Alexisonfire – Sept 09 Cover Story

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The Vans Warped Tour is said to be one the most grueling experiences for a band. With outdoor shows every day and a heavy reliance on porta-potties, it’s obvious that you can’t act like a diva if you want to be a part of this tour. As I arrived at Parc Jean Drapeau in Montreal on July 11^th, I knew I had a challenge ahead of me. With hundreds of musicians running back and forth and the weather threatening to drench everyone in attendance, I braced myself and headed towards the tiny media tent.

As the day progressed, we were hit with a thunderstorm so torrential that could have easily rivaled the ones found in the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. A good handful of the bands were forced to cancel their scheduled interviews to avoid getting hit by lightening as they walked from their tour bus to the expectant media.

I, however, managed to luck in as the sun came out just in time to speak with veteran post-hardcore band Alexisonfire (AOF) from St. Catherines, Ontario. Bassist Chris Steele rode over on his bicycle as lead singer George Pettit and drummer Jordan Hastings approached me by foot. We chose a spot by the water, overlooking Montreal, and I began by asking them a few basic questions about the current tour. It was clear almost immediately that this interview had the potential to be the best of the day. They were brutally honest in their responses; which was a nice change from the mundane answers you usually expect to get as a journalist at such events, given the number of interviews the artists have to give daily.

When asked what the tour had been like so far, George responded that: “it’s been lots of highs and lows”. He went on to point out one particular thing that bothered him.

“Just a lot of auto tuned bands playing auto tuned live and there’s this new kind hip hop influence; not that I have anything against hip hop but like ‘Broken Side’ and ’30H!3′, I just don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense to me when I watch it.”

Not wanting to put a damper on the interview we moved onto the more positive aspects of being on the road for such a long period of time. The common consensus was that it was worth it mainly because of all the time they got to spend together. A popular past time for the group is barbequing. They explained that they had become avid “barbequeants” and that they had all gotten the chance to show off their skills on the grill. While it’s a great excuse for them to hang out, George explained that it also introduced them to new people.

“People tend to gravitate, like real guys will come up and be like ‘what’re you grilling?’ and then everyone’s got a story about how they grill or what they like.”

George continued by adding that a lot of time was spent “making fun of each other and making fun of other bands and lots of wisecracks”.  The band reminisced about some of the pranks pulled on the tour and some of the insults that had been thrown around; a conversation that can be read in the full interview transcript linked below. As they stood there joking with each other, that their very strong friendship was most likely a big part of why they have done so well as a band, was obvious.

Curious to find out whether or not they had something that kept them entertained individually on the road, I posed the question to the boys and it was Jordan’s answer that was the most surprising. When you think of packing a suitcase, would you really think of throwing a motorcycle in there? According to him it was the one thing that he just couldn’t live without.

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