 Well, I think we are live. No, not yet. He's like calling into those radio stations and you got your radio on. Yeah, right? Yep. Hey! That's right. Turn down the radio. Turn down the radio. You don't know when you call the radio stations. All right, here we are on the middle voice today. I guess the first time ever, right? Alan? Yeah, yeah. You know, ever since Apex made my top 10 list back in 2017, I've been following this band and very excited to have Britney Slays. Unleash the archers here with us today. Hello! All right, so it's called the metal voice. It's a pure Canadian show. It's a pure Canadian show. All right, so we got lots to talk about. And just so you know, by the time this interview is over, you're going to say to yourself, this was the greatest interview I've ever had. I hope so. There's no hope. It will be. All right, here we go. Abyss, which is the fifth studio album by, of course, Unleash the archers, Juno winning. I mean, now it's been a year, August 21st, 2020. I mean, it's just a whole year has gone by. You guys went on tour. First of all, tell us about sort of the trip ups on your first leg of your tour when COVID, I guess, was kind of just slowing down a bit. Yeah, well, we went out in September through the U.S. and there's still a lot of restrictions in place. So of course we tried to cross the border and they said no. So we tried again a week later and then they let us in. And it was because we had been in Europe recently before. And unless you are a U.S. citizen, you weren't allowed to go to Europe and then come back and like enter the United States. So that sucked. We had to cancel five shows. But then once we got in there, it was great. It was like the tour was so much fun and very successful. And a lot of people came out and we had a killer time. And it was great to finally get to play Abyss Live for everybody. And yeah, I mean, it was really, it was also very difficult because we had to be very careful and we couldn't interact with the fans as much as we would have liked. We're very, we're very social. So we like to hang out with our fans whenever we can. But we couldn't do that this time around. So we had to be super diligent about hand sanitizing and wearing masks and all that stuff. So it was kind of, it was really exciting. But it was also really nerve-wracking at the same time. It was a little, you know, walking a fine line. But we had a great time. So the Abyss Strikes Back, we're able to get you on the East Coast here on the back end of the tour. You know, I don't know, I don't think those dates were originally scheduled. So maybe it's a good thing that you got five shows canceled because we were able to enjoy your here on the East Coast. Yeah, now we get to add you guys in there. It was kind of, it was a bit of an unfortunate situation because having those five shows canceled, we were trying to figure out how we were going to be able to get back there. And we were supposed to be touring Europe in December. And that, of course, is no longer going forward due to the fact that the restrictions are constantly changing for each country over there. And things were getting, you know, Spain is like just kind of finally getting through the fourth wave and Germany just announced that they've had the highest COVID rates of all time that they've ever had since the beginning. And things are just, yeah, things are just changing constantly. So there was zero security, basically. There was nothing that we could depend on for us flying over there. And then the tour not getting canceled, you know, the second we fly over there or us being stuck in a country because the next country that we're supposed to go to just read less of the country that we were just in, you know. So there was just too much up in the air about that. So unfortunately, we had to cancel the Europe tour. But our booking agent said, well, hey, you guys have that time off work anyways. Why don't we reschedule those US dates and throw a few Canadian dates in the mix as well. And that took, I mean, deciding to cancel Europe was insanely, insanely difficult. And we fought that decision for as long as we could. But in the end, it just was the right thing to do. So deciding to tour the US instead was very much an easy decision. It was kind of like, yes, let's get back there right now. Let's get Toronto. Let's get Montreal in there. And we'll try and make the best of it. But so yeah, I mean, it's good with the bad as per usual. So you have Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Jaliette, Indianapolis. And then of course, all the US dates, Rochester, moving up to these coasts, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, which is cool. So what about this new album? All right, well, new album, last year's album. You won in Juneau. What was that like? Tell us about that experience. Oh, that was awesome. I mean, it was so much fun. We streamed the whole thing live on Twitch so that