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

See, I gave up on traditional Metal during the late '80s/early '90s because there was too many average acts around, but the late '90s have definitely proved, -despite the overcrowded market once again-, that there was some new interesting and exciting acts around in that area, many of 'em have been already covered in Snakepit (which in all honesty was responsible in the first place to bring back my interest into new Metal acts). What I find exciting in those bands most of the time is the fact that they include in their material the speed factor and some Thrash elements, things that came from different branches of '80s Metal rather than rehashing the usual MAIDEN, PRIEST type of material. Quebec's HANKER is another fine example of that «new» wave of traditional acts that have a lot to offer based on the three very good albums they've released so far, so it was about time for this to enter the Metallic pages of that magazine. Hopefully you'll learn a bit more about the band through what guitarist/singer Pascal Cliche told us recently...

Snakepit mag. - I was kinda surprised to see that the band was originally formed in '85 since In Our World was only released in '94, so shy did it take nine years to release your first album considering that the traditional Metal scene was still strong in the mid/late '80s?

Pascal - When we started the band in 1985, we were only 15 years old! We wanted to play heavy music, but we were too young to consider having a musical career.

Snakepit mag. - So how did the band originally come together back then? Did you immediately all agree to play traditional Heavy/Power Metal instead of Speed/Thrash material like a lot of Quebec bands opted for at the time like AGGRESSION, OUTRAGE, VOOR, VOIVOD, OBLIVION (who later became OBLIVEON), YOG SOTHOTH, CREAMAINS...

Pascal - We started playing music when we were 12 years old (we were playing BEATLES songs), but when the heavy metal wave came out, we went crazy!! I remember listening to the IRON MAIDEN album Killers and saying to myself «Wow! This kind of music is so exciting!» We never though about playing Speed/Thrash music, this is just not our style.

Left to right: Luc Guay, Denis Cossette, Patrick Gravel and Pascal Cliche

Snakepit mag. - Where you somewhat influenced by earlier Quebec Heavy Metal bands such as SWORD or DEATH(F) DEALER as they had somewhat succeeded to get their names out on the Metal scene?

Pascal - We didn't know the band DEATH DEALER but we knew SWORD! I can say that somehow they influenced us a little. We realised that a Metal band from Quebec could have an international career!

Snakepit mag. - What kind of contacts did you have with the other bands from the Quebec area that I mentioned before? Did you try to help each other and stuff?

Pascal - We never had a direct contact with these bands. We were busy working on our project, as they were busy working on their projects too. We now know the guys from OBLIVEON and in fact, we played with them last year. It was a great show and the guys are really cool! We had a good time!

Snakepit mag. - Do you remember how was the whole Quebec (the province, not the town) Metal scene back in those days?

Pascal - I remember that in Quebec, the Metal was struck really hard! Quebec had many underground Metal acts. Furthermore, many Metal bands stopped here because of the crowds! Metal fans in Quebec have always been loyal towards them. I remember that IRON MAIDEN was the Metal gods back then.

Snakepit mag. - Did you check out back then what was happening in the other provinces of Canada on the Metal front as there was tons of new acts coming out in different places like SACRED BLADE, ARMOROS, ANNIHILATOR, KRAKEN, EXCITER, BREAKER, MYOFIST, ANVIL...?

Pascal - We knew ANNIHILATOR, ANVIL and EXCITER. But once again, we were too young to be serious. Furthermore, Canada is a very large country!

Snakepit mag. - Did you write right away your own songs when you started or did you start playing covers?

Pascal - When we started playing Metal songs, we were playing covers, as were all the bands in Quebec at that time. A few years later, we decided to write our own Metal songs and the magic happened! At that time, we were playing in clubs and each night, we were adding original material alongside the covers we were playing, people in Quebec were delighted! Pascal Cliche

