CANCER BATS Frontman Says 'Lulu' Is Like Mixing 'Chocolate And Scrambled Eggs'

During a recent interview with GuelphMercury.com, vocalist Liam Cormier of Canadian metallers CANCER BATS was asked about this season's most contentious metal album, the Lou Reed/METALLICA collaboration, "Lulu".

According to Cormier, fans shouldn't expect CANCER BATS to try something like that with, say, Burton Cummings, no matter how intriguing that might be.

"I think the Lou-Tallica stuff just boils down to creative differences," Cormier says. "I really love both acts on their own, and I thought the idea was really interesting, but in the end it didn't really work out. Kind of like chocolate and scrambled eggs — sometimes you can't just mix any two rad things together.

"As a band, we're all about mixing it up, but you just need to know when to keep those bad calls in the kitchen."

"Lulu" has polarized fans around the world and earned METALLICA some of the most scathing reviews of its career. The effort features the former THE VELVET UNDERGROUND frontman's spoken-word poetry and lyrics combined with METALLICA's musical assault for a jarring experience that doesn't sound like anything METALLICA has ever attempted before. A concept album based on two early 20th century plays by German author Frank Wedekind, the CD was co-produced by Reed, METALLICA, Hal Willner — who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others — and Greg Fidelman. Fidelman also mixed the record.

The collaboration between METALLICA and Reed was sparked by their performance together of Reed's "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat" at the 25th anniversary of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at Madison Square Garden in October of 2009.

The songs were all written by Reed with extensive arrangement contributions by METALLICA.

Only two songs on the album are under five minutes in length, while two are more than 11 minutes long and the closing cut, "Junior Dad", clocks in at 19 minutes.

Pictured below: CANCER BATS