Interview with Cancer Bats lead vocalist Liam Cormier

After touring the globe in support of their debut album Birthing the Giant, the Cancer Bats are back with a phenomenal new release entitled Hail Destroyer. Combining a unique blend of hardcore, southern metal, and punk rock the Cancer Bats have recorded a series of songs that draw the listener in and grab a hold of them by the throat, not letting go until they have had a healthy dose of some great metal. Heavy and extremely catchy and hook-laden this band is unbelievably fun to listen to. Lead vocalist Liam Cormier recently sat down to answer a few questions about the band and their tour which will have them on the road through 2009.

The name of the band Cancer Bats is interesting to say the least and sounds as if there is a story behind it. Where did the name come from and what is the story?
Liam: I thought up the name before we even started the band. I was just goofing around at work with some friends and was putting diseases and animals together. It came down to pneumonia hawk or cancer bats. I liked the ring of Cancer Bats so it stuck.

Your brand new CD titled Hail Destroyer was released on 06/24/08 now that it is complete how do you feel about it? Are you satisfied with the outcome?
Liam: I’m super stoked on how the record came out. We had a lot of fun writing and recording it and we worked really hard, so it’s cool to sit back now and be really proud of it.

Give us some insight into the record Hail Destroyer and the meaning behind its title?
Liam: The idea behind Hail Destroyer is about looking at the hard things in life as a positive. For us starting this band we had to struggle and to work with what we had and for a long time we were all super broke, but we kept at it and kept working hard. From the nothing that we had we’ve come to appreciate every little thing we’ve gotten along the way. From the littlest things like having kids sing along at a show to someone letting us sleep on their floor when we’re on tour. All of those things mean so much to us. It goes with the idea that you can’t appreciate anything until you’ve had nothing.

What is the hardest part about being in a touring metal band and what is the biggest obstacle your band faces?
Liam: For us we love being out on tour so much. We’re out on the road for about 10 to 11 months out of the year. I would say the only hard part is missing girl friends and friends back home. Sometimes when you get back to town you feel like a bit of a stranger, where so much has changed and you’ve missed so many things while you were gone. Sometimes that aspect can be a bit rough, but then you leave on tour again and everything gets awesome again playing shows.

The band keeps things interesting thematically. Can you talk about some of the subjects you tackle on this record?
Liam: A lot of the new record has to do with life on the road. Without really meaning to, all of the lyrics I was writing could be related back to that central theme. I think because I wrote a lot of the record while we were actually on tour and how so much of my life took place while on tour it always comes back to that. A song like “Lucifer’s Rocking Chair” is literally about how I do all of our night driving, drinking coffee, while everyone sleeps.
One of the other topics that come up is relationships I’ve had and how they’ve suffered and been affected from the touring we’ve done. In some ways being on tour is a great way to run away from your problems. When ever I would have problems in a relationship it was always so easy for me to just focus on work for the band and get wrapped up in that and not have time to deal with anything else. Sort of like tour as an escape from everything. Everything can get related back to tour for us, everything.

When you are on the road for a while I am sure you see and experience many different things you might not even have known existed. Are there any stories that stand out in your mind as being exceptionally strange or odd?
Liam: One thing that happened that totally blew my mind was last year when we were going to Australia (which is a mind blow in itself) and we had a lay over in Singapore. I went up to a Coffee place and the kid working there was like “are you the singer for the Cancer Bats?” And I was all “yeah?” And it turned out he knew about my band and was a big fan and gave us all free coffee and fruit juices. It was the craziest thing ever! I never thought something like that would happen.

All of that passion that you play with must be tough on you physically. How do you prepare for the physical demands of a tour?
Liam: We all try to take care of ourselves when we’re on tour. Sleep as much as we can and try to eat relatively well. We all stretch before we play every night and are really serious about our live show. We have fun every night but we always want to crush it.

What is the toughest lesson you ever learned in the studio and on the stage?
Liam: Toughest lesson I’ve learned is that I have to warm up my voice and learn to take care of it. Before I learned vocal warm ups and how to sing right I would blow out my voice and have to suffer through a tour, or when we were recording our first record I would have to take days off from singing to rest. But now that we’ve played a ton of shows I never lose my voice and recording this time was awesome.

By gaining a major label deal at such an early point in your career it’s clear that record execs see a lot of potential in your abilities. How do you not let that sort of pressure get to you when on the road or writing new material?
Liam: We don’t have a major label deal. All of the labels we work with in the world are run independently. Distort in Canada, Hassle in the UK, Shock in Australia and even BlackMarket in the US. They’re all indie labels. The best part of working with them is that they don’t have any pressure on us at all. They put out our records because they stoked on the band not that they think we will make them a pile of money. All of them are music fans first, which is amazing and I feel really lucky that we get to work with such rad people all over.

Besides musical influences what other artists and philosophies contribute to the main messages you try to convey to the listeners?
Liam: One of the biggest influences on all of us would be the work of Matthew Mathison. He’s a writer and a poet, but it’s just the way that he’s lived his life and puts so much passion into everything that he’s done that’s blown us all away and makes us want to step our lives up and really live.

What song from that album is still exciting for you to sing?
Liam: The whole album is still pretty new so I get stoked on singing all of them. The bigger thing for me is when people sing the lyrics back at me. That’s the best part of a live show is getting to interact with people.

Do you have jobs outside of the band and if so any interesting ones?
Liam: None of us have had to work a real job since 2006. We don’t really make any money but this is the best fake job in the world.

What is up next for The Cancer Bats?
Liam: We’re just gonna keep touring and having a blast until the end of 2009 when we start writing another record so we can keep doing this all over again!