Q and A: Marcus Bridge (Northlane)

By BRIAN GIFFIN

FIFTEEN years after first coming to the nation’s attention, Northlane continue to evolve with each new release. 

The band’s latest single “Dante” is a reaction to feelings of loss and comes as the band gears up to embark on their latest Australian tour with US progressive metalcore unit Erra, French newcomers Lvndmarks and Melbourne’s Banks Arcade that has already started to sell out. Vocalist Marcus Bridge took us through the latest track and a little of what we can expect from future Northlane releases in this interview.

Hot Metal: The band continues to evolve and change – and not just with you as the vocalist.

Marcus Bridge: “It’s coming up to 10 years since I joined the band. We’ve had our ups and downs, but currently I feel that we’ve found our sound and our direction. We’ve definitely taken a few twists and turns and taken in a few electronic elements to separate ourselves in a new kind of way.”

HM: You’ve definitely developed a sound of your own. Northlane was already a pretty progressive band – even when it was just mainly a guitar band – and it seems that you’ve also expanded your emotional palette over the years as well.

MB: “For me, in terms of songwriting and lyrics and things that I connect to, I guess that’s the more personal and the more emotional side of things is what I connect with, and what I do best. In terms of Northlane, I’ve always tried to do my own thing and not what people expect from the band. An old sound or something. For me it’s about opening up and doing something quite personal.”

HM: As an artist, you don’t seem to be one who’s afraid of opening up and expressing that side of yourself.

MB: “It’s my way of communicating those feelings, but I also feel like I’ve pulled back a bit with how direct and to the point I am. With Alien, it was all really direct and talking about actual instances in my life. At the time, that was quite cathartic. As time’s gone on, it’s been hard to listen to that and still have those memories be so present. So I’ve tried to be a bit more metaphorical and make it something that anyone can listen to and apply it to their own situation.”

HM: Are you at a stage with that now where you can look at those with a new perspective?

MB: “The other day I was listening back to some of our older stuff, thinking about how I felt at the time and applying that to how I feel about things now, and it does give me a new perspective on those songs. That’s how I like other music too. I like lyrics that you can listen to and apply anything to. That’s the music I always go back to, personally.”

HM: So what can you tell us about the new music Northlane has?

MB: “It is exploring very much those same things. “Dante” is a song about loss, approaching that from the perspective of trying not to be selfish about losing someone who is maybe gone too soon, and feeling like, ‘it sucks that they’re not here’. It’s about asking what was that person feeling, and is it selfish for me to feel sad when that person must have felt so much worse than I feel right now? For me, that’s quite a personal song, but I don’t want to go too deep into the details of that, because I feel like if you know me, you’d know. That’s how I want to approach everything that we’re writing, moving forward – having it be open, but really personal.”

HM: I wouldn’t expect you to blow the lid on everything! Now, when you go into something that deep and personal, do you find it can be hard to talk about it outside of presenting it in your music because people are already peering so deeply in you?

MB: “I do find it quite hard to do interviews and talking about the songs. For me, I have left everything in that song. I’ve put it there, I’ve said what I’ve had to say and sometimes it’s difficult to go back, especially when they are personal songs, and dive even deeper into it. As you can probably tell!”

HM: I suppose what we should take about then is the upcoming shows, because it’s been a while since Northlane has played, and you’ve chosen the busiest month in Australian history to go on tour.

MB: “[chuckles] Well, we really don’t like to make it easy for ourselves! It’s an awesome line-up. I’m really looking forward to it. Erras is a band we’ve toured with a bunch and they’ve levelled up every time we’ve met back up again. That’s going to be really exciting. Lvndmarks are an awesome band we’ve not yet toured with. They’re going from level to level. When we were putting this tour together, we wanted to bring out bands that don’t get the chance to come here and tour these bigger shows. Banks Arcade are sick – I love that band. They’ve got a great new song out that’s got this really cool electronic element to it. It’s got to see that making its way into heavy music.”

HM: Northlane has been responsible for that too. You’re at the level now where a lot of bands are looking at you and thinking, “Well if Northlane can try that, we can give it a go”.

MB: “Well that’s cool to hear and you can definitely see it in some bands, but that’s how music is and it’s cool to see bands experiment with a sound that may have reached a certain wall – doing metalcore, over and over… trying to push it into a new direction and there’s always a place for all of that and it’s exciting to see bands pushing it into new directions.”

HM: You must be fortunate to be in the position now where you can choose who you tour with, although Northlane was curating their own tours right from the beginning. But now you are in even more of a position to bring out bands you admire and help give them some added exposure.

MB: “It is a really busy time of year, and there’s so many bands out, and we’re so lucky we’ve been able to put such an awesome line-up together. Shows are selling out. One of the Melbourne shows has sold out, Brisbane’s coming close as well and that’s looking like our biggest Brisbane show yet.”

HM: You say that’s your biggest show yet – that must be good to be able to keep pushing that each time, considering you’ve already done some pretty big tours.

MB: “That’s the goal. Put music out and, hopefully, each time we keep pushing. I feel like we’ve always been one of those bands that’s chipped away. We’re always there, nipping at your sides and we’re not going away, we’re getting better and writing better music, improving and pushing forward. It’s where we want to be, playing bigger rooms each time.”

HM: Finally, is “Dante” a taster for what else is coming, and is it a further progression on what we’ve come to expect?

MB: “If you look at any of our music, any of our albums, over the last couple of years, there’s songs like that, and there’s heavy songs, chill songs… I think it’s one of the more pulled-back songs of the ones we’ve been working on recently, but the electronic element is going to be in everything we’re doing, but there’s also plenty of angry, heavy stuff in the works, too. So keep an ear out for that.”

HM: Definitely. Obviously there’s part of your fanbase who just wants that heavy stuff, but it would be limiting for you as an artist to be doing that all the time, as you said earlier.

MB: “Even with that said, I feel like we’re still trying to do that heavy sound, but in a new way with these different elements. The only way we put that heavy stuff in is we can do it without doing it the same way over and over. I’m excited for people to hear what we’re working on.”

THE DANTE TOUR with ERRA, LVNDMARKS and BANKS ARCADE

9/2: Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane

10/2: Enmore Theatre, Sydney

11/2: The Forum, Melbourne (sold out)

15/2: The Forum, Melbourne

16/2: Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide

17/2: Metro City, Perth