Alexisonfire (2001–2003) 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. In October 2005,
Alexisonfire was certified gold in Canada, marking over 50,000 sales. (In 2014,
Dine Alone Records released a remastered version of the album.) 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.
Watch Out! (2004–2005) 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 US, and Sorepoint Records in the UK. 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. 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. (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. 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.
Crisis (2006–2007) 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. 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. At the 2006
CASBY Awards,
Crisis won Favorite New Indie Release. At the 2007
MuchMusic Video Awards, the video for "This Could Be Anywhere in the World" won the award for Best Cinematography and was nominated for Best Rock Video. The band was also nominated for the Peoples' Choice Award – Favourite Canadian Group. At the
Juno Awards of 2007,
Crisis garnered a nomination for CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year,
Julius Butty received a Producer of the Year nomination for "This Could Be Anywhere in the World", and Alexisonfire was nominated for Group of the Year.
Old Crows/Young Cardinals and ''Dog's Blood'' (2008–2010) In 2008, MacNeil told a
Bombshell Zine interviewer: "Alexis hasn't broken up, but we'll see what happens. We are at a crossroads now." As a result, by 2009, rumours that Alexisonfire was about to break up abounded, but the band announced the name of their new album on February 1. They began recording
Old Crows/Young Cardinals on the same day. By March 1, the recording process was near completion and two songs were announced--"Midnight Regulations" and "Emerald St." On March 31, 2009, it was confirmed that Alexisonfire had signed to
Dine Alone Records, whose founder, Joel Carriere, had once been the band's manager. On April 20, Alexisonfire released the song "Young Cardinals" for radio airplay. The music video premiered on
MuchOnDemand on May 15, 2009; the album was released on June 23, 2009, and was very well received. The band then went on a 300-date tour through Europe, the US and Canada, which lasted through December 2010. In 2008, Dallas Green told Canoe.ca that he had sketched out new songs that he hoped would take the band into "new, weird territories". The band announced the release of
Dogs Blood at the 2009 Verge Awards, hosted by
The Verge (XM), where
Old Crows/Young Cardinals was nominated for Album of the Year and the band was nominated as Artist of the Year. At the
Juno Awards of 2010,
Old Crows/Young Cardinals was nominated as Rock Album of the Year. On February 16, 2010, the band was set to play a free all-ages show at the
2010 Winter Olympics venue Live City Yaletown when, seconds into the show, the rush of the audience broke a barrier and people were trampled; 20 were slightly injured. Alexisonfire returned to
Vancouver later that year as headliners at the PNE Forum. Also in 2010, the band released a collection of six songs available exclusively through iTunes as a digital download. The EP,
iTunes Originals, contained previously recorded material from the group's discography, versions of some of their previously released songs performed slightly differently, and interviews with the band. On November 22, 2010, a digital version of their
Aussie Tour 7" was released on iTunes. It contains two cover songs, originally by
Midnight Oil and
The Saints.
Disbandment and farewell tour (2011–2012) In 2005, Dallas Green had launched a solo folk/rock side project called
City and Colour. The project had become very successful and between that and his commitments to Alexisonfire, he said that he suffered a nervous breakdown and that being in Alexisonfire was killing him. At the end of the
Old Crows/Young Cardinals tour, Green told the band that he was leaving Alexisonfire, but that he would not announce his departure until the rest of the band decided on their future plans. On February 14, 2011, Alexisonfire tweeted that they had been writing new music for their fifth studio album, describing it as "so heavy it's going to make ''Dog's Blood
look like a ska record". Despite these statements, the album did not materialize and on August 5, 2011, Alexisonfire announced their break-up. In the statement, George Pettit cited the departures of both Green and MacNeil (who left to become the vocalist for Gallows), and personal issues among the remaining members as reasons for breaking up. Pettit also described the break-up as not being "amicable". Alexisonfire planned on celebrating their tenth anniversary with one last headlining Canadian tour and "a series of releases", although Green had specifically said that, for him, their December 19, 2010, show in their hometown was their last concert. In December 2012, Alexisonfire embarked on their farewell tour. It was initially nine dates, but it expanded to 30, with stops in Canada, the UK, Australia and Brazil. In December, the EP Death Letter'' was released, featuring new interpretations of songs spanning the band's previous four albums. On December 25, 2013, the band released a limited-edition vinyl box set containing all the four albums as well as EPs, LPs, B-sides etc. One thousand copies were produced; they were sold out in 30 minutes. In August 2014, they released a slightly smaller second edition of the boxed set.
