SPIRITBOX

Spiritbox’s rise has been nothing less than meteoric. And yet, as a new year beckons, they assure us they’re just getting started

WORDS: ELEANOR GOODMAN

PICTURES: JONATHAN WEINER

Courtney has come a long way from her church band days

“I FEEL LIKE I’M THE REAL ME NOW”

COURTNEY LAPLANTE

Courtney LaPlante didn’t feel like the real Courtney LaPlante until February 2020. It was Spiritbox’s first tour, in Europe, far from their home in Canada. She was no longer striving for academic achievements, she was no longer singing someone else’s songs, and she was no longer ‘office job Courtney’ working alongside indifferent colleagues – she was finally expressing herself authentically, to fans that connected with her music.

“It was physically seeing the people that support and care about us, and then seeing the response and getting confirmation that I’m not crazy – there is something special here,” she says of the moment that changed her. “I’m not crazy. We’re not crazy. This is special.”

But as Courtney was riding high on those feelings, Covid put an end to the tour, sending her into a panic. She had finally found what she’d been looking for, and now it was going to be cruelly snatched away? “When everything came crashing down, I was like, ‘God, it’s over,’” she recalls. “I felt this momentum building, I felt it in the air, and it’s gone.” She pauses. “Then it kept going!” Their single Holy Roller broke the internet, and they went on tour with Limp Bizkit. Last year’s stunning debut album, Eternal Blue, was a masterful synthesis of tech metal, nu metal, metalcore and alternative, brought to life by Courtney’s sweet and savage voice. It reached the Top 20 in the US and the UK, and No.5 in Metal Hammer’s critics’ poll – remarkable achievements for a new band. “I always joke about there being a glitch in the Matrix,” laughs Mike Stringer, guitarist and Courtney’s husband, of the hype they’ve unleashed.

For Courtney, who has long had depression and manages it with medication and the help of her support network, it’s like a big piece of the puzzle has fallen into place. “Of course I still have bad days, but I feel like I’m the real me now, and I don’t have to repress that part of me that wants to always express themselves creatively, and I feel understood by the people I’m spending my time with,” she smiles. “It’s great!”