SPILL FEATURE: GIVE ME DIRT, GIVE ME SOMETHING REAL – A CONVERSATION WITH CANCER BATS’ LIAM CORMIER

GIVE ME DIRT, GIVE ME SOMETHING REAL

A CONVERSATION WITH CANCER BATS’ LIAM CORMIER

Earlier this year, Canadian punk titans Cancer Bats celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Birthing The Giant. Not ones to rest on the achievements of yesteryear, the band is back with their eighth studio album, and their first record since 2022. Give Me Dirt drops on August 7 via Bat Skull Records, New Damage Records, and Marshall Records, and boasts featured performances from Converge’s Nate Newton, The Flatliners Chris Cresswell, Brooklyn Doran, and Death By Stereo’s Efrem Schulz, while also marking the recorded debut of guitarist Jackson Landry. Lead vocalist Liam Cormier discusses the writing, recording, and collaboration behind the record, while connecting further with his yearning for authenticity and the natural world, a theme at the heart of Give Me Dirt.

“The thing that we have always known, but the pandemic really hammered home, is that we are a band that needs to be in the jam room together,” Cormier states. Like the band has done time and time again, the writing began when the band could get together to write off of each other’s ideas. Landry, while joining the band in 2023, proved to be highly influential in this process. “Jackson comes from being a fan of the band. He’s referencing a lot of Cancer Bats songs from his perspective of like what he really loves about the band. When he was writing stuff, a lot of the riffs were like very early Bats, like this is like Birthing The Giant, this is like Hail Destroyer. It has that cool throwback feeling but coming from a genuine place. It’s not like us trying to remember what it was like to be 25.”

The result is an album and band that feels revitalized. Truly, Give Me Dirt can stand beside some of the band’s aforementioned classic albums. Elaborating, Cormier adds, “A song like ‘Positive Grid’ is a perfect example. That’s such a Cancer Bats vibe for the first two thirds of the song, then it’s Jack and I coming up with a total ass-beater of a breakdown to end the song, then Jay is adding his Sabbathy flair to those riffs on the outro. That to me is such a perfect collaboration of everything coming together.” Cormier further cites “Don’t Trip” as another example of Landry’s work and love for the band, “‘Don’t Trip’ is such an old kind of vibe for us that maybe we forgot about in a way… It’s been really fun and really interesting to have Jack’s view on the band. It has definitely helped spark some ideas.”

Give Me Dirt was recorded primarily at God City Studio in Salem, Massachusetts with producer Kurt Ballou (Converge, Kvelertak, High on Fire, Every Time I Die) and Zach Weeks. Reflecting on this, Cormier states “It was amazing to go down there, to a legendary studio like God City. Do many of our favourite albums have been recorded there. There’s just so much history, so many incredible players, so many cool vibes that have been captured in this one tiny room.” He continues, “They’re super focused, but they’re also really punk. They’re like ‘we’re capturing what your band actually sounds like and not and not trying to put you through a computer to have a weird hybrid version to push you around the grid,’” which speaks to the incredibly chaotic, almost live feel behind the album. There is a relentlessness behind Give Me Dirt that makes for a thrilling delivery, and much of this comes to how the record was made. Following a stint at God City, Cormier reconvened at Camera Varda Studios in Welland, Ontario to cut vocals with Daniel and Ian Romano. Cormier tells me “Dan is an amazing singer; Ian is  an awesome engineer and producer. They just pump out so much cool stuff… Dan Romano And The Outfit, there are so many melodies in that, there is such a focus on vocals.” As it turned out, Ian Romano was a significant asset in supporting Cormier craft some of the more melodic elements on Give Me Dirt, as well has find his voice as a singer, “When you listen to like the bridge of ‘Ocean Crash’ or the verse of ‘Prognosis’, those are super melodic, very different from anything I’ve tried before. Ian helped me to rein it in.”

PURCHASE GIVE ME DIRT

Throughout our conversation, there is a reoccurring theme of authenticity that emerges at many points. This is seen within the music, “The biggest thing that we’ve always wanted to do is having albums that represent us and that we can play live. There is nothing worse than when you see a band and clearly there is a studio version of the band and a live version of the band. I’m not a fan of that, especially in hardcore.” This comes up again when discussing the many collaborations and featured artists within the album, with Cormier explaining, “I always want them to be based on friendship or what the band looks like, not just trying to get a random guest because it will be good for marketing… We so many incredible friends and it’s kind of why we want to be in this world and do this still. We love all these people that we get to share this life with.” The central message withing Give Me Dirt comes from this very place through Cormier’s experiences of renovating a century old cabin on the coast of Nova Scotia and riding motorcycles through the mountains of Nepal. The former taught him lessons on slowing down as he left the business of the city while reconnecting with the natural world, as he surmises, “There is so much in this space that can be drawn upon for inspiration, but also life lessons, like don’t be in such a rush, take time to actually observe the world around you and be more mindful.” The latter comes from a pair of life-changing experiences as Cormier rode motorcycles throughout Nepal with Wade MacNeil and members of Nepal-based band, Underside. As he recounts, “It really got me thinking about that return to Earth, that return to nature and not wanting to get lost in your phone and being distracted. For us, in a western society, we have so much and it seems like people still struggle but then you’re in a place like Nepal where people have very little but they’re so friendly and kind, and they’re so happy. To me, there is something very obvious about this whole thing, that it’s more about living a grounded lifestyle, very connected to this environment around you, and being more appreciative of the nature in the world you exist in.” Voice notes from this trip – temple bells and children singing during Diwali – made their way onto the title track straight from Cormier’s phone.

Recharged and ever so humble, Cormier is excited as Cancer Bats embark upon a new era, “I think just being in this world where we’ve been doing this band for 20 years has just reinvigorated us… How amazing it feels to have this be our job and have this be the thing we get to do with our time. I feel like there was a lot of that energy injected in this album”. Musically, Cancer Bats are operating at a clip equal to that of two decades prior; their momentum feels unstoppable. However, there is a more reflective ethos behind Give Me Dirt, one which is greatly tied to Cormier’s pursuit to reconnect with a slower life in search of his own peace. As he concludes, “I began to think of that whole idea of being sick of AI generated art, AI music or even autotune or any of that stuff, these overdigitized things. People, and ourselves as well, really wanting something real, really tangible, like, I’m sick of my phone, give me dirt, give me something real.” He speaks with both a sense of passion and yearning. While there is no doubting the genuine nature Cancer Bats have carried with them throughout the past, their continued quest for authenticity, this deep in their career and in our increasingly digital age, is remarkable and has directly ignited the spark behind Give Me Dirt.

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Photo Credit: Joey Senft