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Cancer Bats

Cancerous bats? Hardly. Metal band? Yes. These bats bite and they bite hard. Presenting, Cancer Bats. Hail Destroyer!
By: Gian Erguiza - - September 21st, 2008 - 10:26 am PST



The boys from Toronto, Ontario Canada have brought the pain with their latest metal monster creation, 'Hail Destroyer.' A super-charged metal album with punk and rock elements all fused into one raging monster, ready for the kill. Currently on tour, Cancer Bats are ready to spread the word and the madness of Hail Destroyer to the unsuspecting masses. Liam sheds a light on Cancer Bats and helps us figure out what Cancer Bats are all about.

Cancer Bats! How’s it going guys? What’s new in the world of Cancer Bats?

Hey What's Up!?! Right now in the world of the Cancer Bats, we're taking a little bit of time off to relax and recharge before we go out and tear up the West Coast of Canada with our good Friends in the Black Lungs and Johnny Truant. After that we head back over to the UK and Europe for a tour with Funeral For A Friend. Both tours I'm super fuckin siked on and I think we're going to have an amazing time.

Awesome! Now I know you guys are out on the road right now, destroying stages every night. How’s the road coming along so far and are there already some least favorite moments or disasters?

So far the tour has been treating us really well. I feel like we've been working really hard and touring lots and its awesome to come back to cities you've played before and the shows keep getting better and better each time. It's those times where it feels like touring's really paying off. We feel really lucky that we can do this band and tour full time.

“Hail Destroyer” is a magnificent blend of metal, punk, hardcore and rock done the right way. What was the most challenging aspect of recording this album and how much fun did you guys have recording the album?

This time around recording, we had a lot of fun with the whole process. When we were recording Birthing The Giant we had no idea what we were doing because it was our first time ever recording a full length. So when it came time to record Hail, we knew what we were getting our selves into and what to expect so we prepared a lot more before we went into the studio and had demos done and did lots of pre-production. When it came to the actual recording, we had a lot more fun and tried out ideas and played with tones and sounds more. The whole record was a blast. It helped too that we were recording it with guys we were already friends with at that point so it was all jokes and good times.

"If you want to be a real band, take yourself seriously, there's no way you can play shows wasted and expect to be taken seriously. We all love having a good time and partying but we all want to play the show we can every night and there's no way you can do that drunk off your ass."

Is there some unusual way that you guys write the songs or what is the usual song writing process like for you guys?

For us the best way to write songs is with all of us locked away in a practice space just banging out ideas. For Hail, we would jam 7 days a week for 8-10 hours a day. It's sweaty and it stinks but other than that, its a rad way for us to work on songs.

Has the album either met or exceeded you guys’ expectations so far?

We had no idea what this record was going to do or how it was going to be received. We just tried to write the best bunch of songs and put all we had into it. The fact that it's been received as well as it has continues to blow all of our minds. We couldn't be more stoked on how things are going.

What is the significance in the name ‘Cancer Bats?’

I came up with the name before we even started the band. I just thought it was a good name for a rock band, like the idea of B-Horror Movie Bats attacking people, giving them Cancer. That and I thought it was pretty catchy, I wasn't worried of there being another Cancer Bats band out there.

Great point! The video for title track “Hail Destroyer” was pretty sick. Especially the face-off between the wolf vs. Liam. Where was this video shot and who conceived of the concept/idea?

We shot the video with our good friend and amazing director Marc Ricciardelli. The idea was pretty much his, we had talked about how we wanted to do more of a performance video and one day while we were on tour, Marc called me up and was like "I want to get live wolves for the video" And that was that. We trust him completely and knew he would do an awesome job.

Hell Yeah! “Pray For Darkness” is by far one of the best songs of the record! Which song seems to be the dark horse of the album or which song speaks to you guys the most?

One of the songs that we love and have been stoked on or how much everyone else is into it is, Sorceress. We all love playing that song because its such a ripper! Ever where we play it it seems to be a crowd favorite with some huge sing alongs at the chorus which is always amazing! One of our favorites to play as well is Lucifer's Rocking Chair. It has such a different groove so to slam into a real stoner song in the middle of our set and just get everyone head banging is awesome for us.

Totally agree, you gotta give the stoners something to bang their stoned ass heads to! Tell me Liam, what are some of the misconceptions about the band?

I think people who don't really know the band or have a real connection to hardcore at all are always suprised at how nice and polite we are. I think people think that because we scream and play heavy music that we would be pissed off or angry, but we are very much the opposite.

In you guys’ opinion, what are some of the biggest problems or obstacles in metal music of today?

I don't know if I can think of any problems at all with metal. It seems right now there's a lot light being shed on the metal scene and lots of kids are getting into heavier bands. The new Slipknot just debuted at #1 in the US so I think right now so many people are stoked on heavy bands its an amazing time to be playing that type of music.

What’s the best advice that you guys have gotten as a band or do you guys have any advice for up and coming bands about to break into the scene?

One of the best things that we picked up from touring with bigger bands is, how serious they are about their set and live show. If you want to be a real band, take yourself seriously, there's no way you can play shows wasted and expect to be taken seriously. We all love having a good time and partying but we all want to play the show we can every night and there's no way you can do that drunk off your ass.

Excellent point! You youngin's listening? Listen Up! Anyhow, Refferal time! Give me your 5 best metal albums or 5 best metal phrases of all time?

I would say 5 best metal phrases would be:
#1 "FUCKIN YEAH" can't beat it, tried and true
#2 "ALL HAIL _" the blank could be the city your playing, "the riff", "the dark lord", "weed" Hailing things is an amazing metal call.
#3 "I wanna see this place erupt!" mosh calls are hilarious
#4 "Guitar!" when there's a guitar solo and the singer calls it out before hand....classic
#5 "Who's fucked up right now!?!" calling out the most wasted ragers at the show. The more metal the show the louder the wasted chant is. That's when you know you're at a good show.

Hahaha 'I wanna see this place erupt'....That is classic metal phrase at its best! What are some of the band’s guilty pleasures?

We listen to tons and tons of indie rock...but we aren't guilty of that, I'll shout it out from the roof tops "I like having good times and listening to good jams!" There's nothing to be ashamed of....nothing.

I hear you. So what else can we expect from for the rest of 2008 going into 2009?

We're touring the rest of 2008 and then early 09 we're going to bunker down for a month to try and bang out some new jams for a record maybe at the end of 2009. Nothing set in stone but we have a ton of ideas on how to crank up the blue print we set with Hail so we're all stoked to push the limits of head banging to the next level.

Any additional comments or shout-outs?

Big Ups to everyone that's been showing us Bats tons of love and we love to keep touring and partying it up with so many rad kids all over the world!

keep it real!

Thanks Liam and tear it up boys, see you at a show soon!



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