Their latest effort is named “Watch Out!” and came out not too long ago on Equal Vision Records. On the album, Alexisonfire - five talented kids from Canada - put all the energy they could possibly gather into playing good emotionally driven songs, built of intricate guitar riffs and complex structures, yet with ear-cacthing melodies. We talked with Jesse, drummer for the band, about what is going on with Alexisonfire and here is what came out. Enjoy.

Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with Jesse, drummer for ALEXISONFIRE.

> Hi there! How are you doing?
Hi-Low, I am doing amazing! We recently had an Alexisonfire hang out day at a cottage with our manager, label rep and girlfriends and it was something we all really needed. So it was nice to get away for a day and simply hang as best friends.

Can you introduce the members of Alexisonfire and a story of how you got together?
Alexisonfire is :
George - Singer / Arobics Instructor
Dallas - Singer / Guitar / Driving Instructor
Wade - Singer / Guitar / Marky Ramones Long Lost Son
Steele - Bass / Beat Box / Hip-Hop Guru
myself, Jesse - Drums / White Pirate
Well we were all Mouse-Kateers at Disney and really didn’t fit in with the likes of Britney and Justin. So we went and talked to Micheal Eisner about how we didn’t feel comfortable with being Disney’s Mini Pops. So he got us lessons in instruments and hired people to tell us how to talk, walk and dress. We thought that this would allow us to stand out against that bitch Britney and I could only turn down Christina for so long. So from there on in the rest is history. Sorry, sometimes I simply like ammusing myself, or what really happened is this.
Well we all came from a slew of break-ups with different bands. It seemed to be the people with the most drive from those break-ups that all came together and we formed Alexisonfire. George use to play bass in a tech-metal band called Condemning Salemn, Dallas was a lead singer/ guitar player in Helicon Blue which was much like Mogwai meets Sunday Day Real Estate, Wade and Steele played in a punk rock band called Plan 9 and then went on to form After the Hollowed Moment. So they all seemed to break up at the same time and lucky for all of us that we all had that drive to succeed.

You come from Ontario, Canada. I always thought Canada has an amazing punk scene, I remember bands like Wisecrack, Gob, Propagandhi, and lately bands like Moneen, Billy Talent, Boys Night Out among others.What do you think of the music in Canada and how is the indie/punk/rock scene in the place you come from?
Well Southern Ontario is absolutely amazing. There are all ages clubs in every city, tons of bands and people just enthusiastic about music. The drive of people here is just huge. Plus we have things like SCENE Music Festival which is were 85 bands play in one day and they are all independant and it draws more than some of these giant named festivals. There are alot of amazing bands like Broken Social Scene, Raising the Fawn, Jersey, Silverstien, Cursed, and tons of more. We are in a really great situation here in our area and there is a great sense of community among the functional bands. So our scene is great and for those interested in Canada
and Southern Ontario you can check out something our manager runs called www.bedlamsociety.com.

Where did you get the name Alexisonfire from? Is it Alex Is On Fire or Alexis On Fire? It sounds like it has some explicit sex-related meaning…I also heard it is about a girlfriend of yours called Alex, who did some hot pics, is it so?
Our name seems to be more of an interesting story than us, hahahaha. We were originally called the Mouse Kateers Revolt but then later came up with Alexisonfire (pronounced Alexis-On-Fire). Basically Dallas was watching a documentary on contortionists and this lactating, contortionist, stripper was called Alexis On Fire and we thought it was a great band name. Regarding a friend named Alex taking hot pics, that is a new one to us.

Do you consider yourself an indie or emo band at all? What do you think of the emo hardcore scene of nowadays?
We are a rock band that plays music. People can call us , screamo, metal, emo, punk or whatever, we don’t care, its more for them than us. We are indie in the sense that we are an independant band. Regarding my thoughts on the scene, its like every other scene. It’s like grunge, we are in the phase right now were we are getting the Candlebox’s of grunge regarding emo.That’s cool, good music always prevails. To be honest this is the most I ever thought about it and really don’t care. I love music and appreciate everything about it, again SCENE’s seem to be there for the kids and the marketing teams, we play our music and love live and that is great.

You are releasing your new record, “Watch Out”, on Equal Vision Records; how did you get in touch with the guys at EVR?
We sent them a disc and they dug it and came and saw us. That simple. The people at EVR are amazing and really couldn’t imagine any one of those other
labels putting us out in the USA. It’s like dealing with Canadians, they are laid back and way too rad.

