In a recent conversation with Brazilian journalist Igor Miranda, Spiritbox frontwoman Courtney LaPlante delved into the band’s highly anticipated second album, Tsunami Sea, slated for release on March 7, 2025, via Pale Chord in collaboration with Rise Records.
Speaking about her eagerness for the release, Courtney shared (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “I wish that it was coming out next week. I wanna play these songs so badly. I want to play these songs live for our fans. I want them to hear these songs. And it feels very far away, but it’s for the best because now it’s my job to make sure that as many people as possible hear the songs, and it’s my job now to be the ambassador for these songs. So it is good that it’s gonna come out like pretty far in the future for me. March 7th feels very far away.”
Reflecting on how Tsunami Sea builds on their earlier works like Eternal Blue (2021) and The Fear of Fear EP (2023), Courtney described it as an evolution.
“Everything is connected together in our band. We don’t market our albums like this, but they’re all concept albums and they all tie into one another. I’m always just building upon what I did before. And it’s important to me that I don’t market it like that. I just like to show it instead of telling our fans, ‘This is a concept album.’ I would just like them to discover that for themselves. So it’s a continuation of ‘The Fear of Fear’ but also we look at it as the sister to Eternal Blue. And it’s very different than Eternal Blue, but they both feel like a very big part of my identity as a person — lyrically and thematically.”
She elaborated on the band’s journey, contrasting their earlier, more uncertain days with their current full-time dedication to music: “I don't wanna say it's a rehash of our old music, but it is the grown-up sister, with musicians that instead of being scared and not confident and trying to do this, after we work nine-to-five jobs and on the weekends and during work, and then recording it in a kitchen in Joshua Tree, in the desert, this is now somebody that we have the privilege of doing this as our jobs and we take it so seriously. It's not a casual thing at all. So what could be now that we are living our dream lives and we get to fully commit every minute of our lives to create music.”
Adding to their momentum, Spiritbox recently secured their second Grammy nomination for “Best Metal Performance,” this time for their track Cellar Door. Reflecting on the achievement, Courtney highlighted the evolving landscape of metal awards.
“I can’t believe it. I’m so excited. And I was so surprised last year when we were nominated. To be nominated again for the same body of work is such an honor. But I will say the thing that makes this one different to me is that usually, historically, it’s all legacy bands [that get nominated], the biggest bands in the world, and then maybe one small band — maybe. But this time, instead of just us as the small band, we and Knocked Loose and Poppy, where both of us, two of the five bands are younger bands. And we have Gojira, who had the greatest metal performance of all time at the Olympics as well in there, which is so cool. But I'm so inspired that both of us — us and Knocked Loose and Poppy — are nominated because I've never seen that before where two newer bands both got in there. So I think we're both really excited for each other. And if we don't win, I would love for them to win"
She also spoke passionately about the potential for history to be made: “Since this award has ever existed — this award, the first year was when I was born, in 1989. There was one year when Lzzy Hale and Halestorm won when it was the Hard Rock and Metal Grammy ['Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance'], but no woman has ever won the Best Metal Performance Grammy since it came out in 1989. And I think about that every year. I'm almost 36 years old. 36 years, a woman's never won. And now there are more chances than ever for a woman to win. So I'm really excited. I hope that we win. I hope that Knocked Loose and Poppy win. Or if Gojira wins, there's a woman who's an opera singer on that song. So there's three out of five chances for that ceiling, that glass ceiling to finally shatter."
Tsunami Sea features production by Dan Braunstein and Mike Stringer, mixing by Zakk Cervini, and mastering by Ted Jensen, and can be pre-ordered here.
