Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Sean Mackay - Singer

Oliver L'Heureux - Lead Guitar

Olivier Veilleux - Rhythm Guitar

Alex Samson - Bass

Pete Richard - Drums

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Sawyer Path? How long has the band been around?

Sean Mackay and me (Alex Samson) were in a punk rock band before called Self-Esteem. When we split up with our drummer back then we formed Sawyer Path with our current drummer Pete Richard on June 22nd 2009. So the three of us have been around for 9 years. We then added Oliver L'Heureux in 2015 for the release of the Escape My Demons album and then added Oliver Veilleux a year after for the writing of our new album Toxic Temptation that just came out on April 13th 2018. The two Oliver have been playing in bands together for a couple of years in Generoxion and Jane & Mary so it was and still is a perfect fit.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

The name Sawyer Path comes from the character Tom Sawyer who was a wise and adventurous teenager. He believed that you can gain success through the freedom of doing what you love and we share the same philosophy. We were actually walking in a wood when Sean curved that name on a wooden table and we decided to keep that name.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Musically it is mainly our guitarists, but Sean and me still bring some riffs to the table. Lyrically it's mainly Sean who writes the songs. I help him with the last minute lines we have to write when recording in the studio. The main theme for this album is the typical love/hate relationships that a lot of us go through growing up. When the physical part of the relationship is amazing but that the intellectual part has a lot of issues. You don't seem to have the same values and one always cares more about the other in the relationship leaving the other in the dark, confused.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

I would say Bullet For My Valentine and Papa Roach. We all grew up in the nineties so when Infest (Papa Roach) and The Poison (BFMV) came out in the 2000's we were all blown away by the respective nu-metal and metalcore sounds of both albums so we decided to derive from those albums especially. Getting Away With Murder from Papa Roach was also another album that really influenced us with its hard rock sound. Sean's vocals are also kind of similar to the raspy voice of Jacoby Shaddix and the duo of soft voice/screaming of Matt Tuck.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

Definitely Blink-182. Sean and me would jam all the Blink songs when we started jamming together. I had Mark Hoppus' signature bass and Sean had Tom Delonge's signature guitar. Our drummer was also a big fan of Travis Barker back then. We would listen to all their live videos, laugh at their jokes and that made us want to start the band.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …

We like to talk about the set the five of us together to keep the important points in mind before we go on stage. That's about it I would say! We hang out with the fans, eat a little and keep ourselves hydrated with beer! *laughs*

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

Last Saturday we had the chance to play at one of the biggest venues in Montreal in front of 700 people so that was one of our biggest show. Last summer we played a music festival that brought 8000 people and we had the chance to share the stage with Pennywise so that was a big highlight too!

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Papa Roach or Bullet For My Valentine! But more realistically I would say Veer Union since they are a Canadian band and our friend Julien Bouffard from here just joined them on tour! Their sound is also similar to ours so we would be very stocked!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Follow our Facebook page to hear all the latest news, go buy our merch on Bandcamp or go stream our music on Spotify, YouTube, Google Play, etc. We are almost everywhere so go check it out!