A Dirty Dozen with JUNIOR BOURCIER from ATOMIK TRAIN – July 2025

According to a recent press release: “Get ready to crank the volume — Atomik Train, the hard rock band that’s been shaking Canadian underground venues and festival stages alike, is full steam ahead and poised to redefine the modern rock landscape. With thunderous riffs, relentless rhythms, and anthemic hooks, Atomik Train is not just a band — they’re a sonic force of nature. Formed by lead singer François Babin and lead guitarist Junior Bourcier, forged in the heart of Montreal, Atomik Train blends the raw power of classic hard rock with a modern edge, drawing comparisons to legends like Guns N’ Roses, Foo Fighters, and Avenged Sevenfold, while carving out a sound that’s entirely their own.” We get Junior to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

We just released “Supersonik Speedway” on YouTube! I guess it’s pretty straight forward but besides the cool riffs, the hoarse voice and the energy of the song, if the fans pay attention to the lyrics, they will find that this song is about choosing your own path to become the best version of yourself and when you get on that path, everything starts to get easier and moves faster until you get on the Supersonik Speedway to get where you wanna go!

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I come from a family of musicians. My parents and my brothers, everyone played. When I was 9 years-old, I remember clearly one evening my parents were having friends over for a party and my dad was playing songs on the piano and everyone was singing and enjoying the moment. That’s when I decided I wanted to become a musician.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

As the youngest brother of three, the eldest one brought a lot of amazing music home. He made us listen to Ozzy Osbourne, Accept, Led Zeppelin, many bands, but the most amazing album I listened to is definitely Back in Black from AC/DC. From there I started buying all their records and I still listen to these records today. AC/DC is my biggest musical influence, Angus Young is definitely the greatest guitarist of all times for his energy and showmanship as well as his kick-ass riffs (with Malcom of course). I would also list Eddie Van Halen and The Edge as my other favorite guitar players.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Definitely AC/DC!! Because it would just be magical, I think our style and theirs mixed together could really give something special about the song.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

I love spending time with my wife and kids, doing exercise and of course writing songs, creating new riffs, just play for fun!

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Well I think you can hear some AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Avenged Sevenfold, Guns N’ Roses comparisons here and there. It’s a hard-hard rock band, pretty close to heavy metal I would say. It’s hard to describe because when I write songs and bring them to the band, I have a pretty good idea of how I want it to sound but it always changes a bit because everyone brings their colors to it. Honestly, I can’t answer about what a reviewer or fan said because it’s our first album and so far the reviews have been good I think!

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Well, we usually go to François’s place to rehearse and then party! So I would say François to all these questions because he is a very good host, cooks well and is quite a party dude!!! He’s usually the first one to grab his guitar and start playing!!

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

I went to the FEQ (Festival d’été de Québec) a couple of years ago to go see Jack Johnson (I love various kinds of music) and opening for him was Tash Sultana. She was playing many instruments, looping drums, and bass and rhythm guitars and playing solos and has a really great voice. I was very impressed with her musical skills but mostly her groove!! She made it look so easy and I love many songs of hers!!

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part for me are 2 things: playing live shows and having special moments with the crowd and the other one is writing songs. Starting from nothing and all of a sudden, you have a song!! It’s an amazing feeling to create and then that people actually enjoy your music!!! My other dream job is what I am doing at this moment, I am a logistics consultant for trucking companies. I help them make more money and improve processes as well as support the biling and rates department as well as the operations.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

That’s a tough one… I would like to be asked about how did we manage to get to this moment in our career, getting our first album out and what are the band’s goals and why. I have to say that being a self managed band, signed last year with Crown X Recordings but doing pretty much everything besides distribution from managing the band, negotiating, writing songs, investing a lot of money, advertise, taking care of social media, booking shows, etc… I could never have done all this without my partner François, our lead singer. We have decided to put everything on the line and managed to bring this band to a higher level with our own respective strengths that complete one another. This has been quite a journey and we are two leaders that have the same dreams, the same passion, the same craziness on stage but mostly, the same hunger to make this band one of the best bands in the world!! And we have such a great friendship developed over the years and an even greater respect for each other. So our goal is to play shows in front of crowds of 100,000 people. We also want to inspire people to make their dreams come true and bring happiness into our fans’ hearts with our music. As of now, I am not tired of answering any questions. In fact I am very happy and grateful that you are doing this interview, because hopefully it’s gonna help us find new fans and spread the word, so thank you very much for taking the time and giving us this opportunity !

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Before this project with Atomik Train, I did a solo piano album called Mystic Rain and put a lot of effort into the songwriting and producing the album but not enough energy on the marketing part. So as you can imagine, the project did not go far. The album is out but no one knows about it. So now, I will give a lot more energy on that part because the music alone isn’t enough. It’s a great life lesson and I believe it makes me a stronger and better person now to be able to bring Atomik Train a lot further.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I could easily say Back in Black of course but also Led Zeppelin II. This record is such a huge contribution to rock and roll, it would have been an honour to contribute to this amazing project. Led Zeppelin has been an important part of my youth, these songs are just pure magic to me.

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Category: Interviews