Canada has been renowned for supplying us with such high-class metal acts as TRIUMPH, SACRED BLADE, RUSH, ANVIL, OBLIVEON... in the past. And even though the latter three have recently released new material, and are still very much alive and kicking, not too many new Canadian outfits surfaced these past few years. Thus it's with great pleasure that I'm able to make you aware of HANKER, a quartet from the French part of Québec. They're one of the best melodic power metal bands I've come across lately. Even though they've been around for over a decade, it wasn't until 1994 that a first CD was released, independently. That was In Our World, which was re-released in 1996, through Germany's Art Of Music Records. Furthermore, HANKER is currently preparing new material for a new CD, which is to be released sometime next year. Read on and find out all about HANKER... The answers are courtesy of singer/guitarist Pascal Cliche.

Pascal - HANKER has a long, very long story! Pascal Cliche (lead vocals/guitars), Martin Jones (bass) and Patrick Gravel (guitars/backing vocals) are together since primary school. At that time, we used to play THE BEATLES songs. In 1984, we formed a heavy metal band called COBALT and began to play songs of IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, DIO, METALLICA, DEEP PURPLE, etc. In November 1985, Jeff Fillion, our first good drummer, joined us and the band became HANKER. At that time in Québec, you had to play covers only if you wanted to play in the clubs. Meanwhile, we began to write our own songs. In November 1990, Luc Guay substituted Jeff, and then we decided to take our career more seriously. In May 1991, we released our 5 song demo. Today, all of these songs are on In Our World Revisited. The demo gave us the chance to play as opening act for LEE AARON, SLIK TOXIK and BIG HOUSE. In November 1994, we released In Our World, which became In Our World Revisited since our deal with Art Of Music Records.

Pascal - We discovered our moniker in a dictionary. We thought that it was perfect for our musical purposes, because hanker means «to want something very hard».

Pascal - We started HANKER very young, when we were about 16 years old. At that time we were not serious about our career. We played a lot of covers and it was okay. Anyway, at that time no bands played their original songs. After the good reactions of the press and fans concerning the demo, we decided to take our career more seriously. We tried to get a deal with labels, but after a long time waiting, and many disillusions, we decided to make our own CD, with our own money.

Pascal - Well yes, but we refused the proposals because the offers weren't good for the band.

Pascal - There is a big difference between the 1991 demo and the CD. The demo was recorded in four days and the CD took some four months! The sound is completely different. That's why all five demo-songs are on In Our World Revisited as well, recorded properly.

Pascal - We are very satisfied with what we've done on In Our World. As you know, it was a self-production. The reactions of the press and fans were great. Meanwhile, when you are independent, you're not a major. Also in 1994, grunge music was very popular over here in Canada. It was very difficult for many metal bands. And now we have a deal in Europe and we are very happy. Don't worry, the next CD will be even better than In Our World Revisited!

Pascal - Most of the reactions we received are from Europe. We think it is because we have a European sound. A few months ago, we received some letters from the U.S.A. as well, but we still receive a lot of letters from fans and press all over Europe, including Germany, Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Belgium, Denmark... It's very funny for us. We have a review for our CD in several magazines worldwide.

Pascal - Art Of Music offered us the possibility to make a second CD and they asked if it was possible to make a new version of In Our World. As you know, we said yes! For us it was the chance to release both demo-songs that weren't on the original CD, Rain Of Death & Madly Alive, on compact disc at long last.

Pascal - Well, there are those two extra songs I just mentioned and a totally revamped booklet, along with remodelled front and back covers. It definitely looks more beautiful like this.

