Canadas Striker have been around since 2007 and have scorched the earth with their ferocious metal sound pretty much independently ever since! And after quite a few years since their last release, the band is gearing up to release new music finally in 2023! From having a podcast to a member being arrested on tour check out this exclusive interview with Striker!

THE NWOTHM: Thanks for agreeing to this interview! Can you tell us your bands name and
where you are based?

STRIKER: We are Striker from Canada! Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to be exact!

THE NWOTHM: Can you introduce us to who is in the band? And an interesting fact about
each member?

STRIKER: Oh man, trying to think of something interesting to say about each guy is gonna be fun haha. My
name is Dan, I am the lead singer of the band and I have been in the band the longest, I guess
that’s kind of interesting. Our guitar player, Tim Brown, is the guy with the mullet. We’ve got
Pete Klassen on bass, he lived in Japan for seven years so that’s kind of cool. Jono Webster
our drummer is a legend and the guy who has finally grown his hair out and John Simon Fallon
is an actual scientist.

THE NWOTHM: How did the band form and is there any insightful story surrounding its
Formation?

STRIKER: Striker formed in around 2007 and we were just a bunch of guys who just got out of high school
and wanted to start a band together. We had been in bands together in some form or another in
high school and then after various bands sort of broke up, we decided to form a new band, and
that was Striker. Most of the guys in the band who have come and gone have been friends for a
long time so it’s been kind of a unique experience that way. It was never an answer an ad in the
paper kind of situation so it’s been really fun. Being in a band with your friends can be difficult at
times but it’s usually pretty sick.

THE NWOTHM: Where did the band name Striker come from?

STRIKER:The name Striker came from just a list of band names that we were thinking about at the time. I
mean obviously, we wanted a cool name that was one word or something like that, they were
sort of iconic, and at the time Striker wasn’t taken, from what we could find on the Internet which
was limited at the time in like 2006-2007. There were no active bands called Striker and then, you know, a couple years later we found out there’s like a hardcore band, a Striker from the 80s
and then eventually there was another Striker that popped up in Vancouver who ended up
changing their name to Spell but yeah, that’s kind of where it came from. We just thought of it
and we just went with it.

THE NWOTHM: Since the bands formation what moments in your career would you say you
are most proud of?

STRIKER: We’ve had lots of interesting moments in our career, but I would say the one that comes to mind
most recently is that we finally made the pilgrimage to Wacken this year or in 2022 rather. That
was pretty sick as an independent band. We got there without a label so it was pretty exciting
for us and for the record we were overserved.

THE NWOTHM: What bands and artists have influenced you and helped you to carve your
sound? Did you have a different sound when you first started out?

STRIKER:We’ve had a lot of different bands influence us over the years all the way from obviously Iron
Maiden and Judas Priest, and then Metallica and Megadeth. Even some punk bands, and
hardcore bands, and all kinds of stuff so it’s like it’s kind of all over the place, and I think that
makes our music a little more than just sort of the retro style, so we don’t always fit in that
traditional metal niche ALL the time but we definitely do SOME of the time.

THE NWOTHM: How would you compare the scene where you are from to other places you
have played?

STRIKER:The scene in Canada right now is really great. There’s a lot of great bands like Riot City and
Traveller, obviously bands like Skull Fist in Cauldron or bands that started in a similar time as
us. We’ve always had lots of bands and friends in bands that have been similar and it’s sort of in
our same niche so I would say the scene here is really great. It’s just too bad that it’s so spread
apart because it’s so far from city to city, like verses in a place like Germany where you can just
drive to the next town in an hour but here it’s like if we want to go from here to Vancouver that’s
a 12 hour drive..

THE NWOTHM: You guys have a podcast! Can you tell us more about that?

STRIKER:Yeah we’ve got a podcast called “The Band Chat with Striker”. It’s called “The Band Chat”
because it’s kind of like being in our band group chat where we just talk shit about whatever. We figured people would want to hear that? I don’t know why hahaha. So far people seem to enjoy it though. Give it a listen, you might learn something, or you might grow to hate us who knows?

THE NWOTHM: If you could play with any band or musician, dead or alive who would it be
and why?

STRIKER:I think the ultimate band for us to play with is probably Iron Maiden. It would be amazing to do a
tour with them to set up our stuff in front of theirs, but I think that would probably be like the
peak for us. Do a world tour with them, I’m sure that’s like every band’s biggest goal maybe but
yeah I think that would be the one for us.

THE NWOTHM: Do you have any interesting stories from being on the road?

STRIKER: Yeah man we’ve got lots of stories from being on the road. I mean, if you listen to our podcast
you’ll get lots. I got arrested in Sweden, basically our entire last European tour was an absolute
shit show so we’ve got an episode about that too. And if you want to hear the really weird stuff
our Patreon episodes of the podcast go into that a bit more haha.

THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about your most recent release and any background
information to the music? How did the songs come about?

STRIKER: And we’ve been working on new music for a long time. 2018 is when the last album came out
and we’re just about to get into the studio in February/March so we’ve got a pretty exciting new
album. We’re working with a new producer and I think it’s going to be really interesting. I think
we have over 30 songs written and now we just have to figure out which ones we actually want
to keep and which ones we want to put on an album.

THE NWOTHM: Your discography has some amazing artworks! Can you tell us more about
them and which artists you have worked with?

STRIKER: Yeah, we’ve worked with a lot of different artists throughout the years. Our album artwork has
always been kind of like what’s the most ridiculous thing we can think of and let’s see if an artist
will make it. ‘Eyes in the Night’ was a local tattoo artist here in Edmonton and then we had Eliran
Kantor, who is an amazing artist. He’s done a lot of cool covers. He did like some for testament
and stuff like that and he’s wicked and then there’s been a handful of other ones but I can’t
remember right off the top of my head but always been good. Oh yes Coki Greenway did Stand
in the Fire too, and he’s also done a lot of our T-shirt artwork. He’s used to our ridiculous
demands.

THE NWOTHM: What are your musical plans for 2023? Will we see a new album?

STRIKER: Yeah, in 2023 we will have a new album out in some form or another. We’re still trying to figure
out how to release it because we’re an independent band so there’s a lot of options for us.
We’ve talked to a few labels and we’re not 100% sure how we wanna go about it yet so it will
come out in 2023 regardless but whether it’s later in the year or earlier in the year depends on if
we can get a good relationship going with the label or maybe we’ll just do it independently.
That’s how we’ve done the last three and we’re pretty comfortable with that set up but we will
see.

THE NWOTHM: What shows have you got coming up for 2023? Any major performances
you would like to highlight?

STRIKER: Yeah, we’ve got some great shows coming up. We’re kind of an album writing mode, so we’re
still focussing on that, but we do have some festivals coming in the summer, including a trip
back to headbangers open air and also our first major festival in the UK Bloodstock so we’re
excited to get out there and shred.

THE NWOTHM: Where can people check you out on social media and buy your
music/merch?

STRIKER: You can check out our stuff on any social media except for TikTok at the moment, but it’s
basically just strikermetal on everything Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter all that stuff
Check out our podcast anywhere like Apple and Spotify and then we do the video version of it
on YouTube.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strikermetal

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrikerMetal

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strikermetal/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StrikerMetal

THE NWOTHM: is there anything else you would like to mention?

STRIKER: Yeah, just keep an eye out for our new album. It’ll be coming out this year! And don’t forget to
check out the podcast and if you want to get some behind-the-scenes stuff while we’re in the
studio. We’re gonna be putting a lot of that stuff on our Patreon (patreon.com/strikermetal)