EMQ’s With The Animal Warfare Act

EMQ’s With The Animal Warfare Act

Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Canadian Horror Metal band, The Animal Warfare Act. Huge thanks to their guitarist and vocalist, Hopscotch, and their drummer, Corndog, for taking part. 

What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

Hopskotch: I’m Hopskotch (the rabbit). I do guitar and vocals and sometimes other stuff. I started The Animal Warfare Act a few years ago as a hobby project when I was writing songs and had nobody to play them with. This was back home where we’re from in the Yukon (Northern Canada). We’ve since relocated to Toronto. We played some local shows and had fun at the beginning, but we really started getting serious as a band during the pandemic. Corndog and I are brothers, so we were locked down together at home and just spent a lot of time playing, practicing, writing and getting better.

Corndog: Corndog (the dog). Drums and piano. Started in 2018 when I was in grade 11 consisting of me, my older brother, and various bassists. 

How did you come up with your band name?

Hopskotch: I had a list of potential names I had scribbled down. The last name on the list was The Animal Welfare Act because I’d read an article about that and thought it sounded cool. I misread it once when I glanced at the list and read it as “warfare.” 

What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?

Corndog: We are from Whitehorse, Yukon (Canada). The metal scene there is still up and coming and is now more prominent since we made a name for ourselves.  

Hopskotch: In late 2021, we moved down to Toronto and started gigging here just over a year ago when bars and things were opening back up and shows could happen again. Toronto is a huge hub for the music industry in Canada, and there are great DIY metal and hardcore scenes here and in the surrounding cities as well. We’ve definitely lost some great venues these past few years which is a shame, but if you’re a nice person and you make heavy music, you can totally find a great community here. 

What is your latest release?

Corndog: Our latest release as of now is our album Please Don’t Feed the Animals (2022), but we are preparing to release a new single in September.

Hopskotch: The new single, “Another Prayer,” is gonna drop September 15. It’s a huge step forward for us, in terms of writing, playing and everything else. We did the DIY thing for a long time but are now moving in a more professional direction, which feels great. But it’s a lot more expensive.

Who have been your greatest influences?

Hopskotch: I’ve always been into visual bands. Slipknot, GWAR, Rob Zombie, Mudvayne, those bands. I’m huge into nu-metal, man. Korn is another all-time favourite and I can’t pass up the opportunity to shout out Kittie, one of Canada’s absolute finest. Anyway, I don’t think visual compnents take away from the music or any of that bullshit people say. I see us as multi-disciplinary—the music is the main thing, yeah, but our masks we make ourselves out of the skin of our fans, our props, our performances, all that—it’s all art we’ve made as well. It’s more than just music. Like a movie, it’s not just the script or just the costumes or just the lighting, it’s all of that together. Speaking of movies, I’d say I get just as much inspiration from horror movies as I do from any music. We listen to a lot of pop music too; anyone who writes songs should always be paying attention to what’s going on in pop music. 

Corndog: Greatest influences for me personally would be Motionless In White, Slipknot, Lamb of God, Black Veil Brides, Spiritbox.

What first got you into music?

Corndog: When I was young our family always went on trips to see metal festivals and watch bands play. I first realized I loved metal when I heard Slipknot play in Montreal, but even before that I had a strong love for KISS, which was the first show I went to.

Hopskotch: As long as I can remember, music was really the only thing I cared about. I never took to sports or anything else kids do. Always music. 

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

Corndog: If I could collaborate with any band, it would definitely be Motionless In White or Slipknot.

Hopskotch: As cool as that’d be, I’d want someone of a completely different style for a totally unexpected collab. There are a lot of big pop stars I think we could do some cool shit with. I have a long list of dream producers too. 

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

Hopskotch: Gathering of the Juggalos, hands-down. Always been a dream of mine. We’d kill it there and would be the wildest weekend of our lives.

Corndog: If I could play any festival my first choice would be Warped Tour but since it’s not a thing anymore, I would definitely love to play at Knotfest.

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

Corndog: I haven’t gotten any weird gifts from a fan but I did give my underwear to a fan at one show.

Hopskotch: The greatest gift fans can give me is their laughter. Just kidding. One has a patch they made of my mask on a pair of crust pants. That’s pretty cool to me. 

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

Corndog: My one message to our fans is to keep showing up to see us, we wouldn’t be anywhere without them. We love all our fans.