In Canada you’re something like on a major label, while in the rest of the world you’re on an independent label: why do you do this choice?
Nope we are independent here as well. We feel the best way to develop ourselves is being in the hands of people who really care. Picking different labels in each country allows us to develop great relationships and be in control of our situation a little bit more. Not that a major is horrible or evil but the way the industry is going we really feel that this is simply right for us, now.

Your new record “Watch Out” just came out : how would you describe it and how would you compare it to your previous disc? Do people have to expect some new things?
I would discribe it as at this point in my life it is something that has made me the most proud. We sat down and recorded our favourite album as a music fan and it is the most fun to play. The first disc was amazing and a different experience but this time around, we were on the road for 1 1/2 years and really took control of everything. This album I think people would of expected on our 3rd album because of the overall improvement. This isn’t taking away from our self-titled which we love, we were all just in a better place and it worked out. I can sit here and go on about the differences but you can go buy the album or stream some songs from online and you will be able to figure it out, the fans are smarter than a lot of industry gives them credit, they know whats up.

Your sound is very reminiscent of hardcore, with screams, complex guitar riffs and duo-vocals; where do you get your inspiration from ?
Life, I think everything you do in life is inspired by your stories your accumulate over life. The more experiences you have, the more you learn and hopefully you are smart enough to take away something positive out of the situation. Our inspiration is life as whole and all the bull shit and beauty involved with it I suppose.

How would you describe Alexisonfire to a person that have never heard of you?
Fun! You come see us live and you are going to have a fun time. Fun is this amazing thing that is contagious and you are guaranteed to get infected at our show. We simply are privilaged and fortunate to be in this situation so we will never take it for granted. When we are on stage we are having the time of our life and we hope you are too. Because if you can afford to come to a show and hang out, your life isn’t that bad.

What are some of the bands that you guys in the band regularely listen to?
Wow, we each have so many different tastes. Nick Cave to Justin Timberlake, Misfits to Raising the Fawn, Quicksand to Frank Zappa, we love music and appreciate great songs and musicianship so our scope of music we listen to is huge.

What about your lyrics? What do you sing about in general? I think some of them are really too personal and hard to relate to, what do you think?
The lyric department isn’t me. However regarding them being personal, well yeah. Whatever they are writing, lyrically, at the time is a reflection of life and experience. If someone reading that hasn’t experienced what Dallas or George has, then they may not get it. Maybe somewhere down the line they will or may never and that is cool. I am pretty sure they are not writing lyrics to please the masses, I am pretty sure they are writing for themselves and if people can relate thats amazing. If they can’t hopefully they can find something else like a amazing drummer that lays the shit down hard to relate to.

Have you got some plans of touring to support you new album? If so, where and with whom?
Well we are headling Canada and bring as support are amazing and best friends Moneen and Hopesfall and a band that we totally dig but haven’t toured with Vendetta Red. Then we are in the USA for one month supporting Hot Water Music, which we are so overly stoked. Seeing Hot Water Music and Planes Mistaken For Stars every night is really a perfect situation for us. We are fans of those bands and our manager as worked with HWM and has nothing but amazing things to say about them as people. Then we hit Japan, Australia and the UK with our label mates The Bled.

I noticed the artwork of your record has got some dark goth/monster related issues. What about that? I do not see your lyrics as goth stuff, maybe dark.
Everyone always seems to feel the need to follow some formula in life to be excepted to something. We are five individuals who love a lot of the same things and a lot of different things. The artwork was done by our tattoo artist and is in the style of some old 50’s style comics. The beauty of being an individual is you can do what you want, so long as you have conviction. We love that artwork and it’s that simple. However we were thinking of changing our style and becoming a Darkwave band and start
touring over seas non stop. hehehe

Do you think it is difficult for a young band to get hooked up by some label? I ask you this, because in the last year I saw a lot of unknown and untalented bands getting signed by major labels and all…how do you relate to this phenom? Are you willing to get signed to some major or you just do not care?
I really don’t know the ins and outs of getting signed. We play our ass’s off and have a small clique of people who work there ass’s off. I think in our case people appreciated that. Regarding other bands we are starting to see all sides of the industry and believe me, there is a lot of bullshit. But who cares, as long as we are doing our thing the way we want to then that’s what counts. We recently had a conversation with a big name dude and he was yapping about how he wants be involved in our writing process and gave us all this bullshit, I was floored. So basically we laughed and we continue on with our life.
Majors can be amazing, it’s all about the contract you sign and being as knowledgable as possible about your situation. Majors are great and so are indies , I think its just knowing your place in life. I really think some fans focus too much energy on what label a bands on versus if they are putting out good music or not. Who really cares what label you are on, so long as your relationship is great with them and they are not dickin you around, thats great.

