Most bands would be thrilled to bits about having to schedule a second show due to popular demand.
But not the punk-metal screamers of Alexisonfire, who are slated to play back-to-back shows at the Burton Cummings Theatre this weekend.
Oh, they're stoked to be such a hot commodity, no question. But they're kind of worried the century-old venue might wind up cramping their style a tiny bit.
"The last time we played the Burton Cummings Theatre, a bunch of kids showed up with a petition -- a petition with something like 500 names on it -- to have the show moved to a different venue," explains guitarist and singer Wade MacNeil. "We're not really the kind of band you want to have to sit down to watch."
You'd be forgiven for thinking local fans might have grown tired of Alexisonfire's antics by now, given the band just played the Winnipeg Convention Centre a little over a year ago.
But it must be true what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder, since the Hamilton quintet appears poised to receive another hero's welcome when they roll through town again in a few days.
"We're fortunate to have very, very loyal fans," says MacNeil, from a tour stop in Aberdeen, Scotland. "But we've definitely tried to grow as a band, too."
That growth is the likely result of having "toured (their) faces off" for the last 12 months, but it was also apparent on the band's last album Crisis, which critics hailed as representing a far more mature approach for the former screamo-kings.
And while MacNeil and the boys (bandmates Dallas Green, George Pettit, Chris Steele and Jordan Hastings round out the roster) are still in the preliminary stages of their next release, Pettit has already said he has no plans to revisit the emo offshoot that helped them launch their career.
"The next record, I think, is us pretty much wanting to put the knife in screamo," Pettit was recently quoted as telling an East Coast news outlet. "I don't want to be the band that saves it. I want to be the band that kills it."
It's tough to know what to make of such comments, especially since the band won't have time to start writing tracks for a new record until their tour schedule winds down next year.
"I guess that means George is quitting the band and getting a job at Stelco," MacNeil jokes, referring to the Hamilton steel manufacturer that was recently bought by U.S. Steel. "It's just down the street, so that'll come in handy."
Speaking of our neighbours to the south, MacNeil sounds pretty serious when he says he's ready to give up on trying to crack the U.S. market. He's even considered taking drastic measures to ensure the band's next tour of the States will be their last.
"I'd like to play a show in a place that would be good to us, like Chicago, where we've got a lot of fans, and then at the very end of the show, just announce that we're breaking up," he says. "But then quietly announce a new tour the very next day. So for all intents and purposes, we'd only be broken up in the U.S."
