Primordial Radio is very excited to announce that Cancer Bats frontman Liam Cormier will be taking part in the Radio Residency for the month of September.

Hosted by presenter Adam Whalley, the Radio Residency sees Adam and Liam dig into Cancer Bats’ new album Give Me Dirt, working with legendary Converge guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou, and how new guitarist Jackson Landry brought the perspective of a lifelong Cancer Bats fan into the writing process.

They also explore the ideas behind Give Me Dirt, from Liam’s growing frustration with an increasingly digital world to reconnecting with nature, getting outside and, quite literally, getting some dirt. Liam explains why Cancer Bats remain committed to the raw energy of four people making heavy music together and why, after two decades, the band still knows exactly what it wants Cancer Bats to sound like.

Listen On-Demand

Tune into the Cancer Bats Residency exclusively on Primordial Radio. Listen on Wednesday 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd September from 10am (BST). Shows will be available on demand here shortly after broadcast.

Cancer Bats

Canadian hardcore punk heavyweights Cancer Bats return with their eighth studio album, Give Me Dirt, released via Bat Skull Records/Marshall Records.

Produced by Kurt Ballou of Converge and Zach Weeks at God City Studios in Salem, Massachusetts, with vocals recorded by Ian Romano at Camera Varda Studios in Welland, Ontario, Give Me Dirt finds Cancer Bats embracing everything that has defined the band across the last two decades while continuing to push their sound forward.

The record also marks the first Cancer Bats album featuring guitarist Jackson Landry, who joined the band as a longtime fan and brought his own perspective on what makes Cancer Bats sound like Cancer Bats. Cormier describes Landry as someone whose musical reference point when writing for the band was often Cancer Bats themselves, helping reconnect the group with elements of earlier records including Birthing The Giant and Hail Destroyer.

Much of Give Me Dirt grew from all four members jamming together, building riffs, breakdowns and grooves collaboratively before Cormier took the songs away to develop their lyrics and vocal hooks. Those ideas frequently took shape while he was exploring the forests, dirt bike trails and beaches of rural Nova Scotia.

That connection with the natural world runs throughout the album. Alongside reflections on technology and digital overload, Give Me Dirt deals with loss, wildfires and the simple value of reconnecting with what exists beyond our screens.

For Cormier, the result is an album that draws together what the band has learned over the last twenty years into eleven new songs built to be played live.

As Liam puts it: “This is the Cancer Bats record we’ve been trying to write for the last twenty years.”

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