Interview with City Of Fire bassist Byron Stroud

Check out the song: “Carve Your Name”

Whether it’s making a new album or touring, Byron Stroud is one man in the metal world that seems to always be doing something musical – his latest band City Of Fire are currently in the studio recording a brand new record for fans all over the world. Recently Byron gave us a bit of his time to answer a few questions about the new album, touring and the history of City Of Fire.

Let’s go back to the beginning for City Of Fire. I know you played bass for Fear Factory, but how did it come about starting City Of Fire with Burton Bell?
Byron: I had an old band I played in in the early 90’s called Caustic Thought. It was myself, Bob Wagner, Ian White and Jed Simon. Devin Townsend was also in this band at one time. We played a reunion show in Vancouver and Jed couldn’t make it so we had Terry “sho” Murray fill in for him. It went very well so we decided to keep jamming and write some new songs. Once we started hearing our direction with the new tunes I knew that Burt would love it and want to be involved. We sent him the demos and I was right. He was here a month later and we were making a record.

Where did you get the name City Of Fire?
Byron: We had a long list of names written on the wall of our rehearsal room. It was really hard to come up with a name that hadn’t already been used. You can Google any name and see that 10 bands around the world are already using it. Burt really wanted a name that described the city that we were creating this music in and that influenced him so much. And that city is Vancouver.

You guys are working on your followup to your self-titled release. Can you give us any details on the album like where you recorded, producer, number of tracks, release time etc.?
Byron: We’ve been recording at The Factory Studios in Vancouver, Iguana Studios in Toronto and The Time Capsule in Burnaby BC. It is being produced by Terry “Sho” Murray and City Of Fire. There are 10 tracks. The album will be released early 2012.

How do you guys go about writing City Of Fire songs?
Byron: We all write songs. Terry wrote 80 percent of the music on the new record, with everyone contributing to his ideas. And Burt and Terry write all the vocals and Lyrics.

Any upcoming tour plans?
Byron: We are making plans to tour the world when this record is released.

Do you find the rigors of touring taking more of a toll on you as you get older?
Byron: Touring can be tiring no matter what your age. Yes the travel is tough, but the shows make it all worth it.

Check out the song: “Rising”

When you are out on the road anything can happen and often does. Can you think of any disastrous events that happened while out on tour?
Byron: Last year with Fear Factory was one of the busiest and most disastrous bits of touring I’ve done. We had a bus driver fall asleep while driving in Idaho and we ran off the road. In England we had a bus catch on fire and burn to the ground and we had many bus break downs, cancelled flights do to Volcanoes and bad weather leaving us stranded all over Europe.

This is the Strapping Young Lad fan in me, but has there been any thought about a possible reunion tour or anything?
Byron: You would have to ask Devin that question. The rest of us would love to but Dev would have to be in the right mind space to deal with it.

What’s happening in the near City Of Fire/Byron future?
Byron: We are finishing up the record and getting things in place to take City Of Fire to the World.