Toronto punk band Cancer Bats are spreading their wings all over the world, but are looking forward to a quick Canadian tour which includes a stop in Lethbridge, Aug. 9 at Scores North.
“Lethbridge is one of those out of the way places where we can have a great show any day of the week because the scene is so strong there,” said Cancer Bats frontman Liam Cormier from a tour stop in Dallas.
“We’ve only ever really been there to play shows, but they’ve always consistently they’ve always been good. It’s one of those places where you know it’s going to be a good just because the scene is strong and people just want to have fun,” said Liam Cormier, Cancer Bats lead vocalist from sweaty Dallas.
“That's why we chose these stops when we decided to do this quick run through Canada. We know the shows are going to rule in Lethbridge, and we know the show is going to rule in Red Deer and we’ll save Calgary and Edmonton for next time. But this is going to be the real no holds barred fun show we can do any time of the year, any time of the week, we just know it’s going to be awesome so that was the main thing we’re getting stoked on,” he said adding Lethbridge can expect a solid set of heavy music.
“We’re all hard core, punk rock kids. For us, That what we grew up going to. I think the best place to see a band is when you’re right in front and you’re spitting on each other and having a good time and mixing it up like get a good sweaty pit going. For me that's where punk and hard core are always going to live.”
Cancer Bats blur the line between punk/hardcore and metal thanks to a plethora of big, beefy guitar riffs mixed with liberal doses of attitude and a lot of volume.
“That’s the thing where we definitely blur that line. It depends who you ask. We’re playing this tour and we’re considered a punk band on it, where we play more punk rock shows, that’s where we we come off as more of a metal band. Our band ourself is all over the place, but I think that’s because we overall just fans of music and not specific to any one genre, it makes it tough on people,” he said adding they are enjoying being the only punk band on the Cool Tour 2010 with Underoath, As I Lay Dying, Between the Buried and Me, the Acacia Strain, Architect and War of Ages.
“It pretty good, we’re having a good time. It's kind of like one of those things. There’s lots of summer festival tours going on all over the place so we’re kind of like dodging them, if that makes sense. We don’t have too much going on in the States,” he said.
“It’s made for an interesting routing where we’re driving all over the place and going to some different spots like you wouldn’t usually hit,” he said.
“We’re on a metal tour where we’re not the heaviest band for one. We’re kind of the punk band on the tour which we don’t have happen a lot, so it’s kind of refreshing. So it’s like people come up and say ‘we wish you were heavier,’ and we’re like ‘really? Okay that’s weird.”
He is impressed how word is spreading about the Cancer Bats in the United States.
“It was a bit of a different vibe last time we were in town. We were on the Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Against Me tour, which was amazing, but then we went and hung out at a bar after the show and everyone was just like ‘when are you going to play your own show. We want to see you in a dirty club. ’ And we’re like ‘yeah.’ That’s where our band was meant to be seen. We’re not a real hockey arena band. We had fun and the show was cool, but at the end of the day I don’t think Cancer Bats dominate hockey arenas,” he said adding they are looking forward to returning to Canada.
“Because we’ve toured the west so much and even just the whole country, everywhere seems like home to us. Playing Alberta or B.C or Manitoba where we seem to have lots of friends, so it’s really rad to come back and tour anywhere in Canada and play,” he said adding they are also excited about going overseas to tour Europe with Dillinger Escape Plan and Japan and Australia with Bullet For My Valentine. Cormier is impressed by the strong following they have overseas.
“We’ve toured with them a lot so it will be cool to be back on the road with those guys (Bullet for My Valentine). We’ve definitely gotten a great response, going over to Europe and especially like in England. We’re almost like a local band there because we tour so much and shows are going great so for us it’s really awesome to be able to tour there especially when we’re pretty much unknown in America, so to know that we’re making some sort of headway elsewhere in the world like Australia or with Germany and stuff like that our shows are pretty much getting bigger and bigger. It’s defintiely something that gets us stoked,” he continued.
One thing Cancer Bats are known for is a unique choice in cover songs, namely a cover of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’
“I mean we’ve all been like big Beastie Boys fans for a long time,” he said adding they wanted to switch up their set during numerous summer festivals and concert dates with unusual cover songs.
“ Everybody knows that song whether you are into hardcore, punk or metal you can’t deny that song rules. So figured we could definitely hit all of our audience with that one and yeah, it was going over great, we might as well record it for the record and took it from there,” he said adding they previously recorded a whole CD of more obscure covers, such as Tegan and Sarah’s “So Jealous”
“That was just for fun because we had extra time in the studio and to have B sides. But the funny part is nobody knows any of those songs. Half the reason we decided to do the Beastie Boys cover because everybody knows it,” he said adding people are responding well to their latest CD “Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones.”
“People are stoked. It’s funny to think our first record came out in 2006 but a lot of people had never heard about our band until 2008 so in a lot of ways , with this new record in America, it’s almost the same thing. Like this is our first album down here to a lot of people and they’re just finding out about that.
It’s kind of neat how everywhere in the world it’s kind of gone differently.
In Canada kids are stoked the third record sound like a combination of our first two. Then we come to the States and they say ‘I just got your record and we say great, have you heard our first and second record?’ And they say I didn’t know you had a first or second one,” he laughed.
“Especially people who were fans before are psyched at how heavy it is and how we have punk songs that are coming back. So we’re definitely happy with the response,” he said adding they will likely tour on the CD until next year.
“We’re only just getting out to spots for the first time so it won’t be until next year ,” he said.