Therefore in 1991, we recorded our first original five song demo and the HANKER story really began at that time. As for the covers we were playing, here are a few examples: many IRON MAIDEN songs (Phantom Of The Opera, Running Free, Run To The Hills, Number Of The Beast, Children Of The Damned, The Prisoner, Déjà-vu, Somewhere In Time, Fear Of The Dark etc...), JUDAS PRIEST songs (Victim Of Changes, Breaking The Law, Diamonds And Rust, Living After Midnight, Night Crawler etc...), some METAL CHURCH songs (Metal Church, Gods Of Wrath, Watch The Children Pray). We also played some ANTHRAX songs like Antisocial, Got The Time and Only (Don't you think Armed And Dangerous, Soldiers Of Metal, Howling Furies would have been much more appropriate and really Metal sounding? - Laurent), and many METALLICA songs like Fade To Black, Seek And Destroy, Am I Evil? (Well sounds more like a BLITZKRIEG song huh? - Laurent), The Four Horsemen, Master Of Puppets, Creeping Death etc... Also some DEEP PURPLE numbers (Highway Star, Black Knight, Perfect Stranger). It would take too long to name all the songs we have played up to now!

Snakepit mag. - You state that you are also influenced by Progressive bands such as GENESIS, the mighty RUSH, SAGA... but honestly, I don't find any trace of that influence in your material, on the other side, I detect some Jazzy textures on the drums patterns at times and also some classical structures...

Pascal - Luc Guay is our drummer and he is the only one who has been the most influenced by Progressive music. It is a fact that we listened to these bands but Heavy Metal music won the battle! By the way, I'm the one who like Classical music...

Snakepit mag. - Can you tell us by the way a bit about the musical background?

Pascal - Patrick Gravel and I have almost the same musical background, and it's a Metal one! As for Denis Cossette our bass player, he's got a Metal one too (much heavier though!), the black sheep of the band being Luc Guay, I mean what can we do, he likes Progressive music...

Snakepit mag. - Did you use the all songs from the '91 demo on later recordings or...?

Snakepit mag. - Was it mainly distributed in your area or did you try to gain some attention out of Quebec with that tape?

Pascal - We sold our demo throughout our shows and we tried to have international recognition but in vain...

Snakepit mag. - Before that demo was done, you parted ways with original drummer, Jean-François Fillion, was it hard finding a replacement in the person of Luc?

Pascal - It was not too hard replacing our first drummer because we knew Luc at that time and we knew he loved our music.

Snakepit mag. - So the first album In Our World was issued in '94 as a self financed effort and it sounded and also looked like a professional effort, how come you didn't find any record companies to release such an album?

Pascal - Be my guest!! We still don't know for sure!! It's almost weird! We've been trying so hard since that day... Good things happen to those who wait...

Snakepit mag. - Did you try to shop that album around to attract label interest...?

Pascal - We have been and we are still trying to get one! Many labels have contacted us, but once they receive our package, they just stop talking to us! Moreover, a company even screwed up our reputation saying that we were asking for lots of money and that we were acting like big stars! But I'll be a gentleman and I won't name that company... By the way, someday we will taste the glory because of our honesty and our IRON balls!

Snakepit mag. - How many copies of it did you press as CD and tape as it's totally sold out nowadays?

Snakepit mag. - Did you play out a lot following that release and did it expand your following? How much interest did you attract in Europe, Japan... for that first record?

Pascal - We were playing a lot and we were working on our second release, then we played some more then we worked on our third effort... And we are still waiting for our break! Europe and Japan have always been good to us. We have sold many CDs over there up to now and we appreciate it a lot.

Snakepit mag. - This album was re-released in '96 with two bonus tracks, what can you tell us about that re-release? Is it still available from you guys by the way?

Pascal - When we signed with the German label Art Of Music, it was for our second album The Dead Ringer. While we were working on this album, WE offered them our first release for free with two extra tracks that we had paid from our own pockets. They were really pleased and they released it as In Our World Revisited, but we have never heard of that company, they went bankrupt. They also kept all of our pictures, tapes and many things. We heard that some German version of The Dead Ringer has been on the market for quite a long time! We have never got in touch with the people responsible for this sabotage. After all this, we decided to release our own Canadian version of The Dead Ringer. As for In Our World Revisited, we only have our own copy as souvenirs.

Snakepit mag. - The next step was the '97 album The Dead Ringer, which brought HANKER much of the recognition you have today, why did you choose to do a concept album which covers the entire life of the Dead Ringer first of all?