Pascal - 1. I'd Like To Know is about all the fraud which is happening on our planet Earth (how stupid can we be?). 2. Bloodbath In Heaven is about all the riots that we see on TV. It's very stupid (the horrors in the City of Angels really make us wonder...). 3. In Our World is about the stupidity of rulers and all the wars. Also about the fact that when you grow old, you realize that the world is not what it seems to be... (to err is human; too bad some mistakes can't be rectified...). 4. Gardeners Of Pain: it's a future vision of the jails. Instead of locking someone up for a crime, the criminals will receive an injection of a drug that will remind them, every hour, of the horrors of their crimes (how we're going to pay for our sins...). 5. Cradle Of The Night is about all the nightmares we've had of a nuclear war (a nightmare, we hope, will never come true...). 6. Disturbing The Brain is about someone who is mentally sick, but nobody seems to care (every mind has its own madness, gladly most of us are not conscious of it...). 7. Fight The Light is about the ozone shield that we broke (the battle is our own, hope we'll win...). 8. Staring At The Rain is about the sadness that we all have in our life. We never have to surrender, life is beautiful! (lies can bring sadness, but someday the sun will dry these tears away...). 9. Pay No More is about how much one man can take! Imagine a little shy guy or girl in a secondary school. (this is not about money; but about how much one man can take...). 10. Lethal Liar is about people who don't know what they claim and lie to everyone. A song about the selfish man (some people talk too much ...). 11. This Could Be Heaven is about suicide. Suicide is not a good solution, it's better to enjoy life! (life is so very precious...). 12. Rain Of Death is about the acid rain (isn't it time we did something about it!). 13. Madly Alive is a hidden track ... you will see! (In brackets I've reprinted the quotes the band included in the CD-booklet - EddY).

Pascal - It's a kind of demo-video, with a low budget. The motion picture is from the demo tape! Don't worry, you won't see it in Europe, ha ha. Seriously, the concept was good but the quality of the video wasn't good enough. MuchMusic, a video station out of Toronto, gave us good airplay on their metal show, Power 30. It was okay.

Pascal - Would you believe we hadn't even heard the name JAG PANZER until you guys started comparing our music to theirs?! Anyway, today we know JAG PANZER and we know that it was a great band. We are pleased to be compared to JAG PANZER!

Pascal - Our style is a nice blend of the raw power of heavy metal combined with the sound, melody and pure energy of hard rock. It's melodic heavy rock.

Pascal - Oh yes! Sure. Just listen to bands like DREAM THEATER, BLIND GUARDIAN... Those are very good bands. We are working to give a future to the heavy metal music.

Pascal - First of all, we don't know about KRAKEN and REACTOR. We are proud of the others because they are excellent bands and they portray a good image of Canadian rock all over the world.

Pascal - We don't know yet. Only time will tell!

Pascal - Here in Canada, we have two musical scenes; the English scene and the French scene. In the Province of Québec, the majority of labels support the bands who play in French. If you play heavy metal in French, you have no chance to get a deal. If you play heavy metal in English, you have no chance either. Your style of music is very important here in Québec. In the past we had a very good band, SWORD. The Québec labels didn't support them because their songs and style were English. A very stupid way of thinking! That's why we are working with people from outside Québec. We hope one day this situation in Québec will change for the better.

Den Of Iniquity - What is your opinion about the worldwide heavy metal scene in this day and age?

Pascal - Sure, the best moments of heavy metal were in the 1980's. In the 1990's metal music is less popular but not dead! We believe that a new wave of good metal bands can put heavy metal in general on the right way for the future. Melody is very important in this style of music and nowadays many metal bands put the melody on the side and increase their aggressivity. Metal music can be aggressive, but not just aggressive alone.

Pascal - At this time, we don't know if the possibilities to play here are good or bad, we'll have to await the release of our CD here. At the moment, we are very interested to go and play in Europe, because our CD is available over there. This is the most important for us now, concentrating on Europe primarily.

Pascal - No. In the past we played many covers in the clubs. Nowadays we prefer our own songs. We must build our own name, if we want to succeed.

Pascal - Our next album will be more melodic, more progressive, but our overall style will still be heavy and fast! I think you will not be disappointed. It will be released on Art Of Music once again, because we are very satisfied. Meanwhile, we hope to be able to distribute both of our CD's in North America as well.

Pascal - We have black t-shirts (L & XL) with the cover of In Our World on the front, available for U.S. $ 20.00, including P&P, from: HANKER / 22 Assomption / C.P. 178 / Beaupré / Québec  GOA 1E0 / Canada.

Pascal - We want to salute all metal fans worldwide!!!

Website: http://www.hankermetal.com/

Source: Den Of Iniquity #1, Interview with Pascal Cliche, Early 1997

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