SPIRITBOX's COURTNEY LAPLANTE Explains Lyrical Concept Of 'Tsunami Sea' Album

In a new interview with Australia's Heavy, SPIRITBOX frontwoman Courtney LaPlante spoke about the Grammy-nominated band's sophomore album "Tsunami Sea", which was released on March 7 via Pale Chord / Rise Records. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, a lot of work went into it. When you do a full-length album, usually, if you do it more traditionally, like how we are doing this one, it's this whole dramatic climactic rollout. You want to give it a fair shot, you want everyone to hear it, so you start promoting it early. And so it's just this huge, big climactic thing. I'm at the point now where I'm really excited 'cause now — this is the fun part, having everyone hear it."

Asked to offer more details about the album from a musical perspective and what she and her bandmates were going for with it, Courtney said: "Well, I don't normally say this till after the album comes out, but all of our work, everything we've ever made, any body of work, it's always a concept album, but we just don't market it as a concept album. So this one is no different. Each body of work is its own little story. So this one, the story of this one is just kind of representing, lyrically, myself and then instrumentally Michael [SPIRITBOX guitarist and Courtney's husband Mike Stringer] kind of expressing the push and pull that we feel being from an island off the West coast of Canada. It's called Vancouver Island. And it's interesting living there, if your goal is to leave the island to go play your music to other people. As you guys know, too, it's same, I think, that a lot of Australian bands feel sometimes as well when they're trying to leave. You just feel so remote and isolated, and it feels impossible to leave. And then you leave and you kind of miss it. So that kind of really intertwines to me with depression, deteriorating mental health. There's the deep depression and then there can be mania and then deep depression, and it's just so polarizing. So it reminded me of the ocean, it reminded me of growing up surrounded by water and it reminded me of how where we are from, where we are at sea level, if the big earthquake — as everyone here calls it, the 'Big One' — ever happens, our whole island will either completely be submerged by water and we'll all die, or at least we'll be even more cut off and no one will be able to get us any food or anything. And so it's just kind of that existential dread under the surface that you kind of push down and suppress and to live your life, you have to kind of push it all the way down and not every day wake up and be, like, 'Hopefully it's not today.'"

SPIRITBOX recently completed a European tour, which included a February 13 concert at London's iconic Alexandra Palace, marking the band's largest headline show to date with 10,000 tickets sold.

SPIRITBOX will launch the "Tsunami Sea" North American tour on April 3 in Dallas, Texas. The 24-date trek — produced by Live Nation — brings LOATHE, DYING WISH and GEL along for the ride, tearing through cities across the U.S. and Canada.

This summer, SPIRITBOX will step onto even bigger stages, joining LINKIN PARK for select stadium dates in Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.K.

Formed in 2017 in the picturesque yet isolated region of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada by LaPlante and Stringer, SPIRITBOX cemented itself as a household name in hard rock circles in the summer of 2020 with the release of its blistering breakout single "Holy Roller", along with a host of other captivating singles shortly after, resulting in a media firestorm of hype.

SPIRITBOX's genre-defining debut studio album, "Eternal Blue", arrived in 2021 via Pale Chord/Rise Records. The LP, which debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, consisted of 12 tracks that incorporated everything from djent and post-metal to infectious synth-laden pop sensibilities and cinematic arrangements, brought fully to life by the inimitable LaPlante's ethereal and commanding vocal performances.

The album cycle for "Eternal Blue" saw SPIRITBOX not only grace the covers of esteemed music publications such as Revolver, Alternative Press, Rock Sound and Kerrang!, among many others but would also solidify the band as one of the most in-demand groups in live music today with their one-hundred percent sold out, first-ever headlining tour in support of the album which saw ticket sales over 40,000. The band would also share the stage with seasoned metal veterans such as LIMP BIZKIT and GHOST and win "Best International Breakthrough Band" at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards.

In 2022, SPIRITBOX secured highly coveted spots at numerous major U.S. rock and metal festivals and were nominated for two Juno awards. SPIRITBOX would also round out their current lineup with the inclusion of drummer Zev Rose and bassist Josh Gilbert in addition to releasing their sonically experimental EP "Rotoscope" in June of that year as well as a cross-genre collaboration with dubstep artist Illenium for the track "Shivering".

During another whirlwind year for the band, including a U.S. tour with SHINEDOWN and PAPA ROACH, SPIRITBOX wrote and recorded their critically acclaimed EP "The Fear Of Fear", released in November 2023. The EP features the single "Jaded", which was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 66th annual Grammy Awards. In the same month, the band would make another genre-bending splash with a high-profile collaboration with rapper Megan Thee Stallion for a remix of her song "Cobra".