Reunion and Otherness (2015–present) 2018 On March 9, 2015, the band announced a reunion tour, their first since their farewell tour in 2012, including dates at
Reading and Leeds festivals, Sonic Boom,
Heavy Montréal,
X-Fest and
Riot Fest. On September 19, 2015, at Riot Fest in Toronto, Wade MacNeil announced on stage that the band was officially back. The band later clarified this statement, reaffirming they had "no immediate plans" regarding new music or tours together, however they've played 100 concerts since 2015. On February 12, 2016, the band released
Live at Copps, a recording of their performance on December 30, 2012, at the
Copps Coliseum in
Hamilton, Ontario, which was the last show of their 2012 farewell tour. The album was released for download through
iTunes, as well as in a special 4-record set, and as a
Blu-ray video. On June 22, 2016, Alexisonfire was announced as the main headliner for the 2017
Unify Gathering in
Victoria, Australia, and announced a tour with
The Dirty Nil,
Behind Crimson Eyes and
The Getaway Plan through Australia and New Zealand. The band was then announced as a headliner at the annual Quebec festival
Montebello Rock and, on February 27, 2017, the band made a surprise three-song appearance at the Toronto stop of
Billy Talent's
Afraid of Heights Tour. They played Toronto's
Danforth Music Hall in December 2017, and spent the following June touring Germany and the UK before heading back to Canada to play the
Festival d'été de Québec. On February 1, 2019, the band posted a black image on their Facebook page. Later in the day, the band posted a teaser video featuring a building with a green neon light spelling out the words "Familiar Drugs". Later, on February 12, 2019, the band posted 3 illusive black pictures on their Instagram page. Fans soon figured out that by changing the brightness and contrast on these black pictures, it revealed the numbers 2,15 and 19. On February 15, 2019, the band released a new song called "
Familiar Drugs", their first new material in nearly nine years. On April 16, 2019, the band released the music video for "Familiar Drugs," which was shot completely on VHS and cellphones. On May 24, 2019, the band released another standalone single called "Complicit", followed by "Season of the Flood", on January 13, 2020. Alexisonfire went out on a short tour in 2019, playing shows in London, New York City, Los Angeles and Toronto as well as a show at
Ottawa Bluesfest. This was followed by 2020 performances in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band hosted a special one-time watch party on YouTube, showing a filmed performance of the final show on their farewell tour in December 2012 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Starting before the livestream was the premiere of their music video for their song, "Season of the Flood", which is made up of footage shot exclusively by AOF concertgoers in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver during the tour in January. In an interview with the
Toronto Star in 2019, George Pettit revealed that, in 2015, he had become a professional firefighter and that, even though the band had reunited, that new career would be his priority. He also remains the lead singer in his side project, Dead Tired. Wade MacNeil continues as the lead singer for
Black Lungs and
Gallows. On May 21, 2021, MacNeil presented his latest project, Doom's Children with his first single and video, "Flower Moon". Jordan Hastings continues with his long-time side project,
Cunter. Dallas Green has continued on with
City and Colour, and with
You+Me, his collaboration with
Pink. In a June 2021 interview, Green stated that Alexisonfire was "trying to get all these new songs together for the first time in like ten years" implying that more new music was in the works. On March 10, 2022, the band announced their fifth studio album
Otherness, their first album of new studio recordings in thirteen years. It was released on June 24, 2022. The album won the
Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year at the
Juno Awards of 2023. They toured with
Avenged Sevenfold in 2023. The band opened for Blink-182 in Toronto on August 15, 2024. In October 2025, the band announced a covers EP, called
Copies of Old Masters, Vol. 1, to be released via
Dine Alone Records on November 7. The band also released their cover of
The Tragically Hip song "Fully Completely", on the same day, from the EP. In February 2026 the band began recording a new album, and were confirmed to be on the roster for the
Louder Than Life festival taking place in
Louisville in September. ==Musical style and legacy==