Five records and more than 12 years into their career, Victoria, B.C. band 3 Inches of Blood continue to proudly hold the heavy metal torch high. Having performed alongside the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden and Motorhead, the group’s newest album, appropriately titled Long Live Heavy Metal, fir mly continues with their tradition of making scorching, heavy music that pays tribute to the influence that the world of heavy metal has had upon them.
3 Inches of Blood are no strangers to Atlantic Canada. In fact, it seems that with each record they release, they perform in the region on at least a few occasions. With a blistering new record in their arsenal, it should be little surprise then that the group is returning to Metro Moncton for a show.
3 Inches of Blood will be performing at the Manhattan Bar & Grill tomorrow evening. Their special guests for the evening are Orchid’s Curse and Death Valley Driver.
From a tour stop outside of Denver, 3 Inches of Blood vocalist Cam Pipes insists that the group is well acquainted with life on the road, telling The Times & Transcript that the group has been home for no more than a week or two at a time since March.
‘We have been touring our newest record since before it was released. We did six weeks of touring in the United States with a few shows in Canada before we went to Europe for three weeks of touring.
And now, here we are,’ Pipes says, referring to a run of shows that will take the group from Newfoundland to British Columbia by the time the month of July wraps up.
Though some bands might bristle at being on the road for such an extended period of time, Pipes says that he and his bandmates have embraced life on the highways of the world. It is a love of what they do that drives the band to keep such a packed tour schedule while Pipes acknowledges that it is really one of the only ways for the group to continue building their name.
‘Touring so much has definitely helped us in terms of building our audience. These days, it is really the only way that heavy metal bands can get any kind of fan base. It’s not like we are making money off record sales, so what better way to spread word about the band than really getting ourselves out there?’ Pipes says that the years of touring have definitely started to pay dividends to the band. Not only do audiences on their latest tour seem familiar with the group’s newest record, the group has people coming out to see them even at shows that they are not directly headlining. It is these perceived small things that help the band realize that, as slow as progress may seem at any given time, the band is indeed moving forward.
‘We have always been pretty confident in our drawing power and abilities in general,’ Pipes says. ‘Even during the first couple of tours we did in support of Long Live Heavy Metal, we were seeing a nice contingent of people that were coming out specifically to see us.
That is gratifying in itself. The new songs are coming across really well live but perhaps even better is the fact that the familiarity is there for the new songs when we play them live.’
Article published in June 29, 2012 edition of the Times & Transcript
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