“We’ve been off for about a month and a half now, taking a bit of the summer for ourselves having been on the ‘Crisis’ tour for almost a year straight.  Everyone was getting a little tour weary so it feels good to live locally for a while,” explains George.  “We’ve all pretty much been doing nothing, well I’ve been recording a record, but generally we all needed some time off, head out to our cottages and just enjoy being with family again,” Dallas continues.  With hard work comes rich rewards and while no-one could or would deny them this downtime, the overriding emotion and anticipation for this Canadian crew to produce the follow up to the landmark ‘Crisis’ is undeniable and a testament to how they are held in such high regard.  While George is at home arguing with his cat, Dallas has just stepped out of a recording studio and is off to sell some guitars, following the completion of his new City & Colour LP, both enjoying their own cosy confines, in their own individual way.  Dallas’ most recently, has been the release and personal space of his solo project, George has just come back from breakfast with his parents.  It’s easy to forget sometimes that these artists miss out for a large portion of the year and indeed their lives, on the domestic bliss that we all take for granted.  The drain and personal strain of waking up in a different city every day must take its toll, making time off when it does come around that little bit more enjoyable.  Yes we all have our chosen paths and professional lives to lead and with that come our own difficulties and challenges, but how many of us can spend a few weeks away from friends and family without some form of home-sickness kicking in, let alone months or years.  Life’s never easy, yet somehow we all triumph over adversity.  “I’m not complaining,” asserts George, “I love touring but it makes you appreciate your home more and equally, home makes you appreciate the road.  Because it was probably the 10th tour in a year, it’s hard not to take it for granted because if you compare it to when you first head out after releasing an album, you’re amped and pumped, its all you want to do.  Now you think about the friends you’ve neglected back home, family, girlfriends; it’s a varying scale of enjoyability.”  

 

Both vocalists agree that writing, recording and touring go hand in hand; they both also agree that one could not be without the other, in fact it’s on the road where AOF source a lot of their creativity and with inspiration often hiding in the strangest of places, they’re able to channel that path of discovery into a live show that - complimented by guitarist and ‘punk’ vocalist Wade MacNeil, bassist Chris Steele and drummer Jordan Hastings - purges and cleanses, releasing hues of emotion in a vigorous celebratory manner.  “I’d hate to write all the time and not tour, or vice versa,” says George.  “We don’t do a lot of writing on the road but we build ideas and write songs in our heads that don’t exist.  If we get chance to find a jam space, we’ll try and put something down.  The road won’t make you wise but it will make you well travelled and it gives you a new perspective on things and I think differently now than I did before we started hardcore touring.  Some days when you pull into a low slung city with little culture, you just don’t want see anything outside of the gig.  If it’s a place with real history and experiences you make a point of being adventurous.  Personally I like the idea of seeing how people live locally because it’s a different experience and inspiration wherever you go.  I can write just as many songs about the city I live in as I would any other place in the world, but it’s the different textures and levels you can find on the road.  I could write about cleaning up cat hair off my couch right now; I think people can relate to that, could be kind of interesting.  They’re not gunna be mind altering words but someone might like it. The muse hides in many places.”  

 

Perhaps anything this band puts into the magic of song, maybe not cat cleaning, would appeal to the masses at the moment, that’s what makes them one of the most important outfits around right now; garnering an acceptance particularly in Europe that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the band.  “It’s a bit crazy the whole response in the UK, it’s massively flattering.  I know we’re not gunna sell out Brixton but it’s a little bit exciting to be doing a headline show of our own there, that’s a big deal for all of us.  I’ve nothing but the warmest regard for everyone who has supported us in the UK; it says something when we can cross the sea and feel totally at home.  I have this love hate relationship with America, compared to the UK and Europe where it’s all love.  Sometimes you’ll hit a good Seattle or a New Orleans, but half the time you’re in Cleveland or Detroit, bad bullshit cities that fair enough spawned The Stooges and motown, but when you go there it’s like a prison riot, it’s scary.  There’s crack everywhere, violence; I appreciate edgy and dangerous sometimes but you have to get past it in the states.”  A tremendous compliment indeed to Blighty and one that for Headwarmer, highlights the fact that here there is a warmly regarded scene and a tremendous audience ethic that is often taken for granted.  We should look after it and nurture it, encouraging such great acts to cross the pond and deliver voluptuous vibes to dance across our eardrums.  

