Billy Talent has demoed eight of at least a dozen songs that the Toronto-based rock band will take into Vancouver's The Warehouse Studio in October with producer Gavin Brown once again at the helm.

Meanwhile, the fourpiece has given a new song,"Red Flag," to the Taste Of Chaos compilation, due Nov. 8, through Warcon/EMI, as well as to three Electronic Arts games, the just-released NHL 06 and Burnout, and upcoming SSX4.

"It's just a demo version, but we're going to re-record it for the record," says guitarist Ian D'Sa.

The lyric, says frontman Ben Kowalewicz, is about "declaring war on everyone and everything that tries to steer you off your path or your heart or your soul."

A board listing other songs for the new album is taped up on the wall of their rehearsal space in downtown Toronto. "Perfect World" and "Devil in an MM" are just two of the working titles.

MM? "Midnight Mass," Kowalewicz clears up.

The band has been demoing the songs in this room. It's in the very same building in which the A&R execs from Atlantic first saw Billy Talent play before eventually signing it. "We've actually moved up one level. We can afford the extra hundred bucks a month," says D'Sa. The room is bigger and cleaner.

"It's harder for the mice to get to the top level," adds Kowalewicz. "I'm not kidding."

The band -- rounded off by bassist Jon Gallant and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk -- has moved up in more ways than that. Its 2003 self-titled debut has scanned more than 263,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan Canada and a decent 84,500 units in the U.S.

When the guys came off the road last November, they expected to go into the studio in February to record the follow-up, but that didn't leave them much time to prepare new songs. "We just started writing and realized that we shouldn't rush the second record," says D'Sa.

Kowalewicz turns to his guitarist: "You said that you need to be able to LIVE in order to experience things to write about again."

D'Sa: "Yes, you can't write an album about..."

Kowalewicz breaks in with a country tune: "Driving down the road/for the last two years..."

With new management behind the band, Vancouver's Nettwerk (Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Sum 41), a decision the guys made in March, they were fully supported. "The pressure should just be on making a great record," Nettwerk Management's senior vice-president Pierre Tremblay told Lowdown.

"That's probably one of the best decisions we've made this year," says D'Sa of switching from America's Mosaic Media Group to Nettwerk.

Except for the odd show and a recent four-day, two-date tour in Japan (from which Kowalewicz is proudly wearing his brand new bronze Converse ("You can't get these here, kiddies," he gloats), Billy Talent has been writing solidly.

Now, mid September, the guys have demoed eight songs and have four or five more to go. They will head into the king of B.C. studios, Bryan Adams' The Warehouse, at the beginning of October. Last time, they cut their album at The Factory with Brown.

"Gavin works really well with us," says D'Sa. "On the last record, we just hit it off and I think he's an important part to making the second record as good as the first one."

"Even better," adds Kowalewicz.

Brown, who has worked with Three Days Grace, Thornley and The Tea Party, is working on 3DG's sophomore album. "He's really busy. He worked on Three Days Grace's first record as well, so he's doing their record kind of simultaneously as he's doing ours," says D'Sa.

"We're on the backburner," jokes Kowalewicz.

The singer isn't very good at describing the direction of the new album.

"I'm thinking, it's different than our first record. Our first record was very something and this one's very something else," he says.

"I think the styles are the same," pipes in D'Sa. "It's just a lot more mature than the last record."

They laugh at the cliche of the "mature" comment. So they'll be fitting in with the Michael Bubles of the world?

"Yeah, I'm going to be smoking cigarettes and drink Cognac," confirms Kowalewicz -- which he does anyway.

"Ben's singing a lot more on this record, which is one thing," says D'Sa, coming up with one difference.

Asked for an example from the guy whose vocal approach can be described as "melodic yelping," and he quips: "Are you kidding me? Buy the record when it comes out, sugar. $14.99 at HMV."

That likely won't be until the new year. More Lowdown stories