I gave Liam of Cancer Bats a call and found a quiet corner to chat about Canada and its greatness. Soon after Vic of Pierce The Veil stopped by for some…moral support…and made some time for a few quick questions.
Racket Kristen- So how are you liking Vegas?
Cancer Bats Liam- Um, you know I can’t give a fair enough answer because I’ve only ever been here- I rode my bike to the suburbs right where the strip ends. It took me like three and a half hours to bike there. There’s nothing really interesting about Vegas, except for the strip. Alright, let’s get this interview started or we could just talk about being from Las Vegas.
RK- I think I’d rather start the interview.
CL- Ok, my name’s Liam I sing in the mother fucking Canadian hardcore-punk band Cancer Bats- actually, I’d throw metal in their too. We have a lot of metal in the band, Southern metal.
RK- So Celine Dion, Pamela Anderson, and the cast of Degrassi are all from Canada, do you know any of them personally?
CL- Personally, no. I guess the people from Degrassi High are all old now, so I guess I’ll see some of them working at restaurants now. They are all kind of B level. They’re not even B level- like they’ll be your waiter and you’ll be like, “Oh hey, what’s up?” We are all just people. Canada doesn’t have a big like put people up on a pedestal. They’re just very congratulatory, like we’re nominated for a Canadian Grammy.
RK- Well congratulations on the nomination. So if I were to Google your name before you were famous what would I find?
CL- Well I don’t think I’m famous now so I don’t know. Probably nothing, I would guess. I don’t even have Facebook or MySpace. So yeah, probably nothing. Got anything else for me?
RK- Oh I’ve got plenty to ask. Remember in high school the “Best of the Best” awards? Well give me your nominations for “Best of the Best” for the band.
CL- I’d give Best Tattoos to our bass player Jay, he’s got some good tattoos, especially visible tattoos. He just got his neck tattooed when we were in Belgium and he’s had his hand tattooed for the last like…before hand tattoos were really cool, when it was really moody and intense to have hand tattoos Jay had his hand tattooed.
And then Mikey, I’d give Mikey the award of Best Party Vibe. When its time to party, Mike will party hard. He’s always down. Shoot me another question.
RK- Alright, another question? Sure. If you were President what would be your first order of business?
CL- Well would I be the President of Canada? Or I mean the Prime Minister of Canada or the President of the United States?
RK- Your choice.
CL- Oh I don’t even know… My first order of business would be to wonder why they elected some Canadian that doesn’t even know the system. I don’t think I’d even want to be President, the amount of shit you have to deal with being President would be insane. I feel like being the leader of a band is enough responsibility for me. I’m just trying to hang out with Vic from Pierce the Veil.
[Vic from Pierce The Veil walks over so I ask him to join in.]
CL- Vic! How would you describe Cancer Bats?
Pierce the Veil Vic- I’d say very… uh…it’s like the kind of music that I would want to play, I think. It would be fucking fun to play- like fast and you just all are playing to your fullest. At all times each one of you is just like AHH amazing.
CL- Thanks man. Bring it in!
[High fives all around.]
CL- This would be my description of Pierce the Veil…I would say that your band is the most intense positive vibe, in a good way. Like that one song where you’re just like, “Smile!” That completely makes me think of what kind of music you play- like it’s music you listen to and you’re just smiling. It’s like sunny days, that’s what you make me think of. And you guys are definitely the tightest band of this tour, you and Thursday. You rock, you rock solid on it like everyday. And you do the coolest jumps. You guys are tight.
PV- You guys are tight too, but your style calls for a little bit of grunge. That’s why I like you guys, you’re kind of like At The Drive In- you know how the guitar player just does whatever he wants but it’s totally cool.
CL- I was just listening to At The Drive In the other night while I was driving…[Pauses.] You know what my favorite band would be? Led Zeppelin. I heard some Led Zeppelin on the radio the other day while I was driving and I was totally like this is going to be a kick ass day just because Led Zeppelin was on the radio. This is a completely different subject but you know Converge?
RK- I know Converge.
CL- Well Nate from Converge has this really sweet rock band- it kind of sounds like my band. All the songs are about skateboarding and being awesome. “RIDE OR DIE!” Google it. I have a hoodie. That was really lame, I have no idea why I brought that up.
PV- I liked that, I actually had a picture of that in my head.
CL- In all honesty I think Four Year Strong is the most “hardcore” band of the tour. Like it wouldn’t make sense for my band and Pierce The Veil to tour together or Bring Me The Horizon and my band to tour together. I don’t think any of it would work on its own, but the fact that everyone’s together that there’s all these bands, that’s what makes it so great.
RK: So Vic, you guys had another band before Pierce the Veil, didn’t you?
PV- That band was called Before Today. We did one record then we kind of broke up to start this band with my younger brother Mike and I. [He and I] actually wrote this whole record and we kind of created the band off of all that. So it was kind of a weird situation because we had the whole record set before we even had a band.
RK- That’s cool that you’re in a band with your brother. Do you guys ever fight or anything?
PV- We don’t like duke it out or anything but yeah we get into little spats here and there.
CL- I couldn’t imagine having to go on tour with someone you’ve already been around your whole life, because me and my brother fight all the time already.
[Author’s note: The tour manager cut this interview short to start the show! Bust!]
–Kristen Waldeck