Hatred's Rise is a Metal Project created by Pat Larocque with guest appearances by various world-renowned Metal Artists. Debut album available now!!
-Interview- 4/6/25
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? How did the name "Hatred's Rise" come about and is there any meaning to it?
I got started at a fairly early age being exposed to bands like Anvil, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Voivod by one of my Uncles and was immediately fascinated by the guitar. A few years later, maybe around the age of 10 or 11, I remember saving up around $60 and got my first guitar and then I started playing some local gigs a few years later. It was from there that I had moved to Calgary, Alberta in my late teens for a few years then I moved to Los Angeles, California in my early '20's where I spent around 10 years playing in various bands, touring, doing session work, and teaching guitar before heading to Boston where I spent some time at Berklee College Of Music. After getting my degree from Berklee, I spent another few years doing some fill-in work touring with different bands before moving back to my hometown.
As far as developing my sound, I believe that it's just something that evolved naturally over time. Over the years, I've been extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work with and learn from some amazing musicians, in all different genres, and I think that all comes in to play in the big picture whether it be a conscious decision or not. When you listen to the album you can hear influences from many different bands that I grew up listening to, and still currently listen to as well.
The name "Hatred's Rise" came about as the result of how the world seems to be going at the moment, especially from the media and political aspects of it. In the last few years we seem to have made a shift from respecting everyone's right to think what they choose, to the utmost level of hate and disrespect if one's thought patterns don't align with theirs. The title track of the album "Echoes Of The Machine" pushes this train of thought even further with the way social media, and technology in general seems to be helping fuel the fire.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
First and foremost, I just want people to listen to it and hopefully enjoy it! They can take away anything that they want from it, that's the beauty of music. I'm not trying to send a particular message in the music or change the way people think, I just want to share (what I think) is good music with everyone.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
That's a really tough one since I don't really put much thought into writing for a specific sound. The best I can describe it is just good 'ol-fashioned' Metal. I'm not one to dissect and categorize different 'genres' of music or anything else for that matter, but it has aspects and influences from everything that I enjoy. From '80's Hair bands, to current Groove and Thrash metal bands, and a little of bit of everything in between.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
It's very hard to narrow it down to three, since my first response would be anyone and everyone....but if I really had to narrow it down to three, I would have to say King Diamond, Testament, and Exodus. I grew up listening to and loving all three, and the level of musicianship of all three band are absolutely insane, but what sticks out to me most about them is just how amazing they are as people as well!! They're all very easy to get along with, and hang out with. I've learnt very early on in my career that as wonderful as it is to play with, and along side great bands, it's much more important to have fun doing it along with the people who share the same passion as you do.
5. What's your thoughts on AI generated music?
Personally, I think it's destroying a large portion of the industry, and I foresee it getting much worse with time. This might be a slightly biased opinion on my part, but it's just from what I've seen and experienced personally in the last few years. Along with doing session work, filling-in on various tours, and teaching guitar, a big part of my income the last few decades has also been by working with various production companies doing music for television ads, radio ads, YouTube channels, mainstream movies, and even a few video game companies including UbiSoft. I have personally noticed an income drop of about 80% just in the last couple of years due to a lot of these companies now making the switch to AI generated music for their advertising purposes as opposed to hiring 'real' musicians. It definitely has been a challenge when it comes to making music as a full-time career, but you simply have to adapt and learn as much as you can in all aspects of the industry if you want to survive nowadays.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Metal?
Metal is in the same state it's always been in I believe but with a slightly wider audience than when I was younger, what's changing is the industry and the way it's presented to the masses. Because of social media, there is much more access to music today than ever before but it's also a double-edged sword in many ways because of the sheer amount of it being published. There's so many bands out there that sound the same, and are just regurgitating the same stuff over and over again, but at the same time there's also an equal amount of great new fresh music that is out there now!
7. What’s the current music scene like there in Canada?
From what I see and have experienced personally, the music scene if alive and well here in Canada....if you live in a major city! In the smaller towns and cities unfortunately it seems to be a dying art. The city where I live, there has always been a good music scene until the last few years. There are still live shows and people still go out of their way to go see them, but unfortunately not for original music. There seems to be a trend developing here of purely cover bands and 'tribute' bands only, nothing very exciting as far as new original music around here but really hoping that changes soon!
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
It's a flat-out joke!! Just another example of how the industry has drastically changed over the last few years. When you accumulate over 60,000 streams and only collect around $20 for the total amount, it definitely shows that there's a huge problem with the way the industry is working these days.
9. What’s next for Hatred's Rise?
I would definitely like to get a live band together and get my feet back on the stage soon! I'm very thankful and grateful for the interest and great feedback I've received from the album so far, and would love to share these songs with everyone in a live setting. I'm also always working on new music and have already started writing a few riffs for a possible follow-up album in the next year or so. Everything is still wide-open as far as possibilities.
10. Any shoutouts?
A huge shoutout to everyone that made this album possible. There are some amazing guest appearances from world-renowned musicians including Glen Drover (ex-Megadeth, ex-King Diamond, Withering Scorn), Henning Basse (ex-Firewind, Metalium, Withering Scorn), Mike DiMeo (ex-Riot, ex-Masterplan), and Shawn Drover (ex-Megadeth, ex-Act of Defiance, Withering Scorn). The album was mixed and mastered by Glen Drover as well, and all lyrics were written by Shawn Drover....No words can describe how thankful I am to everybody, and very excited to be sharing this music with everyone!!