Any final comments?
Our new video “Accidents” is coming out, you should be able to find it online, so go vote for it where ever because we are really proud of it. Thanks for the interview, I liked the questions.

The members of the group have known each other all their lives with some members forming friendships as early as pre-school. The band actually formed during their college years when the members where playing in separate projects. The group’s original drummer Brandon Moss left the group and was replaced by Ashley Horak. The group has cited classic rock & punk as well as The Clash, Fugazi, and Motown as influences to the group’s unique sound.

Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with John Gaviglio.

Hi! How are you doing?
I am doing fine, how are you?

Can you introduce the band’s members and a story of how you got together?
Bear Vs Shark is: Derek Kiesgen, Ashley Horak, Marc Paffi, Mike Muldoon, and I am John Gaviglio. We have been friends for a very long time and even started playing music together back in high school. We decided to start a band when we were in college a few years ago.

You come from Michigan, don’t you? How is the indie/punk/rock scene in the place you come from?
It’s ok, but I don’t really go to many shows since we are on tour alot, and when I’m not touring I’m kind of sick of hanging out at shows. But occasionally I’ll see a good one if I’ve got the time.

Where did you get the name Bear VS Shark from? It sounds like it has got a deep meaning, but I could be way off.
Derek made it up and we liked the way it sounded. It was either that or call ourselves Dr. Dracula.

Do you consider yourself an indie or emo band at all? What do you think of the emo hardcore scene of nowadays?
I don’t consider us an Emo band. I consider Dashboard an Emo band and I don’t think we really sound like them at all. I think the emo hardcore scene is pretty stagnant nowadays. Nobody’s really doing anything new.

You released your debut LP on Equal Vision Records; how did you get in touch with the guys at EVR?
We sent out a few demos to different labels and they responded favorably to it.

Have you released some other stuff before your new LP? I know you formed just two and a half years ago but already did some great stuff.
We made a 7 song EP as our demo, but also made copies ourselves for our shows. We don’t make them anymore but my in the future. We’re a little undecided on that.

Your sound is basically rock, and it has also some post hardcore influences according to me; where do you get your inspiration fro ? Other bands, music, books, movies, life …
I get my inspiration from music I listen to, from books I read; pretty much anything going on around me could inspire me or not. Who knows really what it could be. Maybe a concert, my dog, a finely crafted bowl of oat meal.

How would you describe Bear VS Shark to a person that have never heard of you?
Harder rocking dance spaz-out breakdown fun.

What are some of the bands that you guys in the band regularly listen to? I read in your bio you’re fond of The Clash, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Fugazi and Husker Du…what else?
Bjork, Fela Kuti, the Roots, the Beta Band, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, The Pixies, etc. Whatever is good I will listen to. I try not to listen to bad music. It is a conscious effort that I try to make - no bad music.

What about your lyrics?
I don’t write them but I like them. They make me think of mountains and lakes.

Have you got some plans of touring to support you new album? If so, where and with whom?
No, it’s too far off to tell.

Speaking of tours, I read that you are so strong to play even with broken teeth, bloody noses, torn cartilage and migraines… have you got some interesting thing that happened to you while you were on tour?
At the Indianapolis Warped Tour a few weeks back we played on a poor excuse for a stage. There was a gaping hole between the drum riser and the stage into which I fell after being run into by Mike. I thought my leg was broken for about 5 minutes. The fall has produced the largest two bruises I have ever had before, bruises which have achieved 5 different colors, namely: green, blue, black, red, and yellow. Is black a color? I’ve been documenting the progress of the bruises for a few
weeks now with my digital camera. It’s fun.

You played at the 2003 edition of the Krazy Fest: how was it? I know there were a lot of cool bands playing. What bands were you excited to share the stage with?
It was our fisrt festival and we had a good time. I didn’t really feel like we “shared” the stage with any bands because we didn’t know anybody there personally and we were the first band on a Sunday aftrernoon. But Andrew W.K. was fun to watch.

Do you think it is difficult for a young band to get hooked up by some label? I ask you this, because in the last year I saw a lot of unknown and untalented bands getting signed by major labels and all…how do you relate to this thing? Are you willing to get signed to some major or you just do not care?
I think it’s pretty hard to do, but I’ve really got no idea how it works. Bands can do whatever they want, and if they want to sign to a major that’s fine, hopefully they’ll use the money in a good way and make some great music. Or maybe they’ll just get really high on designer drugs and that’s cool too. People can do what they want. I like Equal Vision. They treat me nice and give me free t-shirts sometimes.