Hot 21 Radio

Recently nominated for a Grammy – for a song they wrote in record time – Spiritbox are now one of modern metal’s biggest success stories. Their production-savvy guitarist details how he tackled their viral hip-hop crossover, why bridges are key to his unique tracking approach, and the fervor surrounding his custom Jackson Surfcasters

Spiritbox guitarist Mike Stringer has had the metal guitar community salivating throughout the fall. You can chalk some of that up to how the Vancouver Island-formed, California-based combo just dropped , a juddering, progressive-but-pop-friendly next step from 2021 breakthrough . Standout single – a veritable sizzle reel of Stringer’s pedal-based loop work, syncopated chunking, and anthemic finesse – amazingly nabbed the band their first Grammy nomination. What’s also got seven-stringers sweating, though, is the . It’s a wild look, with the classic offset-style body jazzed up for djenters via its extra string, a wire-wound set of Fishman Modern Open Core , and an EverTune bridge – key components to Spiritbox’s drop F# plunging tones, Stringer explains. While modernized for metal players, the guitarist is still drawn to the Surfcaster’s retro aesthetic. “You know when you go into a really great vintage guitar shop and you see all those top-shelf guitars that look like they’ve been through hell and back?” Stringer asks. “You always want to know what the story is there. I wanted that right off the bat with the Fiesta Red Surfcaster,” he adds of the road-worn finish Jackson brought to one of his customs. Turns out that Surfcaster already has a hell of a story up its sleeve – namely that its first-ever studio performance ended up being the riff-fest supporting Megan Thee Stallion for their recent collaboration. In late October, the rap star drafted Stringer and Spiritbox co-founder/vocalist Courtney LaPlante into one of the most unique rap/metal mashups ever – pairing her bars with dexterously percussive low-string manipulations and LaPlante’s patented swirl of screamed-and-sung vocals. Also unique for Spiritbox was how their contribution came together in a 48-hour window, from initial riffing to release. From the season’s sickest rap/metal crossover to the Grammy nod, to whether or not his Surfcasters will make it to market, Stringer takes through Spiritbox’s action-packed back-half of 2023. “I started working with Jackson the last time we played Download Festival, which was 2022. I’ve always had a crazy fixation with old-school . My goal was basically to make a modern, metal take on a vintage Jazzmaster shape. Jackson were really happy to do it. They pulled out the Surfcaster model and were like, ‘How do you feel about this?’ It blew me away. “Over the course of the last year, it went back and forth on different renders and colors. It was very important that at least one of them was relic’d, or pretty beat-up looking – I’m such a sucker for something that looks like a pawn shop vintage. “At this point, it’s been a couple of months since I got them, and I can’t put them down. They cover every base that I need them to cover, and they play so well. Every time I look at them it makes me smile. They’re the only ones in existence! It’s such an honor to have them.” “From being a metal guy, and from speaking to other metal players, I was like, ‘I wish a brand would do an offset with an EverTune. Like a that’s extended scale.’ So I took everything that I need to play our music optimally and put it on this guitar. “We went with a 26 ½ inch scale, so it’s a little longer than the standard scale guitar. We slapped an EverTune on it – it’s no secret that I very much enjoy the EverTune. We put Fishman Modern Open Core pickups in there. We threw in a split-coil tap on the bottom. “It’s things you would see in a much pointier , but it’s a classic, familiar shape. I just think it’s cool to look at an offset like that and think, ‘What would that look like for a player that tunes in drop F#?’ I think we landed on that; they crushed it.” “ is a song that came about in a day. I wrote it in a spur-of-the-moment situation. It’s funny, because when we finished the EP and we showed it to the powers that be, everybody pointed at and said, ‘This is the one.’ But me and Courtney were like, ‘You’re way off.’ Because it came about so quick, I thought, ‘There’s no way it could be so good.’ Your brain plays tricks on you, essentially. “When it came to the Grammy submissions, we didn’t even set alarms for the nomination day. We were already on cloud nine from the collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, which came about that same week. “That week was already so stressful, but also such a dopamine release of craziness, that when happened, I just stared at the ground for 25 minutes in complete disbelief! I’m so honored and ecstatic that they recognized that particular song, because it is a little more progressive, more of a return to our roots.” “You know, when I really think about it, I think it is!” “About a week before came out, her team reached out to see if we would be interested in working on one of her new songs. They weren’t able to send us the stems until the song was released, which coincidentally was the same day that our EP came out. “I remember sitting in my living room thinking, ‘We shoul Read more