RELIEVE THE HYPE
When Courtney LaPlante was 15 years old, she moved from her childhood home in humid, conservative Alabama to Vancouver Island, 60 miles west of Canada’s British Columbia. The move was intended to be a new start, following her parents’ divorce three years before, and as a young, angsty teenager, Courtney had had very little say in the matter. As she gazed out of the window of the ferry transporting her to her new home, at a seemingly endless, cold ocean, she was filled with mounting rage. “I remember thinking, ‘What the fuck is my life now?’” she recalls. “I [told] my uncle, ‘The second I turn 18, I’m coming back to Alabama.’ He was like, ‘I’m going to bet you in one month, you’ll have changed your mind.’”
He was right, of course. Looking back over Zoom, she’s still a Vancouver Island resident, 17 years after she swore she would leave. The only difference? Now, Courtney is a superstar-in-waiting – the face of post-metalcore trio Spiritbox, the most exciting band in heavy music, and on the cusp of releasing , the most hyped debut album of recent years.
