HANKER - For Whom The Bell Tolls!
by Aaron Small

French-Canadian power metallers Hanker are busy supporting their newest release, The Dead Ringer (For review see Issue #20). Drummer Luc Guay is anxious to make as many new fans as possible.

«Our greatest influences were Judas Priest, Metal Church and Iron Maiden. We grew up listening to these bands and have stuck to our roots. We didn't get influenced by the new stuff. We're not doing our music to get involved in the new scene. We don't need to be completely original. We write as we feel it has to be. Power, melody and feeling are most important. We're not trying to be commercial, or really rough, or anything.»

The concept behind The Dead Ringer fell into place unintentionally. Lead vocalist Pascal Cliche «dreamt one night of an old man and a bell ringing. At that time we had already written The Age Of The Quick Fix and The Clown. We started to see relationships develop between the songs. It all kind of came together naturally.»

With the heavy music climate in Canada seeming rather stagnant, Hanker have made The Dead Ringer available as an import disc in Germany. Luc tells us that, «the sales in Europe are going better than we ever thought they would. We're received radio airplay in Norway, Germany and Australia. But for us, the metal scene at home is totally dead.»

Hanker's plans for the future are to «release a live album», states Luc. «Most people who know us well, came to see us live often. Even if we played in small bars, they always said that there is more magic and energy in a live show. We're planning a big show in a big theatre where we would tape the live album and try to do a video clip. But nothing is concrete yet.» For more information log onto http://www.hankermetal.com.

Source: BW&BK magazine (Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles) #22 page 46, February/March 1998