Victoria’s most well known hard-rockers just received their first Grammy Award nomination.
Spiritbox got their start playing DIY shows in the Fernwood Community Centre and now they have established themselves as trendsetters in the metal genre.
The band began because Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante and Mike Stringer, both local Victorians, played in a band called ‘Iwrestledabearonce.’
The duo got engaged during that time and in 2015, they decided to quit that project and start something of their own.
And thus, Spiritbox was born.
They hit the ground running to put out their first full-length record after debuting with two back-to-back EPs in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
The COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in their plans for releasing their first full-length album, but they persevered and put Eternal Blue out into the world in 2021.
As soon as it was released, Eternal Blue skyrocketed to #1 on American and Canadian rock and hard rock charts.
Following this success and quick rise to prominence, Spiritbox landed themselves on the front cover of Revolver, Kerrang! and in the ears of people across the world via Spotify, terrestrial radio, SiriusXM and more.
On November 3rd of this year, they released their third EP, featuring six songs entitled, The Fear of Fear.
In less than a month, the songs on that album have already garnered over 20 million streams on Spotify alone.
The EP’s first single, Jaded, has been streamed nearly 7 million times and in the short time it has been released, also managed to snag Spiritbox their first Grammy nod.
Grammy Award nominations were announced on Friday, November 10th and SpiritBox are one of few Canadian musicians who made the list for one of the music industry’s most prestigious awards.
They are nominated in the category ‘Best Metal Performance’ for Jaded along with the likes of metal giants such as Metallica, Disturbed, Slipknot and Ghost.
From a community centre in Fernwood to being nominated along with some of the biggest bands in the world is quite the feat for Spiritbox.
The Grammy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 4th, next year.
See the full list of nominees here.
Have you heard of Spiritbox before? Would you say that their song Jaded is better than their competition’s ‘Best Metal Performance’ nominations? Let us know in the comments.
