“We try to make ourselves as accessible as we are, because when you're playing to a big dark arena, you don't know if anyone gives a shit,” says Liam Cormier, lead singer of punk-metal-hardcore outfit Cancer Bats. He spoke to me from Lethbridge, Alberta, where his band was performing on tour with Billy Talent, Alexisonfire and Against Me! “You can see the 500 kids in front of you, but you can't see anyone else, and it's like, when we go out to our merch afterwards and hang out, there are all these kids going, ‘Holy fuck, I didn't know metal like this existed in Canada!'”

The tour will wind up in Southern Ontario later this month, with a stop at the John Labatt Centre on March 27. And though London is far from uncharted territory for the Cancer Bats, the guys are excited to play for such a big audience.

“We're definitely going down awesome on this tour, and I think it's because we've put in so many miles in Canada and we've played so many places before that we have at least a following that we've built up ourselves as well. But ... [there are] all these Alexis[onfire] fans, and to a certain degree, Billy Talent fans, [that we] still want to win over, because, for tons of these kids, [it's] the first concert they've ever been to.”

The Cancer Bats have also been excited to be playing new material from their forthcoming album, Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones, slated for an April 13 release date.

“For me, [the album] was done in October,” said Cormier, “and now we've gotta sit around and wait and we can't even play [most of] the songs live, ‘cause it's like, you know when you go see a band and they're so hyped on their new record and all they do is play new songs and you're like, ‘That kind of sucks?' So we're playing a song here and there, but now that it's a month away, all I want is for this record to be out so we can start playing new songs and hear what kids think.”

The band will no doubt be playing their new single a cover of the Beastie Boys 1994 hit Sabotage. Originally recorded as a b-side, the record label liked the Cancer Bats aggressive, screaming version so much they insisted it not only be included on the album, but that they release it, with a video and everything, “to fill in the gap between when we finish the record to when it comes out,” said Cormier.

And though some have expressed concern of the Cancer Bats becoming another Alien Ant Farm, whose cover version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal became their biggest, and only hit, Cormier isn't particularly worried. “We have so many other music videos, too, that if kids are going to find out about us through Sabotage, they'll go on YouTube and see the Hail Destroyer video, the Pneumonia Hawk video, the Luscifer's Rocking Chair video, you know what I mean?”

On top of that, Cormier insists that the band's new written material is their strongest yet, as it welcomes bassist Jaye Schwarzer, who joined the band in 2007, to have full creative input in the songwriting process.

“This is the record we're most proud of. We've developed into a bit of a heavier band, but it's also allowed us to try different things. It's not just brutally heavy from start to finish, it's also looking at taking away stuff or adding more dynamics to make the songs punch more. I think with [2008's] Hail, Destroyer we were just trying to write the most balls out songs we could, whereas, with this album we were like, ‘Maybe let's try just bass on the verse and then when the guitars kick in for the chorus it's just this huge monster.'”

And while the Bats are sure to come back soon after Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones' release to headline smaller clubs, it's well worth the trek to check them out at the John Labatt Centre, March 27. Tickets are $49.25/$41.25, available at www.londonesc.com