The Official HANKER Web Site - Interviews - Renegade: Interview with Pascal Cliche

Hanker are a Canadian Power Metal formation that were born to play the purest form of traditional Metal, in the same vein as the great bands of the 80's. Their debut album In Our World was released at the end of 1994. Their follow-up production The Dead Ringer is regarded by many Metal specialists as one of the best of the present year.

Pascal - Hanker produced the first demo in May 1991, which included five original songs. In November 1994, the first independent production, In Our World (which received fantastic reviews from all over the world) was released. Then followed up with a re-release called In Our World Revisited - containing two extra tracks - on the German label «Art of Music» distributed world-wide except for in Canada and the U.S.A. In 1997, the second album, The Dead Ringer, was born. The European version will be released at the beginning of October 1997 and the Canadian version is available now via Internet.

Pascal - Our influences are bands like: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metal Church, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Dio... just to name a few.

Renegade - Beyond metal, what other music styles do you listen?

Pascal - Beyond metal: Martin Jones (bass) and Luc Guay (drummer) listen to old and new progressive rock; Pascal Cliche (vocals, guitar) is into classical, old rock and roll and a lot of blues; Patrick Gravel (guitar, backing vocals) listens to old commercial rock.

Pascal - Our songs are about injustice, environmental problems, unnecessary wars, etc... All the lyrics are done by me. The lyrics may seem negative, but they are all written with a positive connotation.

Renegade - Here in Brazil, some people said, when In Our World Revisited was issued, that Hanker was almost a Jag Panzer II. Do you feel happy or angry with this affirmation?

Pascal - When In Our World Revisited was released and we were compared to Jag Panzer, it didn't bother us. We didn't know who they were at the time, but all the comparisons that were made were positive. So in a way it was flattering.

Renegade - What country is best for heavy metal: Canada or United States?

Pascal - We think both countries are good for heavy metal, but we now have more doors opening up for us in the U.S.A. which we believe will lead to promising opportunities.

Renegade - Although the huge force of heavy metal, some people of the big media say, times after times, that heavy metal is a «updated style of sound». But the traditional metal has brought us recently some awesome bands and the great ones from the past are returning. What's you opinion about?

Pascal - We totally agree with you that heavy metal is not an updated style of sound. We love traditional heavy metal and we'll keep on playing it!

Renegade - What are the best bands of present scene, in your opinion?

Pascal - We think Helloween is one of the best bands of today and «Hanker» is not far behind.

Renegade - Tell us about the new album, the successor of In Our World.

Pascal - The Dead Ringer is a concept album with ten songs. The album has more power, feeling and a much higher quality than our first album. We are very proud and confident with our new release.

Renegade - Do you know something about the Brazilian metal?

Pascal - We know about Sepultura and we have heard about Angra. We have sold many of our CDs in Brazil, so we know that Brazil has a lot of faithful metal lovers.

Pascal - We appreciate your support and we hope to play in Brazil someday soon. For now our fans can order our new release The Dead Ringer via Internet: http://www.hankermetal.com Enjoy! You'll love it! Always remember. «Metal» is here to stay! We love you all!

	- Interviews - Renegade