CHEMICAL WAY's Bull Royce: "We write our songs for our personal pleasure, because we want to listen to the product after it's recorded, not just put out an album. I think this gives a good drive to the writing process."
August 25, 2020
CHEMICAL WAY is a young upstart Thrash Metal band that has been doing waves since 2012. They are without a doubt a band that will breakthrough and might be the next Montreal band to go abroad. They have the talent and drive to make it so and they can rival bands like HAVOK and WARBRINGER. Their unique blend of comedy and Thrash Metal has not been unnoticed and they have a cult following. Our writer Jean-François Poulin had the privilege of interviewing Bull Royce, lead singer of local of the band.
What 5 albums would you bring if you were stuck on a deserted island?
Hazardeous Mutation ' Municipal Waste
Menace II Sobriety ' Cross examination
Manifest Decimation ' Power Trip
Nightmare Logic ' Power Trip
Murder The Mountains ' Red Fang
Any music gear company you would love to endorse in the future?
Dean guitars! Love the quality of their guitars.
What is your earliest musical memory?
Watching School of Rock and being mind blown by the soundtrack.
How has the state of the World affected your music and your song writing process?
We were just starting to write new songs, but everything has been put on hold since the pandemic. Will resume activities eventually!
In your eyes, what band from your country is the next to really break out?
Yesterday, I heard the first song Doggo out of my friends Thick Glasses first album. It sounds pretty solid, I feel like I'm gonna hear them all over the radio soon! Actually have a lot of friends bands that sounds amazing with material good enough to break out. Wish this pandemic didn't happened to see them grow from the music they had just released or were about to record (to name a few Venomenon, Dizastra, Mooch, Warsenal, Fast Idle)
I was wondering who thought of the name of the band?
It was Ox! We spent hours going through that list of band names, then smoke breal happened and he said Chemical Way. It was instant pick when we heard it
You guys have toured with a number of bands in the genre, do you have some great road stories?
The only "tour" we did was going to play Oshawa and Toronto over a weekend in march 2017 with Canceric. We were in our motel room in Toronto, waiting to reach the venue, playing a card game and having a couple drinks, until we realized we had finished our 26oz of whisky and we were super drunk. We didn't wanted to drive in that condition, so we asked a guy from Canceric to drive our van to the show. Brought a pack of beers in the van so It would stay cold for after the show, but when I came out of the van, I kick the beers out to the grounds and one of the cans started pissing so I reached to it and shotguned the rest of the beer CAUSE NO WASTE OF BEERS IS ACCEPTABLE! Finished it like a champ only to turm around to 2 police officers watching me. Got us a little nervous, but everything went fine, we had a good night that night!
What were the bands that influenced you guys when you were thinking of possibly forming the band?
Municipal Waste, Cross Examination, Warbringer, Dr. Living Dead, Terror, Gama Bomb.
Do you have a favorite city or town or venue you have been to in your musical career?
Foufounes Électrique, Petit Campus and Katacombes was pretty dope to play to in Montreal, but we always had a good time playing in Quebec City, always some action going on in the crowd!
I saw a number of videos of you guys in the studio, you seem to have a whole lot of fun and it shows in your music, what is your perspective as the uncompromising work that is involved when creating an album?
We write our songs for our personal pleasure, because we want to listen to the product after it's recorded, not just put out an album. I think this gives a good drive to the writing process. It brings all the pleasure when you finally hear what it's going to sound like.
Any side-projects you guys are working on that we can expect in the near future?
I'm about to record a new album real soon with my other band Katö.
What in your mind is the one thing that truly unleashes an artist's true potential?
Leave that ego on the side. Your idea is not always the best idea, and listening to what your friends has to say can unlock a door sometimes.
How has the political turmoil affected the lyrical content of your music?
We don't really talk about politics in our songs. We find there's something generic to it since a lot of bands talks about it. There's a good side to life too, party with your friends that is, and we're about that. There's enough bullsh*t in this world and not enough partying!
In your eyes, what makes a good foundation for the dynamic of a band?
Having fun with your friends is the best foundation of a band. No pressure, no worries, no competition, just you and your friends doing the music that you all like. That's when the good ideas starts to get in the writing process!
You guys opened for WARBRINGER and ENFORCER back in September, how was that whole experience?
It was an amazing experience! We didn't had our chance to play Foufounes Electriques before, which was something we wanted to accomplish, as well as opening for a band that had an influence on us. We are big fans of Warbringer, also really like Enforcer, so it was an honor opening for both of these bands. Our friends and fans pretty much all showed up that night, the crowd looked and felt like a packed show on a saturday night! on a Monday night! One of the best nights of my life EVER!
So according to Metal Archives, your lyrical themes are cyborgs, parting and aliens, which is a pretty big departure from the genre, what fascinates you with those elements?
We're all fans of Sci-Fi and action movies, and wanting to have different and original lyrics made us write about these topics.
What did you guys learn between your first EP back in 2013 and last year's great ''Chilling Spree'' ? That investing time and money, and working harder on your project makes a better product!
There's Katö (Bull Royce's other project) recording an album next week, other than that, there isn't much going on.
You worked with Christian Donaldson from CRYPTOPSY and The Grid Productions for your first full-length album, how was that experience?
We didn't talk to him much, but he did a phenomenal job mixing that album we recorded at Scott's basement! It took him about 2 weeks to mix and master. He came out woth the exact sound we wanted! We're really happy about the product!!
So what's in store for you guys in the near future and is there any bands you guys would love to tour with?
We definitely would like to write a new Chemical Way album in the future. We had a lot of fun doing the other ones, and we'll have fun doing the next one too, I'm sure of that! Just gotta wait for the right time!
Thank you so much for the interview and I wish you guys much success for the future!
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