Music Interview: The kids come back

By Chris Courtice

You’re walking down the street, groovin’ to some Comeback Kid on your Ipod Nano and enjoying your already fantastic day of walking and grooving. Then suddenly you see a crisp 20 lying at the side of the road. You pick it up, and a wave of euphoria passes through your bad self. Wake The Dead begins to play in your ears. The blood starts pumping, the adrenaline starts rushing, and you have an overwhelming desire to scream and dance in the middle of the street. Only two things can provoke such a response from your nervous system–free money, and Comeback Kid.

CBK is a band who isn’t afraid to rock out and get their bodies moving. The five-piece punk-rock unit has been working hard since their inception in 2000. In 2002 the band picked up the pace when they really began to work full-time on writing and touring. Their bodies have been moving like crazy in the last three years, with much time spent on the road for huge tours with such influential acts such as Terror, Throwdown, Bane, and soon with, punk-rock veterans Strung Out. Like the varied acts CBK has toured with the band themselves like to dip into many different areas of song.

“We have so many different influences,” explains CBK guitarist Jeremy Hiebert. “Some of the guys started with punk, some of us started with metal. We listen to a lot of different music.”

The diversity is apparent in their music, especially on the new record, Wake The Dead. The album combines straight up poppy, four chord punk, with high energy screaming and low-end metal riffs, marking it as quite a departure from most punk or metal bands these days. Mixing genres usually just results in bands creating crappy music from two types of music rather than one but CBK manages to mix their styles properly and uniquely. The music may pump you up, but the live show is where they separate from the rest.

“I’ve been disappointed by bands who just stand there on stage,” says Hiebert. “It’s more fun for everyone when you get into the music.”

Not willing to name names, Hiebert explains CBK doesn’t mope around on stage like some others tend to do, but really enjoys the ability to vent their energy. This is fortunate for fans, when the boys get on stage to serenade the public, it’s an experience not to be missed. Quick movement, swinging guitars, drum sticks flying and lots of screaming add up to an intense live show only believable by seeing it first hand.

Luckily, CBK will be available first hand when they come through Calgary with Strung Out. The tour is set to run through Canada and dip into the US near around mid-October. CBK doesn’t stop there, taking a trip to Europe with Bane and FC Five until the end of November.

“We’ll be sitting down and talking about plans for 2006[soon],” remarks Hiebert. “We’ll probably be touring again in January or February.”

Touring has never really slowed down for the group since they began, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon. They’ve got too much energy to sit and stay in one place.

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