we could be there with all of our friends and fans and family because being COVID, we couldn't go to a live event. We couldn't be there in the hall when your name gets announced. We couldn't do the after party with everyone and all that fun stuff. So we decided to make it as much of a party atmosphere as possible that we'd stream the whole thing on Twitch. So everyone was watching when we won, which was great. And we were all drinking and having a really good time. And it was really funny because as we were watching, the Junos happened while we were waiting for our category. It seemed like everyone that was accepting their awards was alone in their living room. A lot of people were just alone. And it was so, it was like, this sucks. So when they got to us, it was all four of us together on the couch. Plus we were a couple beers deep and we had all of our Twitch friends there chatting us up on the Twitch. So it was just such a fun atmosphere that when they got to us, it was kind of just super crazy level change. And when they went back to the host after she was definitely laughing at us because it was like the whole thing had been so chill up until that moment when we were like, hi, mom. I'm like, yay. It's just really, it was really funny. But it was such, yeah. So unexpected. Us Canadians have to always keep saying, the Junos are the Canadian Grammys. We always have to say that everywhere we go. What's the Junos? It's the Canadian Grammys. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we definitely have had to say that many times since winning. But I'm fine with that, yeah. Yeah, me too. And again, you're part of a great Canadian scene coming out of the West. Bands like Striker, Borealis that I like tremendously. Thor, Thor. You know, you're part of that. Pardon? Thor. Thor. Can you speak to maybe two of that, the new generation of metalheads and metal bands in Canada? I mean, yeah, there's a lot of us coming out of here these days. It's just a constant kind of wave. You have bands that are just starting out and they're influenced by the bands that have some level of success. And then they work really hard and they work their way up. And then they inspire younger bands to start. And it's really just this awesome cycle of heavy metal bands inspiring more heavy metal bands to start. So it's just, it's a great scene to be a part of. I love discovering new bands. I love supporting local bands. I mean, that's one of the things that's totally sucked because of COVID is that we can't get out there to the live shows and see what's going on in the scene. And you really just kind of have to be in touch with everybody on social media. So when we were looking for openers for our Vancouver show, the promoter was like, Brittany, who do you want? And I was like, I'm like, I don't even know what's going on these days. So I kind of was tooting around Facebook and trying to see what everyone's up to and who's doing what and what's going on and who's new and who needs a shot at playing live and that kind of thing. So it's just, yeah, it's really fun to get to be not on the top level of bands in Canada. That's for sure. But just kind of getting up there and being able to have that influence on the younger generation and to give them a shot, maybe take them on tour with us or things like that. All right, cool. All right. You know, what about a new album? Well, we're looking to take this next year off to focus on writing. Yeah. Is this like a part three of the last two albums? No, no. It's just going to be, yeah. It's just going to be something completely new. Are you like a Star Trek or Star Wars fan? Both. Okay, fan to see your science fiction. Both. Because like, you know, usually people who come up with albums like this, either they like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or Star Trek, right? We're all, we're all. Yeah, it's cool. Oh yeah, I like everything. I'm a big fan of all the things. I've got, my shelf is full of historical fiction and science fiction and fantasy, high fantasy, low fantasy, whatever. I mean, whatever I could get my hands on, if it's good, I'll read it. I don't care. Do you foresee the next album as a concept album like you've done in the last two? Like another story, conceptual story? Yeah. Yeah. I think I will, I think I will try and write every record from now on to have some kind of underlying story. That's the plan. It's so much more fun. And it gives you direction and it keeps everyone together on the same track during the songwriting process. So that's, yeah, I mean, that's kind of the goal. Well, we've got a couple of questions here. I don't know unless you have a question. I got other questions. Yeah, no, I just want to say at best, it seems to be a much more, less the Dungeons and Dragons kind of feel to it and much more mature writing, especially, you know, with the title track being one of them a lot of keyboards arrangement. And it's a very