Alexisonfire

It seems like every time I open a magazine or log into MySpace there’s some new band that I “NEED TO KNOW ABOUT”. We’re constantly getting inundated with groups who claim that their mix of aggression and melody is both genre defying and original.

Fortunately we have Alexisonfire. Free from gimmicks and armed with a storming live show, AOF are about to hit Australia for the 3rd time! George Pettit (vocals) kindly donated some of his time off to talk to us…

Hey man. I know you guys have only been home for a day or 2, so thanks heaps for talking to us today!

No sweat man. Just let people know. Get the word out that we’re coming down there man, let everyone know.

Well, based on your previous tours I don’t think you’re going to have a problem getting people to your shows!

Ha ha, cool man, cool.

Your publicist had to re-schedule the interview because she said there was an emergency back home – is everyone ok?

Well, everyone’s ok but our drummer Jordan lost his grandfather. They were very close you know.  We were in Germany when we heard about it so we got him on a flight and sent him home the next day. Like I said, they were really close, so it’s a tragedy.

Because we had to cancel a few of our European shows we’re just at home at the moment enjoying down time. We’ve been on the road for a year straight you know, so it’s good to get home and see our families and girlfriends.

I’m really sorry to hear that man. There a lot of kids down here in Australia that’ll be sending out their condolences out to Jordan and his family.

Of course man, thanks.

Alexis have hit the road pretty hard since the release of “Crisis” in August 2006 – are you nearing the end of the touring cycle for this record or do you guys have another few rounds in you?

Well, it’s not like we’ve ever suffered man, touring is a lot of fun! We’ve been on the road for a year straight pretty much and it’s always fun! We’re excited to get back to Australia man, the last two times were so much fun. It’s just such an awesome experience travelling to the other side of the world and playing fun shows man. Australia is such a unique place and it’s just amazing to be coming down there again!

We’ve definitely got a couple more rounds in us man. Once we finish up in Australia we’re going back to the US for 2 weeks and then we’ve got a really fun Canadian tour! It’s like, the true Canadian roots right there. We’re playing all these towns up the coast of Canada so they’re all fishing communities and things like that. The people are friendly man. Everyone just wants to get drunk and party, you know?

In less than 2 weeks AOF are going to be back in Australia for your 3^rd tour in less than 3 years – how would you rate your previous trips down under compared to say, tours through Europe or the US?

Man, those Australian tours are just so much better. I mean, Europe is great. It’s got so much amazing history and architecture, and I loved visiting Italy and Scandinavia – and the crowds are really good -  but we just felt so appreciated when we came to Australia, it was awesome!

Other US bands seem to neglect Australia man, so we just feel so appreciated by you guys. We’re not one of those bands that take our fans for granted man.

On those last two Australian tours we made so many friends and the shows were just awesome. Kids are jacked that we’re there and we’re pumped to be playing for them!

Yeh man, any time a band makes the effort to come down here and put on an awesome show the kids will be all over it.

Glad you enjoy seeing shows coz we love playing them man!

Is there anything in particular that stands out about your previous Australian tours – I can remember how insanely hot it was when you guys first came over!

Yeh man, that first tour was so hot. Like, this one really hot show in Adelaide, everyone in the venue was just sweating through to embarrassing places, ha ha. But that Adelaide show was just crazy man. There was no barrier, we were on the floor with the crowd and the kids were just ripping the place apart. It’s really amazing shows like that you remember man.

I feel like we didn’t need to play for a year after that coz we were so satisfied!

It was something crazy like 40 degrees in Melbourne and they over sold the venue, so it was basically a sauna! Easily one of the best shows I’ve ever been to though!

Yeh man, every show on that tour was just amazing, but I think Adelaide stands out a bit more because it was a small show you know. A bit more intimate so it was just crazier. I love kids getting on stage and just going crazy man. It was awesome.

This will be the first tour here since releasing “Crisis” - are you guys pumped for Australian audiences to hear these tracks live?

