Biography

I would like to preface this bio by saying I hate band bio sheets. They are boring, self-congratulatory, tripe, filled with all sorts of overdramatic adjectives and if I never have to read another band bio sheet again, I will die a relatively happy man.

With that said, my name is George Pettit and this is a brief biography of Alexisonfire. Alexisonfire is the product of five kids from the liberal, suburban paradise of Southern Ontario. The band started as an escape from the banalities of adolescence; basically, it was something to do on the weekend. All five of us were active in our local music scene, which consisted mostly of kid promoted shows at local union halls.

I think it is important to note, that we were hardly ambitious. Most of our success was a product of our own dumb luck. When the band started in 2001 there was no future in playing “screamo” music. No chance of getting our song on the radio. No chance of making a video or getting it played. But who cares about that stuff anyway. We were drunk on youth and invincible in our own minds. Times eventually would change in our favour.

Our first demo was the culmination of our very different influences at the time. Dallas (guitar vocals) had just left a kind of grungy alternative band. Wade (guitar vocals) and Chris (bass) had been playing together in a punk band since they were 14 and were looking for something new. I was playing bass in a metal band that I had very little interest in. Alexisonfire was a welcome change for all of us.

I like to think of our first demo as a mash up of Level-Plane Records’ era screamo and At the Drive In/Refused era post-hardcore. It’s hard for any of us to listen to our first demo and full length, without a certain degree of humility. Imagine the art you created as a teenager, put on display for all to see when you are in your late 20’s.

It is a disturbing thought for most, but in all honesty, those recordings served their purpose. They allowed us to tour the United States and Canada. They afforded us the luxury and comradery of impoverished van touring, sleeping on people’s floors in strange and terrifying new cities and playing in dingy basements with piss soaked washrooms and hot sweaty clubs filled with alienated youth. We would eat two meals of breakfast a day, to stay within a $10 budget. Those early recordings gave us a real taste for the nomadic lifestyle. I look back on those days with extreme fondness.