Get Excited.: The only band ever?

It was August 5, 2011 when I heard the news. I lay on my bed reading Orson Scott Card's Children of the Mind when I decided to check out my social feeds on my BlackBerry. I log onto my Facebook app and read this message posted by one of my friends on the home page: "Alexisonfire broke up :(". I read it again. I panic. I immediately hop onto Twitter, searching for any tweets with the word "Alexisonfire" in them. Lo-and-behold, my Facebook friend appeared to be right. Numerous tweeters were reporting similar news. One tweet sent me to exclaim magazine's site, another to Alexisonfire's site and soon enough it became clear that it was official: the "only band ever" was no more.

Alexisonfire is - er, was - one of my favourite bands, if not the favourite. Their 2004 album Watch Out! is my favourite album ever produced by any musical act. I accidently bought it back when I was 14 years old, as I was trying to purchase the band's self-titled first album after falling in love with their song "Waterwings". It took me awhile to get into and appreciate the type of music Alexisonfire played as it was very different from any type of music I had been exposed to previously. However, once I got into their music, I got into it in big way. With their musical styling and intensity combined with powerful and emotional lyrics, Alexisonfire became a mainstay in my life growing up and continue to be so to this day.

While the band's latest LP Old Crows/Young Cardinals is good and entirely serviceable in its own right, it was not what I was expecting from the band as I eagerly anticipated their follow-up to 2006's stellar offering of Crisis. The new album was different from the band's older works, a little too different for my tastes, and my initial opinion of the album was simply tampered by my anticipation of what I thought it could have been (the band itself were anticipating this fan criticism for how this album, as described in the lead track "Old Crows"). While at first Old Crows/Young Cardinals seem to cause a speed-bump in my absolute Alexis fandom, I had eventually come to appreciate the album in its own way and understand why the band decided to take their music down this path. The band also somewhat redeemed itself in my eyes (or ears rather) by releasing the Dog's Blood EP last year which is very reminiscent of the band's old Watch Out!-Crisis musical stylings.

Regardless of the more recent tribulations in my relationship with the band, it is not an exaggeration to say that I really was devastated by the news that the band had broken up. The initial shock was like hearing that a good friend had just suddenly decided to move away. Alexisonfire have been a mainstay in my life for the past 7 years, and I have become attached to the band as an idea, entity, and group of artists. Great bands are the ones that can so effectively target the core of its listeners and connect with them that the band and the music become much more than just entertainment. Alexisonfire was one such band and it is sad to see them go. It is also pertinent to note that I am not alone in this feeling of loss for such a great band as Alexisonfire have sold thousands of records and have even had some mainstream success in the latter part of their career. Many fans were upset the evening of August 5th.

With Alexisonfire calling it quits, music got a little suckier. With that being said, there is no point in really dwelling on this loss. Through their decade long run, Alexisonfire became one of the great Canadian bands around today (my opinion obviously), especially in the genres of alternative and hardcore (or post-hardcore) rock. As the saying goes: with the closing of one door, another couple inevitably open. Alexisonfire may have been one of my favourite bands, but they are in no way the only band making good music today (there are a few others out there, you just need to know where to look). While it is sad that Alexisonfire is no more, this leaves room for other bands to emerge and fill the void. If anything, I can find solace in the fact that while the break-up wasn't completely amicable, the band didn't dissolve due to a major fight or anything serious like that. These artists simply felt that they gave all that they could to Alexisonfire and wanted to expand their horizons. Dallas Green will go on with City and Colour, Wade MacNeil will continue with his band Black Lungs and is also joining Gallows (the move that decisively ended Alexisonfire), and George Pettit assured fans that the remaining members of the band will go onto something new. There is also talk of Alexisonfire doing one final "goodbye" tour, as well as a special album release in celebration of their 10-year anniversary. If either of these things become something substantial, I'll be the first one in line.

An audio-visual history of the band: