It's an exciting time in the Cancer Bats camp right now. According to singer Liam Cormier, the Toronto-based band is just about to vacate the rehearsal space at Islington and Lakeshore where they've been residing for the last six months. They're about to move back to more familiar ground downtown now, because wrapped work on their fourth LP. This news is so new, the record is still being mastered, artwork is still being finalized and a release date is still being discussed. While there's no missing the fact that Cormier would love to discuss the new record, he can't even say for certain what the album's name will be because nothing is set in stone just yet and he doesn't want to make promises he won't be able to keep – but the singer is willing to offer that this new record is exactly what fans will likely be hoping for from the band. “I think the big thing for us is that we're in a place where we really love our band,” says Cormier carefully. “We still love playing the material from the last three albums – we still stand behind it – so we didn't want to scrap what we've been working on or anything, we just wanted to be the best Cancer Bats.
“For this album, we looked over everything and tried to capture what we know everybody loves about our music as well as what we love about it,” continues the singer. “We looked at what we'd done and wanted to improve on that to give our fans something great, but we didn't look at it and say, 'Improve it? Let's add a keyboard! Or let's try and be more disco! Or let's try and get on the radio!' We didn't do anything like that, we just wanted to stoke out the party, and it was easy! Making this record was the fastest we've ever been in making a record. It was just kind of flowing through us and we got the writing, pre-production and recording done really smoothly, easily and quickly. We're still working out when the release date will be with our label, but hopefully it'll be when the snow melts; when it's really time to get out of your basement and party.
“We're trying to blow away people's expectations of what Cancer Bats can be, but not by trying to throw a curve ball. We're just trying to be the best example of ourselves as we can with this one. I think we've achieved that too; the people who have already heard the record have all said this album is the best thing they've heard us do.”
In listening to the way Cormier is talking, there's no doubt that the singer is excited to have people hear this new record, and the shine of it has clearly not faded so soon after work has been completed – but there's nothing he or the rest of the Cancer Bats can do, they'll just have to wait until everything is hammered flat legally until they can act – except there IS something else they can do! With work on the new record finished and a surplus of energy remaining in the band, Cancer Bats have dusted off an idea which first came together last July and re-instated it to help the band burn off some of their excess energy. “Bat Sabbath is the humorous name of our Black Sabbath cover band,” says Cormier with a chuckle, “but the idea wasn't actually ours in the beginning; it was proposed to us by the people who run the Sonisphere music festival in the UK. They had booked us to play the Sunday of the festival – the last day – and our set was in the afternoon at five or six o'clock. With us committed to that, they asked us if we'd be interested in just doing a fun covers set; just as something fun on the last day of the festival for those people who still want to party. The idea sounded like fun, so we decided to do an entire set of nothing but Black Sabbath songs.
As simple as the premise of doing such a show might sound, taking on a songbook as large and venerable as that of Black Sabbath does pose a few potential problems from a logistical standpoint. Will the sets attempt to cover elements of both the 'Ozzy' era as well as the 'Dio' era of the band? Will Bat Sabbath work some Cancer Bats material into their sets? Posing such questions to Cormier only draws a few laughs and dismissals; according to the singer, there will be nothing complicated about these shows or the set lists at all; it's supposed to be fun, and the focus on Sabbath's 'Ozzy' years reflects that. “These shows have been the excuse we've really wanted to just cut loose and burn off some steam – they're supposed to just be fun for everyone before we release the new album early next year and have to start promoting that.
“Everybody knows that, yes, there was the material that Sabbath recorded with Ronnie James Dio and it has fans certainly, but we're sticking to the early, classic Sabbath that everyone knows and loves,” continues the singer. “Those songs are like universally appreciated things like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin – everyone loves the early years of Black Sabbath. The years with Ronnie James Dio are okay and all, but no one says they like Robert Plant's solo stuff over Led Zeppelin. I think that's true of Sabbath too; with both bands the rawer elements are there on the first four albums and those are the things that people know and love, so that's what we're focusing on with Bat Sabbath. The same thing stands up for Led Zeppelin; like, as much as I like Physical Graffiti, that wouldn't be the go-to place if we were going to do a Zeppelin tribute. Again, it would seem more important to play “Black Dog” and “Stairway To Heaven” and “Immigrant Song” because those are the songs that people want to party to – not necessarily the songs of Physical Graffiti, even though I love that record. These sets aren't about personal gratification like that, they're just supposed to be things that everyone can have fun with; fun for us playing them, sure, but also fun for the people who paid to come to the show. It went over really well when we played the idea in Europe, so we've decided to bring it home to Canada and do some other shows with it before we release the new album early next year and have to start promoting that.”
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