During a recent interview with Guitar World, Spiritbox’s Mike Stringer opened up about the band’s surge in popularity. The guitarist says he finds it “funny that a lot of people think [the band] came out of nowhere and were manufactured by the music industry to make them loads of money.”
Stringer said the following about “Holy Roller” gaining traction amidst the COVID-19 pandemic:
“We had a song out that people really liked, and everyone was excited we were going to play shows. Then the pandemic shut everything down and we had to pay 30 grand to come home overnight because there was a travel ban. We had no money and I went into major debt.
When we got home I said to [singer] Courtney [LaPlante], ‘Well, it looks like we’re done here because we can’t tour and now we’re going to have to figure out how to pay this money off.’”
He went on to discuss the assumption that the group were manufactured:
“It’s so funny that a lot of people think we came out of nowhere and were manufactured by the music industry to make them loads of money. That would probably be one of the worst investments from any company, ever.
If you think of how long it has taken to get this band off the ground, it has been such a slow-moving process, and after 12 years playing in bands, we’ve finally gotten to the point where we can pay rent.”
He also added:
“It’s very weird. The band gained a lot of popularity when we couldn’t go out and play music. For years, everything happened behind the scenes. We’ve only recently been hitting it hard and touring.
I sometimes get freaked out when I look out at the audience and all these people are singing along. It’s so bizarre. It’s like we existed in this big blank space of uncertainty, and then all of a sudden it was, ‘Wow, look what happened!’ We’re here now and we have to continue to strike while the iron is hot.”
Metal Anarchy 
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