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| | I got to sit down with Liam Cormier from Cancer Bats when the band was touring across across Canada with Billy Talent, Against Me! and Alexisonfire to talk about the new record and plans for the future:
How is the Canadian Billy Talent tour treating you guys?
It’s good. We got added in late because Gallows had to drop off to take care of some band business and we were more than stoked to jump on. We were actually on tour with Billy Talent in Europe when we found out. Ben just came up to us one day and was like ‘Do you want to do Canada with us?’ and I was like ‘Yeah, that would be awesome!’ It’s been great, I feel like all three of our bands get lumped in together anyway. We’re like the baby band of Billy Talent and Alexis. It’s like a lot of their fans know about our band and have maybe heard the name already so we’re getting a good reaction every night. I think the fact that there’s so much Canada on this tour gets people excited too. There’s so much great music in Canada and it’s great to be a part of it.
What’s it like playing arenas?
That European tour with Billy Talent was in arenas too, not hockey arenas but they were still massive so we kind of got used to it. It’s easier than you think kind of, because you can’t really see that many people other than the 500 kids up front so it’s less daunting than it seems.
Do you prefer playing them?
No, I mean I realize it’s the only place they can go to accommodate that many people. I realize Billy Talent can’t really play anywhere else because they’re such a massive band so it makes sense. But for me, I always like playing small shows where we can connect with the kids. I’m not that fond of the barrier so it’s different for me, but still cool because it’s a different style of show. We like getting to use the massive PAs.
I’m guessing you’re going to come back and headline after the record comes out in April?
Yeah, we do want to come back and headline since we’ve had so many good tours and all these cities are wicked. I can’t wait to play for, I don’t really want to say real fans because there are a few kids that are coming out just for us, which is amazingly flattering. But yeah, we will be back in the fall for a headlining tour and come to Winnipeg. We’re trying to figure it out, but we are probably going to do a summer festival too. Either in July or August.
Moving onto your new record, I was reading some older interviews and learned recording is your least favourite part of being in a band.
Oh yeah, recording’s not that much fun. I’ll say that we did have fun doing this record and this was the first time I left the studio going ‘Yeah, that was awesome!’ But it’s still not like being on tour where you get to meet so many cool people and travel. Recording is just like very focused on small details you sometimes don’t really care about.
How would you compare this record to Hail Destroyer?
I would definitely say it’s a step in the same direction. I feel like we really figured out who we wanted to be as a band with Hail Destroyer from Birthing the Giant. I think we did a lot of soul searching I guess in a way, so now that we’ve figured out what we want to do, we’re like let’s crush these ideas and really step it up. You know, really finish off the ideas we had with Hail Destroyer. I don’t want to say it’s going to be Hail Destroyer 2.5, but it’s not going to be that much of a shocker. I think some kids picked the difference between Birthing the Giant and Hail and realized it wasn’t the same band in some ways, but I feel like you’re going to hear a lot of Hail Destroyer, just a more accomplished sound with this one.
In what ways would you say it’s different?
For me, lyrically I wanted to dive into more of the personal side. And really be specific and expose myself that way. I found with the songs I loved off of Hail Destroyer, like “Regret,” I was dealing with really personal stuff and that’s when kids got the most out of it. They came up to me saying ‘I know exactly what you’re talking about. Or that really helped me through a really tough time in my life.’ So I was like ‘You know what? I’m just going to try and do that with every song that I can and not be vague.’ Not with the idea that if it’s general, people will still understand it. No, really specific and really honest and just go for it.
Yeah, I noticed that “Raised Right” sounded fairly personal when I listened to it.
Yeah, that’s definitely about my family and stuff like that. Also right off the bat, I didn’t want to scream about how important my mom is, you know what I mean? So we had to figure it out. I think the whole record in general for me vocally was like that. Like realizing that I had to ramp up the emotion, we really sat down and thought about that with this record.
You also used the same producers you did for Hail Destroyer.
We were all on the same page so it just naturally made sense. It ended up like that because we went back to the same studio and worked with the same guys so it meant that we were using Hail Destroyer as our benchmark in a way. So it was like everything that we do will outdo Hail Destroyer. Everything is going to be heavier, all the vocals will be better, the drums will be bigger.
The title Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones is all of your nicknames.
My big thing with this is that with Hail Destroyer, we basically wrote it as a three piece. But with this album, it was the first time we had the whole band kind of start from scratch. Now that Jaye’s in the band for two years on bass, it’s like we have this solid crew to do everything with now. It made it a lot easier, it made it a lot more fun and now I can’t imagine without the four of us. This is like the final line-up. This is what our band sounds like and this is what we can do together working as a team so we’ve kind of figured it out.
Which nickname is yours?
Scraps is mine. People call me Scrappy and have for a really long time because I used to be really, really broke and I would eat table scraps from people’s plates and stuff, like leftovers. And I’d joke ‘Oh, I’ll scrap that’ and eat someone’s pizza crust because I’m hungry.
The record will be put out through Good Fight in the States.
Yeah, basically we got signed to Ferret originally and we found out all those dudes were essentially changing the name of the label. But it was awesome because we knew Carl from Good Fight and Ferret since he was originally in this band called Nora who we played shows with before. He was keeping an eye on us and then he heard the record and was really stoked and we kind of went from there. We were really excited too because we feel they get a lot of bands, like they put out the Maylene records, they put out Every Time I Die and the Bronx. It just feels like it’s the right place for us.
Which leads me to ask how well you guys are doing in the States.
