanted to write something that summed up how her song made me feel, and not only was she into it, she said to let it be the hook! I was so happy.
I still can't believe Michael sat down and wrote all those parts so fast. He was on a mission.
WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE ALBUM OF 2023?
Did it have to come out this year? [Laughs] Beyoncé's [2022] album [Renaissance]... The single was released last summer and the album came out in the fall.
I listen to that every day, so I still feel like it came out this year. I have to be lame and say that.
ARE THERE ANY SONGS FROM THIS YEAR THAT YOU'VE BEEN COMING BACK TO A LOT?
I was really impressed with Knocked Loose's two singles that they put out back to back. I thought that was so cool. It's [in my] gym playlist. I love those songs.
They're what I expect from them — they're heavy — but there's something really melodic about them, too. They evolve into a side of that band I haven't heard before.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST YOU SAW LIVE IN 2023?
Beyoncé. [Laughs] It's the coolest show I've ever seen in my life. Michael, my husband, surprised me with floor tickets to that show the day before we left for this last tour we just finished.
And it happened to be our anniversary. We had a good day. A couple of my crew members came, and we talk about it every day, we're so inspired by that show. It's the coolest shit we've ever seen.
I had to really show restraint to not be screaming the whole time. I managed to do good that first week of tour, but I had to hold a lot of my Beyoncé love in.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE NEW ARTIST YOU DISCOVERED THIS YEAR?
There's this band called GEL and I see so much potential for them. We're playing Sick New World with them next year, so I'm really looking forward to watching them.
I'm a little late to the game with them, but I feel like by next year they're gonna be a big name in hardcore. They're really cool.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE OF 2023?
I really enjoyed the Barbie movie, that was really fun. Michael and I saw it on this tour and we were the only people in the theater and I love that when that happens.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2024?
I'm looking forward to making new music. That's the thing that has been missing for most of this year. 'Cause we have our new EP, but we made it at the beginning of the year. So it feels time to incubate something new.
A NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM?
Yeah. We gotta do it. We've been... not holding off, but it's been really nice to have the instant gratification of putting out music when we're actually done with it versus creating it and then sitting on it and doing a traditional cycle.
But honestly, we want to prove it to ourselves that we can do another album and it's gonna go well. I thought that having some sort of success in the first one would make me feel like I've proved it to myself.
But in fact it's just made us even more driven and on-edge. Like, we don't feel comfortable at all. We're like, "We gotta prove ourselves again."
And it's weird because it's not to [critics] or our fans, but surprisingly, it's still an internal thing. Doing it once isn't enough, we've gotta do it two times.
AND THEN ONCE YOU'VE DONE IT TWO TIMES, YOU'LL HAVE TO DO IT A THIRD.
I'm starting to slowly see that people I look up to who are successful, that's probably, unfortunately, how they always feel. And that's probably not great. But I think that's just the motivation behind compelling yourself to put your weird music out publicly, and not just keeping it to yourself.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEW RECORD IS GOING TO SOUND LIKE?
I definitely don't really know. But I do think that whatever it is will feel very flexible. We wanted to prove that we could edit our songs down to letting the songs speak for themselves, and not have the band overplaying and stumbling all over the songs.
It's just hard for a bunch of really good, talented musicians to show restraint sometimes. But I like a little bit of restraint so the whole song feels like a full song, not just listening to someone showing off for five minutes.
But what I'm missing from us that I really want to explore a little bit, I think, is... I feel very comfy in "progressive" music.
I like the freedom of you not having to rein back the song — you just kind of let it take you where it takes you. So I think now we have kind of figured out how to do both. We can have a little bit of expression within the instruments that's maybe a little less subtle...
Either way, it's always: "Write better songs." That's our mantra.
