Dallas Green - Alexisonfire/City & Colour - Interview - 2008

Within Canada’s favourite srceamo band Alexisonfire, amnesiac worry-machine Dallas Green and his cohorts have won the unrequited love of both Canada and the UK, and even his acoustic solo project is setting hearts on fire.

What were you like as a kid?

“I was a good kid. My sister is four years older than me so when she was a teenager she gave my parents a lot of grief - doing bad stuff, listening to the Sex Pistols a lot. I saw the way my sister and my parents got along and I didn't want to make my parents go through that. I was pretty boring actually, I just played guitar in my room.”

You started guitar when you were eight, but did you have any other hobbies?

“Skateboarding. I got into that about the same time. When I was in ninth and tenth grade at high school I was so into skateboarding that I would buy all the skate mags and cut out all the posters that I liked and I made an entire room full of those pictures. There were a couple of years where I hardly even played guitar because I was into the whole skating thing.

You say you were a good kid but doesn’t being a skater mean lots of bunking off school?

“Well yeah. I wasn't the best student, but it wasn't because I was a hard-ass but because I just wasn't really that interested. I was more interested in skateboarding and then later, more interested in playing music.”

So what were you good at in school?

“We had music class and that was the one that I kinda tried in. I liked English too. I remember I wrote a song for a creative writing project, the teacher gave me a bad mark so I was pretty much done with high school.”

You’re a self-professed nerd. How did that manifest when you were a kid?

“My friends at elementary school were starting to try and smoke cigarettes and scam beer off their parents at weekends, but I just stayed in and played guitar instead. It's not like I was a bookworm but I guess I was just into my own stuff.”

You're self-deprecating to a fault.

“I don’t know where that comes from. I guess I'm just really affected by really good music. And I have that problem where as soon as I listen to a really good song I think 'why the hell would I ever write music for people to listen to when they can listen to music this good?' I hate taking compliments, I would rather someone just listen to the music and never tell me anything about it. I think a lot of the time people see me and they probably think that I'm a dick and that I think I'm full of myself and stuff like that. But I'm not and you know that.

You're quite outspoken about other people/bands, but how come you don't have a reputation for being an arrogant prick?

“Because I'm not outspoken about my music. Most people who are seen as arrogant pricks just talk themselves up all the time. I know what I like and what I don’t and I'll say it because I don't think there's anything wrong with saying 'I don't like this band' because, you know what, chances are that that guy in that band doesn't like my band. Also, it’s like, I can make fun of Nickleback – say they’re garbage - but that means nothing to them. They've sold 25m records and had like eight number one singles of their last album. What I say means nothing to them and it shouldn't; it's just my personal opinion. And I'm not judging their character as people I'm just saying I don't like their band.”

At what age did you realise that you had a voice like melted velvet?

“[laughs] I started singing when I was pretty young, like 10 or 11 - but I wasn’t singing for anybody, I just sang in my room. I was in a class singing at the back listening to music one day; one of my teachers heard me and said ‘you have a nice voice’. I thought I was ok but you don't know what other people will think of you right. She made me start singing and playing guitar more – like in front of the class. People seemed to like it so I came out of my shell a bit and I started trying to get a band together and play shows.”

What was your first band?

“I played acoustically with a friend at first because we couldn’t find people to form a band. I was in a band called Needle Park, named after the first Al Pacino movie. We played covers of Jimi Hendrix and Black Crowes and we’d switch instruments a lot. Our own stuff sounded like Mogwai. Then I was in Helicorn Blue; I just really wanted it to sound like Sunny Day Real Estate but it never really did.”

So come on, how did Alexisonfire start?

“I was 21 and at the point where I either had to get a serious job or find a band that I can tour with - I'd already been out of high school for three years. Wade [Macneill, AoF guitarist] knew lots of people and had a plan to start a new band. He was in a band with Chris Steele [AoF bassist], and George [Petitt, AoF singer] was playing bass in a death metal band. Our old drummer Jessie was the only guy not in a band. Wade just kind of broke everybody’s band up to start Alexisonfire.

