After wrapping up a whirlwind run of European shows, Northlane frontman Marcus Bridge is catching his breath – but only just. With only a brief moment to settle back into home life, the iconic Aussie metalcore group are gearing up to hit the road again for a massive regional Australian tour, their first in three years. It’s an exciting time for Northlane, who have spent the past year pushing boundaries with their EP Mirror’s Edge.
Amid the chaos, I caught up with Marcus to chat about the significance of this upcoming tour and potential new music.
It’s been a really busy time for you guys, how are you going?
Yeah, I’m well. We’ve been home for like a week now after the Euro festival run, which was really good. I’m settled back in at home, but then we go away in about a week again, so soaking it up while I can.
You’re about to embark on a huge regional Aussie tour, your first in about three years. What does it mean to you to be able to play these venues- do you find that there’s a big energy difference between regional and capital cities?
Yeah, that big energy difference plays more in favour of the regional crowds, I think. I feel like they’re so hungry for a show in their little town. We always find that those shows are sometimes the most crazy just because the show is a bit more stripped back. It really is more about just the music and everyone there enjoying it and having fun. I think they’re very appreciative of bands coming through an putting on shows in their local venues.
Last year you guys released your EP, Mirrors Edge, and you collaborated with Winston McCall and Ian Kenny. They’re two artists with pretty varying styles and energy, how did working with them influence your approach to songwriting?
Yeah, well, I think those two vocalists in particular, their bands- Parkway and Karnivool, are on opposite ends of the spectrum of influences on us as a band. I think Parkway, for most bands in our world, especially Australian metalcore or heavy music, they showed us that doing this kind of thing was possible and that you could take it to the world and make a living out of it…When I first joined the band, the guys in Northlane always pinpointed this little Karnivool tour they did with them before I joined as a huge inspiration…When I joined the band, they gave me a Karnivool education, as I hadn’t really dived deep into their discography. As time’s gone on, they’ve become one of my favourite bands as well, and also such a huge inspiration. So to have them both on that EP was really like a dream come true.
As well as the EP, you guys had a single out last year, Welcome To The Industry, which is on an upcoming video game soundtrack. Did creating music in that context open up new creative doors?
Absolutely. They gave us some boundaries to work within, which for us, I think was actually really cool. It really focused what we were trying to do with the song and it didn’t feel like we had to explore something new or go in a really crazy direction…They gave us this brief of writing a villain’s theme song. And for us, I think that’s a really cool way of doing stuff as well, having = a focus. And then you’ve got so much you can write about within that, as opposed to thinking, ‘I could write a song about a relationship or the world or how I feel about a certain thing’. It’s a lot of fun. And I also got to play into a character almost that isn’t necessarily me, but you get to explore things that you would never usually do.
When It comes to your sound, are there any unexplored sonic territories you’d like to delve into or are you more focused on developing your current palette?
Yeah, I think for us it’s always about growing and trying to explore new things, even if that is somewhat within the sound we’ve created already. I think it’s important for us to not get comfortable in that and just think we can do the same thing over and over again and expect people to enjoy it… We’ve been working on some stuff at the moment for the next release, and it feels like an expansion on stuff we’ve done before, maybe it’s almost alien-esque in a way…after releasing the music we’ve released in the last five, six years, and getting that feedback from fans and knowing that they’re into us exploring new avenues, it gives us permission to go even crazier with that kind of thing. So yeah, I think the next stuff we release is going to be quite surprising…if you thought we were already going down an electronic metal pathway, we’ve kind of blown it even more out of proportion.
Amazing! What are your plans after this tour, are you planning to hit the studio soon?
Yeah, we’re probably going to take some time after we’ve done touring. We’ve got this regional Australia run, going straight into a US tour as well. So I think once we get back from the US, we’ll bunker down and really iron it all out. But we’ve been working on stuff behind the scenes, just slowly chipping away at it. Really not trying not to put constraints on on time and really making sure it’s perfect before we finalise it and head into the studio. But yeah, we’re hoping to record by the end of the year and have something out early next year.
Northlane will hit the road with Ocean Grove and Mirrors next week. Dates are as follows:
- Thursday 31 July – Harvey Road Tavern, Gladstone (w/Headwreck)
- Friday 1 August – The Station, Sunshine Coast (LIC/AA) (w/Headwreck)
- Saturday 2 August – Powerhouse, Toowoomba (w/Headwreck)
- Sunday 3 August – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast (w/Headwreck)
- Thursday 7 August – King St Bandroom, Newcastle (w/ Heists)
- Friday 8 August – Panthers, Penrith (w/ Heists)
- Saturday 9 August – Uni Bar, Wollongong (w/ Heists)
- Sunday 10 August – The Basement, Canberra (w/ Heists)
- Friday 15 August – Shelters Brewing, Busselton (w/ Darkmatter)
- Saturday 16 August – Magnet House, Perth (w/ Darkmatter)
- Thursday 21 August – Beer Deluxe, Albury (w/ Lune)
- Friday 22 August – Royal Theatre, Castlemaine (w/ Lune)
- Saturday 23 August – Wool Exchange, Geelong (w/ Lune)
- Sunday 24 August – Chelsea Heights Hotel, Chelsea Heights (w/ Lune)
All shows are 18+ unless otherwise stated. Tickets currently on sale, grab yours HERE
Header image credit: Kane Hibberd
