INTERVIEW: John Walker & Ian Buchanan – Cancer

As far as death metal is concerned, CANCER are royalty. Whilst the Florida scene is often credited for exploding the genre into life, Telford’s CANCER are just as important, not just for representing the UK, but for the genre as a whole. For 30 gore-soaked years the band have become a staple in the genre and even though death metal has evolved into pastures anew, the band remain just as pivotal. 2018 is a special year for the trio, not only does it see them hit a prestigious milestone of three decades, but it also saw the release of Shadow Gripped, their first record for thirteen years. Following a UK exclusive performance at this year’s Damnation Festival, we spoke with vocalist/guitarist John Walker and bassist Ian Buchanan to reflect on three gory decades and what is next for the iconic band.

So CANCER performed at Damnation earlier today, how do you think the performance went?

John: Well I enjoyed myself! We had a moment with the fire alarm [laughs]

Yes! That seems to be the Damnation curse, so when that happened how did you react?

John: Well I just got out, I thought there was a fire!

Ian: It was nice that afterwards we could come back and do three more and finish the set proper.

So when moments like that happen do you worry that your set is going to be cut short?

Ian: Not really no..

John: I mean we’re a bit long in the tooth now so.

Ian: You just have to roll with what happens. You can’t worry about those things as no one is in control of the situation.

Today’s performance was a UK exclusive for CANCER’s 30th anniversary. So, I’m interested to know what were the origins of coming into Damnation, did you always know that you wanted to celebrate an anniversary by performing at a festival like this?

Ian: I don’t know really! We’re open to offers. It’s got a good reputation and because the album came out yesterday, the idea was to get us on the bill just to launch the album, to give us a marker.

That actually leads onto my next question as the new album, Shadow Gripped, came out yesterday so it fits in for the perfect time to play a festival like Damnation.

Ian: Exactly, it was exactly the right time so it was a really logical thing to do really. And I think it worked really well.

With the new album, how have you found the early reception?

Ian: Well on the fact that on the CANCER official Facebook page we’ve had some nice feedback from people so you get the feeling that people who are fans of ours anyway are liking it so that’s always a good start! Whether anyone else will or if it picks up any new interest we don’t know but yeah, it seems to be going down well.

So coming into a festival like Damnation where fans would be expecting a lot of old material, how do you balance the setlist? Do you feel like you have to play a lot of new material?

John: Well this is the conundrum isn’t it? It’s all about balance. Yesterday when we rehearsed, we decided to go for four/four. Four old songs and four new songs and it went down four old songs, three new songs and then a cover.

Ian: Yeah and then the fire alarm threw it all up in the air! So we just sort of went with it.

It’s been such a long time since we’ve had a new CANCER album, with the process of writing and recording, has it only been in the last few years that you decided you wanted to make a new album?

John: Well we just started writing. We were playing festivals for about five years and basically we’re writers and the new album for instance, we’ve been playing songs on those festivals from the first two albums so this new one, it’s a tribute to those first albums if you like. We went back to that and we chucked in a bit of fun into it, that early decadent death metal old school sound.

It really shows on the album, it bleeds that old school sound. With the fact that death metal has evolved into so many different sounds, was that something you always wanted to do?

John: That’s it, it puts us back on the path, how we started. It’s a tribute to how we started the band. We’re all musicians who listen to other forms of music and it would be easier for us to diversify and become something else. But with a name like CANCER, it’s got to be the old school death metal!

So with the fact that death metal has evolved so much, how do you see the scene today coming back in with a new album?

John: I like the fact that people are open. I like that, it’s how music evolves. I’m very pro-active on this, with a band like CANCER there’s one style that we like. We did our more experimental stuff in the mid-90s and we’re pleased with it, we’re very proud of it, but after all these years, to get the opportunity to come back as a three piece, which is how the band started, it was nice to re-tred those early concepts. They worked back then and they work this time.

So do you feel fans have warmed to the fact it is an old school sound in 2018?

Ian: Yeah I think so.

And with today’s show at Damnation coming in celebration of your 30th anniversary, which is a massive achievement, what have been some of your career highlights as a band?

Ian: Playing San Francisco two weeks ago in California! I was top of the world after that show!

John: Yeah, I’d go with that. If I go back 20 years I’m going to be a bullshitter. I’m a terrible interviewee on that front! [laughs] You can exaggerate when you come up with stuff from 30 years ago so yeah, I’d say that California show, that was super duper.

Ian: It’s good to think that you can still get a moment like that.

It must be quite surreal that all the years down the line, people are still wanting CANCER to play. So moving forward, what’s next?

John: We’re going to keep playing festivals.

Ian: We’ve signed with Peaceville for a two album deal so we’re open! But basically we want to keep on doing what we’ve been doing with the festivals. Now, we just have something new to mix into it and freshen it up with the new material.

With it being a new album and your old material is so well-respected in the death metal community, how do you feel the new album holds up?

John: If people like those first few albums, they’ll like this. It’s got that sound.

Ian: Yeah, the comments we’ve been getting so far would back that up as well. That’s what we were after and we have achieved that.

Well thank you both for taking the time to talk to me, I wish you all the best.

John & Ian: Cheers, thank you.

Shadow Gripped is available now via Peaceville Records.

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