I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

Cancer Bats need no introduction. Originating in 2004 with Liam (vocals) and Scott (guitar), these guys have since toured all over the world, shared the stage with the likes of Alexisonfire  and even won some awards in between. Their debut album, Birthing the Giant, was met with huge acclaim and now with the release of their second album, Hail Destroyer, there appears to be no stopping these guys! iheartthemusic caught up with Liam while he was in Toronto for the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour and asked him how he felt about being the only Canadian band on the tour.

iheartthemusic: So how’s the tour going so far?

Liam: I really just want it to be over. I mean, we played two and a half months of tour and we finally get to our hometown only to have to leave the next morning? Boo! Although, Montreal is going to rip! The last time we played there it was crazy.

iheartthemusic: Really? A good fan base there then?

Liam: Montreal is a tough city. We started the band when I was living there, actually. Originally the band wasn’t supposed to be full time at all because Scott was playing in another band and I was obviously living in Montreal, so we thought that there was no way that we were going to make it happen. Then the band started to do really well, so I was taking the bus and the train to Toronto every weekend. The good thing was that it didn’t deteriorate my pocketbook since Scott was working for VIA at the time, but it did deteriorate my relationship. In the end my girlfriend broke up with me because she hated the fact that my band was so important to me. Fast forward to now, and my band rules and I have a girlfriend who is amazing!

iheartthemusic:  Well it sucks to be the ex-girlfriend then! Being the only Canadian boys on this tour, what was the response like in the U.S.?

Liam: There were definitely a lot of kids who had never heard of us before, or maybe just listened to our MySpace, so in a way we took on every night trying to impress people and really put the word out.

iheartthemusic: When you returned to Canada it must have felt like a huge homecoming then?

Liam: It was so wicked because we were getting hometown response in every city, so for us it was really nice to even just show the other dudes on the tour that our band is worth something. We also did a bunch of off-dates too, like Thunder Bay a few nights ago, that weren’t part of the tour. So for those dudes to see us in the smaller towns and still have a good following, I’m just like, “ya, we own Canada”. It’s wicked because it makes all that hard work that we put into it worthwhile so I’m stoked.

iheartthemusic: Having toured quite a bit, what place has surprised you the most?

Liam: I will say that the craziest thing that happened was on our last tour, we went to Helsinki, which we had never been to. You have to take a 10 hour ferry to get there and we show up and it ended up being the best show of our tour.

iheartthemusic: Why was that?

Liam: Kids knew the words to the songs and were super psyched that we were playing and didn’t even care about the headliner. They bought tons of merch too, so all over the place it was a great show.

iheartthemusic: How did you decide on your style of music?

Liam: When we were starting the band we were really into a lot of rock, hardcore stuff. So there were a lot of bands that were doing this kind of thing at the time. It wasn’t like I wanted to copy those bands, but I was getting really excited about that style. We were seeing all these bands doing the hardcore thing, but none of it was done in a way that we wanted to have it. So we had all these ideas for our band to begin with and then we started jamming and it worked and it went from there.

iheartthemusic: You have mentioned before that from your first album to the one you recently released, you have matured a lot. Care to elaborate on that?

Liam: I think from touring so much everyone had really stepped up their game. Also, the fact that we were playing with so many amazing bands and were looking at these dudes thinking that we wanted to play just as good as or better then that. I mean, all across the board, Mikey, Scott and I had that same vibe without even talking about it. I wanted to step up with my vocals, not only just singing, but writing-wise too. So all of us were super excited to prove what we could really do it, which I don’t think we had done with the first album.

iheartthemusic: Well, the first record definitely garnered a lot of attention and you ended up winning two awards: one at the Indies and another at the MMVAs!

Liam: That’s the thing. I don’t discredit that album at all. I think there are some really great songs on it and am psyched on how it turned out, but I think if we were to rerecord that record now I would probably be a lot happier with how it sounds. I know that there were parts on that record where I couldn’t yell as loud as I wanted to or even when we got George [Alexisonfire] to come in and do “Pneumonia Hawk” he blew me away! So he dominated and I was just like, “fuck me, really dude”. I love him and was so psyched and if anything that really made me want to step up even to the point where we are finishing our record and I already want to get better. I’m stoked now because I feel like I can hold my own as singer against those dudes.

iheartthemusic: So was there any reasoning behind getting all these guest spots on your album?

Liam: They had been such a big part of our band. Obviously the Alexisonfire guys have helped us out so much in terms of where we are now by just always throwing us a bone. They took us on tour for three months when Birthing the Giant came out. At the same time you want to have your friends come along and be a part of it because you are excited.

iheartthemusic: Do you feel that there is a sense of community amongst bands?

Liam: I would in Southern Ontario for sure, but also more so in Canada in general. There aren’t a lot of full-time bands in Canada so everyone wants to help each other out as much as possible. It’s tough everywhere right now. I mean, we benefited from the help we got from other people so we want to help out the friends that are doing the same thing or want to be a serious band.

iheartthemusic: With this  new record Hail Destroyer, you mention that you were writing about a lot of personal things, so did that make it easier for you to write?

Liam: To realize that when you write something intensely personal how much other people realate to it is incredible. So many people have come up to me and been like, “that song ‘Regret’ means so much to me”. That’s a really intensely personal experience that I had, so the fact that all these other people had a similar thing is cool.

iheartthemusic: There seems to be a lot of death associations in the lyrics and song titles, is this indicative of the style of music you play?

Liam: I think there is going to be a lot of darker aspects and that is something that I am definitely stoked on. Thinking about it, I wonder if that is something that always goes along with it. Like look at the fact that a lot of punk rock kids skateboard, it’s just like something that happens to go along with it. I think that that’s just a part of the genre that you just classically write about without getting cliché or hung up on it. I do realize that I’m guilty of it as well.

iheartthemusic: So what’s up next for you guys?

Liam: We are going to write our new record this summer because, basically, once we get finished touring we are going to come home and write it for the next few months and put it out sooner than later and then keep touring.

photography provided by Patrick Moore