News Segment

SLIK TOXIK DRUMMER APPEARS ON NEW CODYV ALBUM:

August 24, 2007

Thunder Bay’s resident glam-rocker Cody Vaillant’s new single Mistress Cadaver was inspired by a story he saw on the news one day.

“This man was desperately, utterly in love with this woman. She passed away for whatever reason and instead of doing the normal thing and calling the police, he just kept her around. It was a really morbid tale about how he didn’t want to give up and just held onto her,” said the fresh-out-of-college Vaillant, describing the new tune as dark, gloomy and completely perverted in many ways.

And that’s how he likes it – a bit of shock value that takes your mind off the rest of the world for a while.The new single was also special for Vaillant because the drummer on the track is one of his idols from his teen years – Neal Busby of Slik Toxik, a Juno-nominated band with members from Toronto and Thunder Bay.

He contacted Busby, who runs Neal Busby Productions in Toronto, through a mutual friend and the former hair metal musician was more than willing to help Vaillant with Mistress Cadaver.

“He’s very encouraging. I guess because he sees a little bit of the style living on, a little bit of the attitude,” Vaillant said.

Vaillant was attracted to Slik Toxik mainly because of the era of music they came from.

“It’s my favourite era of music, which is the ’80s glam and hair and the overall larger-than-life attitude,” he said.

The fact that the band also had members come from Thunder Bay, which Vaillant referred to as an-out-of-the-way town where not a lot of big-name talent comes from, inspired the young rocker.

“I just found it interesting that guys from my hometown overcame adversity and actually made a mark in an industry which at that time was a little oversaturated,” he said.

Mistress Cadaver will be Vaillant’s first new track since his debut album was released in spring 2006. That album was his first attempt at singing and he feels he’s improved since then by playing small shows and jamming with different people.

“It was laboured but it was the best I could do at the time,” he said. “I feel I’ve grown my talent because at the time it was a very young born talent that I wasn’t sure I had.”

His sound has gone from a “garagey-amateur” sound to more polished and refined, but he said the attitude is still the same.

Vaillant loves the glam-rock era of bands like Poison, Queen’s Reich and Slik Toxik because they’re trying to give you a show and they’re trying to entertain.

“It’s an excuse to stick on tight pants and big boots and run around shirtless with a leather jacket on just to be a total jerk, all the while not causing any harm; it’s an act. It’s a release,” he said.

Vaillant is currently working on a new album due out early next year. Watch for Mistress Cadaver on his MySpace site at www.myspace.com/codyvmusic

Courtesy of www.tbsource.com