Hopskotch: My message for our fans is “please bring us some beers.”

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

Corndog: If I could bring any rock star back from the dead it’d definitely be Joey Jordison. He’s my all-time drumming inspo and I even got his face tattooed on my hand.

Hopskotch: I’ve already brought too many rock stars back from the dead. It never goes well. I do think it’d be cool if I could bring back Oderus Urungus but specifically as a vampire or a zombie. 

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

Hopskotch: For me, just getting to write and create music, perform it live, and be part of a community where so many different people have something in common are the best parts. The business end of things gets stressful, but I guess it’s a necessary evil. 

Corndog: My favourite thing about being a musician is definitely playing shows, it gives us a chance to showcase what we spend our time and effort on and engage with our supporters. One thing I hate is dealing with unprofessional musicians, since we are so young we’re often not taken seriously. 

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

Hopskotch: There’s so much. The music industry is still controlled by a select few with so many people being taken advantage of. There are massive inequality and inequity issues and while a few are raking in ridiculous heaps of money, most musicians and music industry workers are left to scramble after peanuts. 

Corndog: One thing I’d change about the music industry is the insignificance of record sales and record labels, it makes it way harder to be a musician nowadays because anyone can stream music therefore many talented bands go unheard.

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

Hopskotch: That’s a tough one. My general go-to is Slipknot’s self-titled. That album changed everything for me. 

Corndog: One of my favourite albums is Of Mice & Men’s self-titled album. I think it is such a masterpiece of an album, each song follows perfectly into the next, and maintains a steady emotional attraction keeping the listener in tune nonstop. The album gives off great energy, and sounds amazing due to the mixing and mastering.

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

Hopskotch: I grew up with CDs. I know vinyl is cool again but I’m poor. I do buy all three used sometimes though. Streaming is most convenient, I hate to say. I would say the best is going to a live show. Nothing beats that as long as the show is good!

Corndog: Personally, I am a huge fan of CDs, I am too young for anything before that, but CDs speak to me because they were still so prominent during my childhood. The nostalgia of getting a new CD and the excitement that follows is incomparable to music apps.

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

Hopskotch: Our album release show last fall for “Please Don’t Feed the Animals” was a special one. Our mom flew across the country to see it and she was a celebrity there. 

Corndog: I think the best show I played so far was probably our goodbye show when we moved away from the Yukon. It was one of our most successful, rambunctious, and adrenaline driven shows. When I look back, we were not nearly as good as we are now, but this show will definitely be one I remember forever.

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

Corndog: If I wasn’t a musician, I have no idea what I’d be. Other than music I sell art, but I really couldn’t see myself as a full-time artist. I was meant to be a performer.

Hopskotch: Probably an astronaut or a doctor. I had a very bright future before I discovered metal music. 

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

Hopskotch: Five cocky teenagers in a creepy cabin. They’d also be the dinner.  

Corndog: Five people I’d invite to dinner would have to be Chris Motionless, CC from Black Veil Brides, Joey Jordison (if he were still alive), Billie Eilish, and Weird Al.

What’s next for the band?

Hopskotch: Our new single! ‘Another Prayer’ drops September 15th. There will be more after that too. We just got signed to a label and management company, so we’ll be doing some touring and stuff like that next year. I can’t wait to start opening for some big bands. 

Corndog: Next for the band is to continue playing shows, releasing music, and hope that we get noticed because I would love to be playing Budweiser Stage in Toronto in a few years.

What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theanimalwarfareact/
Site: https://www.theanimalwarfareact.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KBPOjTDYfgVNEXk9xun4x?si=LN8hwYYnTuOkCD1BBRoq8w Bandcamp: https://theanimalwarfareact.bandcamp.com/ 

Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?

Hopskotch: I think it’s a roll? I don’t know man, I haven’t been overseas in like eight years. A bun is like what you put a burger or hot dog in, no? We have muffins here which are kind of breakfast cakes I guess, but we also have English muffins which maybe you’d just call muffins? No clue what the rest of those are. This is confusing. I’ll be doing some bread and muffin research today. 

Corndog: I think it is called a tea cake but I’m really not sure.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Hopskotch: Thank you for the interview, and I can’t wait to see it out there! Also, if enough people overseas listen to us, we’ll come play there. So listen to our music if you’re reading this. 

Corndog: Please listen to our music.

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.