From Hatebreed to Hot Snakes, LIAM CORMIER comes up with his ultimate slaylist.
The Cancer Bats frontman guides us through the tunes that shaped his life, from Converge to Wu-tang
The first Time I ever heard LED ZEPPELIN was when I was at summer camp. I was about nine years old and the older counsellors were playing us bands. Then, all of a sudden, I just heard the heaviest thing ever: Immigrant Song. It was so much heavier than any other song I had heard. From there, Led Zeppelin were what I based my pre-teen identity on. It’s insane, the idea that that song is still inspiring people. Then there was a lot of skate punk that I got into, like NOFX. Songs like The Brews have a lot of different aspects to them: NOFX could be silly and goofy, but could also be political and talk about a lot of serious stuff. And The Brews is a Jewish boy anthem, taking the idea of being a rowdy punk song but having it be about a Hebrew. Through skate punk, I found hardcore, which felt like the next level. A lot of skate punk was about getting wasted, but YOUTH Of TODAY didn’t do that, and they were so tough! I think Break Down The Walls is their big stand-out track. It would make you go ‘What even is this?!’ because the vocals are the gnarliest and the song sounded like it was recorded in a bunker. That hardcore scene was so inspiring and crazy: I got to see TRAGEDY play at a house show and I was blown away by a band that was so off-the-grid. Confessions Of A Suicide Advocate is really technical and brutal, but it’s melodic, too. It’s so interesting that they’re that heavy but can still be beautiful. It’s like the hope in humanity is present in those guitar lines.
I’m including HOT snakes because they were formed by members of Rocket From The Crypt and Drive Like Jehu – two bands that were really big inspirations. Automatic Midnight is a melodic, driving song that doesn’t follow punk, metal or hardcore, but still has all the spirit. That was a huge thing for me. Because I was into skateboarding, I listened to a lot of metal, but it wasn’t everything I listened to. Then I found CONVERGE and realised what I’d been missing. Songs like The Saddest Day bring the chaos that I want from metal, with the direct and to-the-point side of hardcore. I don’t need a long, wanky solo; I want brutality! And Converge shows were so crazy and destructive. Everybody was losing their minds! In a really fun way, you were scared being there.
hatebreed were similar to Converge in being so to-the-point. I would listen to Satisfaction Is The Death Of
Desire from front to back. It felt so raw and those songs, like Burn The Lies, are just two minutes long! So brutal, so heavy and the things that Jamey Jasta is singing about are also so, so heavy. I was a kid from Canada; I had no reference for this kind of hatred, but I was an angsty teen as well. I was just so pissed off! WU-TANG CLAN’S Bring Da Ruckus is akin to that same kind of raw energy. 36 Chambers was in all the skateboarding movies and that song just sets the tone of what you’re getting into. There’s no poetry: these guys are talking about selling crack and trying to find their way. This, to me, is just like listening to Hatebreed. I was so into 90s East Coast hip hop that I could easily do a Top 20 of all those artists. I’m also massively into stoner rock as a genre, and DEAD MEADOW are one of my favourite bands. On Shivering King And Others, there’s an idea that being really heavy and droning can also somehow be melodic and gentle. It’s on a different end of the heavy spectrum. Along with stoner rock, I was really into riot grrrl. I wanted to go to the Hatebreed show and be a part of a brutal mosh, but then
I’d go to the same venue the next week to see Le Tigre and be a part of this mostly female punk scene. And Deceptacon is such a banger. It’s accessible to everyone: you play it at any rock night and people will party.
“I WANT BRUTALITY, NOT WANKY SOLOS!” Cancer Bats’ latest album, The Spark That
Moves, is out now. the Band tour the uk this month