"The hole is the law. Bow down to the law. And have some cole slaw."
So begins the latest album from Zimmer's Hole, a half-serious/part-parody metal foursome from Vancouver who sometimes write lyrics based on the amount of pyrotechnics they want to use in their live show.
"We wrote that lyric so we can blow up a head of cabbage and cover the crowd in cole slaw," laughs bassist Byron Stroud. "If we want 64 flame shots, we write a song about that."
Although the band's lyrics may be comical, the members of the band are talented musicians. Three members of Zimmer's Hole play in Strapping Young Lad, a serious Vancouver group that's popular on the underground metal circuit.
Zimmer's Hole started 10 years ago during a break in Strapping Young Lad's schedule, when Stroud was asked to put together a different band to open for his friend Dean Zimmer's group, The Process.
So, for a joke, the guys got together and played some fun, old-school type metal songs and named the band after Zimmer's, er, nether regions.
"He's passed away now, but his name lives on in our band," Stroud says.
Since then, Stroud, 33, and Strapping bandmates Jed Simon (guitar) and Chris Valagao (vocals), along with drummer Steve Wheeler, have continued recording and playing live during downtime in Strapping Young Lad's schedule.
"That's just us having way too much time on our hands," Stroud says.
Combining the frenzy and mayhem of thrash metal with the pomp and circumstance of 1980s Euro-metal, the band creates an old-school sound they're proud of. In true metal tradition, they've even created a mythology about the band's origins, complete with a prophecy, commandments and a ritual to become part of "one united force."
On its latest album, Legion of Flames, the group wears its influences on its sleeve by flat-out stealing guitar riffs and lyrics to songs by Nazareth, Kim Mitchell, Metallica, KISS and Slayer for songs such as Sodomanaz and Evil Robots.
The band even got Rob Urbinati from Canadian band Sacrifice to play on Re-Anaconda, the band's homage to Sacrifice's classic Reanimation.
"There's no boundaries in Zimmer's Hole -- we don't say, 'You can't do that because it sounds like something else,' " Stroud says.
But like he said before, the stage show is what Zimmer's Hole is all about. With two members of the band and its crew employed by Vancouver movie production company Flesh and Fantasy, the special effects used in the group's live show are professional and include explosions, fire, dead bodies and other surprises.
"If we can't do our pyro and our stage show we won't (play)," Stroud says.
While the band's current cross-country excursion is their first tour, it won't be their last. Even better, they plan to combine business and pleasure soon by opening up for themselves on Strapping Young Lad's next European tour.
Zimmer's Hole burns it up tomorrow at the Royal Albert with The Almighty Punchdrunk from Vancouver -- which features yet another moonlighting member of Strapping Young Lad -- along with Norway's Origami Galaktika and locals Liqurd.
