Cancer Bats

Cancer Bats
Cancer Bats live in Sydney in 2013. From left to right: Jaye R. Schwarzer, Liam Cormier and Mike Peters.
Background information
Also known as	Bat Sabbath
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Hardcore punk, sludge metal, metalcore
Years active	2004 (2004)–present
Labels	Hassle, Distort, Metal Blade, Good Fight, New Damage
Associated acts	Alexisonfire, Dance Laury Dance, At the Mercy of Inspiration, Reefer Cathedral, AxeWound, Billy Talent, AIDS Kitten
Members	Liam Cormier Scott Middleton Mike Peters Jaye R. Schwarzer
Past members	Joel Bath Andrew McCracken Jason Bailey

Cancer Bats are a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario. They have released five studio albums and six extended plays. The band is composed of vocalist Liam Cormier, guitarist Scott Middleton, drummer Mike Peters and bassist Jaye R. Schwarzer. Cancer Bats take a wide variety of influences from heavy metal subgenres and fuse them into hardcore and punk rock, and also include elements of Southern rock. Their sound has thus been likened to sludge metal, as well as to that of metalcore bands such as Converge and Hatebreed. The members of Cancer Bats have also toured and recorded as a Black Sabbath cover band under the name Bat Sabbath.

Cancer Bats was founded in May 2004 by drummer Liam Cormier and guitarist Scott Middleton, a former member of Toronto heavy metal band At the Mercy of Inspiration. The two wanted to form a project that combined their favorite parts of bands like Entombed, Refused, Black Flag, Led Zeppelin and Down, among others. The lineup was completed with the addition of Andrew McCracken on bass and Joel Bath on drums, with Cormier moving to vocals. The four-piece wrote and recorded songs for a self-released demo that saw light in January 2005, and led to Canadian independent record label Distort Entertainment signing the band.