Oh yeh, totally. We wrote Crisis thinking about the stage man, so we can’t wait to play it for you guys.

A lot of songs off the first 2 records that we use in our set (like “Accidents) we wrote them thinking “yeh, we’ll play this, sing this etc…”. We’re all about whoa ohs and crowd interaction man, ha ha ha

It was here that George started singing some Alexis lyrics (see what I mean about the dude being enthusiastic!)

We’re just really excited man. We care about what we do, you know?  A lot of people/bands seem to go through the motions these days and it sucks.

We were on Warped tour in the US and the lack of passion from so many bands was just depressing. I was like, “do you guys listen to music anymore”, ha ha??

We live it man. We wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t love it.

The record (Crisis) definitely had a rawer sound than previous Alexis releases – was the stripped back, almost live vibe of “Crisis” what you guys were originally aiming for, it was it something that just happened?

Well, we did a of lot of tours on our last record, and a lot of them more punk rock tours – we hit the road with bands like Rise Against, Hot Water Music, Planes Mistaken For Stars etc… so that definitely had an effect on us.

Getting to watch those bands made us want to write like this. A band like Hot Water Music is just such awesome musicians and it inspired us. They’ve got this dangerous but wise vibe about them, you know? Just wanting to be able to “rock” songs the way that those bands do made us want to step it up.

It’s not that we were trying to rip those bands off or anything, but it made us want to test our band’s dynamic in a new light. There’s just something so real about it.

Like, I don’t want talk shit about other bands or anything, but a band like “Eighteen Visions” (who we’re kind of friends with, you know), kids used to love that band. But their whole, over the top image has turned heaps of people off. Kids can see through the bullshit man, and having tour posters with fully glam posters has made heaps of kids not want to check them out. I’ve seen this shit first hand.

Australian music fans are definitely good at spotting bullshit.

Yeh man, I get that vibe. The thing with Eighteen Visions was they used to be original. They’d rock up to hardcore shows, acting really arrogant but still rad at the same time. They were fashion and glam but they were fun so it worked. Hardcore was so stuck up and they made it fun but yeh, now it’s over the top.

You guys have always had anthem like choruses but the vocals arrangements on “Crisis” are in a league of their own. Is an AOF song built around the melodies that Dallas and Wade come up with or does the band flesh out the music first and go from there?

Usually the music comes out first man. Dallas and Wade will have riffs, they’ll put it together and find interesting ways to link songs. It’s a talkative process, we all get involved and have our say and tack stuff onto it. Once all that’s done I guess we cut the fat off, and we’re left with a song, ha ha.

Lyrics and vocals always come later, once the song is finished. I’ll come up with a vocal line and fit lyrics into that, or maybe I’ll have a lyric that I create a vocal line for. Whatever works, you know?!

Is the task of writing lyrics something that’s split up between you, Wade and Dallas? Is it difficult to agree on who’s singing what?

Yeh yeh, I come up with an idea and then someone else adds lyrics or elaborates on it etc… I’ve been thinking about this a bit lately actually. It’s a very shared process man. If one person has an idea and then they write lyrics to fit the idea that’s going on, or maybe someone else can help them finish a lyric or a vocal melody or something. It’s just really shared man.

A lot of vocalists that I’ve spoken to in the past have said they feel a little strange about singing someone else’s lyrics – is this ever a problem for AOF or do you view each song as belonging to the band, not this part is mine, this part is yours etc…

That’s never been a problem for us man. They’re not my songs, or any one person’s songs man, these are OUR songs, a collective.

If I like the way that Wade or Dallas writes a lyrics then I’ll sing it, no problem! It’s all about the song, not getting my own personal ideas out.

Wade’s vocal parts were limited on “Watch Out” so it was awesome to hear him singing a lot more on “Crisis”. Was it a conscious decision to get him singing more on the new record or was his voice a natural addition to the grittier material you guys were writing?

