Australian metalcore band, Northlane, have just come off the back of touring The Intuition Tour nationally, which saw them visit some of the more regional centres of Victoria. Having spent much of the year already touring relentlessly, it appears there’s no stopping for the Sydney-based five-piece, who recently announced they would be taking their newest release and fourth studio album, Mesmer, international.
Coined their most emotionally vulnerable release yet, the boys will set out this October on The Mesmer World Tour.
“Every couple of years we like to go back to our roots and do a regional tour. It’s the way we were able to grow early on,” says Northlane guitarist Josh Smith of their most recent tour. “They’re [the regional shows] are some of the most fun and intimate shows we get to play.”
If you were lucky enough to catch the boys on The Intuition Tour, you will know that it was mind-blowingly brilliant. But we’re told the upcoming Mesmer World Tour will be stepping things up in a big way.
“This tour is going to have the biggest production we’ve ever had, we’re investing a lot of time into getting the live show right. It’ll be the longest set we’ve ever played too,” explains Josh, “The supports that we’re going to have is something we’re very excited about and we’ll be revealing that quite shortly. It’s a different approach to what we’ve taken before and there’s a couple of other surprises that we have up our sleeves too.”
While much excitement lays ahead for the band, Josh admits the creation of Mesmer wasn’t all fun and games.
“Mesmer was quite a difficult record for us, because in the writing process a lot of really unfortunate things happened to some of the people in the band and the people around us, so there were friends or family passing away, or relationships ending, things like that,” he explains, “There was a lot of really tough things for us to deal with that happened, but somehow it all actually led to inspiring us to write about these things and kind of shed light on these emotions a bit.
“When we started writing the record it was quite existential and then it ended up being quite a personal record, with a reoccurring theme of loss running through it. And I’m glad we were able to talk about these things, because being able to put a nice spin on these situations is quite a cathartic release. It’s something that’s helped us to deal with it, but also something that helps other people going through similar things.”
Mesmer was recorded with multi-platinum award-winning producer David Bendeth, at The Barber Shop Studios based on Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey.
“He [David Bendeth] was really emotionally invested in the record and pushed us all extremely hard to deliver the best performances we could,” Josh says, “He ensured we actually conveyed what we were talking about – it’s hard to explain after the fact – it was about putting everyone, especially Marcus [Bridge, current lead-vocalist], emotionally where the song was. And you can really hear that in his voice on the record.”
Having undergone immense growth since first forming in 2009, losing original lead-vocalist Adrian Fitpaldes in September of 2014 was a mere hurdle for a band that holds so much promise and potential.
“I think finding Marcus was one of the most incredible things that’s happened to us as a band,” says Josh, “It’s opened so many avenues that otherwise we never would have seen. I still think we’ve only scratched the surface of what we can do within our band.”
When & Where: Yours and Owls Festival, Wollongong – September 30 & 170 Russell, Melbourne – October 20
Written by Helena Metzke
