Sunday 21 August 2016

Alexisonfire


There's a few things to mention before we get into this band: first off, this will be Sophie's 500th post. Holy shit, I did not expect it to have kept going for this long. As always, I hope you've all found something you've enjoyed in this increasingly expansive catalog of free shiz. Also, a long-time frequenter of this blog is celebrating their birthday today actually it was yesterday, I'm a little late getting this post up (Happy belated Birthday Anthony), and he requested this band. I can't say no to that, plus this band is perfectly fitting to celebrate numero 500. Enjoy.

Alexisonfire are a five-piece post-hardcore band from Saint Catherines, Ontario, that formed in 2001. They called it quits in 2011, when Dallas Green (vocalist/guitarist) left to focus on his solo project City and Colour, and Wade MacNeil (guitarist/vocalist) became the lead singer for Gallows. However. they reunited the following year to embark on a farewell world tour, and played their "final show" on December 30, 2012 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. The band announced their return in 2015, with a headlining set at Riot Fest. Though they're not as active as they once were, they will be doing a handful of shows in Australia in 2017, so in some capacity Alexisonfire are in fact, back again.


To contextualize Alexisonfire's influence, they emerged in the new millennia, following a decade long build-up of post-hardcore in the underground. A ton of bands were pushing the envelope on traditional punk and hardcore, including more dynamics, more melody, and sometimes even more aggression. They got experimental, incorporating off-kilter rhythms and chord structures, and essentially whatever the hell else they wanted. This culminated in Refused's The Shape Of Punk To Come, which title says it all. This evolving sound broke loose at the turn of the century, when a ton of new, up-and-coming bands rode this new wave of post-hardcore. The production was cleaner, the songs had more hooks, so much so that they actually made it into the semi-mainstream. Bands like Thursday, Thrice, Glassjaw, as well as Alexisonfire can all be credited for exposing an entire new generation of people to post-hardcore.


Up here in Kanada, Alexisonfire were incredibly popular, especially around Watch Out! and Crisis. A small personal anecdote here, but I first heard "Accidents" when I was 9. That was my first exposure to any form of "aggressive" or "extreme" music, and it's obviously come a long way since then. I suppose their popular appeal isn't much of a surprise. The blend of George's howls and Dallas' VERY catchy and melodic choruses are infectious. The band not only brought an uninhibited energy, but some legitimately good songwriting. They've got the best of both worlds, so to speak. In addition, they never put out a bad album. All four of their full-lengths are fantastic (my personal favourite is their debut), and are an absolute essential for post-hardcore fans. There are some things missing from this discography, most notably some live stuff. If anyone has that, or anything else I don't, please feel free to send it to me so I can add it. Otherwise, here's the majority of their discography. Enjoy.

1. The Philosophical Significance Of Shooting My Sister In The Face: An Essay By James Secord
2. Counterparts And Number Them
3. Little Girls Pointing And Laughing

1. .44 Caliber Love Letter
2. A Dagger Through The Heart Of St. Angeles

1. .44 Caliber Love Letter
2. Counterparts And Number Them
3. Adelleda
4. A Dagger Through The Heart Of St. Angeles
5. Polaroids Of Polar Bears
6. Waterwings (And Other Poolside Fashion Faux Pas)
7. Where No One Knows
8. The Kennedy Curse
9. Jubella
10. Little Girls Pointing And Laughing
11. Pulmonary Archery

1. The Bled - Ruth Buzzi Better Watch Her Back
2. Alexisonfire - Counter Parts And Number Them

1. Sharks And Danger (Demo Version)
2. Get Fighted (Demo Version)

1. Accidents
2. Control
3. It Was Fear of Myself That Made Me Odd
4. Side Walk When She Walks
5. Hey, It's Your Funeral Mama
6. No Transitory
7. Sharks And Danger
8. That Girl Possessed
9. White Devil
10. Get Fighted
11. Happiness By The Kilowatt

1. Alexisonfire - Passing Out In America (Moneen cover)
2. Alexisonfire - Tonight I'm Going To Wash The Hippy (Moneen cover)
3. Moneen - Accidents Are On Purpose (Alexisonfire cover)
4. Moneen - Sharks In Danger (Alexisonfire cover)
5. Moneen - Bleed And Blister (Version 2)
6. Alexisonfire - Charlie Sheen vs. Henry Rollins

