STACK #245 March 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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Sydney’s Grentperez is set to backflip his way to the top of the charts. BACKFLIPS & BIG HITS

A s he gets set to unleash his debut album, Backflips in a Restaurant , we thought it was time we got to know Grentperez. His real name is Grant Perez. He grew up in Western Sydney. He used “grentperez” for his Instagram name – and then he was stuck with it. His parents were his first musical influences, playing him records by The Beatles, Bee Gees, Eagles, Queen, and The Carpenters. He started playing covers on YouTube when he was just five. He launched his own YouTube channel when he was 12. His breakthrough hit was the 2021 single Cherry Wine . After soaking up the sounds of ’70s

soft rock, bossa nova, modern R&B and rap, he calls his sound indie jazz. In 2023, he released Op Shop Lover , a collab for the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist award at the 2023 ARIAs. The trophy went to Teenage Dads. with Lime Cordiale. He was nominated

Backflips in a Restaurant by Grentperez is out Mar 28 via Rocket

At last year’s APRA Awards, recognising Australia’s finest songwriters, he won ‘Emerging Songwriter of the Year’. He is proud of his Filipino

heritage. After his first show in the Philippines, he posted: “Mahal na mahal kita Philippines” (I love you so much). Jeff Jenkins HERE COMES TSUNAMI HOT COLLAB

Grentperez

Backflips in a Restaurant features Dandelion , a dreamy dance delight. It’s a collaboration with Ruel. “He’s very tall,” Grentperez smiles. “But he’s super chill and very friendly. And his voice is amazing.”

ORIGIN STORY

Spiritbox ride the wave to a cracking second album.

T here’s no band quite like Canada’s Spiritbox. If this description of their sound doesn’t make you want to press play, nothing will:“A genre-fluid odyssey that seamlessly collides pulverising prog-metal, hypnotic electronica, and haunting spoken-word passages.” Need an example? Check out the new album’s third single, No Loss, No Love . It’s a foundation-shaking sonic journey, where Courtney LaPlante’s window-rattling vocal will frighten the neighbours.

Singer Courtney LaPlante and guitarist Mike Stringer were previously members of American metalcore band Iwrestled abearonce. LaPlante did two albums with the band – 2013’s Late for Nothing and 2015’s Hail Mary .

Tsunami Sea by Spiritbox is out Mar 7 via BMG

LaPlante – who started listening to Cannibal Corpse when she was five – can swing effortlessly from sweetness to death growl. No wonder she’s been hailed as “one of the best vocalists in the modern metal scene”. Jeff Jenkins CHART FACT Spiritbox’s 2021 debut Eternal Blue was a bigger chart hit in Australia than elsewhere, reaching number eight. The album peaked at 17 in Canada, 13 in the US, and 19 in the UK.

FUN FACT

Photo credit: Alex Bemis

When LaPlante and Stringer were married in

2016, instead of presents, they asked their guests if they could spare some cash – to help fund Spiritbox.

Spiritbox

AWARD ALERT

Spiritbox have twice been nominated for ‘Best Metal Performance’ at the Grammy Awards. Cellar Door was in the running this year; the trophy went to French band Gojira.

28 MARCH 2025

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