mature album compared to some of the early ones I find. Yeah, no, we're definitely different people. We've learned a lot about songwriting and about the studio is kind of where it's, you know, where the most important changes happened. We realized that you got to spend the money. You got to have good production on your record. And that's kind of the, yeah, it was super important to us that we get that on Apex and Abyss. So yeah, Brittany loves Dio. That's what somebody says. Is that true? I do love Dio. Yeah. Jeff Tate. Who doesn't? These are like. And Jeff Tate. Yeah. And Jeff Tate. Okay, good. Tick, tick. Does Brittany like Midnight from Crimson Glory? Midnight from Crimson Glory. I don't really know. Yeah, they're a lot smaller, but he's got a voice similar to Jeff Tate, basically. So we'll say yes. Okay. Dio would like the link to have it. I don't know what that means. I don't know what that means. Okay. No festivals. No festivals. No festivals. There you go. Scheduled right now. Yeah. Nothing. Do you find? Tomorrow or next year is supposed to be us writing. So we're not looking at anything for next year right now. Is the band bigger in the Europe versus North America? No. No. Definitely North America. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Okay. Everyone thinks that's funny because we have a European sound, but we're very much influenced by North American metal. So we kind of have this weird combination of both. And we, yeah, I would say when we look at our Spotify listens, our Amazon listens, our Apple listens, the USA is number one every time. Yeah. Us were number one in Brazil. So it's all good. We'll break some new territory for you. Nice. And don't forget about the one female fan we have in Bulgaria. Hello from Bulgaria. Oh, she's watching. She probably would always love to buy the band is, you know, the videos, you know, from the night we ride the Mad Max theme. And then the three videos that came out for this album, I mean, you've got the dark humor of, you know, faster than light. The running. And then we got, you know, very mature theme, the very mature video and legacy. I thought that was great. And the traditional kind of metal feel of soul bound. So where does all these ideas come from? Because those are like three very different videos. Well, it's difficult. Coming up with music videos that are unique is hard. We, I mean, there's nothing wrong with the standard, you know, playing in a warehouse or in some old ruin somewhere standard performance video. There's nothing wrong with those. I mean, they're great. We just like to do fun stuff. So we're always trying to like tell a story or have something fun for the viewer to be involved in or to have some sort of stake in watching all the way to the end. You know, we don't just want to, you want to give them some something worth, you know, sticking around for. So yeah, it's difficult. That's one of the hardest parts, I would say, of being in a band is coming up with music videos that aren't just the same old, same old every time. Yeah, it's true. And within a given budget, too, right? So yeah, it's not easy. What's next for the band? Okay, so you're writing an album. What do you foresee this album going to be ready, like 2023? Well, if vinyl records don't start coming back into stock, yeah, 2023. Maybe it's for the best, you know, the best albums are created over a given period of time. You know, ideas get to ferment, you know. Yeah, it's just, yeah, we just want to take our time. We don't want to rush it. And we want, we've got a lot of pressure on our shoulders here to, if not, meet the standards of a mix. You know, we didn't know. Yeah, right. We got to write another Juneau Award winner. You know what I like about Unleashed Yartures versus other female fronted bands? It's, you let the music kind of do the talk and you're not trying to sell, you know, I don't want to say this. I'm trying to say this in a nice way. You're not trying to sell the, you know, you're not trying to sell the sax. You know what I mean? And I mean that in a, you know what I'm saying? Like, like you have some female front women and all you see is abs and like, you know, it's kind of like, it's deviating from the music and it kind of like, not to say that. I'm just saying that it's about the music first. That's what I'm trying to say. It's about the music first. And very much is. I'm trying to say this in a nice way to the world. Oh, I think you did well. You did good. I just got to skip over everything. It was a 15 minute question where you did a good job. There's nothing wrong with being, you know, feeling empowered by your, your own body as a woman. There's nothing wrong with that. If you want to use for that to be a thing or whatever that, that your band is about, then that's what choice is all about. Do it. Show it off. Absolutely. You know, I'm not going to say that, you know, that it's, that I have zero respect for you or something