Toronto’s Cruel Hope, has released the first two singles from their upcoming debut EP I’m Not Sick. Both tracks are hard-driving rock anthems that remind us of bands like Rise Against and mid-2000s Green Day. The second single, “Someone to Hate” dropped today, and we got a chance to chat with frontman Liam Horrigan about their debut track “Wage Slave” as well as some other topics. Read all about it, as part of our Refrain Interview Series.
Refrain Music Blog: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. You have a new single out now. Tell us about it? What’s it called?
Anytime; I’m always happy to chat about music! The single is called “Wage Slave”, and it’s the debut release for “Cruel Hope”. It’s a hard-hitting alt rock tune, with a sort of industrial, Nine Inch Nails-esque sound on the verses that blends with some very arena rock style choruses in a really neat way.
RMB: What’s the single about?
Wage Slave is meant to speak to the maddening frustration felt by today’s working class as we are forced into ever-worsening working and living conditions, while the people we work for grow their fortunes from our labour. It also serves as a bit of a warning to those in power that there is a limit beyond which working people can’t be exploited any further, and that we’re really getting quite close to it.
RMB: What’s the story on how it was recorded?
This song came to me in two parts; I wrote the chorus years ago while working at an automotive assembly plant, and finished the song while working in musical instrument retail throughout the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. I sat on it for a while, along with a bunch of other songs I’d written early on in the pandemic, until I finally got in touch with a Toronto-based producer named Kyle Marchant who’d worked on some other projects I’d really enjoyed listening to. He offered to help me produce Wage Slave as well as a couple other songs that are yet to be released, so we booked ourselves some studio time back in October of 2021 and got to work. We did three songs in total, over the course of about four days. The whole process was super fun and laid back; Kyle immediately understood the vision I had for the songs, and added some really inspired nuances.
RMB: Is it part of a larger album?
The single is the first release of a 3 song EP called “I’m Not Sick”, which was the product of the time I spent in the studio with Kyle Marchant. All three of the songs are pretty different from each other both sonically and lyrically, but they all share a modern alt-rock sound with heavy riffs and sing-along choruses, and they all deal with issues that I think most people these days can relate to.
RMB: When is that album out?
The full EP comes out on March 18th, with a second single called “Someone to Hate” coming out February 11th. “Someone to Hate” is a sort of anti-love song, so I figured it would be fitting to put it out right before Valentine’s Day.
Kyle and I dug through about a dozen of my demos to pick the ones that we felt we could really turn into super strong releases, and ended up picking three songs: “Wage Slave”, “Someone to Hate”, and the EP title track “I’m Not Sick”. All three are very different songs, so I really do think there’s something for everyone on this release.
This is Cruel Hope’s first release, though it won’t be the last; there is a large backlog of demos still waiting to be unleashed on the world, so there will hopefully be another EP before the end of 2022.
RMB: When did you start pursuing music?
I started playing music at around eight or nine years old when my parents signed me up for piano lessons. As I got into my teen years I was interested in learning guitar; however, my older brother’s band needed a bass player, so I ended up learning bass to join them. The rest is history, really; I played bass in bands throughout high school, learned the guitar and started writing songs when I was about 17, and kept learning and refining my sound until now.
RMB: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Green Day was the first band whose sound I really fell in love with. I still credit hearing the opening riff of “Holiday” for the first time as the reason I ultimately decided to play and write rock music. I also grew up listening to a ton of Rise Against and Billy Talent, which I think comes through in my songs as well. More recently, I’ve gotten into bands like Cleopatrick and Royal Blood, which I think helps give my sound a bit of a more modern twist.
RMB: What’s the one thing you are most proud of in your career so far?
Getting Wage Slave released has definitely been the biggest accomplishment of my music career to date. Starting creative endeavors is much easier than finishing them, and so I’m very proud that I was able to get this song out into the world in a form that I think will stand the test of time.
RMB: If you had to pitch your music to a potential fan in less than 10 seconds, what would you say?
If you like Green Day, Cleopatrick, and socialism, this is the band for you.
RMB: What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that you think everyone needs to hear or that has meant the most to you?
It’s not exactly a piece of advice, but one thing that really struck me recently was another musician’s response to the question of whether he wished he had done any of the things he’s done sooner. His response was really powerful: he said something along the lines of, “We all sometimes wish we could have achieved more sooner, but I have to remind myself that my desire to accomplish the things I’ve achieved is a product of the things I’ve experienced, which took time to occur”. The question of whether I should have accomplished more sooner is one I’ve often struggled with, as seeing that some of the bands I now call influences are younger than me sometimes makes me feel like I started this project too late to really achieve anything worthwhile. But reading what this musician had to say helped me to realize that the essence of Cruel Hope as a project stems from experiences that couldn’t have been rushed, and that it’s those experiences that make it my best work to date.
RMB: If you could go back in time, what’s a piece of advice you would give to a younger you?
I’d probably tell him to practice more! But on a more serious note, I’d say to relax a bit and try to live more in the moment. I’ve always been pretty driven, which is good when it comes to handling the workload that comes with musical projects like this one, but does sometimes make it difficult to appreciate the very things I work for.
RMB: What’s coming up next for your musical project?
The “I’m Not Sick” release is definitely the big thing on the horizon, but I’m always writing more stuff and planning what the future could bring. My bandmates and I are also super excited to finally be able to play these songs live! We’ve got our first show coming up on February 18th at the Living Colour in Toronto, which should be a great time for anyone that comes out.
RMB: Anything we haven’t thought of that you want to talk about? Now is the time!
I’d just love to thank the people reading this, and you guys at Refrain, for taking the time to get to know Cruel Hope a little bit! Feel free to follow the project on social media or check the music out on Spotify; this is just the beginning, and there will be plenty of exciting things to come!
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