HEY BERT! SO COREY TAYLOR FROM SLIPKNOT SUGGESTED THAT WE PUT YOUR BAND IN METAL HAMMER…
Bert Poncet (vocals): “I know! That’s so crazy. We are honoured to have such a great compliment from such a great man. In the metal world he is one of the biggest guys! There isn’t much more than Corey as a frontman. He’s in these two massive bands, Slipknot and Stone Sour, two of the biggest bands of all time!”/o:p
DID YOU EVER THINK YOU’D MAKE IT INTO THE HALLOWED PAGES OF HAMMER VIA THE 18-LEGGED HATE MACHINE?
“No, because Slipknot are such a heavy band and we are… I guess a mix, of heavy stuff and then the pop punk stuff, too. We’re certainly not metal, but I’ve been a Slipknot fan for a long time. I was listening to them from the first album when I was a little kid! It’s so surprising!”/o:p
YEAH, WE WERE QUITE SHOCKED, TOO, TO BE HONEST. HOW DO YOU THINK THE MAGGOTS WILL REACT TO THIS?
“Well, I cannot say. But from our own experience, we have toured a lot in the last five years, both with metal fans and pop punk fans, and we definitely feel that metal fans are the more open-minded. So I’m interested to hear what the Slipknot fans think of our music. I hope everyone checks us out to see how they feel. I hope they are curious enough to see what they think. But Corey picked us so that’s a good sign, right?”/o:p
**WE GUESS SO! IT’S OBVIOUSLY PROOF THAT PEOPLE’S TASTES ARE EXPANDING, RIGHT? **
“Definitely. When I was in high school you had the guys listening to pop punk and the guys listening to metal and the guys listening to hip-hop, but you never had anyone listening to all three at once. So we wanted to take all of these influences and do it all. Our music is a really good example of our influences. I was a huge Slipknot fan, but I was a massive Blink 182 fan as well!”
EASY ON THE POP PUNK MEGAWEIGHT NAME-DROPPING THERE, MATE, COREY’S TRYING TO SELL YOU TO OUR READERS HERE!
“Well, I think they should at least be curious! After all, here we are in Metal Hammer! There might be something that they may not have ever known they liked. We are a blend of two extreme opposites: the really heavy beatdowns and some very poppy choruses. You know, we take a lot of time trying to get the heavy bits heavy! I’m not saying they are going to like us, but at least be a little curious, right?”
SO IF YOU WERE IN COREY’S SHOES AND HAD THE REINS OF HAMMER FOR AN ISSUE, WHO WOULD YOU STICK IN THE MAG?
“I guess it should be a heavy band, right?”
PROBABLY FOR THE BEST.
“We have toured with this American band, Chelsea Grin, a few times. I would watch their show every night, and they’re so heavy. They’ve been around for a while, they write really good songs, and they’re really nice guys. So I’d pick them.”/o:p
COREY TAYLOR ASIDE, HAVE YOU DISCOVERED ANY OTHER SURPRISING FANS OF YOUR MUSIC?
“Well, it’s only a rumour, so I’m not sure it’s totally true, but someone sent me a screenshot of one of the guys, I don’t remember his name, from One Direction, who had liked the band on Facebook. So that’s pretty cool.”
ER, YEAH, THAT’S TOTALLY… COOL. LET’S QUICKLY CHANGE THE SUBJECT. IF CHUNK! NO, CAPTAIN CHUNK! WERE A FILM, WHICH FILM WOULD THEY BE?
“I would definitely have to say The Goonies [That explains the band name – Ed]. We grew up watching those movies and we hope to capture the vibe of that sort of thing. You know, it’s fun and it’s entertaining but it’s also got a message and has moments of seriousness. It’s the perfect mix of entertainment and emotions. So yeah, I would say that if Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! were a movie, we would definitely have to be The Goonies.”
FINALLY, AND ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE, DO YOU THINK THAT MORE MUSIC FANS COULD TAKE A LEAF OUT OF COREY’S BOOK AND EXPAND THEIR TASTES A BIT?
“We definitely do. People take music so seriously and it should just be something to make your life better. I mean, who wants to spend their time arguing about music? It’s meant to be something that takes you away from the bullshit in life! All the elitists need to chill out and accept everyone. Like I said, we’ve had the chance to play in both the pop punk and the metal worlds, and I really do feel the metal world is much more open-minded. And I definitely think that people could learn a lot from the metal world. I hope they accept us and I hope that we can bring more people into this world. As long as everyone is having fun, that’s all I really care about.”
A NEW CHUNK! NO, CAPTAIN CHUNK! ALBUM IS EXPECTED LATER THIS YEAR/o:p
> This band should definitely be nominated in > the category of ‘Best Band Names Ever’. I didn’t know anything about them until > I saw them listed to play at a festival a few years back. The name alone made > me want to see the band. They did not disappoint!