like that because you choose to show your body off. That's not, that's not how that works. But for me personally, I started this band a long time ago when there weren't that many women in the scene and really the only way to get noticed was to show off your femininity and to, to kind of play into that. So I just really, I wanted it to be about the music. I wanted it to be about my voice. So I worked really hard vocally to come up with something that was captivating for people to listen to. I wanted to have my own sound and I wanted, I mean, I didn't want to, you know, be the best or whatever, but I wanted to, to, to, yeah, just do the best that I could do vocally and constantly grow in that way so that I could, you know, sing Lost Horizon songs and sing Queen's Rite songs and sing Judas Priest songs. And I wanted to be noticed because, you know, because of my voice and that's it. So that was, that's just something that has always been a huge driving force for me. So that's just, but that's just me, right? So if you, you know, want people to know about your band because of how hot you are, there's nothing wrong with that. Like go for it, absolutely. But that look at poison. That was just never, yeah, that was just never my thing. Yeah, right. In bands back in the day, like Care Metal, it was all about being hot. Like no one listened to you if you were a bunch of fat dudes, you know, so they understood the same pressures that we were under. So it was exactly the same. Yeah, you had to be super fit and shirtless all the time. And it's just, it was a very high standard for men as well. So it's totally, yeah, I mean, whatever you want, that's what's great about music is that there are no rules. There are no boundaries. It's you, if you're happy creating music, doing whatever it is that you're doing, then that's all that matters. I mean, you mentioned the voice and it's, proposed, we say in French, that you're on the metal voice here. But, you know, that's of course, that's one thing that the band's known for ever since the beginning is your voice. But now I'm listening to musicianship as well. And, you know, not that it was not there in the past, but I'm listening to that guitar solo on Soulbound. And it's, it just blew my mind, you know, and the drums are so good. And now you've got the orchestrations with the keyboards. I mean, it's not that everybody caught up to you, but it's like, it seems like the band's much more deeper, as we can say, or, you know, deeper line of, we go to hockey at connotations here. So, yeah. We've got to go to hockey, Alan. I think we've got to go to hockey. I think we've all just matured together, really, is what it comes down to, is that we've all done all these records together. And we've all been in the studio so many times together that we really just kind of grew as songwriters together. So it's gotten to the point where we are all, like, on the exact same pages for how we want to sound and what kind of music we want to create. It took a while for us to get there because we were all coming from these different directions, but now we're here and we're all moving in the exact same direction when it comes to what we want our brand to be and what kind of music we want to put out there in the world for people to listen to. So it just took a little while for us to, to kind of get to the same point. Yeah, no, you've actually found that sound. You're right. It took a few albums, but now you've defined who you are as a band. And you know, I think all bands, it takes a few albums to just really, there are the exceptions, of course. The song Legacy, I don't know what it is. I think there's something about the vocal line that reminds me of the 80s. I can't put my finger on it. You must have been listening to a flock of seagulls or something. I don't know what it is. Tears for fears? No, I think if you listen to the more you live, I was definitely listening to Tears for Fears. All right, all right. I was close. So what are you, Jimmy? No, I mean, yeah, there's a whole huge thing. But there's nothing wrong with the 80s melody lines, right? There's nothing wrong with that. It was actually, Legacy was really kind of, it was a like a theater piece for me. Like I felt like I was like writing something for, you know, Broadway. That was kind of really the main influence is that I wanted it to be this kind of grand you know, full chorus number. You know, it's a good song. Yeah. In order to remind me of, it's like within the temptation when they did The Unforgiven, it's got that feel, you know, it's something really different about the keyboards, but very well written and sung and played, of course. That's what they reminded me of. To me it reminds me of flock of seagulls. There you go. I love it. Within temptation, flock of seagulls. No, but if you actually, they have great melody lines. They have great melody lines if you're listening carefully. Okay. What do you want