Cancer Bats/The Daveed Saband
Cancer Bats
You'll Never Break Us // Separation Sessions Vol. 1 // New Damage Records
What do you get when you take a Juno nominated touring band of 15 years and throw a roadblock like a pandemic in front of them? You get You’ll Never Break Us // Separation Sessions Vol. 1 by Cancer Bats. An EP of hope, determination, and resilience. Songs to carry you into 2021 with a fighting spirit that don’t, and won’t, take no shit!
You’ll Never Break Us // Separation Sessions Vol. 1 is a digital release only. All proceeds go to Water First NGO. They give training in water purification to get clean drinking water to the communities that so badly need it. Everyone should have clean drinking water. Also please take note of the beautiful cover art done by Mi’kmaq design team at Born in the North Screen Printing Studio.
Cancer Bats were not about to let this pandemic ruin their fun. With restrictions set in place and each member living in a different city across the country they were forced to get creative. What a great time to revisit and re-record some of their best works! It encompasses a rawness, and passion that one might have previously missed in previous recordings. With this stripped down acoustic version you really feel the feelings behind the words. Don’t let that fool you though. It’s still hard as fuck! It’s got the growl and edge that I think 2020 brought out in all of us. Forced us all to face ourselves. Our dark and our light. A most excellent gracious offering from Cancer Bats!
I love punk rock and metal but when I first heard Cancer Bats at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton I was exposed to this softer acoustic sound from them right from the start. They were opening for City and Colour. Cancer Bats is/was the best opener City and Colour ever had out of all the many times I had seen them with my sister. They had shared some stories about how their name came about and followed up with a tearjerker. Ya I cried. Might I add that anything that has spawned from Alexis on Fire is pretty rad…. just saying.
The EP begins with “Deathsmarch To A New Acoustic Beat.” Dark guitars and haunting vocals that ring through. It also has some of the most powerful words… Hey world you’ll never break me! Give it your best shot! Hey world you’ll never break me! Try your hardest! Try your hardest! As I flip 2020 the bird I take these words as an affirmation to carry me into 2021!
“Bed Of Nails Dreams Of Tambourines” really brings the energy and flavour! Never gonna quit-never quit! Never gonna quit! The keys were a nice added touch on this one, they add some intensity to this acoustic dream.
You’ll Never Break Us // Separation Sessions Vol. 1 was the inspiration, and needed drive to punch through the bullshit, and move forward into the uncertain future that is 2021. I’m hopeful to have these words and this music. If it moved you and you dig it consider purchasing it on the next Bandcamp Friday (Feb 5th). The day when Bandcamp doesn’t take a cut and the artists get to keep all their earnings. In this case the charity would benefit further from a Bandcamp Friday purchase too! Be excellent to each other!
Love Always,
Green Noreen
The Daveed Saband
Melt Brain Melt // Independent
What makes a “quarantine album”? Perhaps it’s as simple as an album written and recorded in the time since everything went to shit in early 2020. However, a few other attributes might help an album lean into the moniker, and end up feeling uniquely like a product of these weird-ass times. One such attribute is an album being the creative vision of a single person (or perhaps a single household is fair as well). In this case, The Daveed Saband is the solo project of Vancouver-based bedroom pop musician Daveed Saban, who released Melt Brain Melt in December 2020. The record presents the exploratory creation of a musician working above all else to stave off his own lockdown boredom, and ultimately aiming not for consistency but instead to keep things interesting by letting the jams go where they need to go.
During a time when booking studio time and gathering musical collaborators has been a bit of a public health minefield, Saban makes the most of these limitations; so you might rightfully expect a certain “bedroom pop” lo-fi sound, drum machines instead of live drums, and arrangements not wholly practical for live performance. However, the isolated production of Melt Brain Melt also seemingly lent itself to surprising and adventurous turns, with writing and recording having been rolled up together into a singular experimental process. As a result, a listener willing to strap themselves in for the ride will be taken to some weird and undoubtedly rewarding places. Starting with a psychedelic trip-hop lounge groove (on the opening title track), the album wanders into proggy funk (Worms), goofy dad rock (Don’t Crack On Me), a disarming baroque waltz (“Schmuck” in A Minor), and even a killer surf rock instrumental (Gunslinger). As diverse as these sounds are, all of it showcases Saban’s musicianship and impressive skills as a multi-instrumentalist. Sandwiched between the weirder bits of the album are some extremely easy-listenin’ indie pop tunes (Stale Beer; Down N’ Dirty) that help the whole thing gel. The face-melting closing track (Melted (‘Till Next Time)) offers a nice bookend on the experience, like a flight attendant reminding you that the journey is ending and it’s time to return to your seat. You’ve gotta pass the quarantine time somehow, right? Might as well melt your brain.
- Julie Maier
