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Alexisonfire Interview
Sat backstage at the HMV Forum, one quick cigarette and a discussion about the dangers of ‘Black Mambas’ later, it’s time to catch up with Jordan from Alexisonfire on the Tour, Dogs Blood and ‘movember’ moustaches…
Firstly, on your Myspace page you’ve posted up that you guy are taking part in Movember did you do it properly? (Movember, for your reference readers is where men allow their moustaches to grow for the month of November in aid of Prostate cancer research)
We always cheat, if we didn’t its be the shittiest nastiest moustache by the end of the month, apart from Steele (Bassist), Steele’s got this massive thing … he’s had a moustache for about 4 months now so he wasn’t going to shave it off and start over, and then me, I cheated, I don’t usually have a moustache…. [That’s a definite cheat as the moustache is pretty bushy for a week 2 at this stage] I don’t usually have a moustache so I grew it like a week before we left for tour then shaved it off link“>(check out their 'Mospace' HERE)
On to the EP… Dog’s blood, it’s different to say the least, why have you taken it in such a drastic new direction?
Yeah, it’s kind of one of those things where it’s an EP so you have the freedom to be a bit different because it doesn’t have to be under a certain kind of record, it’s just a free way to do 4 songs, make them however long you want and when we wrote the songs we were like “Oh it’s 6 minutes long, well who gives a fuck, it’s an EP”.. And actually I heard we’ve been getting radio play which is surprising because its 6 minutes long
Are any of the tracks going to find their way onto a full length?
No, they’re not, it’s just going to stay on the EP…
How have you found the reaction to the EP from your fans, it’s pretty heavy, and it’s a world away from Old Crows Young Cardinals (previous album)
Really rad actually, everyone seems really into it, everything we’ve done has been different to the last so you know, if you listen to any record it doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done before. People are saying it sounds like something we would have done 5, 6, 7 years ago and some people are saying it sounds like something we never would have done… so, all in all it’s definitely been getting good reactions
What have you been doing since you’ve been in the UK, have you literally just been on the bus or have you explored outside the venues and the bus?
No, pretty much not, this is the most depressing UK tour ever because it’s so short, we have one day off and it consisted of doing a couple of radio sessions and driving to Glasgow, so that was our day off… a 10 hour drive to Glasgow, It’s been a case of “hurry up and get to the next city” the whole time
Where’s your favourite place in the UK to play?
Tough call… [Thinks about it] I’d have to say Glasgow, we’ve got a lot of friends in Glasgow and we always get tattooed in Glasgow, so that’s why… [Did you get one this time??]
Yes… this little guys [shows off a compass on the back of his arm] this says ‘where is Steele’ because we never know where our bass player is… so he got one too saying ‘I’m right here’ and its a picture of a little compass that points in like 7 directions… yeah… so I don’t know, we love Glasgow… everywhere we go in the UK is cool so it’s a really tough call
You've been quoted saying that you regarded old crows young cardinals as your best work, do you still think that now you’ve got dogs blood out there?
Erm… yeah, it’s a tough call, I’d say I like young crows young cardinals a lot, but I don’t know… yeah, I’d still stick with old crows young cardinals… I like everything we’ve done for different reasons… I’m going to stick with old crows though, it’s definitely my favourite
What can we expect from you next year, another tour, and another full length?
Erm, no, this is the end of the tour cycle right now, 2 more shows in the UK then back to Canada… while we’re home my other band is playing a bunch of shows… then we’re off on a cross Canadian run, then after that we’re off for Christmas. Probably be taking January off completely.
So will you be back next year?
I don’t know… we still have to write a new album and record it, and then figure out all that crap that takes forever, I’d like to say we’d be back in the New Year but you never know.
What UK bands are you into?
I’m really into link“>the Computers the band that’s opening for us, they are fucking awesome… [as we speak, computers are thrashing out their sound check] I don’t even know how to describe what they sound like, whatever it is its awesome.
I also like link“>Sharks, I can’t think of anything else at the moment… there’s so much stuff thats new and great, I guess half the time I don’t know where they’re from, UK or not, but definitely link“>the Computers.
Finally, If you were putting together a festival, who would you pick to headline it, apart from yourselves?
Ah, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Deftones… I’m a grunge kid, that’s what I grew up listening to and taking a lot of influence from musically… man… can I bring bands back from the dead too?? [Yeah… ok then] Ok, Led Zeppelin & The Who with Keith moon… tough call… I could sit here for hours and come up with a festival that would last for a month… but they’re the top ones
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If you haven't checked out the new EP yet, Dog's Blood is currently available on iTunes, you can click link to head to the store… and I heavily suggest you do!