Adrian Fitipaldes - Northlane (22/03/2013)
It’s hard not be impressed with Sydney based Northlane, who since 2009 have released two studio albums and an EP all whilst touring both nationally and locally. Gracing the stages at Soundwave earlier this month, I asked frontman Adrian Fitipaldes about his first major festival experience.
“Soundwave was probably one of the best experiences in our lives and the biggest shows of our career for sure. I was very nervous but excited at the same time. It ended up being awesome; Soundwave is a brilliantly organised event. We were well taken care of and accommodated for our first festival. I loved it, can't wait to do another one”.
As well as Soundwave, Northlane also played at Push Over in Melbourne which is an All Ages, drug and alcohol free event. He told me how about the different ways that people of different ages react to their unique take on metalcore and hardcore.
“Under 18's generally get into it a lot more. Younger people tend to be filled with excitement and curiosity and are generally just filled with more energy. The older people tend to stand back and critique and form opinions more than the younger people. I like both spectrums which is good”.
Their latest album Singularity was released today. The message and idea behind Singularities shows quite a lot of maturity for such a young band.
“I guess our ultimate message is to not be distracted in your life. Focus on your ultimate happiness and follow your dreams. It's always great to reach greater heights but, I think one of the greatest things is to come to the realisation that everything is perfect the way it is; even with all the bad things in the world - I know it's easy for me to say because I'm away from these things, I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach. There are always people that want to change their life and if that’s what makes them happy be my guest; do what makes you happy. But, I think there's something so incredibly profound in how perfect the world is naturally even with darkness and evil is something to be respected. You need to respect the positives and negatives of life, the ying-yang and really be content with the way things are. I guess that's a good way of explaining It”.
There is a quote in the song singularity that both emphasises this message and adds an extra element to both the song and the album; I asked Adrian what it meant to him.
“It's from the psychedelic philosopher called Terrence McKenna. He was a philosopher, a scholar and a scientist. He gained lots of popularity in the 90's and early 2000's with his radical ideas and philosophies about the universe. He really inspired a lot of people and a lot of brilliant minds. In my eyes and in people's eyes around the world he is a very influential figure for evolution of consciousness and things like that. He speaks wholly to me and the people, he is a very bright individual that will be remembered for a long time. If you haven't heard of him, go check him out”.
Another element which they utilised in Singularity, was the use of electronics.
I think we just wanted to add more atmosphere to the songs. It's very subtle, just the things we’ve been doing with chord changes and things like that. We're a pretty futuristic-cosmic-like band; it would be silly for us not to take advantage of electronics especially when our guitars are produced by digital guitar tones. Yeah we're very nerdy and tech savvy like that, so we thought we'd incorporate some ambient energy.
These little additions make the album a little more diverse than their 2011 break out debut Discoveries. Other additions include clean vocals as well as guest vocals by Drew York from Stray from the Path. Despite these additions, Adrian stresses that they aren’t adopting a more post- hardcore style.
“We are always going to be a heavy band dude, but we like to use a bit of clean vocals when it's necessary”.
After a heavy stint of touring and their album launch, Northlane will have a well-deserved break before embarking on yet again another tour.
We have two shows next week, but then we have a week off before we go to Canada so I'm looking forward to exercising more every day and working every day to earn a bit of money; something I don't have right now. I am also looking forward to getting back to my life, catching up with friends and working on my art.
Make sure you catch these guys in June when they come back for an Australian tour.
Ryan Hyde
Follow me on Twitter - @RyanHyde93
“Soundwave was probably one of the best experiences in our lives and the biggest shows of our career for sure. I was very nervous but excited at the same time. It ended up being awesome; Soundwave is a brilliantly organised event. We were well taken care of and accommodated for our first festival. I loved it, can't wait to do another one”.
As well as Soundwave, Northlane also played at Push Over in Melbourne which is an All Ages, drug and alcohol free event. He told me how about the different ways that people of different ages react to their unique take on metalcore and hardcore.
“Under 18's generally get into it a lot more. Younger people tend to be filled with excitement and curiosity and are generally just filled with more energy. The older people tend to stand back and critique and form opinions more than the younger people. I like both spectrums which is good”.
Their latest album Singularity was released today. The message and idea behind Singularities shows quite a lot of maturity for such a young band.
“I guess our ultimate message is to not be distracted in your life. Focus on your ultimate happiness and follow your dreams. It's always great to reach greater heights but, I think one of the greatest things is to come to the realisation that everything is perfect the way it is; even with all the bad things in the world - I know it's easy for me to say because I'm away from these things, I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach. There are always people that want to change their life and if that’s what makes them happy be my guest; do what makes you happy. But, I think there's something so incredibly profound in how perfect the world is naturally even with darkness and evil is something to be respected. You need to respect the positives and negatives of life, the ying-yang and really be content with the way things are. I guess that's a good way of explaining It”.
There is a quote in the song singularity that both emphasises this message and adds an extra element to both the song and the album; I asked Adrian what it meant to him.
“It's from the psychedelic philosopher called Terrence McKenna. He was a philosopher, a scholar and a scientist. He gained lots of popularity in the 90's and early 2000's with his radical ideas and philosophies about the universe. He really inspired a lot of people and a lot of brilliant minds. In my eyes and in people's eyes around the world he is a very influential figure for evolution of consciousness and things like that. He speaks wholly to me and the people, he is a very bright individual that will be remembered for a long time. If you haven't heard of him, go check him out”.
Another element which they utilised in Singularity, was the use of electronics.
I think we just wanted to add more atmosphere to the songs. It's very subtle, just the things we’ve been doing with chord changes and things like that. We're a pretty futuristic-cosmic-like band; it would be silly for us not to take advantage of electronics especially when our guitars are produced by digital guitar tones. Yeah we're very nerdy and tech savvy like that, so we thought we'd incorporate some ambient energy.
These little additions make the album a little more diverse than their 2011 break out debut Discoveries. Other additions include clean vocals as well as guest vocals by Drew York from Stray from the Path. Despite these additions, Adrian stresses that they aren’t adopting a more post- hardcore style.
“We are always going to be a heavy band dude, but we like to use a bit of clean vocals when it's necessary”.
After a heavy stint of touring and their album launch, Northlane will have a well-deserved break before embarking on yet again another tour.
We have two shows next week, but then we have a week off before we go to Canada so I'm looking forward to exercising more every day and working every day to earn a bit of money; something I don't have right now. I am also looking forward to getting back to my life, catching up with friends and working on my art.
Make sure you catch these guys in June when they come back for an Australian tour.
Ryan Hyde
Follow me on Twitter - @RyanHyde93