In 2014, Northlane’s vocalist Adrian Fitipaldes announced he was leaving the band, but the rest of the group weren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. After holding open auditions for a new singer, the group eventually landed on Marcus Bridge who quickly found his footing as the band’s frontman and has since helped the band rise to new heights.
“I was always a fan of Northlane before I joined anyway, so I’ve always appreciated what their music is about. It’s always been something that is pretty important to me, but coming into that and having to obviously fill some pretty big shoes, it was quite intimidating,” says Bridge. “It took me a while to settle in.”
Northlane got to work recording their third studio album Node shortly after adding Bridge to the mix. Although he admits it was daunting to introduce his creative input into the album initially, his influence is undeniable and shines even brighter in the band’s follow-up album, Mesmer.
“Leading into recording Node I didn’t want to intrude on what had already been set by the previous vocalist who wrote very spiritual and almost psychedelic lyrics which I love, but it was something I’d never really worked with before. I didn’t want to come in and force my different style on it too quickly.
“When I first came into the band and we started writing music, it was kind of a feeling it out phase, of digging out the right elements of what we wanted in our music. Now we’ve had a lot more time to settle into it and the fans have caught onto that and appreciate it.”
At the beginning of 2017 Northlane dropped Mesmer and although they had hinted a new album was on the way through a few cryptic clues, the album was otherwise a surprise release. Mesmer saw the band entering a whole new dimension as they began to develop a more collective approach to writing, resulting in the album being Northlane’s most personal effort yet.
“It’s slowly become more of a collaborative thing which I really like. I think something that makes a lot of bands very special is that idea of four or five different people putting their different influence together to make something that hasn’t been heard before. We’re always writing and as we continue to try and figure out new stuff I think everyone’s become a lot more comfortable in terms of contributing their own ideas to the music,” Bridge says.
“Leading into it there wasn’t really a set thing. We were writing anything we felt like writing and as we got further into it we noticed that the theme of loss came up in a lot of songs.
“Whether that be loss of a friend or loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship or even the loss of your sanity and peace of mind, it was all stuff that I think everyone can relate to and it ended up being a big part of the album.
“For me, prior to Northlane, I’ve always felt a good thing to write about is your personal experiences and struggles and using music to express that; let it out and somewhat put it behind you. With the platform that Northlane has, it’s amazing to see it connect with people and see that a lot of people go through that same thing and can feel comfort knowing that we all go through that. It was very special for me to be able to put those ideas into songs and be able to get some stuff out of my head,” says Bridge.
“When we were in the studio it was actually quite difficult for me to express these ideas. It’s touching on some raw subjects so it’s very difficult to be like ‘Yeah, I’m going to let all that out’ but having spent time with David Bendeth who produced Mesmer, he was a very big part of all of us feeling comfortable to let everything out, and ever since we’ve done that I’ve felt a lot more comfortable in terms of trying to express that stuff.”
As a result of Mesmer’s gleaming reception, Northlane have spent a huge chunk of 2017 touring. With an Australian tour set to kick off in October before the band head back overseas, they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down soon.
“We did a two-month stint earlier this year, we went through Europe doing some of the European festivals then a month later went to Canada and then did a few shows in South America at the end of it – it was one of the longer ones we’ve done without going home.
“By the end of it you lose your mind a bit from being in small places; on a bus or on a van, sitting in green rooms,” says Bridge. “It’s a good time of course, but you need to adjust to normal life when you get back home.
“I’m excited to get back home really, it’s always an amazing time playing at home and around Australia and seeing lots of friends come out, giving it back to where you’re from. We’re putting a lot of time and work into making these shows really special so I’m really looking forward to it all.”