 

Going back to the growth of AOF, lyrically there’s a clear evolution between their debut released in 2004, its follow up ‘Watch Out’ and ‘Crisis’, which was inspired by the Great Lakes blizzard of 1977; an evolution paralleled by progressive styles and bold subject matter, carving out their own rather considerable niche as unique crossover artists.  Moreover, they’re not lazy and self-abusive, consequently for the next record they’re looking to broaden their horizons and try new things, experiment with styles, something that has possibly been on the cards for some time.  “The whole scream dynamic can sometimes feel a little restrictive.  None of us are really in the right frame of mind to do the screamo thing anymore, we feel like we’ve really tried to distance ourselves from the whole genre because we don’t actually listen to that style of music.  We’re all engulfed in different styles so it’s kind of tough to do, especially when you feel like you can’t relate to it,” admits George. “We’ve always wanted to out do ourselves with each record but never found a sound that was typically AOF.  We’ll always be lumped into screamo because of the way we sing, but ‘Crisis’ showcased us well as a creative unit,” continues Dallas, “we want to try different things and not limit ourselves on the next record.  There’ll still be that heaviness but ‘Crisis’ was the last stand for that style I think.”  With its vast success however comes a different pressure and while AOF are firmly not about the commercials, they are part of a saturated scene that thrives on the image and iconism of its major protagonists, making authenticity almost a lost and forgotten art. 

 

“When punk gets commercialised that’s when it gets the most watered down.  A lot of new bands have managers before they’ve even played live, which seems a bit ridiculous to us ‘cos when we started, there was a lot of DIY, a lot of figuring shit out for yourself and not taking anything for granted.  We didn’t expect anything because it wasn’t lucrative to play this style of music when we started.  It was being played in halls, there was a lot vinyl trading and mail order, you really had to put up the effort and be a huge fan to get into it.  Now there’s good and bad things to the way the media has embraced the scene and it has given a voice to a lot of great bands but at the same time and I hate grunge comparisons but I have to do one, it’s like when Nirvana became big all the record labels were signing anyone with long messy hair; when My Chemical Romance broke through the majors were picking anybody up with a furdy haircut.  It’s funny to watch, but frustrating at the same time,” comments George.  “You can build a persona on the internet before you even play a show, get 20,000 My Space friends but when you play you suck.  We toured the whole of the US before we even put a record out, rehearsing and practising, honing our sound,” asserts Dallas.  Indeed it’s this commercialisation of the main stream that is driving bands away from the roots and identity of their genres, making it almost impossible for the real underground communities to be heard, even acknowledged.  

 

Conversely however, what has changed is the availability of music and video at our fingertips, the online revolution that has reincarnated the ghosts of the old masters, while invaluably spreading the word of the new.  “It’s easier to research bands now and I use the net all the time.  It’s kind of a double edged sword though because music is a lot cheaper now and a lot easier to find, which does nothing for the bands themselves.  I think You Tube though is amazing. I go on and watch footage of bands that were around when I wasn’t alive, like Old Grey Whistle Test performances, they were amazing.  Great musicians performing their music live and you just kind of forget about all that ‘cos of the way modern TV is set up, there’s very little live performance especially in Canada.  I really appreciate that about the internet because when I was a kid it was a lot harder to get hold of the records you wanted.  When I was listening to punk you couldn’t get it in HMV or the local store, they’d have a Ramones anthology which was great, but there was this huge underground scene going on that you just couldn’t grab.  There was something noble about the hunt for music back then.  Now you can hunt them down at the drop of a hat but at the same time, maybe you don’t appreciate it as much because you just got it off the internet,” questions George.  “I love making mix tapes for example, picking out the vinyl and tracks one at a time.  Then you’d fuck up the tape for a second and have to rewind it and its this big process that after about two hours you’ve got this thing that you cherish and you can say, I had to work for this and it’s so good.” 

 

Whilst the media and mediums at our disposal are running away with technology, we can not escape the fact that it’s almost becoming one big sausage factory from which band after band squirms its way out into a pre-defined wrapping, ready to be served up on a platter.  “It doesn’t help that the industry is in such peril right now.  Everyone is grabbing at straws and ultimately the people who are going to suffer are the consumers, those who are gunna miss out on all the amazing culture that’s going on right now in such an underground form.  A lot of bands that are living almost in poverty but are still fighting for themselves and doing what they want are being completely ignored by modern media.  I just saw this blues documentary by Martin Scorsese in which he has this angle on modern music that basically says, years from now when people are fed up of mass produced video music stuff, our predecessors are gunna curse the fact that we’re throwing away all our great culture.   There’s a lot of good media in the UK that’s picking up on cool and interesting new acts, that actually wouldn’t go over in an American or Canadian environment right now,” admits George.

