St. Catharines, ON · post-hardcore

Alexisonfire

3 upcoming festivals ↓

Canada's post-hardcore heart — three voices trading scream, croon, and rasp across one beloved catalog, with reunion sets that feel like national holidays back home.

Alexisonfire came together in St. Catharines, Ontario, in 2001 after three local bands, Condemning Salem, Helicon Blue and Plan 9, broke up around the same time, sending George Pettit, Dallas Green, Wade MacNeil and Chris Steele into a single lineup, with drummer Jordan Hastings joining later. The band's name comes from an adult film performer called Alexis Fire, who threatened legal action on finding out but had never trademarked it.

The group's sound is built around the interplay of three vocalists, George Pettit's screamed delivery, Dallas Green's clean singing and Wade MacNeil's rasp, over twin guitars, with songs that move between hardcore aggression and melodic passages.

Their self-titled 2002 debut spread mostly by word of mouth, led by the single 'Pulmonary Archery,' and was later certified gold in Canada. Watch Out! (2004) and Crisis (2006) followed; Crisis debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and helped build the band's reputation abroad. Old Crows / Young Cardinals arrived in 2009 with a heavier, more experimental sound.

The band broke up in 2011, with Green continuing his acoustic project City and Colour. They reunited for shows before officially reforming in 2015, and in 2022 released Otherness, their first full-length album in over a decade.

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post-hardcore