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Background information
Origin	St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Genre(s)	Post-hardcore Screamo Metalcore
Years active	2001present
Label(s)	Universal, Distort, Vagrant, Dine Alone, Equal Vision Records
Associated acts	City and Colour Jersey The Black Lungs Fucked Up
Website	www.theonlybandever.com
Members
George Pettit Dallas Green Wade MacNeil Chris Steele Jordan "Ratbeard" Hastings
Former members
Jesse Ingelevics

Alexisonfire (pronounced as "Alexis On Fire") is a five-piece post-hardcore band that formed in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada in 2001. The band consists of George Pettit (vocals), Dallas Green (guitar, vocals), Wade MacNeil (guitar, vocals), Chris Steele (bass), and Jordan Hastings (drums).

The band describes their music as "the sound of two Catholic high-school girls in mid-knife-fight" (a reference to their song "A Dagger Through the Heart of St. Angeles", which was also the inspiration for their album cover art). When the band came out of the underground like an "utterly captivating car-accident-in-progress" in late 2001, it was enough to impress critics and attain a gold certification for their self-titled debut album.

Aside from that, the band has released two more very successful albums: Watch Out! in 2004, and Crisis in 2006, both which have achieved platinum certification in Canada. The band toured in support of Crisis, until December 2007. From there they took a break over Christmas and much of 2008 to work on a new album. In December 2008 the band shared the title of their forthcoming album "Young Cardinals" during a show in Hamilton, Ontario. "Young Cardinals" is anticipated to be released by May 2009.

Alexisonfire was formed in late 2001 as the result of a three-band break up. Pettit was playing bass in a tech-metal band called Condemning Salemn, Green was a lead singer and guitar player in Helicon Blue, and MacNeil and Steele played in a Pop-punk band called Plan 9. These bands broke up at the same time, and those remaining members still had the drive to play and succeed. They got together, recruited drummer Jesse Ingelevics, and formed Alexisonfire. The band's name was derived from Alexis Fire, the world's only lactating contortionist stripper. This caused problems when she discovered that they were using her website name as their band name, and she threatened to sue the band for copyright infringement. However, it was discovered that the moniker was not registered, and no further action took place. The band released its first EP, Math Sheet Demos in 2002, so named because the CD was wrapped in former drummer Jesse Ingelevics' math homework. The group caught its first break when they caught the attention of recording engineer Greg Below and Montreal journalist Mitch Joel. The pair were setting up a record label called Distort Entertainment at the time, and coincidentally they were looking for artists. Below was working with EMI at the same time and he used this to record the band at the company's in-house studio and land them a co-publishing and distribution deal.

On September 9, 2002, Alexisonfire was released, featuring two Catholic school girls engaged in a knife fight, which goes in hand with the band's description of their music. Although there was a distribution deal with EMI, the album's success was mostly attributed to word-of-mouth. The band proceeded to tour support their album, crossing Canada twice, and begin stepping into the United States and European scenes, playing with Billy Talent, GWAR, Juliana Theory, Godsmack, and Glassjaw. The band was starting to become more of a full-time job than a hobby. In the end, Alexisonfire was certified gold in Canada, marking 50,000 sales.

Alexisonfire had attracted considerable attention from major record labels, due to the success of their self-titled debut. However, when they started considering making a second album, the band felt that, for artistic reasons, they should remain independent, as it would give them better chances of developing and deciding their direction. They would remain with Distort Entertainment, and instead of using a famous producer, they recorded the album with Julius Butty at his studio near Hamilton, Ontario.

Watch Out! was released on June 29, 2004, and was immediately successful. It debuted at #6 on the Nielsen Soundscan Top 200, and received gold certification in Canada in twelve weeks. The good 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. This lay in comparison to their debut album, which was mostly first drafts.

While touring in support of the album with Johnny Truant and The Blood Roses in Glasgow, Scotland in October 2005, each member of all three bands had the word "Yeti" tattooed on themselves. On an episode of the MuchMusic program The New Music, Pettit and Green revealed that the inspiration for their "Yeti" tattoos came from the 1988 Gary Oldman film The Firm.

Alexisonfire performing in 2007

On August 22, 2006 the band released their third studio album, Crisis, which Allmusic considered their best to date. The album was marked with a CD release party, where the band performed on a boat in London, England. In support of the album, the band toured across most of Canada with Every Time I Die, Cancer Bats and Attack in Black; the latter was signed to the band's independent label Distort Entertainment. Immediately following that was an American tour with Moneen, Cancer Bats, and A Change of Pace.

In a recent interview, vocalist George Pettit states that he is unaware of the direction that the band will head in for their next album, but that "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."

In 2006 they also recruited a second guitar player named Corbin Beard that is still working with them at this time.

Though they were usually on tour with Anti-Flag, Norma Jean was their replacement for a short while, however Anti-Flag returned, alongside the bands Saosin, and The Bled. On their UK tour in November 2007, the band was supported by Saosin, The Ghost of a Thousand and Your Rigamortus.

In July 2008, rumors were circulating about Alexisonfire on the verge of a breakup. Comments jokingly made by Wade MacNeil in an Australian interview on triple j's short.fast.loud caused a stir with fans of the band.

MacNeil's joke was later explained in a press release from Distort Entertainment and the band:

Band management and Wade Macneil later stated a new album is on the way with at least 10 songs completed.

Between events, Jordan Hastings was placed into medical care after fainting during a show and diagnosed with trachea pulmonaria.

The band discussed the musical direction of the new album in an article in The London Free Press:

Alexisonfire will enter the studio on the first of February, and have a tentative release date of spring or summer.

Alexisonfire is lined up to play Warped Tour 2009.

The title of the upcoming album, Young Cardinals, was recently unveiled at the concert in Hamilton, Ontario on December 20, 2008.

The members of the band have many side projects:

City and Colour is Dallas Green's solo side project, under which he has released two EPs Missing EP and The Death of Me; two studio albums, Sometimes and Bring Me Your Love; and a live album, Live; all under the label Dine Alone Records. The Alexisonfire song, "Where No One Knows", was originally (in part) a song by Dallas Green (as City and Colour), where lyrics from the song feature on the track "Sam Malone". Similarly, Dallas Green is said to have written "Side Walk When She Walks" as City and Colour before it was recorded by Alexisonfire. The name derives from Dallas Green's name, Dallas being a city, and Green being a colour.

The Black Lungs is a band formed by Wade MacNeil. Originally its members were George Pettit, Jordan "Ratbeard" Hastings and Sean McNabb of the now dissolved band Jersey. After playing a few shows the band broke up leaving only Wade MacNeil. The Black Lungs became Wade MacNeil's solo project. Sammi Bogdanski, Wade's ex-girlfriend's sister, played the piano over Wade's vocals and guitar on Black Lung's debut Send Flowers. Wade released Send Flowers on May 20th, 2008, with Dine Alone Records.

In early 2008, Wade announced he would be touring with Cancer Bats and A Textbook Tragedy. Liam from Cancer Bats playing drums, George from Alexisonfire on bass, and Moneen's guitar tech Harris on keyboard while Wade tours. His tour was of eastern Canada, focusing mostly on Ontario and Quebec with a few stops in PEI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Afterwards, Wade joined the Cancer Bats once more, touring all the way accross Canada. Joining Wade again on Bass, George Pettit, on drums Pat Pengelly formally of Bedouin Soundclash, and Moneen guitar tech Haris once again on Keyboard.