Cauterize on purevolume™

Rock / Rock / Rock

Aside from being a shining example of urban sprawl, the web of cities that ring around Toronto known as "the 905" have been producing world class rock bands for the last decade. Ajax unleashed Sum 41, St. Catharines gave us Alexisonfire, and Burlington gave us Boys Night Out. Now it's time for Oshawa's Cauterize to make their mark.

According to lead singer and guitarist Jesse Smith, that sense of suburban boredom makes perfect fuel for spiky rock. "There's pretty much nothing else to do," Smith says. "That's what it always comes down to. When rock is the only thing to do, you learn to do it well." And some important generals in the field have already taken notice. Greig Nori, Sum 41's ex-manager and ex-Treble Charger leader, produced five songs on Cauterize's new Disguises CD. Smith says it initially took some convincing to lure Nori. "Greig told us he didn't even want to come check out the band originally, despite high praise from industry colleagues," says Smith, "but he ended up coming out to see us, loving the songs, and thankfully wanting to work with us."

Meanwhile, Darrin Pfeiffer, the drummer for Cali pop-punk vets Goldfinger, will release Disguises on his own High 4 Records label, distributed by Fontana North/Universal Music Canada. Working with Pfeiffer has been a welcome change to the big label adventures of the band's past. "It feels like we have a record deal, but we're not being pushed around,"says Smith. "It doesn't feel like 'business'. The work gets done but it doesn't feel like work. We go to the pub for our meetings."

Cauterize have earned those pub trips. The band: Jesse Smith (guitar, vocals), Jason Bone (bass), Josh Slater (guitar), Matt Worobec (drums) and Chuck Coles (guitar), have been around for over 10 years as both Cauterize and in an earlier incarnation as T.O.E. In 2003 they put out the album So Far From Real on American record label Wind-up and 2005 saw them forge ahead DIY-style with their Paper Wings EP. Adding Coles to create a three-guitar attack has amped up the rock level of this already formidable band. "For the most part it's never like Iron Maiden harmonies," Smith clarifies. "It's just really heavy when we're all playing the same thing."

Disguises is just the sort of slicing dose of rock you'd expect from a band with three full-time guitarists. There's a healthy echo of the Foo Fighters or protest-era Green Day in Cauterize's sound. They come by it naturally. "Growing up we were all into 90's California punk bands," says Smith of the band's interests. "Green Day, they were up there with Strung Out, and the Foo Fighters, I'd take those comparisons any day."

The particularly snarling first single, "Closer" would do any of those bands proud. It's a classic outsider metaphor song for Smith. "It's about a moth trying to fit in with butterflies," he says. "Trying to paint himself, the weird imagery of that, to be disguised."

It's not likely, however, that Cauterize will have to stay disguised for much longer.