Song of the Week #53
You’ll have to cast your mind back some time, all the way to SOTW #16, where I talk about Letlive. and make reference to live bands using many of the old classic one-liners akin to “Wow, this is the craziest show we’ve done all tour!”
I’m very excited to be heading soon to the first local live shows I’ve seen in a long, long time - since pre covid would you believe. And it is all going to come in a massive flurry, with Kings of Leon playing Leeds arena midweek, Jesus Piece playing boom next Friday (Easter egg for next SOTW) and the Triple B takeover at Boom on the Saturday! Given how streaming has changed how artists are paid for their work, it is more essential than ever to go out and support the bands you like - go and watch them live! Buy a t shirt!
This Song of the Week is dedicated to the one band that immediately spring to mind when I think of the overused clichés at every rock show - the Cancer Bats. Don’t get me wrong, I used to be a huge fan of the Cancer Bats, I’ve seen them in multiple cities at multiple venues, and the first time seeing them queued up for hours outside the Cockpit in Leeds to make sure that we got a good spot (they weren’t even the main band, they were supporting Bring Me The Horizon). It’s a strange side thought actually, how big Bring Me The Horizon are now - they were back then in their own way, the music was for purists, but every metalhead and teenager with a slight rock affinity was a fan, and the Drop Dead clothing brand created by Oli Sykes was almost as big as the band itself!
It was a shame looking into the Cancer Bats for the first time in a long while that the founding guitarist Scott Middleton has since left the band to focus on family and health. A shame for us as fans that is; priority number one should always be your own wellbeing!
I remember (and may still have somewhere) from another of their shows at the Cockpit buying 2 different t shirts from the Bats. One a classic Ramones-style copy, which has aged beautifully, the other a bright red tee that I got Scott and singer Liam to sign at the time. I did this thinking they were going to be the next big thing, and it would adorn my wall with a pride of place spot forever, having seen them when they were only small, playing to a hundred people at a time. As a result of it being signed, I never wore it either - talk about 20 quid down the drain (or not, because as I said earlier SUPPORT THE BANDS YOU LIKE!)
It was a tough one choosing a song for them, as their cover of the Beastie Boys’ sabotage is a masterpiece, but I think I’ll leave it to the words Liam Cormier spoke to a crowd under Leeds University at the Slam Dunk Festival in 2011.
“Leeds! You’re the best! You motherfuckers are the best town we’ve been to on this tour! I think Leeds is the new home of the Cancer Bats from now on! Okay now Slam Dunk, this a little one we like to call Lucifer’s Rocking Chair”
Enjoy World Gin Day, grab a G&T, and if you happen to be in Oxfordshire, come say hi to me and Al at the Faringdon Gin Festival - Peace!