Alexisonfire (said Alexis-on-fire) from Ontario looked, for all intents and purposes, out of place at the Warped Tour. Dallas Green (guitar, vocals) was dressed more like he was about to go on a hike with your dad than play a show, with a leather bucket hat and cargo shorts. Wade Macneil (guitar, vocals) looked like he should be in a band that is signed to Hellcat Records, and would rather be listening to Choking Victim than being a hip young gunslinger in a band that has been tossed around in the “emo” subcategory for almost a decade. The rest of the band looked like those dudes you see sitting at a table in the back corner of that dive bar you go to sometimes just because the booze is cheap but you feel a little uneasy about the place every time you go there. So, all things taken equally, they certainly seemed to be an entity unto themselves. Which is good.

Because they are no emo band.

And don’t even begin to mouth the words screamo either.

Alexisonfire at a glance doesn’t seem very unique. They have equal parts melody and hardcore, they have clean vocals mixed with screams and growls. And they have rhythm driven breakdowns. But they do it differently. They do it with purpose and a talent that is more original and pleasing to listen to than most if not all of their peers.

Also being named after the world’s only lactating contortionist stripper doesn’t hurt either.

I caught up with them backstage at the Phoenix stop along the Warped Tour and asked them about this genre they seemed to be holed into and their new record Old Crows/Young Cardinals that is being released through Dine Alone Records.

Sean (azr): Seeing that it’s 108 degrees outside right now I bet Canada sounds pretty nice right now?

Dallas: Actually it’s quite hot in the summertime where we’re from. If you look on a map, where we live is as south as the most northern point of California.

Wade: It’s a different kind of heat though. It’s a really wet heat. At least here it’s dry!

Dallas: Yeah where we’re from it’s like having the flu walking around in the summer.

George: And the winter is like having the cold part of the flu. Living in Canada is basically like having the flu year round. (Band laughs)

Sean (azr): So. The band name is from apparently the world’s only lactating contortionist stripper. Is that a real thing?

Band as a whole: Yes it is!

Dallas: She is truly an inspiration to everyone.

Sean (azr): I have read that you wanted to “kill screamo” with this new record. What exactly did you mean by this?

George: I think its just the whole idea of what its become is what we want to “kill”. We have been doing this for about eight years now, and back when we started there were these bands that we thought was the ACTUAL screamo, these bands that had come out of the hardcore scene and had influenced us. Level Plane records stuff. Bands like Saetia and Taken, and then as things became more marketable it became more about the hair and makeup. That’s more of what we were taking about not wanting to be a part of.

Wade: I think “Screamo” has become a dirty word. And I feel like what it is and what it has become doesn’t have a lot to do with us and how we look at music or why we started this band. It’s just like the first wave of “punk” bands were all these dramatically different sounding bands. But they were still all called “punk”.

Dallas: yeah remember “alternative”? There used to be this section at the record store? (Laughs)

Sean (azr): So I noticed on the new tracks a kind of different dynamic to the screaming. What did you do differently?

George: Yes. Well I basically stopped screaming for the most part. Its still there, for example there is this new song “Northern” where I’m still screaming but I’m using it mostly for an accent now. Screaming seems almost too written in stone; I wanted to do something different, trying to get a new tool for writing songs.

Sean (azr): So you guys on the whole tour?

Wade: yes we are, and things have been going really well. The new songs seem to be well received, and we might be having Andy from Every Time I Die join us onstage in Buffalo to do some stand up comedy in between songs. Which is going to be AWESOME.

One of the most impressive things that were taken away from the brief time that I spent with Alexisonfire is how seriously they take their music, but not themselves. This band is the real deal, and not only makes very well crafted music, but also puts on a very impressive show full of energy. Now almost veterans of a scene that many young fans know as the norm, the experience that they have certainly comes through, and reflects how they don’t need the makeup, day glow shirts or scenester haircuts to survive at a time when many bands are clinging to what ever gimmick might bring them a few new fans and that have the music as an after thought to very contrived image.

Make it a point to go an experience Alexisonfire for you.

Alexisonfire is:

George Pettit

Dallas Green

Wade MacNeil

Chris Steele

Jordan Hastings

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