Courtney LaPlante Thinks Spiritbox Fans Are Too Obsessed With Sub-Genres

Courtney LaPlante has put Spiritbox fans on notice: if you think one song defines the band or a track that sounds different to Eternal Blue means they’re not metal anymore, you’re incorrect.

Speaking to Kerrang! in a recent cover story, the Holy Roller singer admitted that she thinks fans are too obsessed with sub-genres of metal and putting bands like Spiritbox in a, well, box.

“I feel like our subgenre of metal is so obsessed with the idea that any song you hear from a band is a mission statement, as in, ‘This is now what this band sounds like,’” LaPlante said.

Comparing the way metal fans talk about sub-genres to rap, hip-hop and pop fans, she continued, “Maybe it’s like this in every genre, and I just don’t see it as much, but when Doja Cat puts a song out, and she’s singing, [fans] don’t go, ‘She’s never going to rap again!’ 

"We always have to tell people that when you hear a song, that doesn’t mean it was created in a linear vacuum, where a band made a song, and then they put out only that song. You might hear a song that was written two years after the next song you hear. You don’t know when they came into existence.”

“Every time [bands] put out boring music, they’re like, ‘Oh, we’ve matured,’” she added. "I’m like, ‘No, I’m not mature or grown-up; I just wrote a song that’s more radio-friendly. I also wrote an ass-beater song – you just haven’t heard it yet!’”

LaPlante continued explaining that Spiritbox is still figuring out who they are as a band and shared that she doesn’t even know if she wants to find out. “I don’t care about genre; I just know we like making heavy music with low-tuned guitars,” she admitted. “But I’m like, ‘Take me or leave me, this is what we sound like.’ I feel like a lot of bands are having fun with that too.”

At the very end of the interview, LaPlante also teased upcoming new music from the four-piece to follow The Void, telling Kerrang!, “I think that everyone will be pleasantly surprised this year.”

Spiritbox dropped The Void in April. The melodic number is anchored by LaPlante’s smooth singing vocals in the verses and chorus, harmonic guitar work, and multi-layered soundscapes.

The band’s newest single was released just a week after Spiritbox welcomed former As I Lay Dying bassist Josh Gilbert to the group.