We just did a tour with Anti-Flag, which was fairly positive. We joke that we can draw like 11 kids in every city because that’s what it feels like. I mean, I feel like the rest of the world is more open to Cancer Bats than maybe Americans are, but who knows? The Good Fight guys are stoked and they kind of get the US better than we do so they probably have a better idea of what’s going on. I mean, I’m not really too worried either way. We have a lot of places, we love touring in Canada, we love touring in the UK. If America is stoked, then cool. But for me America is weird because they have so many bands, not being pessimistic, but I’m always like ‘Why do they need one more?’ You know, I don’t want to stop going there, but who the fuck are we? They have so many good bands. For every genre of music, I can think of five amazing bands that are playing that style. Even like for Cancer Bats’ style, they have Every Time I Die, Maylene, the Bronx. There’s so much good stuff going on already that you don’t have to look that far. Whereas in Canada there isn’t nearly as many bands.
This reminds me that if we were in the States, we wouldn’t be hanging outside a giant arena because Billy Talent aren’t big down there either.
Exactly. Same with Alexisonfire. But I don’t have anything wrong with the kids, we’ve met so many amazing people in the States and we definitely have a good time when we go. I just think it’s like a needle in a haystack, a needle in a stack of needles basically.
You recently shot a video for your “Sabotage” cover. What made you want to cover it in the first place?
We’re all big Beastie Boys fans, we really love that band and we’ve been into them for a long time. For us, the idea was just to have something to play live and be stoked on. So we started doing it live and it did so well, it kind of just snowballed from there. Then we thought we should record it and the kids found out and were really excited. They were talking about it at shows and then we decided to do the video to fill in the time between this new record. Something new to give kids to get excited about because we’ve been touring on Hail Destroyer for two years already.
Did any of you get hurt on set?
Yeah, a lot of people got hurt. We were jumping around, I smacked Juice our merch guy who was dressed up like a jogger. Jay was chasing one of the cops and our friend Chris, he rolled his ankle real bad. It’s kind of all in the name of good fun, but we did have some brutalities on that video.
Any plans for another video?
Yeah, we actually just did a video for a song called “Dead Wrong.” It’s getting finished off as we speak and it’s a little more serious. It’s just a live performance video but it looks awesome and we’re excited. It should be out sometime in April.
Advice for screaming?
Lots of practice. I mean, I’m 30 and I’ve been yelling in bands since I was 17. It does take time for your voice to thicken up and develop. My biggest recommendation is to drink lots of water and get lots of sleep because that will help your voice and its longevity. I would also say try and sing from your stomach or your chest, instead of your throat and your head. That’s my warm up. Or my headstart.
If you could tour with a band that’s not in your scene, who would it be?
Tough call, we love a lot of indie rock bands. We always joke about touring with Black Mountain, Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver. Somebody that’s out of our realm and try to fit in. I don’t think it will ever happen though. (Laughs) |
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Displaying posts 1 - 14 of 14. |
03:59 AM on 04/06/10 | i saw these guys at taste of chaos last year, and i pretty much was like the only guy getting in to their music... i love them a lot tho. i wish they were played more a round here 
i sang in to scrappy s mic at the concert :) | | |
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10:55 AM on 04/06/10 | Lets get these people moving faster Seriously humble, passionate guys, and it really sounds like they understand the present state of the industry, especially as a Canadian band within the international scene | | |
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02:28 PM on 04/06/10 | Ignore the chiodos SN, this is old. I tripped over his mic cable and ate mega shit at a show with Gallows and This Is Hell. BEST SHOW EVER. | | |
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02:30 PM on 04/06/10 | Liam is 30? Thought he was 24 or something. | | |
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03:22 PM on 04/06/10 | awesome stuff, love these guys.. | | |
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04:00 PM on 04/06/10 | The title Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones is all of your nicknames.
My big thing with this is that with Hail Destroyer, we basically wrote it as a three piece. But with this album, it was the first time we had the whole band kind of start from scratch. Now that Dave’s in the band for two years on bass, it’s like we have this solid crew to do everything with now. It made it a lot easier, it made it a lot more fun and now I can’t imagine without the four of us. This is like the final line-up. This is what our band sounds like and this is what we can do together working as a team so we’ve kind of figured it out.
Is that a misprint/misquote? The bassist's name is Jaye... don't think there's every been a 'Dave' in that band haha | | |
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05:16 PM on 04/06/10 |  The title Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones is all of your nicknames.
My big thing with this is that with Hail Destroyer, we basically wrote it as a three piece. But with this album, it was the first time we had the whole band kind of start from scratch. Now that Dave’s in the band for two years on bass, it’s like we have this solid crew to do everything with now. It made it a lot easier, it made it a lot more fun and now I can’t imagine without the four of us. This is like the final line-up. This is what our band sounds like and this is what we can do together working as a team so we’ve kind of figured it out.
Is that a misprint/misquote? The bassist's name is Jaye... don't think there's every been a 'Dave' in that band haha |
Yes, yes it certainly is and it's fixed now. Liam and I did the interview out on the corner of Portage (one of the busiest streets in Winnipeg) and the traffic made it hard to hear at times... so he sounded like he said Dave when it was really Jaye. Not even CLOSE to a good excuse either, I REALLY should have double-checked. I feel really stupid. The rest is correct and if no one believes me, I'll send over the file and they can hear it. My apologies. | | |
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05:26 PM on 04/06/10 | Liam is 30? Thought he was 24 or something. |
Same. But it's true, I didn't mess up on that thankfully. | | |
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12:40 AM on 04/07/10 | Liam is such a cool dude, too bad their show in San Diego was canceled, I hope they come back soon. Cant wait for the new album, picking it up the day it comes out. | | |
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06:56 AM on 04/07/10 | www.facebook.com/oftemples Solid interview, i love these guys and i think they will continue to get bigger especially in the US once the new album drops | | |
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04:41 PM on 04/12/10 | twitter.com/christopmclean Brilliant interview.
Love these guys so much, and really looking forward to the new album! | | |
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