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Alexisonfire.
 "Well, yeah," admits vocalist George Pettit, as the band enjoy some time practicing in preparation for the tour as well as material for a split EP they're working on with fellow Canadians Moneen. "But things were so good the first time that we didn't want to waste any time coming back. I mean, where else were we going to tour? The United States? Forget that!" he laughs. "You guys are way better. We love Australia. It reminds us of Canada - the same kind of vibe or something. Friendly people and fun times, you know?"
Friendly people indeed: the band were very well-received in Australia. "The first time, we didn't really know what to expect when we came over. But we sold out shows, and we sold out of merchandise the second night, I think. For the rest of the tour we had something like six t-shirts! The whole tour was great." Pettit gushes. "It was a good time, and we got to soak in a little bit of the culture since we had a little down time between shows. A lot of the time it's such a hectic touring schedule that you don't get to do that, there's no time. Usually it's as much culture as you can get in a five-block radius around the club you're playing. We try to do as much as possible whenever we can, but usually it's just jumping into the van and driving to the next city."
Of course, a band with such gruelling tour schedules can't afford the time to drive across this great big country of ours to get to the next city. "Oh no, no, no - we're flying." Pettit assures me. "Which, for me, is way more stressful than driving the eight-or-nineteen hours to the next show. I hate flying, it's just the worst. Especially these flights we'll be doing where it's so quick, like you go up in the air and basically straight back down again. And they always do this ninety degree bank right before they land - man, I hate that."
However, there's no way Pettit can deny Alexisonfire has come a long way. "I don't know, it's strange to think about," he admits. "It's kind of ludicrous: the international travelling, releasing records and stuff. It's strange to think that we've made a career out of this - I mean, I've made a career out of screaming. But it's fun, we joke with each other and we have so many little inside jokes that only we find funny. It's part of our band, we like to have a good time."
One such joke which seems to have stuck (if the band's website is anything to go by) is the fact that if you like the band enough to get an Alexisonfire tattoo, you'll get into every show for free. Pettit laughs when I raise the point. "Oh, the tattoo thing? Uh... well yeah, it's true. Although right now I'm not exactly sure how well we're set up for it. I think we used to have an email address set up where you could send in a picture of you and your tattoo with your name and city and stuff and we'd get you on the door list for the show. But I think maybe we've slackened off with that thing, I don't know. But yeah, if you get in contact with us I'm sure we'd work it out. I mean, if you're stupid enough to get an Alexisonfire tattoo on you then sure, why not get into all the shows for free?"
Of course, with fame comes opportunity and earlier this year the band was approached to play the Much Music Awards in Canada. "It was weird and crazy but really fun to do," Pettit admits. "We've been at the Much Music awards for the past three years now, I think, but this was the first time we've actually played. It was really neat to be playing a big awards show, but it was really stressful too. The last few years we just showed up, lost our awards [to another band] and then went and got wasted. This time we had to actually do things, and be of sound mind and body so we couldn't really cut loose and enjoy ourselves. Then by the time we were done we were all exhausted from doing what we had to do and doing all the press and stuff. But then you have to go off to some party where suddenly the beer isn't free anymore. That was kind of the down point. But the rest of it was awesome, we loved every minute. It's completely different from a show: you freak out for one song and then you're done. And I like playing television shows for that reason. You go out and have to cram a show's worth of rocking out into one song and I really like doing that. It's fun."
Ryan Smith
 | Alexisonfire play at the Adelaide UniBar on Thurs 18 Aug with The Scare. |
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