Band Of Brothers

Resting up before the biggest time in his young life, Adrian Fitipaldes is catching his breath at his Sydney residence, and boy is he ever going to need the energy. Northlane's second record is due to land on Friday 22 March, and with it immediately comes a hectic touring schedule that will see the band tied to the road for the rest of the year. However, the guys are match fit following a summer that saw the quintet play their biggest ever shows on the undercard for Parkway Drive and also as one of only four Australian bands doing the national loop with Soundwave.

“A lot of kids were nagging AJ [Maddah] over Twitter to put us on the bill, and hopefully he doesn't hate us because of it, but luckily he made an exception last minute and he fit us on the [line-up] which I'm very thankful for,” Fitipaldes says.

If Northlane were feeling the sense of occasion at any of those dates, however, they certainly didn't show it. The band not only survived, but thrived in the main arena, playing with cohesion and a professionalism far exceeding the expectation of their 20-something years.

“We just love playing shows and we love playing the music we play,” says Fitipaldes. “We try and have as much fun as we possibly can – that's why we do it. And I think if that's showing on the audience side of things then we're doing our job right, and we're communicating that we love [being on stage] and we're there to have fun. There's no other reason, really.”

That flair extends away from the stage, too. Masterminding the Singularity2013 campaign from within their own ranks (see Sidebar), Northlane created one of the bigger online media buzzes in recent memory, at least in this country. It's obvious the guys are confident in their craft and are looking at this 'band' thing as a big picture with a long-term future, a point Fitipaldes agrees with.

“When I joined Northlane I was listening to the early stuff that they were writing,” he remembers. “Back then I was maybe 18, 19? And I really had a lot of faith in the music the guys were writing, I was like, 'This has the potential to take us overseas, this has the potential to make us a bigger band, to step out of the local scene and into the national and international scene', and I still have that faith to this day. I love hearing the stuff the boys are writing. If I've been at home for a while and I haven't particularly listened to what they've been writing, I'm always really excited to hear what's coming next and I'm [psyched] to write new lyrics when I hear that music. It's all a process of creativity and experimentation, which is what we love doing. We all love being creative and we all love art, not just musical art but visual art. It all encompasses the ins and outs of Northlane.”

For Fitipaldes, Northlane is no longer something to do on weekends – it's now his life. His bandmates aren't simply the blokes he jumps around a stage with – they're his blood. And as the guys mature as individuals they continue to grow musically, a fact that's written all over Singularity. “[This experience] is helping me flower and become the individual I want to be,” he confesses, “that maybe I might not have had the strength to do if I wasn't in the band, y'know. And these are just little things. As a unit and as a team and as a brotherhood of five dudes, we can all help each other and create a support network for each other. We're pushing each other further to not only be the musicians we want to be, but also the people and the individuals we want to be. There's a lot of bands out there that chop and change members all the time; I couldn't imagine being in a band with dudes that I wasn't fully tight with and considered my family.”

Northlane's debut record of 2011, Discoveries, won them an army of fans, domestically and abroad; the band stepping over many of their contemporaries to become one of the most talked about young prospects in metalcore thanks to progressive songwriting, intelligent lyrical content and an intensity that was unwavering. But although a strong and well received debut is the dream for young bands of any ilk, it doesn't exactly make a follow-up an easy undertaking. Northlane felt this, but rather than break under the weight of expectation they were compelled to work harder and push further. What they've crafted is a modern metal masterwork that takes elements of everything from hardcore and progressive to industrial and Djent, blending it together to create a sonic explosion that rocks you to your core.

“After we released Discoveries and there was talk of a second album, it really felt like we were under the microscope because Discoveries was such a successful release and it got us to the point of where we are now,” tells Fitipaldes. “It's the ol', 'Can Northlane back it up the second time', y'know, and it is a bit of pressure, but I love pressure; I work well under pressure and I think the rest of the boys do as well. I think most people do; I think it's part of nature. When we're forced to adapt as animals we adapt out of pressure, out of evolutionary pressure, and that's what causes us to evolve and change, and that's definitely what's been happening. We've been feeling all this pressure from the music industry, from the music community, and it's only helped us to want to prove to everyone, and mostly to ourselves, that we can do this and that we can back it up and write a brilliant second album, and a third that will come in the future. We'll just continue reaching greater heights I guess.”

