'Node' Was An Opportunity To Create Something Fresh

"Most bands that change vocalists don't really come out the other side too well," Josh Smith reckons when we sit down to talk about the new Northlane album, Node. He says this reflectively, without any note of  bitterness. To Smith, even though Node is yet to see the light of day, Northlane have done what they needed to.

But our man didn't always have the clarity he does now. When mouthpiece for the band Adrian Fitipaldes announced he was stepping out of the band after touring their breakthrough 2013 album, Singularity, Smith and the rest of Northlane were freaking out as much as the band's fans.

"If you play it safe, you're never going to do anything interesting."

"I wouldn't be able to lie to you and say that we didn't doubt ourselves, but that's just part of being an artist. You're always doubting yourself and you're always terrified every time you release new music because you don't know how it's going to go... And yeah, usually a change in vocalist spells a death sentence for a band, we knew all that. But we worked through it, we knew what we had to do, and we put our heads down and worked as hard as we possibly could. So there was nothing else that we really could have possibly done, which means we can't regret anything we have done."

The guys launched an extensive an online search, eventually stumbling across Marcus Bridge, who'd previously fronted Sound Of Seasons. Smith says as soon as they heard the guy, they knew he ticked all the boxes. He had a good idea about some of the proggy sensibilities the band were flirting with on the last record and could do a hell of a scream but still hold a tune.

"We already had an idea of where we wanted to take the band musically before Adrian left, so we already knew the person we brought in would have to be really versatile. We didn't know exactly what kind of voice we wanted, but the person we heard who had the biggest skill set was Marcus, and he kind of ticked all of the boxes straight away."

The single that introduced Marcus to the world as Northlane's new guy — Rot — got a massively supportive response from fans, so the dudes turned their attentions to what would become Node. It was a huge undertaking, but Smith says they saw it as a terrific opportunity to create something fresh.

"They will always go for security over being inventive and the record labels kind of encourage that."

"We wanted to write something that was a bit more dynamic... Maybe mature is the right word. We realised that we didn't want to be playing straight-up metalcore for the rest of our lives. And the process of musical evolution is very important to us, and we've done it with every record we've ever put out. But the challenge isn't in being more technical and faster and all of that shit every record, the challenge for us is writing music that expands our boundaries."

According to Smith, this desire to expand their musical horizons was solidified back when Adrian was still in the band, so it would have been disingenuous for Northlane to play it safe with where they wanted to take the music on Node. In fact, it was one of the tours the band did in support of Singularity that really set the pace for what was to come.

"Touring with Karnivool was a real eye-opener for us. We realised that it's possible to play to different audiences and tour with different bands and be inspired by bands who were outside of the vein of music we were in at the time. I think that was the catalyst for us trying to branch out like this. We've always listened to all types of music, but the more we toured with metal bands, the more we listened to what our peers were doing and the more we started trying to look outside of that."

With hindsight, Smith recognises that it may not have been the smartest career move to push away, even if slightly, from the metalcore world in which they were birthed, but he's confident it was absolutely the right step to take.

"It's got a real loyal fanbase, as a genre, so that makes it difficult for bands to consider stepping out because it makes it difficult for bands to deal with the uncertainty of what will happen if they do that, and you see bands boxing themselves into the genre. They will always go for security over being inventive and the record labels kind of encourage that because it's safer for them too. But if you play it safe, you're never going to do anything interesting. So for us, we just went 'Fuck it, we're going to play the music we want to play'. And that's why Node is the way it is."