So what effect do you feel having an acoustic side project will do to your hard-rock cred?

“You know that I couldn't care less. I hope it affects it actually. I hope people think I'm a wuss - you know all the fucking uber metal dudes. I'd actually really love that.”

It seems strange that someone who shies away from the spotlight so much has a missus who works for Canada’s main music TV channel.

“Well it’s OK because we’re from Canada. It’s not like America and the UK with your paparazzi and all those magazines dedicated to ‘shocking’ photos of famous people. In Canada no one cares. She works and when I’m home I pick her up from work and we go home, sit on the couch and watch TV and we eat dinner. Just normal. Sometimes we’ll be at the shopping mall and someone will be like ‘Hey aren’t you the girl from Much Music?’, and she’ll be like ‘yeah’ And that’ll be it. At the end of the day, if you’re famous, I think you have a choice whether you want to be a complete asshole or try and be as normal as possible. Maybe there’s a point when you’re so famous that you just turn into a complete psycho. But you can try and be normal. You don’t have to live in Beverley Hills y’know.”

You’re famed for your inability to sleep. When did that start?

“Pretty much since high school, that’s probably when the worrying started. It was at that time that I realised that music was ‘it’ for me and that was what I was gonna do. I was like ‘holy shit, what happens if this doesn’t work?’ I really couldn’t think of anything else that I really wanted to try and do with my life. So worried. So I couldn’t sleep.”

“The worry is especially bad at night because it’s quiet and while I’m not alone, I feel alone. And that’s when my mind starts to race, and even now I’m at home and I’m in my house with my girlfriend and it’s very comfortable and I’ll be tired and laying in bed and watching television and as soon as I turn the TV off it’s like I’m wide awake. It happen last night even, she was asleep and I turned of the TV and I just sat there thinking, Alexis is starting to right new songs now, so we’ve got 5 or 6 new songs and we’re putting up the record now and I’ve got a lot on my mind and at night is when I think everything is shit."

[Unpublished section of interview transcript follows]

Do you think that in some way means that you will always be in touch with a part of you that wants to write songs? Obviously having an ability to write a song has nothing to do with being happy or sad but you know what I mean those people that can write a song, situation changes, they’re no longer on the dole, oh, and they can’t write a song anymore. Oasis, prime example.

Yeah I think that’s where I get my musings from. For some reason I can’t be happy with anything I create, five minutes after creating it.

If you ever have kids man, Jesus Christ. 

Oh God, man. Hopefully I’ll be a good Dad.

You’ll be awesome and you know it. 

Oh well I’ll have to be because my father was a great father and if I’m not I’ll just be letting everything he ever did down. But I think music is just something different for me. I’m so affected by it.

I found out that you do drink but you don’t drink on tour, and you have been known to have the odd glass of wine.

No, I haven’t had a drink in two years

Really? I got lied to then. 

Yeah you did get lied to I have never had a glass of wine in my life.

Well I used to drink when I was younger and the band was younger but I only drunk like beer here and there and when I was in the UK the occasional cider. But I’ve never had a glass of wine in my life. It’s not my thing.

Explain Finish Strong 

Finish Strong was when my cousin and had were both home for a while and we had this crazy summer of skateboarding, and we’re getting older right so we’re not as good as we used to be, but we had a lot of fun and one day we had a terrible session, we were just falling a lot and hurting ourselves and we were ready to leave so we got in the car and I said ‘you know what, we need to have a good finish here, we can’t just end on that not, having a terrible session, we need to finish strong here so we went somewhere else, a different skate park and it was just us two, there was no-one else there and we had a great end of the session. And from then on in we finished strong and it was kinda like this thing, we wrote it on our skateboards and it just became this thing. Every time we would go out on our skateboards, have fun but always finish strong. Make sure we landed our last trick, you know. And then it became something that you could just apply to life. Try and finish strong in everything that you do, never end on a bad note. And then this one time I’d just finished tour and I came home and he had made some t-shirts and he said we could just give ‘em to our friends and stuff and then we started making more and more t-shirts and then he started taking it over and doing his own thing with it and that’s kind of where it is now. And I just got so busy with all of my stuff I couldn’t really supervise.

