Fresh off the back of a Sophie stage performance at Bloodstock, we asked Chris Ryan, bassist of slam royalty Party Cannon, on how he was feeling as his band just crushed a Sophie Stage performance and they cruise through the UK on tour with Gwar.
“It was hot, Sweaty…I thought I was gonna faint coming off that stage. The crowd seemed to enjoy it so it was awesome”, says Ryan on their Bloodstock set. And indeed, the crowd certainly did enjoy it – having waited over a year after Party Cannon had to pull out of last year’s lineup the fans filled the tent to mosh to some ludicrously fun death metal. When asked about pulling out last year, Chris told us “I was absolutely crushed man… it felt like all the effort up to that point was gone, but we made it here now. I don’t want to say it was a good thing that our drummer got Covid last year but we kind of lucked out…because we were really fortunate to get a great slot this year.”
You can tell that he’s genuinely buzzing as well; he lets in that he’s “had his pop up tent in the car for over a year” so the Party Cannon bassist has certainly been excited to hit the stage. Ryan let in that the most important part of his wait for their performance at this years fest was “making sure that we have enough inflatables”. Classic Party Cannon right there.
There were a lot of metalheads wearing their Party Cannon tees at the festival this year, and to come out and see the masses of fans supporting them was “Beautiful” according to Ryan. “It’s so nice to come back and see people supporting us, it really means a lot. Its good to see that Covid hasn’t stopped Party Cannon.”
“We have a song called 1000% - that's what we always give”
He’s right – the hell of the lockdown definitely hasn’t impeded their momentum at all. As we speak to them at the festival they are on tour supporting Gwar and having an awesome time on the road. “People ask themselves what they actually enjoy doing, and what I want to do is spend my time playing gigs, making people happy and i’m glad we came back (on this tour) as hard as possible….we have a song called ‘1000%’ and that’s what we always give!”
Moving onto their other engagements, Ryan says that he’s looking forward to getting back into writing album number three. The machine of Party Cannon are clearly looking to use the fantastic reception to their latest full-length Volumes of Vomit to power through to their next release.
On that note – when it came to naming the last album Ryan gave us an insight into why the band chose such a visual title. Chuckling, he explains “It just felt right…it’s so Party Cannon, it’s obscene, ridiculous – a melting pot of everything that is Party Cannon.” If you’re into your heavy music, then the obscene and ridiculous nature of this band is worth your attention. They’re making waves and their unique logo is popping up on posters all over the world. If this doesn’t convince you of their calibre then perhaps the promise of even more exercise routines during their performances will.
Already famed for their push-pits, a press-up themed take on the classic moshpit experience, we asked Ryam if there’s any plans for more exercises to be implemented into their sets. “We’re able to get people to run in circles so that’s cardio. We want to get people squatting each other, once we even had someone getting used as a skipping rope!” A bit of slam with a healthy dose of exercise on the side – brutal music that your doctor would approve to. Never change Party Canon, never change.