to say? Oh, some bands that you've played with it. You said, wow, I can't believe it. I, you know, I've met so and so people you've looked up to over the years and you said, wow, I met Jeff Tate or wow, I met, you know, Bruce Dickinson or whoever. I wish. Fill in the blanks. For me, it's probably Lugatrili's Rhapsody. Rhapsody. Yeah. They played Vancouver and we got to open for them. And they were absolutely incredible. Just perfection. And the vocalist, his name escapes me right now. Someone please put it in chat quickly. Who also was singing for Twilight Forest, I think, or started singing for them after he was in Rhapsody. But just absolutely like stunned me. He was perfection. He never missed a note. He was powerful. And yet he had amazing tone. And I just like was a huge fan instantly. And he like, I don't know. He just blew me away. Plus they were having such a good time up on stage. And like, Luca was just smiling. Alessandro Conti. Thank you. Yes. And Alejandro. No. It's two S's. Is that Alejandro pronounced that way? I don't think so. I just guess. I think it's like, yeah. Anyways. Yeah, I had to waste my time. And he, yeah, just absolutely blew me away and they were having so much fun. And it was just, I was literally smiling from ear to ear. The whole show just watching. Just watching them do their thing. And then when we came to Italy to play, Alessandro came out to the show and I got to meet him and hang out with him. And he was just such a nice guy. And the whole time I just wanted to be like, oh my god, tell me how you do what you do. But I had to try and be cool and be like, just another, we're just friends. We're just a couple of singers here hanging out together. So like, yeah, that was probably one of those moments that I've had. But I haven't had too many of them, to be honest. You play vessels with these bands and you don't see each other. You're in completely separate areas. And if you, maybe you'll get in the cafeteria at the same time together. But you don't really kind of, yeah, I don't know. It's different. So let's get to the members of the band here. In one word, if you can describe these guys for everybody out there watching today. Scott Buchanan, the coolest mustache in all of Canada, I must say. Rocking that stash. Oh yeah, I love it. He's, well, oh, you want me to talk about it? Yeah, I hope you just try. That's a good question there. Well, he's our drummer. He's the comedian in the band. He keeps us all laughing all the time. He's very talented. He's one of the only founding members aside from myself that's left in the band. We started the band together. So, you know, he and I have been together through it all. And I don't know, he's just like the best. He's my favorite. What about Grant? How would you describe Grant in a word? One word? There's not, there's not one word that describes Grant. He is a ball of energy. He doesn't stop. He is, he's awesome on stage. He's so much fun to be up there with. He's constantly coming up with fun new things to do. And you got to watch out because if you're not looking where you're going, you're going to, you're going to get smacked in the face with Grant. So you got to, you got to be aware and on your tip toes. But and he's just, he's always bringing a lot of energy to the band. And so it's always good to have him around keeps, keeps things upbeat. And a fellow redhead in Andrew. Andrew is the, I always say that I think, I think he's got a, he's got a touch of like autism or something because he's so smart and so bloody talented. He's just, he's, his brain works on a whole another level when it comes to music, it really does. He picks things up so fast and he just, I don't know. I'm in awe of him all the time. I love watching his streams because he's super, he's a super chill kind of quiet guy. He's just kind of wants to hang out and make music all the time. And so you really get this inside track on his world when he, when he twitch streams, but he's also really funny and he loves science fiction just as much as I do. And so we, you know, we kind of bond over that stuff a lot, Star Trek and all that sort of fun stuff together. And he and I, like whenever the band gets going, he and I are always the ones that end up on the couch talking like politics and history and, and all that stuff at the end of the night. And we just love like debating and battling over things. So he's, yeah, yeah, he's fantastic. Who's the bass player that's touring with you on this go around? Nick Miller. He is actually from Ottawa. He's in first fragment. I'm not sure if you know that band. I think they're from Montreal, right? Maybe. And he is, yeah, he's been our touring bassist for a few years now since 2018. And he is just this beam of positivity. He is such a happy, positive guy. He's so awesome to have around. And he's one of the reasons, it's one of the reasons why he works so well with us. We all have this kind of dynamic that we