What’s his name again? 

His name’s Matthew Scapoletti.

You have done lots outside of Alexis and outside of City and Colour so much collaborative stuff, you’re pretty prolific. Where do fit all this in? and how?

Well I guess whenever there’s a day off and I’m able to do something I do it. That might have something to do with me not being able to sit still, because if I sit still then I start thinking about things and if I start thinking about things I start to worry and if I start to worry then I don’t sleep.

You could buy one of those running machines and always carry it around with you, you could always have a stroll.

[Laughter]Like if one of my friends is like ‘hey do you wanna sing on this song with me’ I’m gonna be like ‘yeah, I do’ cos I really like music and I really like singing. As far as the writing music and writing songs goes… It’s always weird when people mention the word prolific with me, cos I always feel like I have such a hard time writing songs… I don’t know Gill, it’s weird, I’m weird.

How was the Every Time I Die one to do? Was that fun?

Oh that was great. First of all I’m really good friends with those guys so it was good to just go and hang out with them but also like I think they’re a really great band, you know what I mean. I think as far as that type of music goes that sort of metal rock, I don’t think anyone does it better than them. I think a lot of people try to do it as well as them but as far as that rock ‘n’ roll attitude goes I just think they’re untouchable. Every time they put out a record I’m like oh I didn’t think you could write anymore cool stuff like that but ya did didn’t ya, ya did Andy.

How do you see the rest of your life going?

Well as far as Alexis goes I think we will make records until we realise we’re not making good records anymore. I don’t wanna make a record just for the sake of it being time to make another Alexis record because I wanna make sure we’re doing something that people actually really like and it seems somewhat relevant and it makes sense to do, you know what I mean, because it seems that a lot of bands end up putting out records because it’s like ‘Oh God, it’s time to put out another record’, which is kinda like what we’re doing now instead of what we usually do which is stop touring, take two months, write and record another record and go back out, we’re sitting down and taking time, making sure we’re writing the right type of songs that we want to put out, not just another bunch of screamo songs because that’s what we are, you know what I mean? I think we’re all such music fans that it would be wrong for us to do something like that…With me I’m probably always gonna write songs, like I don’t see a limit on that. I play guitar everyday and it’s part of me now, playing and singing for so long that it’s just second nature. I really love singing, I really love playing guitar and I really love writing songs so I probably will always keep doing that.

Did you say something about kids?

I would love to have kids. Like Leah and I talk about it but we both have very busy schedules right now… And with two fulltime projects on the go, like I said earlier, if I’m gonna be a Dad I wanna be a Dad. I don’t wanna be ‘Oh how was Jonah’s birthday, oh I dunno, I’m in London England today’. You know what I mean, not to say I would name my son Jonah – that’s just a name I pulled out of the air. You can put Gill as my son’s name if you want. But you know what I mean I wanna be there, I wanna see things, I wanna watch him walk or watch her walk.

You wanna be a Dad as opposed to a Father.

Yeah – I wanna drive him to school and pick him up, you know, like my Dad was there for everything, and it didn’t matter what it was – ‘Dad I need to be driven here’ – and he was like ‘yeah ok no problem’. And it would continue with the band like we’d blow a tyre three hours away and I’d be like Dad we need a spare and he’d drive it to us. And I think I’d be letting my father down if I wasn’t that good a parent to a kid that I had of my own.

5 things you can’t live without:

• My guitars

• My couch

• My iPod

• My laptop

• Black and white Vans shoes – authentic

• His misses (suggested by Gill)

• Panini Press

What advice would you give a young Dallas?

Don’t worry so much. But then if I didn’t worry so much maybe I wouldn’t have written the songs I did. So, just keep doing what you’re doing. Or maybe I would say, hey don’t get any tattoos – you’re gonna be bummed.