Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire are back in the UK again on the Eastpak tour with Anti-Flag, Ghost Of A Thousand and Four Year Strong and released their 4th album Old Crows/ Young Cardinals in the summer. I spoke to Wade (the founding member of the band) about illegal downloading, bands they like and Leeds and Reading festival.
So, you're back in the UK again what do you think to your UK fans compared to fans back at home?
Um, I dunno it's always been really good for us over here. The first time we came over we had no idea if our CD was out over here or if anyone was gunna come to our shows so it was kinda like really surprising. Its just grown and grown and it feels a lot like we're over here so much it definitely feels great to tour over here and we've got a lot of friends. It seems somewhat familiar cuz we've been here so much, yeah we always love coming over here.
And this summer you just released your 4th album. Was there any concept idea behind Old/ Crows Young Cardinals?
No there's no grand theme, there's no grand design, I think its just a collection of songs of where we're at with everything and where we're at with music and in life and everything goes into it from the time you take to finishing and recording the last record to the time it takes to do that next one. So there's some recurring themes in it but its no rock opera.
This time around Alexisonfire co-produced the album why is this something you wanted to do?
I mean its something we've always done its not like we've worked with another producer we've used the same guy. He definitely puts his two cents up its not like we just had over our songs to somebody so its always been that way.
You've worked with Julius Butty for most albums. What makes him a good producer that you keep working with him?
He's got a lot of tact and I think he just gets the best out of us I believe and he has some great ideas and he himself is a musician so he doesn't look at everything so clinically. He likes the stuff we like and has a good ear for things and us working with him it feels like he's another part of the band and I don't think there's any reason to not record records with him.
I know from the different albums your sound has changed a lot why did you want to change the sound from the 1st album?
I think the first album is just us 5 guys playing together for the first time and its not like some sound we conceived and not something we were really trying to go for its just the way the band sounded when we started practising. The more you play with people the more focussed it gets and you kind of strive towards something. I'm more stoked with how the band sounds today then I've ever been.
How would you describe that sound then?
I dunno, I think its safe to say we're a screamo band or a post hardcore band and screamo is definitely a dirty word these days but I think the way we look at it is it's the stuff that we came from, that kinda stuff we were trying to emulate when we first started was something that meant a lot to us and it wasn't like heavy metal.
So what bands do you listen to at the minute?
Ive been listening to Trash Talk a lot lately I really like that band. The new converge is really good. I'm almost listening to a lot of heavy music right now. Trap Them, yeah all kind of trashy hardcore stuff and I've been listening to this country band called the Avant Brothers, I guess that's the music I'm falling asleep to.
So apart from the country that's quite a lot of hardcore so what does hardcore mean to you?
Usually it means I have a pretty big distaste for it just recently like I've been finding out about some newer hardcore bands I think are actually worth while and usually they're pretty few and far between so its something I very rarely listen to at home and maybe cuz we've been on tour.
As you mentioned earlier when you first came to the UK you wasn't sure how people would take you but now you've had mainstream success did you ever expect or want that?
I think we're not a band with a lot of preconceived ideas of what we are and we're not pushing the genre or trying to keep it in basements or keep it in halls. We write music and you wanna get it out to people and I think when we started the band, there wasn't the idea of us playing like bands that sounds like they should be in large venues but when that first started happening it was very odd.
All the faces changed in the audience but yeah I think its great, its awesome I love it. I dunno if I ever would have expected it but I think its great to be able to play confrontational music to that many people.
You played Leeds and Reading festival twice in a day this year, whose idea was that?
I know a couple of bands have done it before Dropkick Murphys did it when we were over there once and we thought that was awesome and then I think I may have bought it up and they were into it. It was really fun I mean by the last show, the second show at Leeds, I was almost ready to fall over I was just completely out of it but it was fun, being out of its really good.
So what do you do to get ready for a show?
Not much I try and warm up my voice which I probably don't know how to do properly. I do some stretches that I think is more of a mental thing that I've been doing for years and probably doesn't stretch anything, and we do some weird chant thing that our bass player does before we go on stage, its always changing.
There's always an opinion on illegal downloading so how does Alexisonfire feel about this?
I think it's a great I do it too. I think it's a very positive way to find out about music and I definitely use it in that way and I collect vinyl and I just don't wanna be bothered to tape it on to a CD then turn it in an mp3 and upload it on my computer.
I usually download the records that I buy on vinyl but I think there's a lot of bands I wouldn't have found out about if I hadn't of done that and I mean vice versa for us it works that way. The first time we toured the states our record wasn't out there and people were coming to our shows because they found out about us online so I don't care.
The music industry is a big sinking ship where labels are trying to grab money and there's such an unfair portion of how bands get paid off record sales anyway you don't make money off selling CDs even if you sells tons of them. So download our record, come see us play live, that's the important bit
And when you do finally have a day off away from the band what do you do?
We usually end up going to a show, the first day we got here a bunch of people went to see Bat For Lashes and then I think we might go see The Cribs. With Johnny Marr in the band I'm pretty stoked.
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