Pascal - It just happened that way... I dreamed about a strange man one night and the story went on. We had been writing a few songs and we decided to do a concept album without thinking about anything else.

Snakepit mag. - The Dead Ringer is much more based on a mid paced tempo, except The Age Of The Quick Fix. Compared to the first or third effort, why did you somewhat slow the pace on this one? Would you stay that sort of tempo fit much better the band's style at that time for this particular album?

Pascal - I don't know why... Maybe our minds were black and dark a little bit... But don't worry, we've been writing fast and exciting songs for a while. That's strange, we get heavier as we get older!

Snakepit mag. - This album was very well received in Europe, particularly in Germany, as you started to have more and more distribution there, especially through Hellion Records, how come you have no offer to license it at least in Europe?

Pascal - Despite the fact that we didn't have a record deal for this one, we have always been pleased with Hellion Records. We don't regret anything. Also, we have some offers, but the same story happened...

Snakepit mag. - Some people have compared your music and some singing like on Dead As The Night to JAG PANZER, what's your view on that comparison?

Pascal - This is really odd! Many critics have been comparing us to J. PANZER since our first release In Our World in 1994. Moreover, when The Dead Ringer came out, some people were happy that we kept our J.P. influence!!?? All of this doesn't make any sense at all and here's the reason why: the first time we heard some J.P. songs was two or three years ago, we wanted to listen to the band we'd been compared with. Therefore they could not have influenced us because we didn't know them back then, so would you please stop comparing us to them, it's getting annoying. I'm pretty sure that J.P. members are getting annoyed too. We clearly say what are our influenced (METALLICA, BLACK SABBATH, MAIDEN, PRIEST, METAL CHURCH...) and J.P. is not one of 'em. Anyhow, we haven't invented a new kind of music and we are aware of it! We are just trying to write the best Metal songs ever, and if J.P. were one of our influences, we would be proud to say it out loud, but you know now the story.

Snakepit mag. - This takes us to the latest HANKER's effort titled Snakes And Ladders released last year on Canada's Metal Disk records, what can you tell us about the deal with 'em?

Pascal - As you probably know, we had some trouble wit a Toronto label and as a result, we broke our contract with 'em. So we once again decided to release our album, but a guy from Quebec decided, -at the same time-, to start up a record company and he released Snakes And Ladders in November 2000. Nevertheless, they quit after a few months because of a lack of experience and a lack of motivation. As a result of that, we are free again...

Snakepit mag. - Is there any hope you'll get one deal covering Europe and the States, especially considering the critical acclaim this record recently has gotten?

Pascal - We're still hoping to go in Europe and tour! We've been dreaming about this for a long time! We have had some offers, but the same story happened.

Snakepit mag. - What happened to Martin Jones, your previous bass player, as he was replaced by Denis Cossette? Would you say it's a better unit now as a band?

Pascal - Martin Jones had been in HANKER since the beginning when he decided to leave the band, he wasn't just in the mood anymore. We gave him a year to think about it and he decided to quit. Therefore, we hired Denis, I have known Denis before he joined the band and I was sure he would fit perfectly with us. Since Denis has been with us, we have been a better unit because he's completely involved in HANKER!

Snakepit mag. - Did you play a lot of shows lately in support of that album, except the festival you headlined in May 2000? What can we expect from HANKER show?

Pascal - We played with NIGHTWISH at the Medley in Montreal and some other shows. HANKER live is like a storm of feelings and emotions.

Snakepit mag. - Did you recently start to get offers from promoters, or whatever, to play outside of Quebec or is it something you've already done?

Snakepit mag. - Out of the three albums you've done so far, which one are you the most proud with?

Snakepit mag. - How's the Canadian Metal scene nowadays comparing to what it was 15 years ago?

Pascal - The Canadian Metal scene is quite dead... We feel a bit sad but we're still working on our project.

Snakepit mag. - So what can we expect from HANKER in the future? Have you started writing new material and if so, what will it sound like?

Pascal - We are working on new songs, they are really powerful!!! We are also thinking about a live album, but it's only a project for now... Don't worry, we'll stay the same, even better. We are truthful to our fans. If they don't like us, we just don't exist.