the ongoing saga...

Music at its best is about time and place. It's a feeling that is hard to describe and it's intensely personal. Sometimes when you least expect it a record can change your life. Sometimes your life changes dramatically and its the music you are listening to at that time that will stay with you forever. That being said, it's hard when a band you hold in very high esteem changes from what originally drew you to them. I understand, I've had bands break my heart before.

The last thing I expected from our friend Josh (who has been the subject of my last few blogs) was an apology. He sent us a very nice email explaining that our first record means a lot to him and he was sorry for what he said. However, I just checked our email tonight and found another message where Josh takes back his apology. He then goes on to say Dallas looks like a "gay biker" and I look like "a human version of the Kool Aid guy." If anything motherfucker Dallas looks like a creepy shop teacher and I look like the hamburgler. This will be the last blog about schizophrenic Josh. Now here is a story about when a Jamaican guy called me The Hamburgler.

We had just finished filming the video for Rough Hands. Unlike all of our other videos this was a pretty easy day. We set up in a warehouse in Toronto and ran through the song 10 or 15 times. The director Marc filmed us on a few different cameras and then had to go project the footage all over the city. I was done around 6:30 and made my way downtown to go see Damian Marley play at a club called the Phoenix. I got there and met up with the Bedouin Soundclash boys. We downed some rum and cokes while the openers played. It was my turn to buy the round right before Damian Marley went on. The club had completely filled in and it was packed an hot. I managed to order a few more and made my way back over to the fellas. I must point out at this time that I was wearing a fedora and a long sleeved black and white stripped shirt. I got bumped into from behind and spilled most of the drinks onto this huge Jamiacan guy. At first I was worried I was gonna get stomped. But, instead he blurted out "easy now ammburgla" and him and his friends all started laughing their asses off. I couldn't help but laugh myself and patted him on the back and delivered what was left of the drinks. To fully appreciate this you must imagine his thick accent, you must imagine the punky reggae vibes, you have to taste the coconut rum and smell the weed in the air.

Jah Bless,
wade and the boys. thanks to DMC for the drawing.

Dear Josh,

After a long day of beating up nerds and hassling homosexuals George and I headed back to the bus to celebrate. Today, we signed a multi-million dollar contract with MTV. We will be hosting a brand new reality TV show sponsored by our good friends at McDonalds and Nike. The show will take us across the United States to numerous republican conventions as we follow and aid Sarah Palin in her quest to become the 1st Female President! So, check us out this fall as we travel the country decked out in the latest Nike fashion and spread the word about the tasty new McSkillet Buritto!

So, to wrap things up we are now fabulously wealthy. Enjoy living at your parents house Josh.
McLexisonNike

Hate Mail

I thought I would share this with all of you. It is the second time we have gotten this exact email. We first received it while we were in Vancouver making the record, and it popped up in our inbox again today. It makes me smile. Hopefully, it brightens up your day as well.

Subject : Important

Body: When i first starting listening to you guys on your first release i thought it was amazing.It was something different from all that mainstream pretentiousness out there.It helped kids who felt like they outcasts that they weren't alone and that someone understood them.All that glamor and shallowness didn't matter just honest music with integrity.Now you guys are all into being fake and into the money instead of having integrity or fighting for what you believe in.If you even believe in anything anymore all that fame has gotten to you guys when that stuff doesn't matter.The honesty in your first release has gone and you guys have completely sold out for money,for fame blending in with all the jocks and kids who are fake and shallow who you once despised.Or maybe you guys were always in it for the money the girls and fame.Never in it for the passion or honesty or the ability to touch people in different ways or help them threw there hardships.All i see is a band that was once good.A band that is now nothing but a bunch of sellouts and pretty boys.More concerned about looking cool on camera with your tattoos then being real and honest.Punk Rock is about being yourself not being pressured into dressing or acting a certain way.It,s about being an individual and not labeling yourself like a genre.But being a person with rights beliefs and values that should be there own and not based off of peer pressure.Or bowing like a slave to the mainstream masses or to Mtv.Listening to everything they say how to dress how to sound what to write songs about how your hair should look in a video.That stuff doesn't matter if you loose your integrity its like losing your soul its your heart your honor without that your just a puppet on a string doing everyone's bidding's without truly being alive without being an individual or yourselves just letting people control you and twist you the way they want you to twist and turn.Alexisonfire is dead in my eyes now its just a pop rock band now your just like the pretentious mainstream music you once hated and rebelled against

Josh (X Alexisonfire Fan)

P.S being macho doesn't make you a man being sensitive and not caring what other people think and having integrity does.

Say it aint so Shane

Hell has officially frozen over. Shane MacGowan lead singer of legendary band the Pogues has fixed his teeth! I blame the Jonas brothers. I blame George Bush. I blame that police state known as Disneyland. Times change thats for sure. A couple of days ago when I was sitting around aimlessly at merch I heard someone doing an At the Drive In cover. I found my way over to the skullcandy stage and checked out a band called Therefor I Am. They did a great cover of Arc Arsenal and I stuck around for the rest of the set. They have a cool small brown bike meets seaweed vibe. We did a signing right before their set this afternoon so we all had a chance to catch their show. They are great and really energetic. Ill definitely be checking them out again. They have a new record out on our old label Equal Vision. Go check them out. www.myspace.com/thereforeiam

Straight to VHS

Dallas is a fountain of 1980's movie knowledge. I don't know when exactly his mind switched over to a mode of strictly guitar riffs and 80's cinema. But, it is intense and he has never looked back. Obscure quotes pour out of him at all times of the day. Ranging from sci-fi gems such as Space Balls to fun for the whole family epics like Mom and Dad Save the Wold. His repertoire never ceases to amaze. On Warped Tour, Dallas has brought a big CD booklet full of 80's obscura. Most of us had seen quite a few of these films that he had drawn out of his collection, with the sole exception of Eric the Viking. He said it will change our minds! We have embarked on a riotous drive to Virginia Beach and we are all up watching the film. It is strange as hell. A calm quiet has grown over the five of us as we watch their viking ship sail through space. Even stranger is when Dall quotes lines from a movie that probably was straight to VHS. The bus continues to shake harshly down the road on our way to VA. I know at some time we will cross that long freestanding bridge over the water. It just isn't the same when you do it at night.

love,
wade.

Woooooooaaaaaaaaahhhh!

give us a chance

"You people need to start moving around out there or I'm gonna go drown myself in a port-o-potty." George definitely had the quote of the day from our 11:15 set in NYC. When he is completely deprived of sleep George is often at his most hilarious. The set was good. It was at least as good as a rock concert can be before noon. As I touched on briefly in our last blog, a monsoon hit Philly so we weren't able to play. A bunch of people made the trip from Philadelphia to NY to see us and still and missed the set. I sat at the merch tent for a couple of hours and got yelled for most of it. Believe it or not the people who were the most irate were those who missed the set because they were drinking in the parking lot. They gave me an ear full! The set time changes everyday so get there before 11:00AM to be safe.

The next day in New Jersey was great. We were on later and everything was back as it should be. We have added Heading for the Sun to the set and it's been getting a good response. #2 from Anti-Flag came out and sang the end of This Could Be Anywhere in the World and POS came out and sang the end of Accidents with us. It was a star studded affair.

up the pop punx,
wade.