There was a lot more “rockin” songs so Wade was more comfortable with his vocals and we wanted him singing more.

He’s like the middle ground between me and Dallas so we wanted the mid range vocals to come from Wade. You know, he’s got that raspy “I’ve been drinking since I was 12” voice. You know the one, the “I have hand tattoos” voice, ha ha.

“Keep It On Wax” is definitely one of the most epic songs you guys have written to date – are we going to be hearing that at the up coming shows?

Definitely man, that song is always in our set!

You guys are nice enough to be bringing your fellow countrymen Moneen to Australia on this tour – what can we expect from their live show?

Dude, go on YouTube and try and download any of their shit from the Alexis/Moneen Halloween show. The guys from Moneen are like the “Architects of fun”, the engineers of fun if you will. They’ll take a fun situation and find a way to make it the funnest thing ever.

They’re just really fun to be around and it translates to their live show – they’re just always out there. Climbing something or jumping on something or getting in the crowd or whatever, they’re just always having a good time!

And what about the AOF show – has anything changed in regards to the live dynamic since you guys were last here?

We’re just a lot tighter and play a more concise set. Mostly just rocken out and firen up the crowd man!

I read an interesting press write up about you guys today – it simply stated that Alexisonfire is a real band and the reason that so many kids have latched onto you is because they can see that you guys are genuine about what you do.

Given your rise in popularity over the last 2 years, has it been hard to maintain your gimmick free existence as a band? Has there been any external pressure from your label or management to choreograph your live show or make over your image in an attempt to turn you guys into the next “My Chemical Romance”?

Ha ha. We don’t know how to do that sort of thing man. Anytime someone in our band gets off the ground, we bring them back down.

Having your friends on the road, constantly knocking each other down and taking the piss ensures we are always grounded man. It’d be hard for one of us to even get inflated coz we’re always going to be who we are. We’re just five kids from Southern Ontario, that’s who we are. Man, it still feels awkward signing an autograph, you know? I’m just a goof!

We’ve been on the road for 4 years so I can’t see anyone getting an ego anytime soon

More and more Canadian bands are receiving international recognition these days – do you feel that AOF played a big role in exposing people to Canadian hardcore/punk/metal bands?

I hope we did. I love our communal feel to the music industry. I love finding local bands and wanting to hype them up.

We grew up with Moneen so we were stoked we could take them on tour coz they’re a great band! Bands like Fucked Up, Attack In Black, Cancer Bats etc… they’re all local to us so we do our best to let people know we love them. We’re music fans like anyone else!

It’s always refreshing to see a band that doesn’t forget where they came from. Every time I check your MySpace page, your friends list is comprised of your friend’s bands or at the very least, bands you have spent a lot of time with on the road. Is the Canadian hardcore/punk/metal scene a tight knit one?

Really tight knit scene man. Everyone runs in to everybody, ha ha. I make it a point to always be at shows when I’m home so you see everyone and you end up becoming friends with the bands you like.

I always try and say kind words to all the people I respect, that’s just how it is. The local shows are always great and really fun because heaps of people are friends and yeh, it’s just all about having a good time.

Unfortunately the fine people at Telstra decided to cut the interview off exactly at the 15 minute mark.

George – along with the rest of Alexisonfire – is one band who clearly lives for writing music and playing live. I don’t think I’ve spoken to someone who displayed so much genuine enthusiasm for his band since… well, ever!

Make sure you catch them on their upcoming tour with Moneen (Canada):

Monday May 21^st @ The Capitol, Perth (18+)

Wednesday May 23^rd @ Billboards, Melbourne (18+)

Thursday May 24^th @ Billboards, Melbourne (U/18)

Friday May 25^th @ HQ, Adelaide (AA)

Saturday May 26^th @ The Big Top (LunaPark), Sydney (AA)

Sunday May 27^th @ The Arena, Brisbane (AA)