Having released a stomping new album, Mesmer, this year, recently returned from an exhilarating European tour and now with an upcoming performance at Good Things Festival, Northlane should be ready to slaughter the stage – if only vocalist Marcus Bridge wasn’t so jet lagged.
“I’m super excited,” he says blearily, “No, really, it’s going to be great,” he chuckles. We can forgive Bridge for his mumbles and mutterings as we all know that once the exhaustion has passed, Northlane are set to absolutely bring it to the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane incarnations of the festival this weekend.
Northlane have been on the scene long enough to see some major changes happen in heavy music, both live and recorded, making it a strange sensation to know they’ll essentially be a part of history at the inaugural Good Things event. “There’s been a void of a festival like this for a long time,” says Bridge. “Hopefully it’ll pave the way for bigger things in the heavy music scene, and the alternative music scene all round – to be a part of that is very exciting, to be on a bill with so many great bands, too.”
The lineup is insane, which is a credit to the festival’s organisers, a fact Bridge draws all the energy he can muster to earnestly agree with. When Northlane released Mesmer in March earlier ths year – they dropped a bomb, grabbed everybody by the throats, shook them about and made people love the awesomely volatile release. The accolades Northlane have accrued over time have been huge – of course, when they first started out, success at this level wasn’t something Northlane expected. “Coming from a rocky situation and to be able to thrive from that, pick up new fans along the way, all of this has been so amazing and very rewarding,” says Bridge.
“I’m very grateful we’ve had these opportunities and to be recognised – but it’s been quite a shock.”
Bridge’s fight with jetlag comes after having taken Mesmer to Europe.Taking Australian heavy music out to Europe is a massive feat at the best of times, but it’s an endeavour he happily pursues, saying it’s a really great opportunity to represent the Australian heavy music scene, which he wishes more people would be able to experience.
“Every time we go over, it’s really cool to hear how many Australian bands they like or want to see come through Europe,” Bridge explains. “It’s always an amazingly loyal fan base, and when they find something they like they always push it and back it really hard.
“It’s been really cool to be able to go there so many times – every time we go back it seems like they’re more and more receptive to what we do. It’s exciting, seems like there’s more opportunity for Australian bands, bands from all over the places, to really make a second home in Europe. I think we’ve found that, somewhat.”
Post-jet lag and fresh off a huge tour, Bridge says Northlane will be pretty excited to play some home shows. “We have a new bass player, he just did his first tour this past month in Europe with us. He’s already bringing a new energy to the band,” says Bridge.
“We’re really excited to bring it all back home, show them what we’ve got. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good east coast run, so yeah, very excited to come back.”
