Interview with Cancer Bats

With their fourth album imminently due for release and with more UK and worldwide festival appearances than in recent years, the four-piece “hardcore band” Cancer Bats are set for a very big summer. With that introduction you’d be forgiven for thinking they were new to the music scene, however the Canadian natives have been around (in various line-up formats) for almost eight years, forming a solid and loyal fan-base that is definitely set to grow. Having developed from support act to many of Canada and America’s best known rock and hardcore bands, Cancer Bats are currently headlining shows across Canada and are set to play at, and headline, several UK summer festivals. They also have recently been announced on the line-up of the newly created and much anticipated Costa de Fuego Festival in Spain. I spoke with Lead Singer and one of the original members of Cancer Bats, Liam Cormier, ahead of their Canadian tour.

For anyone who doesn’t know you very well, what is your sound like?
I would ask anyone what their two favourite bands are, then I tell them we sound like a good mix of the two.

Would you put yourselves into a genre?
I always tell people were a hardcore band. That’s where we all come from and still how we run our band. Hardcore ‘till the day I die.

How did you come up with the name ‘Cancer Bats’?
I came up with it back in the day just putting together diseases and animals. Thought Cancer Bats was pretty catchy.

What is your favourite Cancer Bats song?
Right now I would say Old Blood that’s my party jam, it gets me pumped nonstop.

Your new album, ‘Dead Set on Living’, comes out shortly. Is the sound different from your previous albums?
I think it sounds more like a solid mix of all our favourite parts of our past three albums. We just tried to take all those vines and crank them up to eleven!

Did you have any specific inspiration when you were creating the record?
Our main goal was to try to not take things too seriously and to just have fun with it. I find that makes for more honest music instead of being caught up in thinking what other people would want you to sound like.

Which bands inspire you? Are there any recent ones?
We’re all still super inspired by the great bands we first got into as kids. Bands like Sabbath, Zeppelin, ACDC, Pantera, Metallica, those classic bands that we still all listen to this day, that kind of stuff is really inspiring. New bands that rip are Black Breath, Early Graves, All Pigs Must Die, Sex Tears, Enabler, Shit, Trash Talk, Primitive Weapons – lots of rad bands coming out right now

Last year you toured as ‘Bat Sabbath’, a Black Sabbath Tribute band. What was that like for you? Has it influenced the new album in any way?
Doing Bat Sabbath is super fun. The crowd gets way too wasted and we all party together and have a great time! It’s a real no brainer. Learning how the masters lay down dark grooves had a huge influence on us. It was like going to heavy metal high school.

Have you got any advice for someone wanting to start out in the music industry?
Always trust your vibe.

Are you looking forward to returning to the UK this summer to play the Slam Dunk festivals? [Cancer Bats are also playing at Hit The Deck, Download and Reading/Leeds Festivals]
UK festivals are always such a party I think its going to be a blast!

As a band that tours pretty extensively, where is your favourite place to play?
I love playing any place gnarly that most bands don’t go to. Kids at those shows are way more stoked and it’s always crazy. Spots like Poland or Slovenia always get really nuts!

What is your favourite show or festival that you have played in your eight years as a band?
We played a basement show in Leeds once where it was 50 of us packed in a little room and everyone was sweating so hard. Shows like that are the best.

Cancer Bats are playing at five London locations on the 21st April for their Pentagram tour, then at the Slam Dunk Festival at Leeds University on the 26th May.