BAT SABBATH
CANCER BATS HAVE DUSTED OFF THEIR SABBATH COVERS BAND FOR SOME DATES
So what was the inspiration for doing Bat Sabbath again?
“Well, in between albums it’s a fun thing to do. It’s about learning those different riffs and getting into a different headspace. And it’s great to see those Cancer Bats fans, who are super-stoked to see us. It gets us really pumped up to write new material.”
With a catalogue as huge as Black Sabbath’s, how do you choose what to play?
“We kind of put it out there on the internet to vote on. Luckily our fans have good taste! I’d say 90% is the stuff we want to play anyway. Stuff from the first four records. So when a kid goes, ‘You should play Symptom Of
The Universe!’ we can go ‘Yes! We definitely should!’ There are some we’d love to play that we don’t, like I’d love to be able to play the harmonica so we could do The Wizard, but it’s too hard.”
You guys are now almost the only place you can see those songs live now! “Yeah, us and Zakk Sabbath. I feel like since Black Sabbath called it a day more people are excited to come to the shows. Maybe they’ve been jamming more Sabbath because of that, but we’re used to doing rooms to about 100 people and some of these shows are to 500!”
Tackling those classics, do you get a new appreciation for what masters of their craft they were?
“Oh, sure. Ozzy, man, his range is crazy. I will say I do some ‘interpretations’; ours is less a straight-up tribute and more a Cancer Bats version of the songs. I get so into them that when it comes to the higher-end stuff I have to just scream it out.” “This year is just for writing and Bat Sabbath shows. The record’s out next year. We want to build on the raw, gnarly aspect of the last record. But all the new songs are more amped, more party jams, because now we’re having the best time. I just ride motorbikes and play shows now, so when it comes to writing a song that’s what’s coming out.”