Cauldron interview

Classic style metal band Cauldron recently returned from playing some dates in the UK and Europe. So I got to talk to Ian Chains and find out about how those shows went and more.

MM-Please introduce the members of your band and tell what instrument they play.

Hi! There's Jason Decay on Bass/Vocals, Ian Chains on Lead Guitar and Chris Steve on Drums of Doom.

MM-Tell us a little about the history of you band.

Cauldron formed in August 2006 from what was left of Goat Horn after their breakup. Their guitar player had quit a couple months previously, so I (Ian) moved out to Toronto to play guitar. So the first lineup included Jason and Al Chambers from Rammer/Toxic Holocaust on drums. Since Jason was the only original Goat Horn member he decided to change the name to Cauldron. We released the self financed "Into the Cauldron" EP in early 2007 and the full length "Chained to the Nite" on Earache in early 2009. Since then we've gone through more drummers and now have Chris Steve on the throne.

MM-Who are your influences?

It's hard to pick a few bands, but we listen to a lot of US power metal (Savage Grace, Wild Dogs, Griffin etc.), early Scandinavian metal (Parasite, Witch Cross, OZ etc.), NWOBHM (Angel Witch, Hell, Jaguar etc.), Canadian bands (Reckless, Killer Dwarfs, Rush etc.), and
lots of other stuff!

MM-Obviously you are huge fans of 80’s metal so what do you think was so good about metal in the 1980’s as compared to metal in more recent years?

Well nobody was playing it safe back then. Now there are more bands emerging that aren't afraid to look or sound a certain way. But still, we played a lot of festivals this spring where every single other band had camo pants and goatees. How is that cool? If was a kid just getting into metal, I wouldn't want to listen to guys who look like that. Image is just as important as the music. You need to
have the whole package.

MM-You recently played a UK tour with Enforcer. How did that go? Any interesting stories or great moments from those shows?

Well it was a pretty small tour considering there were 4 shows booked and 1 got cancelled. We were trying to make it to Manchester but got 2 flats tires along the way. The curfew at this "metal" bar was 10pm. We tried to get the promoter to push it back so we could play, but they had a DJ night afterwards, playing metal songs! Wouldn't they rather have real bands play? The London show was great, but the other
2 shows we played were on the same night as Slayer! Great booking there! We were just glad to be playing with Enforcer again. We would slide the van door open and "grind" people at bus stops, which was 9 guys screaming at people that they would be raped and burned. Boredom strikes again!

MM-You also just played Muskelrock in Sweden with Ross the Boss, Angelwitch, Electric Wizard and a ton of other bands. How did that go?

Muskelrock was great. We played last year as well and this was just as fun. Actually we were all planning on going whether we got to play or not. Angel Witch easily stole the show, it was great to finally see them play. I was also looking forward to seeing Overdrive but they didn't play their best song "Fighting Man"! There was also a band I enjoyed called Slingblade with a singer that sounds like Kate
from Acid.



MM-How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you before?

Heavy Metal with no camo pants or goatees.

MM-I was reading your North American tour blog on your Myspace page. You guys hit a lot of record shops along the way snagging some classic and even obscure metal on vinyl. So do you guys have a huge collection of metal on vinyl? Do you own any great jems that you want to mention? Any rarities that you hope to get your hands on at some point?

Yeah we always try to find time to go to record stores in every city. Jason and I both have pretty decent metal collections. I guess we have about 2,000 records between the both of us. I don't think there's anything that's worth an insane amount but Jason's got the original Lips "Hard n' Heavy" and I have the worlds largest Krokus collection. I'm always looking for Gotham City "Black Writs" and "The Unknown". I think I've got to live in Sweden to find those though.

MM-What are some of the best record stores that you have been to in the last year?

There was a good one in Calgary called Recordland that had lots of great stuff, Octopus Ink in Edmonton had good stuff but they were pricey and closed down. And Jason's been to some store in Uppsala, Sweden a couple times and found some stuff.

MM-What interests do you have besides music?

Drinking, BBQ'ing, Nintendo and horror movies with metal bands on the soundtrack.

MM-If you could only listen to three albums during the next month then what would you choose?

I would probably choose the first 3 records in my playlist right now, so Brats "1980", 1st Bathory and Zero Nine "Headline".

MM-You covered Black n’ Blue’s “Chains around heaven” on Chained to the nite. This seemed like a bit of an odd choice. As they were more of a glam/hard rock band and you guys seem more into the classic metal and NWOBHM bands. So are you closet glam fans or was it to tie in with a “chains” theme or what?

The reason we covered Chains Around Heaven was because we're big fans of the Metal Massacre series, and that was a standout track on Metal Massacre 1. We're not closet glam fans by any means. We'll listen to Cinderella and Diamond Rexx loud and proud. The whole chains thing wasn't intentional, it just came together like that.

MM-Do you currently play any other cover songs live?

We almost always include Tyrant's "Making Noise and Drinking Beer" in our set. We also used to play "Free Country" by Witchfinder General,"Deathrider" by Omen, and "Metal Knights" by Nasty Savage. We haven't dusted those ones off for a while though.

MM-Tell us about some of your most memorable shows?

One would be on the Municipal Waste tour last November when we played an all ages show in Anaheim. The place was packed with kids all hopped up on Mountain Dew and with gashes on their heads. Then Ryan Waste came onstage and started doing pushups. Another would be our worst show ever on the Toxic Holocaust tour. It might have been more memorable from the audience's perspective since we can't remember it. We had been shotgunning beers all day, and by the time we hit the stage we were completely fucked. Jason couldn't stand or sing, our drummer seemed to have passed out behind his kit, and I was just staring at my hands wondering what to do with them.

MM-Who would you love to share a stage with?

Angel Witch. I think we'd fit really well on the same bill as them. We're not ready to tour with some huge band yet and get treated like scum.

MM-What would you say to someone who said that you are not doing anything that hadn't already been done in the early/mid 1980’s?

You're wrong, we're doing it worse!


MM-Any touring plans lined up for the summer or are you going back to writing for the next album soon?

We only have a couple one off shows planned for Toronto and Ottawa. We're concentrating on getting all our new songs in shape for the next album. Hopefully we'll be in the studio by the end of the summer.



MM-What are some of the best albums you have heard so far in 2010?

Enforcer "Diamonds" and Witchgrave "The Devil's Night"



MM-Pick the band from the following pairs that you prefer and tell why you picked them.

Raven or Saxon

That's too hard. I like both those bands too much to choose!

Enforcer or White Wizzard

Enforcer. They're really good friends of ours, and we love going on extremely long drives with them.

Annihilator or Exciter

Exciter. Dan Beehler lent us his 1981 road case for our last Canadian tour, how cool is that?

Angelwitch or Mercyful Fate

Angel Witch. We've met them twice now and they've been really cool. They used my flying v as a backup at Muskelrock. I was really hoping they'd break a string and have to use it!


MM-Anything else that you want to say about your band, your music or any other topic?

Don't fuck with fire!