Fitipaldes, along with guitarists Jon Deiley and Josh Smith, bassist Alex Milovic and drummer Nic Pettersen, recorded Singularity between tours late last year, working at The Machinery Shop in New Jersey with Will Putney, the producer who also mixed the band's debut. In the lead up to their scheduled studio time they reached deep to light the creative fire inside them, writing while on the road in Australia and Canada with time constraints a constant.

“And imagine the pressure, trying to write an album to deadline, when you're on tour doing all these crazy things, and it's supposed to be the best album, it's supposed to top Discoveries,” Fitipaldes exclaims. “But we ended up rocking up to the studio and we still [had] three or four songs to write, and Jonny the poor guy ends up blasting them out in three days. [He] must have felt like a squeezed piece of fruit after that!” he laughs. “And they all made the record, and they are all brilliant songs as well. I'm very proud of him and the rest of the guys because it is a lot of pressure. I complain that I have pressure being a frontman, but all I have to do is stand there, sing good and look pretty; whereas my boys, they really, really have to strive their hardest to channel some type of music through their imagination into their craft, and it does take a lot of patience and it does take a lot of dedication. Just to give you an idea, that's the type of [stuff] we were facing on the musical side of things.”

Not that Fitipaldes was simply sitting idle in the corner, bouncing a ball against a wall. The frontman put just as much time and heart into his end of the bargain. His delivery across the LP is sharp and contrasting, with spitfire venom roaring from various angles, tones changing constantly while the rhythm in his verses offsets the chaos surrounding. The lyrical content found across the long-player covers a disparate range of topics, with two overarching subjects tying together each distinct thread. The purpose, to push listeners to dig deep inside and create their own destiny, just like the Northlane lads have done.

“It's got a bit of everything, brother; there's a few mixed themes within Singularity. [That title], Singularity, traditionally means a point in the future where human advancement will have reached the point where it would be impossible to comprehend what life would be like in that age in the future. But a second concept evolved where Singularity is almost something that exists within the individual, the singular individual, and it's stressing the importance and empowering the perspective of the individual, so by saying that I'm a singular human being I'm saying that I'm the centre of my universe and that I should not let my dreams pass me by. I should not worry about the future too much and not worry about the past, but just do what makes me happy. In the now. And that's what I really wanted to stress, I wanted to empower the individual, the perspective of the individual. Not me, not the one singing – you, the person listening,”

Fitipaldes takes a well-earned breath before concluding. “It's about that person, the singular human being, and that's something special, I reckon.”

SPREADING THE VIRAL

Northlane's Singularity campaign created a massive stir in late January. Only thing was, no one knew the band were behind it. Their label, UNFD, simply posted a link on their Facebook page leading to a website featuring a countdown timer. Further bands from the roster such as The Amity Affliction and Dream On, Dreamer followed suit and rumours were quickly abounding that Australia was in line for a new festival.

Wrong. Instead, when the timer struck midnight on Friday 22 February, we were presented with details for Northlane's second record. It was simple marketing – cryptic and tightly orchestrated – and it helped spike unprecedented interest in the Sydney crew. However, they aren't the first band to push away from the expected to generate some headlines. Take a look at the fast, the fiery and the futile:

The Black Keys

Prior to the release of seventh record, El Camino, the Akron, Ohio pair gave a big thank you to their Australian fanbase with a road trip in the eponymous vehicle, handing out band swag at iconic 'big' things such as the Big Pineapple and Big Oyster, and cementing their popularity down under.

The KLF

One of the most successful acts to come out of the British acid house explosion in the late '80s, the boundary pushing London pair took 'retiring' to a whole new level when they announced they were quitting the music business, subsequently burning one million pounds, the last of their KLF earnings, in 1994.

Tenacious D

Looking to promote their DVD, The Complete Master Works, Jack Black and Kyle Gass announced they were going on an extended hunger strike in a glass case suspended above Times Square, New York. After only 23 minutes, Black freaked out, Gass started eating M&M's, and the whole stunt was over in less than an hour.

Singularity is out Friday 22 March.

Northlane will be playing the following dates:

Saturday 13 April - Live It Up Festival, Brisbane QLD
Thursday 30 May - The Tempo Hotel, Brisbane QLD
Friday 31 May - Eagelby Community Hall, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 June - Annandale Hotel, Sydney NSW
Wednesday 5 June - YMCA HQ, Perth WA
Thursday 6 June - Amplifier Bar, Perth WA
Saturday 8 June - Fowlers Live, Adelaide SA
Sunday 9 and Monday 10 June - Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
Friday 14 June - New York Hotel, Launceston TAS
Saturday 15 June - The Brisbane, Hobart TAS