Killinger is 100 proof Canadian product ready to be exported en masse.

The band’s musicians have never uprooted and experienced life outside Canada. There lives were not just surrounded by the borders of Canada but the sound of ’80s hair metal. Vocalist Dave Williams fronted a ’80s tribute band named RattPoison. And guitarist Kevin Morin played for Canadian bands of similar dispositions. One day, the two just connected. And the beginnings of Killinger were hatched.

“Kevin called me said ‘Hey, you wanna come down to the bar and have a little Beam,’” says Dave Williams. “And he told me what he wanted, and he was saying exactly what I wanted. And then some. And I had no problem shaking his hand and saying ‘We’re doing this.’ We’re like married now. I even tattooed Killinger on my body and everything.”

But, like starting a new job, Williams still had a few RattPoison commitments (aka club dates) before he switched over. “That was my thing, RattPoison,” explains Williams. “And we all come from our own bands, our own sort of cover bands. But everybody in this band except for me had done originals. I’m really new to that thing. So when I weigh in there and you hear those (Killinger) songs, that’s my first time. For me it was very much a marriage to do anything like that with somebody and I just didn’t find anybody who had that same sort of mindset of what I wanted. I wanted someone who had that same thing — or moreso. Maybe they can influence me. It was because of RattPoison that he (Kevin) noticed me — and obviously we were doing some Ratt, and Poison, and some Bon Jovi, too. Very much a tribute where you try to relive those ‘80s show. And that’s what really got me noticed. I really wanted to see something happen of RattPoison. But it didn’t happen the way I thought it was going to. It actually happened the way it did — with Killinger.”

When asked why the band picked the name Killinger, the last name of their former bassist RJ Killinger, Williams responds “Throwing around names and the beauty of the internet is that you can decide on a name and then just go Google it. But then you’re pissed off because you see that there are four other bands on the planet that have that name so you go back to the drawing board. And it was just RJ (Killinger) that said ‘Hey, what about Killinger?’ It is just a badass sounding name.”

One kind of fan who has had their eyes opened by Killinger’s debut album is the fan of ’80s metal. “Well, we’re older,” laughs Williams. “For me — and I can talk for all the guys when I say this — is that when the ‘80s were around and it was nothing but a freak show scene of all these guys trying to outdo each other with their tiger pants and their boots and their bigger hair, and all the girls … it was nothing but a really good time. And it was really a good time to be alive with that sort of music because it set the standard for how you lived and how you approached general life. Is it about being that stressed worker guy? Is it that? Like in that Poison video when this guy’s working, washing dishes and stuff, and has had it from his boss … you need that good time.  We are about that good time and having that good time. And sometimes we don’t get it from a lot of artists nowadays but we can always roll back twenty years and there it is for you. For us, it’s a huge, major influence, and if somebody gave us the new Korn album — and nothing against Korn. I listened to it once — but then I’d go back and listen to a Stryper song, so to speak.”

Well, the ’80s sound is making a comeback. Williams is aware of this. “Very much coming around, and it’s very exciting to see, that scene. I remember a lot of people didn’t get the chance to see these bands when they came around. And now they do a little research to see what it was back then. It’s nice to see that whole resurgence come to life here with the ‘80s thing. So for us, it wasn’t about ‘Oh, we need to  jump onto that thing and hold on for dear life.’ We just write the way we write. Is it a ‘80s influence? Yeah, because  — when it comes down to me — that’s really all I know. I do know some of the newer bands and stuff like that but I don’t know a lot of them. But you start talking to me about the ‘80s and I’m like ‘Oh yeah, let’s talk!’”

The band are such veterans on the Canadian club scene, one would imagine that the band would have conquered most of Canada by now. “It would seem that way,” answers Williams, “but I think there’s a lot of people still out there. … I mean, we did a helluva lot of promotion. We got people noticing but not a lot of people have seen us, especially out in Eastern Canada. There’s still a whole lot more to tap into. The way we’re doing it, we want to open up not just a couple people’s eyes. We want to open up all Canadian’s eyes all at once.”

Finally, Killinger got the break they wanted — outside of Canada. In September, the band went on tour in America with ’80s metal icons Stryper. Williams and the band simply described it as “amazing.”

Go to killingerrocks.com for more info.

Above band photo: (Left to right): Newest bassist Justin Craig, vocalist Dave Williams, guitarist Kevin Morin and drummer Chris Challice. Photo by Kori Deby