If you’re a fan of Devin Townsend, there’s you’re no doubt familiar with fellow Canadian act Zimmers Hole.
Initially founded as a way to pass the time between Strapping Young Lad releases, the four piece act (comprised of vocalist Chris ‘The Heathen’ Valagao, guitarist Jed Simon, bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Steven Wheeler) released their debut Bound By Fire in 1997. Although it was a modest seller, the album did garnish an underground following, and helped establish the Zimmers Hole a reputation as a one of a kind band.
The band did manage to squeeze their follow up release Legion Of Flames in-between the band members’ various touring and recording schedules in 2001, but once again, with its limited distribution, the band’s reputation and stature grew purely through simple word of mouth and those lucky enough to witness the band performing live in North America.
Times have since moved on, and following the demise of Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole have returned with a new line-up (drum legend Gene Hoglan has since replaced Wheeler), a new recording deal (with Century Media Records) and their long overdue third full-length release When You Were Shouting At The Devil… We Were In League With Satan.
Barely having the time to unpack his bags after a short tour of Canada, I caught up with bassist Byron Stroud at home in Vancouver to talk about their change of drummers, the group’s reunion with former Strapping Young Lad front man Devin Townsend, the status of their much talked about unreleased live DVD and the reasons behind the long wait for When You Were Shouting At The Devil… We Were In League With Satan.
“We had every intention of making an album year’s ago. We even had a tentative record deal with Century Media Records back in 2003. But it just didn’t work out. What happened is that not long after we decided to go in and make an album, we all got really busy with Strapping Yong Lad. So it took us a while before we really acted on both the making of the album, and the deal we were right in the middle of negotiations with for Century Media Records. So we decided to wait until we had some time to devote to the band, and do this thing properly.
“In the meantime, I joined Fear Factory in 2003, so that only made my schedule even busier. So we couldn’t find the right time to do this. We had songs written, various ideas, concepts and even the title for the album years ago. We had everything in place, apart from the time to actually make it happen. So when Townsend decided that he wanted to take a break from Strapping Young Lad and go on hiatus for a while in 2007, which pretty much coincided around the same time that Fear Factory did, the timing couldn’t have been better. With more time, I was pretty much freed me up to take control of the band, finally get the record deal done, do some demos and get the album recorded. With me playing in two bands, and none of us living in the same city anymore, it wasn’t easy finding time to make a new Zimmers Hole album. But we finally found the time, and we’ve made a killer album! (laughs) Well, people seem to be pretty happy with the album, especially people that have been fans of the band for a while. They’re digging this stuff for sure.”
Given that Simon, Stroud and Hoglan’s commitments to Strapping Young Lad are no more, it comes as no surprise that Zimmers Hole has progressed from being a side project to full-time status.
“That’s right. I think that we all agreed that now is the time to get serious about the band and do it right. Especially given that Strapping Young Lad is on hiatus and Fear Factory are on a break. We’ve always considered this our joke band, or our fun to hang around like band. Zimmers Hole was the sort of group that we would fool around with while not on tour. But then we thought, if we’re having so much fun with it, why not make it a priority now? It made even more sense when Hoglan joined the band. So we made that move. We’re really serious about Zimmers Hole, because everyone is onboard. We all want to do this, and we all want be on tour and seen in this band.”
But while Byron stresses that Zimmers Hole is a serious band, he’s quick to add that the band’s only serious where the music is concerned.
“Lyrically, we’re definitely not serious whatsoever. I mean you really only have to take a look at the title! (laughs) We’ve had that title for a few years. My friend Craig Locicero, who plays guitar with Forbidden, he was hanging out with us one time, and he was telling us a story one time about when he was hanging out with David Vincent from Morbid Angel. Basically, they were hanging out and talking to him, and one of the lines that came out of the conversation was, ‘When you were hanging out with the devil, I was hanging out with Satan!’ We were just dying about the place laughing so hard at that statement. We thought that that would be an awesome Zimmers Hole album title. He thought that was great, and suggested we use it! (laughs) So that’s been sitting on the backburner for the last four years until we finally had the chance to use it. We didn’t tell anybody about it, because we knew that it had to be ours! (laughs)
But really, we like to think we’re a serious kick ass metal band, but with a sense of humor. We really don’t like to take ourselves too seriously. Don’t take me wrong, we take the music seriously. I mean we’re good players, and we love metal. But if you can’t have fun doing what you do, then why bother right? (laughs)”
As mentioned earlier, Zimmers Hole parted ways with drummer Wheeler in August 2007 after fifteen years together, which paved the way for drum god Hoglan to sit in with the band.
“One reason why Wheeler left the band was because his successful business was demanding more and more of his time. The other reason was that during the seven years that Zimmers Hole was away, he hadn’t been playing that much. Throughout the whole time that we were playing with Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory and all the other stuff, he was just basically sitting at home working toward his business and not playing his drums. He did have another band on the side, but he just wasn’t being challenged enough with it. I think he just kind of lost the love of playing music because he’s just been so busy with his business. When it came time to record demos for new album, he was struggling a little bit, and generally not having as much fun with it as he used to. We all agreed to part ways. We’re still all friends. It was just a case of him stepping down, and letting Hoglan take over.
”Ever since Hoglan joined Strapping Young Lad back in 1996, he’s wanted to be in Zimmers Hole. From the very first time he heard Bound By Fire, he told us that he wanted to be in this band. We always laughed at him and said that because he never liked AC/DC, he could never be a part of the band! (laughs)
The fact is that we’re all friends, and we hang out a lot together. So when the time came to do the album, I just called Hoglan up and asked him if he was up to it. He flew in from L.A. the very next day, learnt the songs all in one day and recorded them the next day! It was pretty amazing! (Laughs) I don’t know any other drummer that can do that kind of stuff. He basically tracked eleven songs in about six hours. It’s amazing!”