play in the band. And Nick just slaughtered right in there as he's always smiling. He's always up for anything. And he's just ready to go. And you know, we, when it comes to unleash the archers, we sometimes we kind of just fly by the seat. Most of the time we're flying by the seat of our pants. So to be like, oh my God, we have to do this thing. Can you do it? And Nick is like, yes, you know, and so it's just if, yeah, he's spent it. And he's so just, I don't know. I can't even explain to you what a bright light he is for us and how awesome. And we just, we loved him immediately from the very first time we toured with him. So, yeah. Sunglasses at night. Are you going to be playing that song? No. Why not? Do a cool version. Did you hear it? Did you hear it? It's a, well, it's a cover. Corey Hart. We don't, we don't really do covers live. I don't know. That might change. You never know. After this show, everybody's going to want to hear it. Corey Hart sunglasses at night. They do a great version of it. It's, it's, I don't know. I think it's a great version. It's on the Japanese bonus. Yeah. Oh, it was a good time. What is just, yeah, I don't know. Why did you pick that song? Why did you pick that song? Because it's Canadian. And because it kind of had that synthy feel that Abyss, the rest of Abyss had. Okay. Yeah. And it's, it was kind of like something that we felt like we could, we could cover it and make it a little bit heavier, but not ruin it by, you know, doing that. So, yeah. All right. Oh, that's the encore for the next tour, for the upcoming tour. That'll be your encore song. People go crazy if you play that song. So when was the last time you did the East Coast? Oh, man. Yeah. Like the real East Coast? Like Halifax? Three, four. Oh, wow. I'd say Ottawa East. Stops at Montreal. I think that was 2018. Yeah. Because we did, I think it was 2018? Yeah, it probably was. Yeah. Piranha, Piranha Bar. Yeah, we did Montreal. Yeah. And we did, oh yeah. And we played Toronto at Rockbell. Nope. It was a venue we'd never played before. It was an interesting one. Can't think of the name. Brass Monkey Ottawa. No. That's this time around, yeah. Yes. Yeah, playing there this time. Yeah. All right. All right. I think we're, is there anything else you want to promote? I think you've got an upcoming Twitch, right? Yeah. Actually, Saturday, we're doing a D&D stream on our Twitch channel. So if anyone wants to. How does that work? Yeah. We just basically put the whole Zoom call on Twitch and everyone can see each of us. And we've got a DM who is running the whole thing from. So people don't know this is a dungeon master for dungeons and dragons. Yeah. So a lot of people don't understand this game today. It's, so we've, what I've done is I've written out the story of Abyss. So the story from that record as basically like a one shot D&D playthrough campaign. So we are playing characters that are experiencing the whole story of Abyss alongside the immortal. Wow, that's cool. As if we were, we were in his adventure party. Yeah. Wow, that's pretty cool. Yeah. So it's a twitch.tv forward slash unleash the archers. Come hang out. I guess, I guess you got to get creative today. And you just got to use different, you know, the medium in different ways to interact with your fans. And I guess it's the first time I'm hearing a D&D. Alan, I think we should host a D&D. What do you think? Whatever, whatever, wind your clock. It's so much fun. Like we did one back in July and it was a really good time. I'm thinking absolutely hilarious. I'm thinking monopoly though. I think that's more me and Alan's kind of thing. No, we've done all night risk games. I remember that. I feel like Seinfeld with Kramer running across the street. There doesn't lose his pieces. So we've done that before. Looking forward to the tour. Unleash the archers. Coming to the East Coast. Coming to Montreal, Nipin and Toronto. Toronto. Can't wait to see you guys. I'm glad that we're able to promote this a little bit ahead of time. And yeah, we'll see you in December. Can't wait to see that show. You know, it's interesting that it's all in December. It's going to start snowing. Wow. It's going to be, it's right before Christmas. So a little bit of a Christmas fun before Christmas. Christmas party, we'll say. Yeah. Let's hope that it's just rain and not snow. Yeah. Welcome to Quebec. That's all I'm going to say. Don't leave any valuables in your car when you hit Montreal. That's just some sound advice there. Well, we're going to be on a tour bus. So not much we can walk up everything. We always do. No, Montreal is pretty good. It's pretty safe. It's pretty safe. All right. Have yourself a wonderful day. Yeah, thank you so much for being on. You'll have you back on. And you know, we wish you all the success in the new album, the tour and the Twitch. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Can't wait to hear the next album. Yeah, me too.