 

Hailing from Ontario, AOF have been part of a punk and post-hardcore music environment that has clearly defined their metallic mould; infused with a sense of community and companionship that sounds truly inspirational and quite honestly, immensely fun to be a part of.  “I was in my third stage of post-punk when we started.  I was probably at that post, post, post-punk stage with this really vibrant screamo scene; such great bands like Take In who were this melodic hardcore act kind of lumped into post-hardcore; Perry, Joshua Fit For Battle, Love Lost Not Forgotten.  They were all super incestuous as well, this guy from Page 99 was also in City of Caterpillars so it was neat to discover all that and it was really heavy 7” based.  Most of the music you wouldn’t want to listen to on a full record so a 7” was that perfect snapshot and I collected a lot of that stuff.  We were heavily influenced by this band from California, Take In who played really raucous amazing shows that captivated the audience, that’s where it was going back then.  Most places were just big enough for say 80 people, a hall with a vocal PA and you’d play off the floor, that’s what really got me into the whole ethic and it was such an interesting scene at the time,” recalls George.  “If you’d have told us before we started that a band where one guy screams and the other sings would be popular we would probably have said yeah right ok, thanks very much.  Back then it didn’t seem like it would ever get popular,” confides Dallas.  “Who knows what punk rock and post-hardcore is; there aren’t too many ‘punk rock’ bands around nowadays.  Green Day isn’t anymore, they’ve passed that now and are trying to get to that U2 level, which is great but the music industry and fans are so fickle that they can just forget about you after one record.” 

 

While George’s background and influences are firmly rooted in punk and hardcore, as demonstrated through City and Colour Green has more of a singer-songwriter origin that lends its considerable appeal to the bands unique sound. 

“Dallas is a phenomenal singer,” acknowledges George, “but he was writing and playing live long before AOF.”  As Dallas confirms he continues to move away from the hardcore styles, “my main influence vocally was probably Jeff Buckley, his singing style was so profound and had such a lasting effect on me.  I was into bands like Quicksand as well but now, I listen to the blues and Neil Young a lot, who I first saw play when I was in 7^th grade so now I’m older, I really appreciate what he’s about now.” 

 

Throughout their upbringing and development, trials and tribulations, AOF have been keeping company with some of the most influential punk rock bands of their generation; mixing with like minded souls who help by-pass all the industry bullshit.  One such band being the notorious Fucked Up, “they’re the greatest punk band for the last 10 years, hands down,” states George.  “It’s awkward to tell people that because of their name, I mean they’re called Fucked Up, but this band is brilliant I have all their records and could talk about them for hours, they’ve really pushed the boundaries of punk music.” 

He continues, “Attack in Black are friends of ours and this great, great band. We took them on tour and Dan the singer has just helped out on the new City and Colour record.  We’re lucky as Canadians to have such exquisite young players, they’re superb.  Then there’s Moneen who were the band when we were growing up.  Like a poppy emo, Indie rock band that play harder than any metal or hardcore band I swear.  Their shows were mental, Kenny would be climbing shit and jumping off it was always this huge liberating experience to see them.  They’re also the architects of fun.  Our good friends the Cancer Bats were also around when we were kids.  Scott the guitarist played in a metal band called At the Mercy of Inspiration and they were fantastic, the Cancer Bats really came out of them.  We knew Liam from screamo shows, a really positive cool kid who came round one time and said hey I’m in this new band, oh yeah what’s it called I asked, the Cancer Bats.  I was like, that’s fuckin’ phenomenal!  I went to their first show and they have an entourage of the coolest looking people around them. They’re the real deal.  Of course there’s also Billy Talent, who need press like a whole in the head; the biggest band in the world.  I saw them playing in front of 40 people then 8000 in Berlin and that was crazy.  In that gig there were about 50 fans taken out on stretchers for heat exhaustion and everyone was like oh that sucks but I said does it suck, 'cos that’s the amount of people you used to play to all the time.  Now it’s the amount of people being carried out of your gigs for heat exhaustion! Our biggest shows have been with them.  We played in Quebec City to 56,000 people with Billy Talent and those are the memories we have with those guys that won’t ever go away.  We’ve toured with bands like Hot Water Music, Planes Mistaken for Stars and they were really influential to us on the road and it’s humbling to tour with such seasoned musicians.  It’s like touring with Bruce Springsteen, legends with real heart and soul.  Our next record will be about, whatever’s doin’ our pickles at the time,” George elusively states.   

 

It’s time to step off the family roots guide for now but rest assured as this quintet prepare to embark on another set of furious shows, culminating on our own fair shores, they are sure to continue in a rich vein of form that can only get bigger and much, much stronger, clawing at our consciences and ripping our heartstrings like no-one else can.