Alexis Fire

(While playing Glasgow with Johnny Truant and The Blood Roses in, the members of all three bands had the word "Yeti" tattooed on themselves. On an episode of the MuchMusic program The New Music, Pettit and Green said that the idea for the tattoos came from the 1988 Gary Oldman film The Firm.) The band spent all of 2005 on the road, touring the UK, US, Canada and Europe.

They also played the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan.

Alexisonfire (pronounced "Alexis on Fire") is a Canadian post-hardcore band formed in St. Catharines, Ontario in 2001.

The band's members are George Pettit (vocals), Dallas Green (vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards), Wade MacNeil (lead guitar, backing vocals), Chris Steele (bass) and Jordan Hastings (drums, percussion).

The band has won numerous awards, and in Canada their albums have all been certified either gold or platinum.

Alexisonfire was formed in late 2001 in the aftermath of a three-band break up.

Pettit was playing guitar in a metal band called Condemning Salem, Green was lead singer and guitar player in Helicon Blue, and MacNeil and Steele played in a punk band called Plan 9.

These bands broke up at the same time, and Pettit, Steele, MacNeil and Green recruited drummer Jesse Ingelevics, and formed Alexisonfire.

The band's name was derived from Alexis Fire, a pornographic actress.

When Fire discovered that they were using her website name as their band name, she threatened to sue, but it was discovered that the moniker was not registered, and no further action took place.

In 2002, the band released its first EP, Math Sheets Demo, so named because the CD was wrapped in Jesse Ingelevics' math homework.

This caught the attention of recording engineer Greg Below and Montreal journalist Mitch Joel, who were setting up the record label Distort Entertainment and were looking for artists.

Below was also working with EMI, which allowed the band to record at the company's in-house studio, and land a co-publishing and distribution deal.

On October 31, 2002, Alexisonfire was released.

Although there was a distribution deal with EMI, the album's success was mostly attributed to word-of-mouth.

They had already been playing dates in Ontario and New York with bands like GWAR, Juliana Theory and Glassjaw; 2003 saw them touring in support of the album, crossing Canada twice, playing with Spitalfield and Billy Talent, appearing at Hellfest, and touring Europe with Rise Against.

At the 2004 Canadian Independent Music Awards, the video for the album's song "Pulmonary Archery" won Best Video.

They were named Favourite Indie Band at the CASBY Awards, and the video for the song "Counterparts and Number Them" was nominated for Best Independent Video at the MuchMusic Video Awards.

Alexisonfire recorded their second album with Julius Butty at his Silo Studios near Hamilton, Ontario, Watch Out! and was released on June 29, 2004.

It was released worldwide, mainly through Distort but through Equal Vision Records in the USA, and Sorepoint Records in the UK.

In October 2005, Alexisonfire was certified gold in Canada, marking over 50,000 sales.

On June 14, 2005, Alexisonfire posted a statement on their website stating that founding drummer Jesse Ingelevics had left the band.

He was replaced by Jordan Hastings, late of the band Jersey.

At the MuchMusic Video Awards, the video for the song "Accidents" won Best Independent Video, and the band was nominated for the Peoples' Choice Award – Favourite Canadian Group.

At the Juno Awards of 2005, Alexisonfire won the award for New Group of the Year.

On August 22, 2006, the band released their third studio album, Crisis, which received rave reviews and continues to be deemed 'important'.

The album's release was marked with a party on a boat on the River Thames in London, England.

This also launched a 10-month world tour that took them through the UK, Australia, Canada and the US.

They were now playing to crowds of up to 80,000 people, at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Festival d'été de Québec, and they headlined at the Brixton Academy in London.

They played the Warped Tour, the Taste of Chaos tour, the Saints & Sinners Festival and Australia's Soundwave festival.

At this point, they were one of the most popular bands in Canada.

The band toured with Anti-Flag, Saosin, The Bled, Norma Jean, Every Time I Die, Cancer Bats, Attack in Black, Moneen, Envy on the Coast, A Change of Pace, The Ghost of a Thousand and The Dear & Departed, among others.

It debuted at No. 6 on the Nielsen Soundscan Top 200, sold 6,000 copies in its first week, received gold certification in Canada in twelve weeks, and certified platinum in 2007.

The critical reception came from the fact that the band was more focused from the eighteen months of touring, helping them harness more aggression, release more emotion, and fine-tune all the tracks.

The album was noted as a real departure from their debut album, and was a critical success.

As soon as the album was released, the band went on tour, playing the Vans Warped Tour on several US dates, and then heading to the UK, playing the Reading and Leeds Festivals and other British gigs.

The tour produced three live albums: Live At Brixton Academy (London, 11/13/07), Live At Manchester Academy (11/14/07), and Live At Birmingham Academy (now O2 Academy Birmingham) (11/16/07).

At this time, Pettit told a reporter: "The next record, I think, is us pretty much wanting to put the knife in screamo. I don't want to be the band that saves it, I want to be the band that kills it."

Pettit later regretted making the statement.

(In 2014, Dine Alone Records released a remastered version of the album.)