1. Drunks Lovers Sinners And Saints
2. This Could Be Anywhere In The World
3. Mailbox Arson
4. Boiled Frogs
5. We Are The Sound
6. You Burn First
7. We Are The End
8. Crisis
9. Keep It On Wax
10. To A Friend
11. Rough Hands

1. Thrones
2. My God Is A Reasonable Man

1. Old Crows
2. Young Cardinals
3. Sons Of Privilege
4.Born And Raised
5. No Rest
6. The Northern
7. Midnight Regulations
8. Emerald Street
9. Heading For The Sun
10. Accept Crime
11. Burial

1. Two Sisters
2. Wayfarer Youth

1. Dog's Blood
2. Grey
3. Black As Jet
4. Vex

1. The Northern (Acoustic) (Triple J Radio)
2. I'm Stranded (Acoustic) (Triple J Radio)
3. Old Crows (Live @ Soundwave)
4. Young Cardinals (Live @ Soundwave)
5. This Could Be Anywhere In The World (Live @ Soundwave)

1. The Dead Heart (Midnight Oil cover)

1. Born And Raised
2. Midnight Regulations
3. You Burn First
4. Accept Crime
5. Burial
6. Happiness By The Kilowatt

1. Young Cardinals
2. Boiled Frogs
3. Heading For The Sun
4. .44 Caliber Love Letter
5. Drunks, Lovers, Sinners And Saints
6. No Transitory
7. Crisis
8. Rough Hands
9. Charlie Sheen vs. Henry Rollins
10. Born And Raised
11. Waterwings
12. You Burn First
13. We Are The Sound
14. Keep It On Wax
15. Accept Crime
16. Malibox Arson
17. Get Fighted
18. Old Crows
19. The Northern
20. Dog's Blood
21. Accidents
22. Pulmonary Archery
23. This Could Be Anywhere In The World
24. Happiness By The Kilowatt

Otherness (2022)
1. Committed To The Con
2. Sweet Dreams Of Otherness
3. Sans Soleil
4. Conditional Love
5. Blue Spade
6. Dark Night Of The Soul
7. Mistaken Information
8. Survivor's Guilt
9. Reverse the Curse
10. World Stops Turning

29 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post! My best friend introduced me to heavy music, and this was one of the first few bands that he recommended. I gotta request Underoath on here, tho!

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  2. Glad You are Celebrating you 500 post. Really a great goal. Hope you can celebrate also your 1000 Post-versary
    luigi

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  3. Thank you so much for this post dude, really means a lot to me.

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  4. I have Live At Copps. Let me organize it and I can send it to you. I also have a birthday coming up this Sunday and was wondering if you could upload At The Drive-In. It'd really make me happy.

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  5. Here's Live At Copps: http://www44.zippyshare.com/v/PtxpUdQh/file.html

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. This is really an awesome blog.

    Thanks for all tour work!

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  8. This is really an awesome blog.

    Thanks for all tour work!

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  9. you were 9 in 2004? by the eclectic posts on this blog id expect a late-twenties hipster type.

    happy 500th, blog that singlehandedly turned me into a college hipster

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  10. Please, never delete this blog, even if you do not update anymore, keep it forever, I beg you. This blog is precious!

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  11. excellent, congrats for the post number 500!!! now you mention that, I'm gonna search my glassjaw records for listening again!!!

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  12. Thanks for the post! My best friend had introduced heavy music, and was one of the few bands that submitted the proposal. I would request here Underoath

    http://www.outmaind.com/

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  13. please post CREEPER album next time🙏

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  14. MONEEN!!!!!!!!!!!! PLS DO A MONEEN POST AND UPLOAD THEIR ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY TOO PLS

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  15. Mr Huizers take home math notes from grade 10.

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  16. i would like sharks and danger extended version from the japanese cd..

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  17. Thank you Sophie for sharing this amazing band

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  18. hey man, there's this playlist on their spotify that's titled "Alexisonfire Album Inspiration", and (as the name would suggest) it provides a lot of insight on their inspiration! now here's the best part: they were actually influenced by skramz bands like pg99, Saetia, and JF4B!

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  19. Hey, this is Anthony again! It's really sick to see this page still up and running with these bands being added to this blog all the time. Just coming back a couple years later just to read the bio with the hype that I'll being seeing them this June at terminal 5! Thank you again for all the documentation and work put into place from sophies floorboards, reply if anyone else will be at either how at terminal 5 :)

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  20. any chance for the new album?

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  21. Upload the new album plz

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