Warped Tour brings Alexisonfire to Detroit
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
July 8, 2009
 Fresh on the scene with their new album, Old Crows/Young Cardinals, and slightly in need of a shower thanks to a rigorous touring schedule, Alexisonfire is stopping nearby as part of the fifteenth installment of the Summer Warped Tour.
Originally from St. Catharines, Ont., the five-piece post-hardcore group is comprised of vocalist George Pettit, vocalist and guitarist Dallas Green, guitarist Wade MacNeil, bassist Chris Steele, and drummer Jordan Hastings.
Pettit reports that the tour has been going well so far, although it’s not something the band always looks forward to.
“I think it’s something we approach with a certain degree of dread. Warped Tour is a pretty intense style of touring. There’s not a lot of showering. It’s a lot of fun, too,” said Pettit.
Old Crows/Young Cardinals showcases a different sound from Alexisonfire’s previous albums, and perhaps the change in scenery and timeframe played a large role in that.
The band had much more time to work on the new album, about eight months. “We toured really hard with Crisis, so we wanted to take a step away from the band for a while,” said Pettit.
Previously, Alexisonfire would return from a tour, write for a month, record for a month, and then be back out on the road again on another tour.
“We had a lot more time to play with and sit on the songs and think about them,” explained Pettit.
The instruments on the album were recorded at Armory Studios in Vancouver, B.C. and vocals at their producer Julius Butty’s home studio in Stoney Creek, Ont. “All the other records have been done in Southern Ontario, and I think we just wanted to get ourselves away from Southern Ontario and immerse ourselves in the record,” Pettit said.
Inspiration is drawn from everything in life for Pettit, who states that the Old Crows/Young Cardinals track “Accept Crime” was inspired by Albert Camus.
“I read a lot of The Rebel by Albert Camus and there was a chapter on metaphysical rebellion that particularly struck me and that’s sort of where the song ‘Accept Crime’ came from,” Pettit explained.
Moving at a quick pace, Old Crows/Young Cardinals stems from the work the band did on Crisis, and covers a more mature set of subjects. The album debuted at number two on the Top 200 Soundscan Chart, selling 15,476 copies in their first week, making it their fourth Gold Record certification in Canada.
As for the future of Alexisonfire, Pettit admits that the band sticks to the small stuff. “I don’t think we’re all that ambitious to tell you the truth. We don’t set a lot of goals. If we said it out loud, what we were trying to do, it’d be like jinxing ourselves. We’ve always been set on really small ambitions. We’re just going to keep making music and playing music and hopefully people will still like it. As long as we still feel that we’re relevant, we’re going to continue to do what we do,” he said.
Alexisonfire plays in Detroit, MI at Comerica Park on Friday, July 31 as part of the Warped Tour. “We’re going to play as hard as we can and hopefully people like it,” promised Pettit.
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