Cancer Bats (CAN) Returning to New Zealand This Summer

It's been more than a decade since Cancer Bats kicked up a racket on our shores, so local fans of the Canadian hardcore punk powerhouses will be stoked as hell they've just announced two Aotearoa New Zealand summer headline dates. Exploding out of Toronto, Ontario in the mid '00s, Cancer Bats now have eight studio long players to their name — plus a side avenue as amp-blasting Black Sabbath tribute band Bat Sabbath — including their raptly received new album Give Me Dirt, featuring contributions from Nate Newton (Converge), Chris Cresswell (The Flatliners), Efrem Schulz (Death by Stereo), and Ontario songwriter Brooklyn Doran.

Connoisseurs of maximum energy, raucous metallic punk will be making a beeline to Whammy Bar in Tāmaki Makaurau and Valhalla in Te Whanganui-a-Tara this coming January — brought to you by Sticky Fingaz Management and Kaitaia Fire hot sauce...

Cancer Bats
with special guests to be announced

Saturday 23rd January - Whammy Bar, Auckland
Sunday 24th January - Valhalla, Wellington

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Crank up title track to Cancer Bats' new album Give Me Dirt...

Here's Cancer Bats' 2008 classic anthem 'Hail Destroyer'...

Press release:

Canadian hardcore heavyweights Cancer Bats return to New Zealand in January 2027, bringing their notoriously raucous live show to Wellington’s Valhalla and Auckland’s Whammy — iconic venues where punters can truly throw it down. Think packed rooms, killer sound, and nowhere to hide when the pit kicks off.

The tour comes in support of Cancer Bats’ newly released eighth studio album, Give Me Dirt — a record that delivers the sound the band’s been building towards for more than two decades.

Longtime fans can expect plenty of bangers from across the band’s catalogue, too. With seven albums behind them, Cancer Bats have no shortage of heavy hitters to draw from!

From their earliest records through to their newest material, Cancer Bats have built their reputation on fuzzed-out bass and guitar, thunderous drums, and anthemic vocals — music made to be played loud and experienced up close.

If you’ve seen Cancer Bats before, you know what to expect: sweat, volume, flying bodies, and a crowd ready to throw down from the first note to the last.

Helping bring the heat and make the tour a reality is New Zealand’s favourite hot sauce, Kaitaia Fire.